Sean - Tried figuring out the alignment issue...'tabs' generally don't get interpreted very nicely by HTML renderers.
Then I messed with the 'list' feature...no luck. If you really want it to look all purdy...probably going to need to use the 'Table' functions above...it'll look like this:
Date | | Location | | Vessel | | Comment |
5-8 | | Ann lake | | Alumacraft | | test run |
I've added that into your original post so you can see the 'code' to do it. Basically, you're adding a table, then adding a 'row', and then within each row, added 4 columns. The HTML engine that SMF (simple machines forum) has will auto space & align the cells. I also added dummy columns between the 'real' columns to add a little more space between the columns. The alignment is pretty tight without them.
Too much info? Probably...but thought it might help...and yes, its a pain.