Name and Hailing Port on small boat?

[James McMullen]

Hey everybody, can I get your opinions on this? I've been doing some spring refitting and upgrades on Rowan for the coming season, including some new paint. In fact I decided to redo the sheerstrake color from dark blue to a green for a change, which means I had to scrape off all the old lettering. . . .

And now I'm wondering whether or not to put the name back on or not. When I launched her for the first time I was living in Bellingham and had both the name and the hailing port displayed on each quarter (double-ender, right?). But when I moved to Anacortes in 2008 I scraped off the "Bellingham" and touched up the paint, but never got around to putting "Anacortes" on her. And now she sits there with a third coat of lovely new green paint curing towards hard. . .and I'm not sure if I want to put even just the name back on.

Part of it is that she is really just a little boat, and maybe a name and port is maybe a little ostentatious for an open freakin' rowboat. On the other hand, I am not particularly shy myself, and I'm definitely not shy about promoting up this boat that I love, so having a name painted on her might help people who see her out and about be able to recognize her, maybe even look her up online.

But then again, that lettering sorta draws your eye away from that sweet, sweet sheerline, kind of a distraction really. And Rowan is probably infamous enough from all those damn pics and threads that I incessantly post about her that she doesn't really need or want to be recognized any more than she already is.

I have to have registration numbers at the bow, I'm afraid. Can't go completely commando here, not an option. But do I want a name pasted on her too? And my hailing port? Or nothing?

What say ye, gentlemen of the Forum? Yea or nix?

[Michael Beckman]

I like a clean look.

[jsjpd1]

We're not talking about some little un-named rowboat here, we're talking about Rowan. She already got a name and should wear it with pride.

Jim

[Canoe]

Hi James,

personaly I find a boat name and home port are of interest and motivate communication between fellow boaters, also it is easyer to hail another boat by name, calling out a number just does`nt get the same attention as a (pronounable) name. Tenders also usually have a name even if it is only "Tender to -------".

However boat names are just tradition, it is more modern to greet none, don`t call "Way"/"Starboard", don`t ask before you raft alongside and don`t use car turn signals in traffic (one of my pet gripes).

Greetings from Germany,

Alan

[Gerarddm]

Carve her name discretely on some woodwork like the gunwales or something?

[wizbang 13]

Not EVERYONE knows Rowan, yet.
Why do you need numbers?
Paint her name on. Home port, not so much.
I do not like a carving, it is a decoration. Does Rowan have a single stick of non functional, decorative wood? My boats do not.

[Breakaway]

I like a name on a boat. Completes her. Hail is an excresence on a small boat, IMO. Perhaps a name board? (But that may be just because I'd love to see your thread about carving it, James! ) Paint the name artfully and smallish on each quarter is my vote.

Kevin

[TerryLL]

After years of extolling the virtues of your exquisite Rowan, you would ask her to slink around incognito? The shame!

[johnno]

Yep, she should have her name on her, but I don't think a small boat needs a port. The lettering doesn't have to be large, and having a sheer strake is a perfect place to locate the lettering.

[Sailor]

Name for sure. Port, certainly not, too ostentatious as you said. Numbers. I suppose they are required by law where you are? If not, I'd ditch them as well. Just her name on each side of the stern, artfully, tastefully done. Letters that will be readable for a reasonable distance and won't look gaudy or like an afterthought. Nautical. Good luck and I don't doubt you'll let us know when you've made a decision and you'll have pics up for us to see her.

[James McMullen]

For reference, here's how it started out:



And here's from a few years later with the "Bellingham" rubbed out:



And here she was on launching day, completely naked. (And yes, I got to tie in a reef for her very first sail ever, a fortuitous harbinger of things to come!)



Yes, I do need the registration numbers on the bow because I want to keep it simple and trouble-free to take her across the Canada border. All you need is one pedantic sheriff or border agent with a quota to fill to make your day trip a hassle. She is just too big to sneak under the regs as an exempt rowboat.

