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Show me your transom decals

Geoff W.

Makes Up For It With Enthusiasm
Blogs Author
Hi folks,

My friend just finished designing the new name for my boat so now I'm looking at transom placement for the decal...sizing, location, etc for my E32-3. The backstay chainplate as well as the swim ladder get in the general area of where the decal would go, so I'm curious how everyone with transom name decals has theirs configured. If you have pics of the name (I KNOW you do) could you show them off for me?
 

Bolo

Contributing Partner
Boat name on the side, not the stern

Hi folks,

My friend just finished designing the new name for my boat so now I'm looking at transom placement for the decal...sizing, location, etc for my E32-3. The backstay chainplate as well as the swim ladder get in the general area of where the decal would go, so I'm curious how everyone with transom name decals has theirs configured. If you have pics of the name (I KNOW you do) could you show them off for me?

I stripped off the boat graphics on our 32-3 early this year when I had an extensive polish job done to the hull. I took that time to have the boat graphics redone. Instead of putting the same graphic on the stern I opted to getting a bit bold and putting the boat name in big letters on the port and starboard sides along with our port in smaller letters. My thinking was that it would be easier for someone to see the boat name and radio me for whatever reason and that happened three times this year. So what to do with all that space on the stern? I had a large Ericson Viking logo made for it.

IMG_1053.jpg
 

Geoff W.

Makes Up For It With Enthusiasm
Blogs Author
Port/starboard vs. transom is something i'm wrestling with right now. I like using the real estate in the back, but if I ever installed a wind vane or similar it'd get pretty crowded.

I love the white letters for city/state over the boat name - looks very nice.
 

Kevin A Wright

Member III
I also went with Port/Stbd for the boat name on my E35 III. Put the hailing port on the transom. Sorry no good pics though.

Kevin Wright
E35 Hydro Therapy
 

toddster

Curator of Broken Parts
Blogs Author
The only regulation about this - and it only applies to Coast Guard registered boats - is that the hailing port has to be on the stern in letters (IIRC) 4" high or bigger.

I used the cove stripe to frame the name, and used a relatively "fat" font so that it could be read from a distance. Used the same font for the registration numbers - though I waited until the registration decal expired because I couldn't move it non-destructively. They look small in the thumbnails, but they really can be read from pretty far away.

IMG_1384.jpgIMG_1609.jpg

Oh, and I did the transom too. It looks a little desperate, (See me! See me!) but due to an ordering error, I had an extra 'Arcturus'. As you noted, the COTB interferes with this location. At least for a boat of Arcturus's size. During this winter's haul-out, I'm moving the ladder over one width to port, and installing the mounting brackets for the wind vane on center, which will land right in the middle of the lettering. I also discovered the need to add two fixed rungs on the transom, which will land in between the ladder rungs in the folded position, but will make a smooth continuous climb in the deployed position. And if I can scrape up the boat bucks, I might even get an external chainplate added in there. I'll probably get out a hair drier and remove the letters. Then see if there's any room left to place new ones.

IMG_1924.jpg
 

Geoff W.

Makes Up For It With Enthusiasm
Blogs Author
The only regulation about this - and it only applies to Coast Guard registered boats - is that the hailing port has to be on the stern in letters (IIRC) 4" high or bigger.

From some googling, the hailing-port-on-stern requirement is for commercial vessels, but you're correct that all letters must be 4" or higher. (I looked here: https://www.boatus.com/boatgraphics/uscg-requirements.asp)

Sounds like you're going to make your transom look a lot like how mine is now. The wind vane is a big consideration for me...I'm now leaning towards name only on port/starboard and hailing port only on the transom.
 

bgary

Advanced Beginner
Blogs Author
DSC_1303sc.jpg
Name on both sides. hailing port on the transom,

I originally had the hailing port centered above the backstay, but ... it sorta looked like a "tramp stamp", which wasn't really the look I was going for.
 

Kenneth K

1985 32-3, Puget Sound
Blogs Author
Unchanged since original owner, I believe.
 

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Loren Beach

O34 - Portland, OR
Senior Moderator
Blogs Author
"First Look"

Great new name on a pristine E-32-3 in our marina.
(Jimmy Buffet fans will like this one...)
 

