I'm in the process of renaming my boat. I have read through the USCG regs for this but I am still not sure what I am allowed to do. I will attach a couple photos of the stern of my boat which is obviously where this will be applied. The boat is USCG documented so that's the info I need. The current name and hailing port are below the rear hatch. I want the new name and logo only to be beneath the hatch with the hailing port ABOVE the hatch. Am I allowed to position it this way??
This may help, but at the end of the day there is nothing stopping you from doing that. https://www.boatus.com/products-and-services/boat-lettering/uscg-requirements#:~:text=The name may not be,in height (all characters). The only thing is the Hailing port, that is where you keep you boat. Meaning it is a "port of call". And is not the town you live in. Although everyone and their brother uses the town they live in as the port of call. For example, for me the port name is Kent Narrows, it is a location in Grasonville. I have Kent Narrows on my stern under the boat name. Sometimes the port of call does match the town you live in however, then that is fine. As was the case for me before this. Stony Brook was a the port of call and also the town I lived in.
The regs just say name and port must be "together". As to whether above and below a hatch are considered together, it's probably subject to interpretation. That said, I can't imagine you'd catch any flack for it. Any boarding party is going to be more concerned with things like blood-alcohol level and proper safety equipment. Do me a favor though. Add some dirt and scuff marks to your boat. You're makin' us look bad.
Thanks for the compliment. I bought this boat for that very reason. It's a 1999 and in extremely good condition. Kept in freshwater under a covered slip up until 2 years ago. Low hours and several upgrades. Of course I paid too much for it Anyway I decided that I'm going with this. Having it done next week.
I thought the purpose of the hailing port was to make the boat name unique. Not an expert, but didn't think hailing port had to match where the boat was kept.
Not an expert on this either but was reading up on this years ago and read that this comes from the days when sailing ships needed to be identified as to where there ship was from, meaning which port or where on the water the ship was birthed. If you go back to the days of real sailing ships they only used names and flags as identification and the name could not be duplicated anywhere. The English/Spanish/French kept registries on this and is what turned into todays Documented Vessel(s) as this is world wide. Lloyd's of London use to keep track of all of this. Today I think they are just insurance. But today this has been lost, the whole Hailing port on your document can be any place with an address. What I mentioned above is just what it use to be and was a just a standard but not a rule. So you are correct, it is not a law or regulation and just a guide line. It couldn't make them unique, there can be as many boats with the same name and port as there are boat's in that port. It really has no meaning today as everyone including the USCG over looks this. The whole purpose of this has been lost for decades.
