What is the name of your boat, and why?

[RFNK]

Still Pipsqueak because my wife won't let me change it.

Rick

[TR]

I feel that most good wood boats are beyond naming, or at least it doesn't matter. It's just for our own amusement. It's pretentious to think otherwise. Maybe I'll change the name every year.

Most important to us is that it compliment the boat

I disagree with your first statement and agree with the second.....

Fun names are okay for small "non-serious" boats, but proper boats need respectful names. Just as your name becomes part of who you are so the boat's name is part of her identity. I can't imagine my boats with any other name. Think of the famous or infamous names......the one's that make the hair on the back of your neck stand up......what other name could be substituted?

[willburrrr2003]

My forst and current boat isn't a wooden boat. It is a 1973 Glasply Cuddy that I did a complete rebuild of the engine one. When done, I carefully applied the name to the side of the boat. I brought my family out, and removed the cloth covering the name, and they all cried..... I named the boat the "Terry Ray" after my older brother and my Dad who both shared the same name. We lost them back to back a year apart (2001, and 2002). I told my family with a name like this, my boat would always bring us home safely.

Regards,

Will

[Crazer]

My Pearson Triton is named Rumor, after another boat I did not buy and which may or may not have been scrapped since. I liked the name and felt a certain amount of guilt over the destruction of the other boat.

My Sea Sprite 23 is unnamed but I've taken to calling her Miss Independent because she seems have a mind of her own sometimes.

[Robert Meyer]

My outboard skiff is named after my Grandfather who taught me to love boats and after his good friend Johnny Pfeiffer

[Jay Greer]

When we aquired "Bright Star" her name was "Jin Lung" which means Lucky Dragon. I found out that one of her owners had a hotel in Hong Kong hence the name.
In looking up her former names, I found that when she was launched her first name was "Bright Star" which, is what you know her as today. I felt it was better luck for her to carry her original name. Just for fun, we named her dinghy "Twinkle".
Jay

[SV Papillon]

Wow the naming can of worms, if you spend most of the year at sea and on a boat, which I do you can't help but be a little superstitious. Messing with a boat name always carries a little juju one way or the other. Unless her name is Katanas bunny, a friends Vagabond 47, which requires instant renaming. Our boat was named Island Trader when we bought her and Goodwind before that Anteak. As this was and is going to be our family home for ?? We needed to give her a democratically chosen name. I was set on Papillon as my avatar shows but in the end it was Sassafrass by family vote. So there you go.

I will admit how a name sounds on the radio always plays a little bit into it for me

As for the spelling we agreed there were defiantly two ass's involved in this endeavor.
Jake

[Lewisboater]

This one's name is Oo-De-Lali ... Think back to your Disney movie watching days and it will come to you ...Robin.




My next one will be Sasparilla

Scratch that...Sasparilla is the design name...the boat's name will be DeCompressor

[seawardadventures]

I had a San Francisco Pelican That I named Old Time Song. "Song" was for the sound a sailboat makes moving through the water is music to my soul. The "Old Time" part was because she did not look like anything modern. She never failed to attract attention at a launching ramp and my nephews and nieces all have fond memories of playing pirates on board their wacky uncle's funny little boat. My Seaward 23 was named Dragonsong. The Song part was inherited from the Pelican and I would like to always carry the tradition along to subsequent boat names. The dragon was because I was born in the Chinese year of the dragon as I was reminded by the place mats in innumerable Chinese restaurants. It gave me the excuse to carve a cool dragon as part of the name board.

Fora a couple of years I used a small inflatable dinghy that was entirely unsuited to the job. You did not row so much as coerce it to make feeble attempts at building barely adequate units of inertia. I always suspected that it wouldn't take too much of an impact with a dock piling to make it go from plump to flacid in short order. I named it the Rubber Doughnut of death. I am currently fixing up an Oday Daysailor which I hope to keep only long enough to sell or trade for a woodenboat. So far it remains nameless.

[sailorjim]

I've named my series of self-designed boats MEA, from mea culpa, via a twisted word play in French: culpa is pronounced the same as coule pas, meaning "does not sink"...

