Anyone not rename their boat?

[markpierce]

I've named all boats I've skippered: three boats, all new. The first was my Dad's Columbia Defender "Seeadler" a 28.5-foot sloop. Second was "Windsong" a Bluewater Blackwatch twenty-four-foot cutter counting outboard rudder and bowsprit, and then my current motorboat.

 

[kthoennes]

I've never quite understood a sales agreement to change the name either. Right now there are 58 different Xanadu's on Marine Traffic, everything from commercial to passenger to pleasure/recreational, sail and power. And that's just Marine Traffic, not the CG's US doc system. Even if it's a highly personal or idiosyncratic name, what prevents me from duplicating your name on the transom of my beaten-up sewage-smelling pump-out barge tomorrow?

 

[rslifkin]

I've never quite understood a sales agreement to change the name either. Right now there are 58 different Xanadu's on Marine Traffic, everything from commercial to passenger to pleasure/recreational, sail and power. And that's just Marine Traffic, not the CG's US doc system. Even if it's a highly personal or idiosyncratic name, what prevents me from duplicating your name on the transom of my beaten-up sewage-smelling pump-out barge tomorrow?

In the case of my boat, it was named after the first owner's kids, one of whom was killed in a motorcycle accident. So he didn't want anyone to keep the name when he sold the boat.

 

[PM]

I take pride in naming my boats. The names are personal, relevant, somewhat nautical and have progressed through three boats without having to resort to Roman Numerals. I'm probably on my last boat but if I ever own another I will rename it also.

Don't really have a theory on Poisiden but he has always been good to me, in spite of no renaming ceremony.

pete

 

[ofer]

I have purchased the Unicorn about 18 months ago and was sure then that i will rename her. I did some research on the name trying to understand it. I am finally starting to get it and it fits the vessel IMO.

Keeping it for now.

 

[BDofMSP]

Kept the name of our last boat, because it worked for us (a phrase we used). Changed the name of this boat because it was highly specific to the previous owner and very unusual - did NOT work for us. I get a lot of compliments on our name now, mostly because of the accompanying graphic.

 

[BruceK]

I`ve changed none, retaining Shiraz,Sundancer, Antibes, Doriana, and Sojourn. None were offensive necessitating change. I would have changed the names of some boats I considered but didn`t buy, incl. the one I rejected after Survey.

 

[Comodave]

We are selling our 23rd boat and working on buying number 24. It is getting more difficult to find names that mean something to us. But we have been able to do it so far.

 

[Sabre602]

Our boat was "Beachcrest," but had never even had a name painted on her transom. I eschew superstition and both of us disliked the name, so we renamed her. The little cove where we found her was filled with chattering kingfishers, a bird we both love, so Kingfisher it was.

My sailboat, a Bristol Channel Cutter, was a stout little ocean-going yacht designed after the Bristol Channel pilot cutters from the days of sail. Her previous name? "Nutra del Mar." Ugh... essentially "sea rodent." It was a no-brainer to give her a salty, no nonsense name: Bristol Star.

Part of my boat naming ethos has always been similar to dog names: it has to be something you can be comfortable yelling from the back porch...or saying over the radio.

 

[mvweebles]

Have changed them on previous vessels but not this one.

Mirrors X 2, dash and switch panel are all engraved
+ Aust registered ship with name and number carved into a deck beam.

When I had Weebles rewired, I replaced the main panel with a custom panel. The panel includes "Weebles" in 3/4-inch letters. I also have a sub-panel on the flybridge also with a cartouche. I hadn't thought of mirrors.....

Peter

 

[JWellington]

I've never renamed a boat or ship I've owned in almost 60 years. I was a fisherman, in my time, it was considered bad luck. I honor the old fishermen's superstitions, but probably don't really believe. Why tempt fate?

Many dont mind tempting fate, because they know superstition is irrational.

 

[Goingplaces]

I kept the name. It seemed appropriate. I would have changed it if the old one was too personal or silly.

 

[Ric in Richmond]

ANDIAMO

Since 1962. Italian for "Let's Go!" basically. Perfect.