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Christian Williams

E381 - Los Angeles
Senior Moderator
Blogs Author
They all look great. Bruce and I have our name on the aft topsides, and hailing port on the stern (And First Look, in Loren's photo above).. This is technically improper, with a long prison term if we are caught. USCG says name and port to be located together, as I recall.

BY the way, if you inherit a yacht with a large vinyl device on the transom, and it has been there a while, it is very likely that the gelcoat shadow is profound. The shadow is proud of the surface, the unprotected gelcoat around it wears away over the years.

I was quite startled to see that on the current boat, and there was no way to get rid of it or ignore it. The easy solution was to sand the transom gelcoat flat and paint with Awlgrip before applying the new name.
 
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Loren Beach

O34 - Portland, OR
Senior Moderator
Blogs Author
To pick a nit....
The USCG will not be interested in the posted name unless you are a Documented vessel. Given that our OR registration is accepted without question when in BC waters, most of us forgo the documentation procedure. Of course trips to Mexico will call for documentation.
 

Geoff W.

Makes Up For It With Enthusiasm
Blogs Author
So my boat actually is documented. What's the "real" issue if I get "caught" having the hailing port and name separate on the boat? Just a fine, or they'll make sure to be extra thorough during a boarding search?
 

Christian Williams

E381 - Los Angeles
Senior Moderator
Blogs Author
My sense is that the USCG has better things to do these days. If boarded, they run a checklist and I doubt the name/hailing port placement is on it. Generally it's just "fix that" -- as in the typical case of expired flares, or no throwable floatation. My personal theory is that we are boarded for crew practice, which I think is a good thing. It is not so easy to board a sailboat in a seaway from a dinghy while armed, and it's an elaborate procedure for a cutter to launch and retrieve crews and coordinate and communicate with radios and laptops. Only practical experience can teach young crewman how to deal with a plunging yacht, get on and off safely, have an effective human exchange with irritated or fearful (or guilty) subjects, and so on. Most boarding crews are in some training stage anyhow. Yeah, I know, this is kinda off-topic--but my videos draw a lot of red-faced outrage over "what right do they have to stop you and search you without persmission!" Well, they do, of course: the USCG is the chief fed law enforcement arm on the water, with full arrest powers. But nobody gets promoted for writing up yacht hailing port placements--Homeland Security is what they are up to, drugs, lone wolves, and terrorists. Especially around here, on the border with Mexico.

My excuse for ignoring the "name and hailing port together" rule for documented* vessels is mere aesthetics. If challenged, I'll change it. But I'm 500 yards from the MDR USCG station, interact with them periodically, and get nothing but good cheer.

There is actually a pretty good reason for yacht name on the transom rather than topsides. A overtaking boat can't hail you by name if they can't see the name.

* Most boats over 35 feet around me are documented. It means not dealing with Cal registration numbers and stickers on the bow, and annual renewal is a single form. The lifeguards, dockmasters and marina managers are alert to expired state regis stickers, as cops are to the sticker on a car license plate.
 
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Kevin A Wright

Member III
I can confirm that Christian. The one and only time I've been boarded by the USCG for a check was on my way back to Port Townsend after buying my E35. O Barquinho had her name prominently on the sides and hailing port on the stern. No mention of it at all and they were quite thorough.

More embarrassing was the fact that this was the first sail on this boat for me, and I'd been on board for about 30 minutes total before I bought her, so much of the trip was filled with "finding where things are". Like what valve did what (took a day to figure out the propane for the stove). The first thing the USCG does upon boarding is ask to see the bilge (they have a checklist)- they want to make sure you aren't sinking before they risk their people. On my E27 that was the hatch at the bottom of the companionway stairs. Unfortunately on the E35 that hatch is the dust bin for sweeping. Didn't make her new captain look very good. Only thing they got me on was my fire extinguishers had not had an annual check, but let me off with a warning since I had the paperwork saying I'd just bought the thing. All in all they were quite professional and congenial.

In WA documentation gets you out of having State registration numbers on the bow, but doesn't get you out of the registration decal there. They want to make sure they get their tax money.

Kevin Wright
E35 Hydro Therapy
 
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