[Yeadon]

Two ideas:

Rowan
*Earth*

~ or ~

Rowan
*Driveway*

[Nicholas Scheuer]

Our Dovekie, the PILGRIM PELICAN used to claim "DULUTH" as her home port, both appearing in plain block capital letters. My thinking was, we' would see ships in the Twin Ports harbor from AMSTERDAM, CLEVELAND, MERMANSK, and CHICAGO, to name but a few, and none bothered to add the country along with the city. We trailered PIL-PEL all over the eastern USA, and only a boat-load of young guys in the Elizabeth Islands asked where Duluth was.

[Bobcat]

According to the USCG rules for documented vessels, the hailing port can be anything in the USA. It does not have to be where the boat is docked.

My first boat was a plywood pram (8 feet bought at a local hardware store unpainted for my 8th BD) I had stick on letters reading "Wasp" "Shaw Island" on the transom

[Garret]

Gotta have the name at least. I liked how you had the HP in smaller letters tucked in underneath & to the right of the R. Maybe do the same thing again? Anacortes will fit better anyway....

To bad "Wherever I happen to be" or "Wherever she takes me" are both too long to fit.....

[Peerie Maa]

No port hail, but name on a carved and varnished board, easy to take to the bench to be fettled when the boat is repainted.

Numbers and name on thin birch ply boards, background boat body colour, also demountable.

[James McMullen]

I like yer boat, Peerie!

[chas]

"But then again, that lettering sorta draws your eye away from that sweet, sweet sheerline, kind of a distraction really. And Rowan is probably infamous enough from all those damn pics and threads that I incessantly post about her that she doesn't really need or want to be recognized any more than she already is."

​LOL. But we'll hear you coming, right? Let me know if you are coming thru Saturna. / Jim

[Garret]

"But then again, that lettering sorta draws your eye away from that sweet, sweet sheerline, kind of a distraction really. And Rowan is probably infamous enough from all those damn pics and threads that I incessantly post about her that she doesn't really need or want to be recognized any more than she already is."

​LOL. But we'll hear you coming, right? Let me know if you are coming thru Saturna. / Jim

Even when he's rowing, he puts a card in the spokes to make her sound good....

[James McMullen]

Rowan really should have her own theme music, that's true.

[Yeadon]

Rowan really should have her own theme music, that's true.

Yakety Sax

[Peerie Maa]

I like yer boat, Peerie!

Rowan and Peerie are of the same family, just a couple of generations apart.

[AJZimm]

Hornpipe has an actual carved and painted nameboard, sized appropriately to the transom, mostly because I wanted to try my hand at carving letters and because I thought the paint would stay in place longer in the carved letters than if it was just painted on the transom.

[Gerarddm]

Well, then, just painted nicely on each stern quarter, and call it a day.

BTW, I realized that hailing ports didn't have to be actual back in the 70s. There was an East Coast 50'+ IOR light air sled with the magnificent name of La Forza Del Destino whose hailing port was a New Hampshire lake. ;-)

[jsjpd1]

Rowan really should have her own theme music, that's true.

Let me get this straight, you're thinking about having your own Rowan theme song, but you're not sure if painting the name on is too ostentatious?

[Garret]

My 8'3" draft boat has a hailing port that has a 1 acre 3' deep beaver pond as its largest body of water....

[Garret]

Let me get this straight, you're thinking about having your own Rowan theme song, but you're not sure if painting the name on is too ostentatious?

But if the theme song is "Row, row, row your boat", then its not too ostentatious!

[Woxbox]

A name on a small boat show's that she's loved. A hailing port is just silly.

[Robert W. Long]

Rowan
*Driveway* perfect!

[BrianW]

There's a large tender in town right now, home port is Vail Colorado.

[schoonerpacket]

So far I've had three boats. Wawona, a 8' Harley 8 had her name emblazoned on her both her bow and stern as well as her port of residence, South Lake Union, Seattle Washington on the transom. In a twist of fate she even ended up there. My 8' One Sheet Skiff, Trudy C. has the hailing port of Mystic. And my current love, the mighty Super Teal Blue Flower will be hailed right here in Milltown, Montana. All we have is the Big Blackfoot river. In the end I think few care and it can be a great point of conversation. I look forward to seeing the famous Rowan no mater what you decide.

[Garret]

In the end I think few care and it can be a great point of conversation.

