Documentation lettering question

[Roger Long]

Gee. I guess that, if I lived in Louisiana, I would have to yield on my preference for not using a state abbrieviation.

Tell me though, does that "a" count as a 4 inch letter?

That does bring up another question. Type faces are referred to by the size of their capitals. I wonder if I could get away with this:

 

[Tim R.]

Looks good to me Roger. I think you are being way more fussy than the CG would. All of my letternig is based on captial letters.

 

[Al - s/v Persephone]

Roger -

Unlike you I have a large stern, but to avoid ugly (in my opinion) placement I had to fit my lettering in spaces with just barely sufficient height, and width that standard typefaces wouldn't fit.

The solution was to have the lettering decal shop's draftsman use their CAD system to "Kern" the lettering by keeping constant (legal) height and shrinking width.

This intentional distortion plus creativity in mixing upper and lower case letters yielded the result in the attached photo.

 

[Maine Sail]

I've had four of my boats

I've had four of my boats USCG safety inspected and not once did they call me out on name or hailing port issues even though they stared right at them and wrote down the name and hailing port. On one boat the name and hailing port were separated and on three others the hailing port was less than 4".... Don't stress too much over it and if you need to make the hailing port a little smaller than 4" I would not lose sleep over it.

This boat was inspected and clearly in violation they said nothing:

This boat was inspected and clearly in violation they said nothing:

 

[Chris Burti]

Pardon a small sermon but this is too good a resource for me not to try to elevate it a bit where it is not up to its usual standards. Look folks, the law isn't ambiguous even if it is broadly ignored. Speedng laws are not enforced and people roll through stop signs all the time...that doesn't make it OK to do those things...Do you tell your children it is OK to smoke pot as long as they don't get caught? When posting to the list, I believe it is better to give the correct information and let the owner choose to follow it or ignore it. I don't think it is appropriate to suggest that it is OK to break the law in order whether to justify one's own choice to ignore it or because we don't like complying with it. Let us aspire to set higher standards.

FWIW There is adequate room on the walk through transom of a Catalina 320 to place "Commitment" and "Washington, NC" legally on the transom with simple 4" block graphics. I do have the larger stylish grphics on the stern quarters also, but that is perfectly legal.

As to the question of installing the Documentation number in a lazarette, the following exchange between the Coast Guard and me may prove helpful. I also keep a print out of it with my Documentation certificate for inspection if the question should arise.

-----Original Message-----
From: Chris Burti
Sent: Thursday, June 19, 2003 10:25 AM
To: JJQUINN@NVDC.USCG.MIL
Subject: Documentation

Is a readily visible point near the top of the inside a large cockpit locker
an acceptable location for the documentation number as a specified "clearly
visible interior structural part of the hull"?

Chris Burti

-----Original Message-----
From: Harmon, Denise
Sent: Friday, June 20, 2003 8:10 AM
To: 'chris@xxx.com'
Subject: RE: Documentation

If the cockpit locker is a part of the interior hull and it's clearly
visible, it will be acceptable.

 

[kloudie1]

Documentation Lettering

Nice to have a wide....uuuhhhh... transom! Plenty space except when I saw this picture, I realized that I didn't have the state, even abbreviated.. OOPS .. It will be placed just below the port name.. I promise, Chris.. It has been that way since '91 thru several Coastie inspections.. but you are right that is not an excuse for poor example..

 

[Chris Burti]

Re: Documentation Lettering

Of course, you have an enormous billboard space...once you get over letting the boarding ladder dictate your choices. a little imagination, finesse and creative spacing will leave a lot of room to play with on such a transom. I'll try to dig up a photo of Commitment's derriere.

 

[Ron20324]

Roger, I doubt that inside the engine cover would satisfy the CG requirements of "...clearly visible...", but I'm sure that's open for personal interpretation. Likewise, a number on a part of a "non-structural" hull LINER could be cut out by thieves, and some other fake number put elsewhere. You showing the CG where you put the number is one thing, but I think where the Doc number would most likely come into play is when a boat is stolen and the lawman wants to see the number- not messed with. I agree with the idea of putting it in two places, one somewhat hidden.

All, please note that in my previous posting I quoted the CG letter, and it does not say RECREATION vessels need the stern name/port, but it does specify COMMERCIAL vessels need the name and port on the stern.

 

[ITMaster]

Here is a pic of mine Roger. I've been through several Coast Guard Inspections and had no problem with this. I'm not real certain, but I don't think the hailing port letters are up to the regulation, yet I have never had a problem with them like they are. Guess now that I've said something about it that I will.

After looking at your transom and your sketch, I see how you've very little room to work with.

 

[Roger Long]

How about this?

I was looking at the transom today while heat gunning and scraping the old name off. I think now I'm going to just put the name on like the wind vane tower wasn't there. The name would have been partially obscured from the port quarter anyway and I like the traditional symmetry.

Name will be 4.5 inch letters full width, hailing port 4 inch with .75 inch width factor.

Strange ghost I noticed: Despite three seasons of buffing, waxing, and weathering, the old hailing port of Ann Arbor is showing up faintly out of the diesel soot. There was no hint of it after the buffing last spring. It's my mother's birthplace so kind of cool.

 

[5nuffy]

The 4" rule goes back to the days of spyglasses to identify boats on the high seas. I have removed and/or applied hundreds of non compliant home ports and heard of only one boat owner get warned. They focus on your annual color coded decal to make sure you paid the government. The rule is minimum 4" high letters for the name and for the home port. Vinyl letters can be compacted to about 1.5" wide X 4" high if necessry. Use all capitals for consistantcy. Always try to center the name and not let a ladder or chainplate throw it off center if possible. Here are the USCG Documentation requirements. http://www.uscg.mil/hq/cg5/nvdc/nvdcfaq.asp