 

[Rpbrown]

A broker changed the name of our DeFever 47 to Dream Fever quite some time ago. Seamed fitting for the design, so it has stuck through several owners. We will not be changing the name.

 

[Larry M]

We only changed the name on our third boat. The owner ordered her new from the factory. From the time he placed the order to delivery, he married a women who came with kids hence the name, "Instant Family".

Hobo, our last boat, is still Hobo as she has been since 1987. The new owner #5, isn't changing the name either.

 

[V8 BUG]

Kept the name on our boat Scarry has a nice back story

 

[Slowboattochina]

We bought a completely run-down Rhodes Swiftsure named ironically "Renaissance". After a keel up total rebuild we painted her dark green and raced her against modern boats with the name Dinosaur.

We then bought a 50' John Alden designed 1941 swordfishing yacht named "Relaxer" It always made me think of XLAX. After rebuilding her we named her "Bungalow" because that is what we used her for. Anchored off somebody's beach.

Our current boat is a replica of a 1920's motorsailer 46'. Ed Monk Jr. the designer named her "Gatsby" but the owner that commissioned her named her "Vagrant II". In today's climate a yacht named after a homeless person seems in bad taste so since we are on Long Island where The Great Gatsby takes place we figured Neptune would understand.

 

[PNW Drifter]

Second Wind just didn’t resonate with me. Not a sailboat, and not particularly original, and its on the top ten list of most common boat names.

Henceforth, my vessel shall be known as “The Vessel Formerly Known As Second Wind”, aka TVFKASW.

Wizard shall be stencilled on at some point in the future.

 

[UrsusMaritimus]

On our current boat, we kept the name. We intended to change it, but didn't do it right away, and over time it grew on us.

The boat we had before this one was named "Purple Rain" when we bought it, complete with metallic vinyl purple lettering. I actually like Prince's music, but couldn't quite see myself having a boat with that name.

 

[Alisske]

I grew up commercial fishing and never renamed any boats until about 10 years ago. (I had some boats, but they came without a name, or we redid them and simply removed the physical name, but never gave the boat a name.) The boats name referred to drinking that may have been cool in 1980. Since only 250 of the boats were made, and they are sorta difficult to come by, I bought it and removed the name. (If there were more available, I would have even passed on that one)

That being said, I am a bit superstitious (anyone that has been out in a boat in horrible conditions, unsure if they were going to see land again, becomes a bit superstitious, lol)

I did the name removal ceremony before i was taking my boat on a 20 hour shakedown cruise to Nantucket and figured we could have fun renaming her while away for a few weeks.

I sorta did it on the sly, with no one around (thought I would be laughed out of the harbor). It in involved removal of all old names from the boat, saying some stuff, and then dropping a piece of bronze in the water with the boats old name on it so Poseidon would know to remove it from his manifest….yada yada…..

You can google it, but I was given the instruction from an old harbor master that has since passed.

If your going to own a boat, then “own” it by making it yours with a name (IMHO)

Good luck in any case.

 

[Slider70]

So far in my boating life, five boats large enough to name have owned me - 26' to 42'. If the name of the vessel was sensible to me, and suitable to the vessel, it stayed. If not I re-named her. So, 3 out to 5 retained their names. The other two got a name change to a more appropriate one for their individual personality or simply my likes.

 

[rwaldrop13]

It seems most used boat buyers (I'm guessing around 90%) rename their boat. I am likely in the minority and kept our boat's name--it had a really interesting back story and I'd rather not anger Poseidon Fortunately, the name was not vulgar or overly personalized.

I am curious if anyone here kept their boat's name and why.

When we first started our search, my wife and I fully intended to carry out the renaming ceremony (even printed it out). However, when we found PAU HANA, we decided without even discussing it to keep the name. It's Hawaiian for "Time after work" or "Time away from work". Short version? Hawaiian Happy Hour! We decided it was the perfect name for our dream and adventure, as we've both worked hard to get here and while she's still working full time, I am working on readying our boat for full-time cruising in 3-4 years. This way we can take our time with updates/upgrades, learning the boat, and hopefully getting our 2 adult children to strike out on their own (What is with kids today thinking we're supposed to carry them indefinitely?) And while we're at it, "Hey you kids, get off my... BOAT!" I bet you thought I was going to say lawn, right? Well, we will have a small patch of turf onboard for the dog. Anyway, that's our story. We kept the name.