[John Gordon]

Hello,

Thanks so much for your quick response. She would have been bought, I believe, by Patrick
MacLaren who lives in Brentwood Bay. After I bought her from SALTS I moored her there and
had Abernathy and Gaudin work on her (bottom and topside paint and new yellow cedar decking). I learned about Patrick from Robert Abernathy. He had the boat completely redone
and sold it about fifteen (15) years ago. I wonder if she was the same as when she left
Falmouth with a large open cockpit and if you have any pictures of her. She goes back in the
water this Thursday. I've taken the bottom down to wood, put several coats of copper/bronze
anti-fouling and redone the topside paint. Liquid penetrating epoxy has been applied to weak
areas of the wood and regular epoxy to the rudder, the propeller trued and rudder fasteners
fixed. I have also regalvanized the steel stanchions (which Patrick probably added). I would
love to hear more about the time you had her.
John Gordon

Hello John,
I bought the Hugh Cabot in 1979, renamed her Kotick, and owned her for about 3 1/2 years. I was starting a family and did not have time or room for the boat. She is a great boat, perhaps my favourite of the boats I have had, and one I'd love to sail again. I considered buying her again when Salts had her, but I already had a boat. Enjoy Kotick and care for her...she is a keeper.

[Michael D. Storey]

The Boys always preferred Amazing Grace. When they were young, they would rise at anchorage, sing the national anthem, sing amazing grace, and then Jake, starting at age six, would order his older brothers, 'Stand by, Fore an' Aft...' The wheel (or tiller) was his. Jesse an Max would handle the rest. I wear those memories as badges of honor.

[chill]

Carol Lynn I, Carol Lynn II, Carol Lynn III after the fine lady who lets me build them.

[John How]

My first is called "Time Out", seems obvious, the reason huh. The one I'm currently building is "Margie-Lou", after two of my favorite women, my Mother, Margie and my Mother-in-law, Loudene, both deceased but remembered.

[Julie]

I'm building a little 11'11 SCAMP and her name is Rio. It just seemed to fit! A short name for a short little ship.



"Her name is Rio and she dances on the sand." (7" draft with the centerboard up)
"You know you're something special and you look like you're the best."
"When she shines she really shows you all she can."
"You're a bird of paradise."

I love this thread- I've enjoyed reading about your boats and the meanings of their names. You guys are a creative lot.

[Bobcat]

My latest boat, a Roughwater 35, is Leketoy, Norwegian for play toy, and the name she had when I bought her. Two owners ago called her "Last Dollar" Glad that was changed.

My boat names over the years:

At age 8, I got a plywood pram, 8 feet, and named her Wasp.

At about 12, I got a 10 foot sailing pram. Painted her black and named her Raven

At 18, I bought a 20 sloop named ---oh god--- Queen Mary. I shortened it to Queen

A few years later, I bought a wee schooner named Eel, tried to change the name to Star Procyon. Didn't take and had terrible luck with the boat.

A double paddle canoe built for my daughter and named Silver Star by her

A Michalak batto built with the same daughter and named Sparrow

Catboat Avocet, named by the first owner

I have had canoes, utility skiffs and kayaks too, but they never had names.

I have an Oughtred Puffin almost done (I bought it in that condition) Younger daughter and I are thinking of a name from the musical Cats, probably Rum Tum Tugger

[purri]

Ours is Amker-K(eon) (lauched 1949) named after the 2nd owner's first daughter. If I did a really shapely one from scratch she'd be named Lydia-M after the missis.

[coopercdrkey]

"Emily", after the sweetest Cocker Spaniel who ever lived, and who suffered a terrible disease that the best Vet's at U of Florida Veterinary Colege couldn't overcome.

[Shan Skailyn]

Shan Skailyn

It's the combination of all the girls in my family... my wife, Shannon... my three daughters Skyler, Madelyn, Abigail

[Eddielee]

My last homemade boats name was SootzUs

1n 1983 my son needed a small boat for a single trip (of approx. 3 miles) with his buddies, across a lake to their hunting site.

