DIY Scuba Diving Log Book

I have been diving quite a bit during the past few months. Like most divers I met, I log my dives in a small booklet, a dive log book. Many dive shops sell their own dive log books, usually at around US$5-10. The motivation for creating my own dive log book is not so much the cost, but the content. By creating my own dive log book, I can decide what information I want to log and make optimal use of the space.

Using LaTeX, I created a dive log book template. I provide the following code/PDF as is, without further explanations. The template contains all information I would personally log after a dive. Feel free to use and /or modify it to create your own custom dive log book. If you are not familiar with LaTeX and would like to make minor changes, drop me a comment below and I’ll try to help.

Template and Code

Link to dive log template created with LaTeX.

\documentclass[17pt,a4paper]{extarticle}
\usepackage[margin=0.7in]{geometry}
\usepackage{tikz, fancyhdr}
\usepackage{amssymb}\usepackage{rotating}
\linespread{2}
\pagestyle{fancy}
\fancyhf{}
\renewcommand{\headrulewidth}{0pt}
\rfoot{\scriptsize Created by texblog.org}
\makeatletter
\def\hrulefill{\leavevmode\leaders\hrule height 0.8pt\hfill\kern\z@}
\makeatother
\begin{document}
%%%%%%%%%%%%%
%General info and stamp
%%%%%%%%%%%%%
\noindent
\begin{minipage}{0.6\linewidth}
\noindent
Dive Nr \hrulefill~~Date \hrulefill\hrulefill\\
Location \hrulefill\\
Dive site \hrulefill
\end{minipage}
\qquad
\begin{minipage}{0.37\linewidth}
\fbox{\parbox[5cm]{5cm}{\hspace{5cm}\vspace{5cm}}}\\
{\scriptsize Stamp}
\end{minipage}
  
\vspace{1cm}
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
%Profile and detail information
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
\noindent
\begin{minipage}[t]{0.55\linewidth}
\begin{tikzpicture}
\draw[thick] (0,0) -- (3,0) -- (2,-3) -- (5,-3) -- (6,0) -- (9,0);
\node  [align=center,font=\fontsize{17pt}{12pt}\selectfont] (time) at (1,-1.5) {Max\\depth\\\rule{2cm}{0.8pt}\par};
%\node [align=center] (depth) at (4,-4) {Bottom time \rule{3cm}{0.8pt}\ min};
\node  [align=center,font=\fontsize{17pt}{12pt}\selectfont](stop) at (7.5,-1.5) {Safety\\stop\\\rule{2cm}{0.8pt}\par};
\end{tikzpicture}
Bottom time \rule{3cm}{0.8pt}\ min
\end{minipage}
\quad
\begin{minipage}[]{0.4\linewidth}
\noindent
Weights \hrulefill\ kg/lb\\
$\square$ Long~~$\square$ Short~~\hrulefill\ mm\\
Temperature \hrulefill\\
Visibility \hrulefill\\
\end{minipage}
 
\noindent
Comments \hrulefill\\
\phantom{}\hrulefill\\
\phantom{}\hrulefill\\
\phantom{}\hrulefill\\
\phantom{}\hrulefill\\
\phantom{}\hrulefill\\

\noindent
$\square$ Instructor Nr \hrulefill~~$\square$ Dive master~~$\square$ Buddy\\
Name \hrulefill~~Sign \hrulefill
\end{document}

 
Instructions on printing and binding

For an A6-sized dive log book, I created an A4-sized PDF that contains four copies of the dive log template. This was done using the pdfnup command on Linux/Unix and Mac.

pdfnup --paper a0paper --nup 2x2 dive_log.pdf '1,1,1,1' --outfile dive_log.booklet.pdf --no-landscape

To create your own dive log, download the PDF below (dive_log.booklet.pdf) and print it using an A4 printer (duplex/both-sides and long-edge binding). You want to print 5-10 copies, which would allow you to log between 40 – 80 dives. Cut the pages horizontally, stack all the sheets and staple or bind them. Don’t forget to design and add a booklet cover, ideally using a stronger/thicker paper. You could use a picture from an old dive magazine for example. I can also add a letter-sized template if that’s any useful. Just let me know below.

 
Dive log for printing: dive_log.booklet.pdf.

Please consider buying me a coffee if you found this tutorial/template useful.