 

[TrawlerBear]

It seems most used boat buyers (I'm guessing around 90%) rename their boat. I am likely in the minority and kept our boat's name--it had a really interesting back story and I'd rather not anger Poseidon Fortunately, the name was not vulgar or overly personalized.

I am curious if anyone here kept their boat's name and why.

I had fully planned to change to one of the names we had selected. But the 2016 boat we fell in love in 2020 with was named "Tanuki." This is a Japanese Raccoon Dog, known for its mischievousness, pranks, wisdom and foolishness. It's a real animal but also figures in Japanese mythology. Loved all of that and between being a fan of Japanese culture and not wanting to annoy the undersea gods we decided to keep it. Admittedly, Tanukis are a little like me! We have had no second thoughts. If you love the name, why not keep it?

 

[Nepidae]

Anyone not rename their boat.

I really like these easy questions.

When we bought our '86 in '10 the previous & only other owner had not named her. He really didn't used the boat much either as evidenced by the fact there was less than 500hr on the Hobbs meters.

We held a competion with friends for a name, none were acceptable (Slowpoke and similar).

My mate 1 day while searching the internet found our name, Nepidae.

Last I looked, still the only 1 with that name.

 

[Lostsailor13]

My willard has had the same name since 1962 no need to change it at this point

 

[Mr. Blu]

Mr. Blu and Kairos

My first motoryacht was a President 385 Sundeck named Kairos, after one of the two sons of Zeus. He is the god of the moment that you have to grab (his brother is the more renowned God of time Chronos).It happened that the name of Kairos is very well known in the surroundings of Split in Croatia where we stayed for nine years.The only known image in the world of Kairos is to be found in a nearby monastery of sisters in the city of Trogir. Kairos is also often used for psychiatric institutions. Well it was often a mad house on board.


Mr Blu was given by the P O. of our Beneteau ST 52. (I understand that it was some sort of nickname) We decided to keep that name because the P.O. had it marked all over the boat in metal letters and removing them would be very damaging. And I like short and clear names over the VHF.

 

[arthurn]

I have done both. My first two boats were new and small so we, (my wife and I) named them. The next two were used and my family had fun renaming them to be more suited to our family. On our most recent purchase we decided to keep the name "Brown Eyed Girl". It's a great song and both my wife and daughter have brown eyes so it seemed to fit.

 

[TFolwell]

I am retired and my wife is going to be retired in 9 months. She is an airline pilot, and I am a retired airline pilot, and we are having a Cutwater 30 built. When we pick it up, we are going to do the Great Loop from Florida up the Hudson and thru the Great Lakes and down the river system to Florida. We have done a lot of motorcycle traveling in N America but we haven’t owned a boat so we thought we should get a boat. We have decided to name the boat, “Last Pairing” since we will no longer be flying airplanes as a job. If you haven’t been in the airline business, this name probably will not mean anything; however, for us, this boat will be a new adventure.
Tom Folwell

 

[KlepsAK]

Our boat was named after a marine creature that sticks to rocks. I thought renaming was prudent.

 

[rcsomany]

We are on our third (and last) Gypsy Cloud. All three had names that had meaning to the previous owner but not to us so we felt compelled to rename.
GC1 was named after a Danish island in the Baltic that would have had to be spelled out when communicated by voice. GC2's previous owner apparently didn't connect his Blackwater to black water. GC3 had a very nice Irish name but meant little to us without an Irish heritage.
Poseidon seems to have accepted our rationale - so far, anyway.
There seem to be many Gypsy Something and Something Gypsy but I like it that we find only one Gypsy Cloud on marinetraffic.com.
However, it did surprise us how often we have to spell out Gypsy.