So, we rummaged around in a pile of scrap construction material he had dropped off for firewood. Scarfed enough DF “rat run” for framing and ½ inch CDX plywood to build our version of CHUM. A Skiff found on page 14 of Mechanix Illustrated’s “How to Build 20 boats” published in 1950. We reduced the length to 10’ 10”, kept the 4’8” beam and raised the freeboard 4”. Came out just as we wanted – except we built it in the hayloft of my barn and, you guessed it, had to enlarge the loft door to get it out.

Since it was for a single trip, we didn’t bother painting it. It carried 3 guys, all their gear and food in a single trip across the lake (one guy was pushing 230#). Power was from a 5hp 1957 SeaKing outboard I bought for a 100 bucks and a pair of 8ft commercially built oars I bought from Montgomery Ward.

When they all got back from their week’s hunt everybody raved about the boat but complained that we should have at least painted it. My son said: “it suits us” – hence the name.

The 1^st sailboat I built was a H. Seashell pram kit at age 13 (1951). My old man burned it after I got home from my first sail.

Oh, the SutzUs? We glassed the hull; painted it battleship grey and it did yeoman service for 28 years until I burned it last year when lack of maintenance resulted in massive rot. I still have the oars and motor.

My “TupperWare” Houseboat was “SootzUs Too”; its inflatable dinghy was “Toos baby” (I still have “Baby”).

[Garret]

The 1^st sailboat I built was a H. Seashell pram kit at age 13 (1951). My old man burned it after I got home from my first sail.

Why? Had you been bad? I'd think a dad would be pretty proud...

[Eddielee]

Why? Had you been bad? I'd think a dad would be pretty proud...

I was gone three days and he didn't appreciate the phone call from the Coast Guard or the 30 mile drive to Los Angeles harbor to pick me up.

[Rich Jones]

My 1959 PennYan runabout is named Don't Tell Jane because I didn't want anyone to tell my wife how much I spent on restoring it.
All my other smaller boats are nameless, just going by the design name. Gonna take out the Cackler, the Rushton, the Charlotte and so on down the list.

[Garret]

I was gone three days and he didn't appreciate the phone call from the Coast Guard or the 30 mile drive to Los Angeles harbor to pick me up.

IOW - it was my first guess Lesson learned?

[Eddielee]

IOW - it was my first guess Lesson learned?

He didn't stop there! I had three paddle boards and 2 other boats under construction when I joined the Navy 6 years later. The day I left to enter service he burned my cloths, all my projects and gave my cameras (including my 4 underwater housings) to my sisters boy friend who owned a camera shop (I saved one boat because it happened to be stored it at my Uncle's house along with the rest of my diving gear). Our relationship went down hill from there!

My last sailboat, a Catalina 22, was named "Kalelee" - a combination of my two childerens middle names.

[DLowe]

"Terrapin"

The latest in a long line of boats named after Grateful Dead songs. Just finishing up a 14 skiff which will be named "Mr. Charlie."

[rbgarr]

We're getting this boat in two weeks or so. She'll be renamed Diana IV. There have been three previous Dianas in the family dating back to a coasting schooner used for carrying bricks and lumber to Boston and gen'l merchandise back down east.

[SteveMSA]

My late uncle had a fibreglass Hunter 19, he named BOAT. the tender was called BOAT'S BOAT.
Whenever someone asked where he was going, the answer was "to the boat", so it made sense to call it that.

[kenjamin]

My unconventional bird-wing masted Caledonia Yawl was named Xena because my late wife and I enjoyed the television series and Xena battles convention with her birdwing mast. I'm now building a 11' 11" birdwing SCAMP and it only made sense to call the new boat, Gabrielle.

This is Xena in action:

[Dryfeet]

The mothership is Walking On Water (it's a way of life), I've had/have several dinghies. A Poohduck sailing dinghy called Tip Toe. Then I got an inflatable with an 8 hp outboard. After rowing Tip Toe, the inflatable was scary fast... it got the name, Leadfoot. I also had an 18' Heritage tandem sliding seat that was called Slipper. We've now got a pedal kayak, called...well, I can't remember what we were gonna call it,but it was in the same vein as the others. How about Webfoot?

