David Hammond

Dave Hammond qualified as a marine system engineer with Sovereign Yachts in May 2002 and has already written the book – or at least a logbook – to improve efficiency in his tasks. Since graduating in his apprenticeship, Dave, 25, has worked on superyachts in Europe and America as either first or second engineer. He is also qualified as Y3 and 4 under the MCA ruling, and is second engineer on the 230ft Utopia. An engineer’s job includes recording of maintenance issues to ensure all systems are as reliable as possible. Most engineers maintain computer records, but create a hand-written log as well. “The majority of yacht engineers are using commercial books specific to shipping,” Dave says. “They really don’t work for superyachts. We’re always crossing things out and adding our own columns.” So Dave designed his own, specifically for superyachts up to 3000 gross tons. He eliminated irrelevant categories and included yacht-specific columns to keep track of maintenance, operations and daily records. He found the logbook so useful, he set up Morgan Marine to publish and distribute it.