Rainbow’s End Logbook

Why it stands out

A logbook for the voyage, not the boatMost logbook apps assume you own the boat and want her engine hours. Logbook assumes you have a week aboard and want to remember it: one logbook per voyage, her name and the charter base on the cover, and a day at a time inside.
The pictures are in the bookUp to six a day, with captions, kept on the phone and printed on the day’s page. The PDF at the end is the album and the log in one.
The ledger sits beside the daysWhat the voyage cost, in seven categories from provisions to moorings, with a donut and a per-day figure. A free anchorage can be noted with no amount.
Kept simple on purposeNo tanks, no watches, no maintenance. When an owner wants those, the book of the boat is Rainbow’s End Manifest, from the same company; Logbook stays the book of the days.

What it does

A logbook per voyageThe boat and what she is, the dates, who was aboard, and — when she is chartered — the company and the base. Her name is remembered for the next voyage. Close the book when the voyage ends; it stays as a past voyage.
A dayA passage or a lay day. A passage has where you left, where you arrived and the nautical miles if you know them; a lay day has only where she lay. A note in your own words. Two passages on one date are two days in the book.
PicturesFrom the library or the camera, six a day, each with a caption; a full-screen viewer with a swipe between them. They are copied into the app at 1,200 pixels on the long side, and printed on the day’s page of the PDF.
PositionTap Mark position at the anchorage and the phone’s GPS writes the spot into the day as degrees and minutes, the way a chart reads it. Once, when you ask; never in the background.
The ledgerProvisions, meals ashore, fuel, fees and permits, transport ashore, moorings and transient dockage, other. The donut shows where the money went; the total over the days aboard says what a day cost; tap a slice to see one category’s lines.
The summaryDays written of days aboard, passages and lay days, the miles, the longest passage, and every place in the order you first saw it — at the head of the book, and on the phone pinned while the days scroll.
ShareA PDF logbook: a cover with the boat, the dates and the crew; a page for each day with its notes and pictures; the ledger with its donut. Through the share sheet, so the whole crew can have the book by email or AirDrop.
Entirely offlineNo account, no server, no signal needed. Your pictures and positions stay on your device; nothing you enter leaves it unless you share the logbook yourself.

We built it aboard our ketch Rainbow, for charter weeks and weekends on the bay.

What it won’t do

Keep engine hours, tanks, fuel fills, gear or maintenance. That is the book of the boat, Rainbow’s End Manifest.
Track you. The GPS is read once, at your tap, and the app has no background modes.
Draw a chart or a track. A position is a line of text on the day.
Share the kitty. The ledger is your own record of the voyage, not a shared purse.
Put your logbook on a server. It lives on your phone and leaves only as the PDF you send.

Rainbow’s End Logbook is a record of the voyage, not a navigational document. Miles are what you enter; a marked position is the phone’s reading at that moment, to the tenth of a minute.

On the App Store

Rainbow’s End Logbook is on the App Store for iPhone and iPad, $4.99, bought once. It works fully offline — no account, no server; nothing leaves your device unless you share the logbook yourself.

May you find a rainbow’s end and treasure found wherever you sail or set your anchor.

Rainbow’s End Logbook

Why it stands out

What it does

What it won’t do

On the App Store

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