One day when Neoga (hailing port Buel's Gore, VT) was at the dock in Maine, I heard a guy chuckling. I stuck my head out the companionway, said Hi & asked what was funny. He replied "I've fished the beaver pond & the stream down from it [the only bodies of water in Buel's Gore] & I know this boat has never been up it". We ended up having a great conversation.

[Ben Fuller]

Macavity, my International Canoe, has two small "transoms" on either side of the double ended stern. I got a pro to do shaded lettering Macavity on the port, Mystic on starboard. From the stern it reads right. Macavity has been refinished several times but the names have stayed. I have to make some nameboards for Ran Tan one of these days and for Josef W. Trouble is my hand is neither steady nor artistic. If I was doing just one, may be a small lettered backrest the way it was usually done in dinghies.

[htom]

I like Peerie Maa's nameboard size and location. A more script-like font, perhaps.

[BBSebens]

A name on a small boat show's that she's loved. A hailing port is just silly.

That about sums it up.

Rowan needs to have her name proudly displayed, in a tasteful manner.


On the plus side, now I can paint my top-strake blue and look like a copy-cat.

[Chris Woodward]

That's nicely done and understated. I would go with both the name and home port. Ostentatious? Hardly; you are in the land of the $8.00 cup of coffee!
If the boat is on a small body of water then I would say No home port (or dock as that case may be)
If the boat is on a large body of water with multiple municipalities then it would not be the height of hubris to state your hailing port. IMHO

[James McMullen]

Well, it sounds like most of you are at least in favor of putting the name back on at the very least. I will do that.

And as for the hailing port, "If the boat is on a large body of water with multiple municipalities.. ." makes sense to me, especially since the Salish Sea is bordered by multiple countries even, not just municipalities.

Mr. Yeadon's recommendation of "Driveway" as Port of Record has been noted, and suitable revenge is being plotted as we speak.

[P-man]

Well, it sounds like most of you are at least in favor of putting the name back on at the very least. I will do that.

And as for the hailing port, "If the boat is on a large body of water with multiple municipalities.. ." makes sense to me, especially since the Salish Sea is bordered by multiple countries even, not just municipalities.

My Yeadon's recommendation of "Driveway" as Port of Record has been noted, and suitable revenge is being plotted as we speak.

everyone should have a Yeadon.

[James McMullen]

You can borrow mine. I really only need him for a few weekends a year when I need a change of pace from my own campfire cooking.

[Garret]

I can see the business plan for RentAYeadon now......

[Yeadon]

http://bennyhillifier.com/?id=qaVbCsRg4fA

[ChrisBen]

[Wooden Boat Fittings]

Here's why you should show her name --

If you Google Aileen Louisa in Text format, five of the first six entries on page 1 show my former boat, and there are further entires for her on page 2. And if you do the same search in Images, eight photos of her come up before you have to start scrolling.

I reckon that's reason enough....

You can put show hailing port or not, as you choose. I agree with Chris' comments in Post No.36, and chose to. But note I used a plainer and smaller font for it --

Mike

[wizbang 13]

here is one I have been saving,

[Garret]

That could be messy

[Canoeyawl]

I think the name should be well carved somewhere, perhaps on a thwart, or the inside of the stern-stem This tends to give the boat some immortality. Many small boats are lost to history and often the name is the only link. (It will also prevent some future barbarian from naming the boat Wet Dream).
As far as painting or lettering on the sheer strake of a double ender, I think it makes a huge difference exactly where the distraction to the sheerline is placed, both ford and aft. If it is too close to the ends it can accent a flat sheer, but rarely in this era does a small craft have a moderate sheerline.
If not done carefully it can look, well... wrong.
I cut out blocks of paper representing the size of the lettering/numbers and tape them on the boat then move it an inch every day or so, much like lining off planking, to get what I want. I often look to images of the old French onshore fishing fleets for inspiration.

[Jamie Orr]

Well, we piped you in to Sucia with "The Rowan Tree"....

Jamie

Rowan really should have her own theme music, that's true.

[John Bell]

I've got both the name and hailing port on my small boat. The hailing port is a bit of an affectation to be sure. It's very small and appears only in one place on the transom. The name is intentionally large and appears on the stern quarter.

A boat needs a name if just to make hailing other folks on the VHF easier.