[rvanvoris]

Boadica was my double scull, named after the warrior queen of Britian the last hold out against the Roman invaders
Boanne is my current single scull, seen in my icon. She was named after the Gaelic goddess of rivers and poets.
The River Boyne which figures so much in the history of Ulster was also named for her.
The boat I am currently working on, a 32' Friday Island Ferry which is a livaboard boat will be named Tir-na Nog
It is named after the fabeled island off the coast of Ireland. Time stopped still on Tír na Nog, one never grew old or suffered from any illness, it was always of a temperate climate neither too hot nor too cold. The flowers bloomed perpetually and never died. There was no sorrow or pain, love was eternal it was without wars or famine or any of the ills of the earth.
She will be my last boat.

[wizbang 13]

"Bingo",cuz maybe I got this one right. And apparently "wizbang" was bad luck

[johnw]

"Bingo",cuz maybe I got this one right. And apparently "wizbang" was bad luck

Or maybe not looking where you're going while going really fast is bad luck!

[kfranklin]

I've named my first (currently only) boat, a nutshell pram, the "SegFault". Since it's basically a little tender figured a joke name was in order, and I hope to build a larger boat which I shall name the "Pointer" which the SegFault will be the tender to. This is a joke for computer scientist and programmers. Basically SegFaults are a errors that arise from the poor use of a thing called a pointer, so as the old computer joke goes, the mistake is somewhere between the pointer and the SegFault.

[Tom3]

My favorite boat names are the old ones. There are dozens I love and it was hard to pick one for our present boat. It was almost FAREWELL(I still like that). We decided on CHRISTMAS instead. Not really sure why but we like winter in New England, we were married around Xmas, both our kids born close to it, I don't know.

Some people ask if we're "the" Christmas, and my wife says, "no, we're the infamous Christmas", which is true.

"The" Christmas was a Starling Burgess design, but I don't know, and doubt, it's the first sailboat named Christmas. However, "the" Christmas was changed to Arawack for some period. And that time was when we named our Christmas, so it was sort of up for grabs I figure(Arawak is now Christmas again).

With two kids, the name has always been fun, always. She's a member of the family and her name suits her well. Of course our Nutshell became part of our family too. I "named" the Nutshell with a small green Xmas tree stencil spray painted green on the stern(I thought it was way clever but the family didn't like it, too much like Prince's new name, symbol).

I suppose it was inevitable, that Eve came to someones mind, and we cut a stencil, and well, there it is, spray painted. But now EVE sticks as well and is another good true boat name like CHRISTMAS.

The thing that always bothers me is when people ask(not many, mostly non nautical types), "Why did you name your boat Christmas?", and then they usually answer with another question" Was it a Xmas gift? (hardly) For religious purposes?(hardly-hardly), etc, etc. None of these make sense to us but I don't really know what to say so ignore the question, or used to.

Then last weekend a very young kid came by in his grandfathers dinghy and said, "Hey, your boats name is CHRISTMAS, you must like holidays!"

And there's the answer to those questioners I've been looking for now for 12 years. Thanks kid!

This is Head of the Harbor up from Nantucket Harbor where it's warm enough for me to get into the water with a camera.

We were on Holiday.

[davebrown]

Bingo is a good name. I likes it. Say, is that McMullen admiring your motor along that dock?

[johnw]

Everybody admired Whizbang, even devout ragpickers like me.

[Brian W.]

I have an old Bolger Micro that is about to be re-launched. At some point in its past it was named C-YAWL LATER. The owner before me painted over that and didn't use a name at all, thus leaving me free to re-name it. I've called it DREADNOUGHT, because a Bolger Micro just has an attitude that I like.

[wizbang 13]

That is Tom Regan , Grapeview Boats,with the newest CY.

[Waddie]

"Last boat #3". No explanation needed....

regards,
Waddie

[floatingkiwi]

Mine is named 'Coot' because I aspire to become one.

LOL.

[floatingkiwi]

Further was the name of the bus that Ken Kesey and the Merry Pranksters drove across the USA in the 60s with a refridgerator full of acid and some very colourful ideas. That bus rusts on a farm North of here.
I should have been on that bus but it was not my time. The bus drove by. I missed it.
But the name is carried on Further into the future and beyond.
In the memory and spirit of the most coolest thing a small group of people have ever done with something with wheels on it, in recorded history.
Nothing lasts forever.

[Dale R. Hamilton]

Jervis Bay

You might wonder about the name Jervis Bay. In 1940 we were sending tons of war materiel to England in convoys. German submarines were taking a ruthless toll as we had no escort vessels to protect the convoys. Someone hit on the idea of equipping WWI transports with a 5”deck gun and calling them ‘armored transports’. H.M.S. Jervis Bay under command of one E.S.F. Fegan was one such transport assigned to guard convoy HX-94. On 5 November 1940 the convoy was attacked by the German raider Admiral Scheer. Fegan ordered the convoy dispersed and signaled the Admiralty that he had sighted the battlewagon and was attacking. At 5 miles, far beyond the reach of the Bay’s guns, the Scheer bracketed the brave little ship with 12” rounds. They soon found their mark and Jervis bay lost her wheelhouse and her gun crew, Fegen lost his leg, but managed to crawl to the aft steering station with the intention of ramming the raider. He never made it and predictably Jervis Bay was sunk. But the dispersed convoy was saved.

I selected that name so that when people ask, and sometimes when they don’t, I can tell them the story of that gallant little ship and her fighting Irish Master.

[Bill Hubbard]

Hi, first post, but this seemed the right thread. Building a Dix Argie 10 that will be name Ididit in a nice fan arc on the stern. The second one I'll have to see what comes into my head as I pick the design.

Cheers,
Bill

[Garret]

Hi Bill -

Fun name & welcome to the forum!

[capt j-rod]

we named our 30' steel offshore fisherman "whiskey tango foxtrot" everywhere she goes everyone asks who what where when. must be pretty boring at the helm of a sea ray.

[Prelude]

An odd story to get a boat name. We had just purchased our boat and we needed to get the documentation people the new name so the paperwork would close. The pressure was on and a weekend to decide. The kids names came easier. So as with all tough decisions, we made a list. Easy to read and say, so it's clear over the VHF, nothing obviously "cutesy", nothing impossible to pronounce, etc. List in hand we sorted and resorted. Finally a decision. Monday morning I get to work, without the list but had my "great" memory, and decide to look up the 1st name in Websters. Didn't like the definition and it was even a bit sugestive. 1st and 2nd were close so I went with 2nd. That evening I told my wife I went with the 2nd choice, "Prelude". She brought out the list and asked where on our list of names was Prelude? It wasn't.
All is well, she has been a "Prelude" to ten years of great PNW crusing.

[RFNK]

Jervis Bay

You might wonder about the name Jervis Bay. In 1940 we were sending tons of war materiel to England in convoys. German submarines were taking a ruthless toll as we had no escort vessels to protect the convoys. Someone hit on the idea of equipping WWI transports with a 5”deck gun and calling them ‘armored transports’. H.M.S. Jervis Bay under command of one E.S.F. Fegan was one such transport assigned to guard convoy HX-94. On 5 November 1940 the convoy was attacked by the German raider Admiral Scheer. Fegan ordered the convoy dispersed and signaled the Admiralty that he had sighted the battlewagon and was attacking. At 5 miles, far beyond the reach of the Bay’s guns, the Scheer bracketed the brave little ship with 12” rounds. They soon found their mark and Jervis bay lost her wheelhouse and her gun crew, Fegen lost his leg, but managed to crawl to the aft steering station with the intention of ramming the raider. He never made it and predictably Jervis Bay was sunk. But the dispersed convoy was saved.

I selected that name so that when people ask, and sometimes when they don’t, I can tell them the story of that gallant little ship and her fighting Irish Master.

Dale, you might not know that we have a Jervis Bay on the south coast of New South Wales, Australia. Jervis Bay is home to one of our naval bases. Most Australians pronounce the name as Jarvis Bay, although I think it's officially supposed to be pronounced with the er sound.

Rick

[purri]

^IIRC named after a Pommy admiral or somesuch.

[Garret]

^IIRC named after a Pommy admiral or somesuch.

As in John Jervis, First Earl of Saint Vincent?