transom etiquette

[Crazymonkey]

We do custom Vinyl work and cut names for people to apply all the time. M/V is assumed based on your boat but like said before, if you included it to the Coast Guard they will most likely not make the assumption and just put it as you wrote it. With that in mind, it needs to appear on your boat just as you supplied it to the coast guard.

Hope this and other have helped

 

[Chrisjs]

No matter how the name is spelled, with or without MV, MY or SV, one important consideration is to make sure the name is readable and not obscured by a hanging dinghy or other blocking item.

 

[jeffg]

Also, make sure you meet the Coast Guard required height of the lettering for your boat name and hailing port. The minimum height for lettering is 4" for both the name and hailing port.

I was boarded once and they actually measured my hailing port letters. Thankfully, I was OK.

 

[rgano]

i think my pretentious ass is going to put it on. Thanks for all the imput. M/V Windward out.

As long as it makes you happy.

 

[garychurch]

You need the name of the vessel as documented as well as a hailing port on the transom.


Note that the hailing port does not have to be a home port but a location with the US, it's territories posessions.

 

[CDreamer]

Motor Yachts

KThoennes, (et al)

My observation is that with most trawlers - or even other cruising powerboat designs - the designation "Motor Yacht" is consistently used by the manufacturers for the ones with aft cabin "roofs" that carry all the way to the rails & transom (no side deck aft of the saloon, and no cockpit).

For example, a Grand Banks labeled as GB 46MY has a wider master stateroom than a "Classic", with no side decks back there.

 

[captgs]

We just put our new name on the transom. the boat is named M/V Windward. my question is where does the M/V go?

On the paperwork
It is not the practice in the maritime world to paint MV or SS on a ship
Just the name and hailing port
When I see it occasionally it looks just incorrect!
45 years on commercial vessels and a few yachts!

 

[CTP]

Imagine my consternation having just bought a boat that has "H.M.S." before the name on the transom. And not just in stick-on lettering, but a large custom carved wooden sign!



M/V in stickers would be WAY less pretentious than this!

 

[emptydel1]

1. i have been on and around boats all my life also

2. i was just joking.

3. i do apperciate all the good advice.

4. i put the M/V on crooked and took it off, thats why i was wondering if it was even necessary.
5. thanks again and i will NOT be ordering a new one. Windward out.

 

[Tingum]

Emptydel, whatever you put on the transom is up to you, however please do not refer to your boat as Motor Vessel on the radio. You will cause some innocent tow boat Captain to have a hernia laughing!

 

[BrianSmith]

Windward is the name and M/V is the description when the boat can’t be seen, such as on the radio. Put Windward on there; I guarantee no one, including the CG, will complain that MV isn’t on the transom, even if you made it part of the name on the doc.
Make sure the MV is removable if you do put it on; you will want it gone after you spend more time in the boat world.

Yeah, what he said. ^^^

 

[FF]

Some folks use RV (research vessel) as they think it will get them something , don't know what.

 

[BeeJay]

Does all this mean that I should be painting over the words - “super dooper yacht” on the transom of my small, almost trawler this weekend?

 

[firstbase]

I don't think so. I think any power driven vessel that uses an internal combustion engine, or I guess an electric motor for propulsion could be called a motor vessel.

I actually always thought of it as one of the less pretentious identifiers. Motor Yacht sounds more stuffy to me. Pleasure Craft is another one I don't like saying. Power Boat maybe?

To the OP: I'd leave the M/V off myself, but whatever makes you happy!

EDIT/DELETE, should have read the rest of the post before responding. Hate when that happens.

 

[Jacques Burgalat]

According to what the C.G. told me, the name of a documented vessel doesn't necessarily have to appear on the transom, but it's got to be visible at all times.

Since Neeltje's bulbous butt is split in two by her oversized rudder, I opted to put her name on the cockpit walls, and her hailing port on either side of said rudder (Palatka / Florida) after her re-paint, and nobody's complained about it yet.

As far as hailing a bridge or marina is concerned, I started our maiden trip up the I.C.W. from Dania beach hailing them as "This is the Dutch Tjalk Neeltje", but after a days worth of bridges and marinas had consistently answered, "Sorry, we don't speak Greek, please repeat", I eventually switched to:

"This is the 64-foot wooden shoe with a telephone pole in the middle, coming your way from the South."

If nothing else, it avoided the bridge tenders from confusing me with any comparably sized Donzi or Cigarette in the area...

PS - WifeyB: Even with that outdated pink bikini, you don't look a day over 39...

 

[firstbase]

According to what the C.G. told me, the name of a documented vessel doesn't necessarily have to appear on the transom, but it's got to be visible at all times.

Since Neeltje's bulbous butt is split in two by her oversized rudder, I opted to put her name on the cockpit walls, and her hailing port on either side of said rudder (Palatka / Florida) after her re-paint, and nobody's complained about it yet.

As far as hailing a bridge or marina is concerned, I started our maiden trip up the I.C.W. from Dania beach hailing them as "This is the Dutch Tjalk Neeltje", but after a days worth of bridges and marinas had consistently answered, "Sorry, we don't speak Greek, please repeat", I eventually switched to:

"This is the 64-foot wooden shoe with a telephone pole in the middle, coming your way from the South."

If nothing else, it avoided the bridge tenders from confusing me with any comparably sized Donzi or Cigarette in the area...

PS - WifeyB: Even with that outdated pink bikini, you don't look a day over 39...

You meant "64-foot Sailing Vessel Wooden Shoe" right?

 

[firstbase]

Anyone use the term "Trawler <boat name>" instead of "Motor Vessel" for bridges, etc?

 

[psneeld]

All the time, they either know or don't care what a trawler is.

They aren't as uptight as some TFers ...


Then again most experienced boaters I know recognize a traveler too.

 

[Chrisjs]

Unless you actually own a trawler many people associate the word "trawler' with a fishing vessel (one that trawls (drags) a net along to catch fish), so bridge tender imay be looking for a vessel with nets!!

 

[Jacques Burgalat]

Anyone use the term "Trawler <boat name>" instead of "Motor Vessel" for bridges, etc?

In my very limited experience with bridge tenders (maybe 30 in all) between Fort Lauderdale and Saint Augustine, I don't recall any other boats around me adding a prefix to their name when and if they called. Many of the bridges we encountered had well established opening schedules, and those that opened on demand often did so either when they saw you approaching, or, in a couple of cases, following a couple of air horn blasts.

The only time I took issue with a bridge keeper was when he told me to pull up as close as possible to his busy bridge before he'd open it, and I had to do so in full reverse to keep the 6-knot tide from behind from pushing me into it when he finally did. My mast missed one of the spans by inches, and no explicatives were spared during the ensuing conversation...

 

[psneeld]

What bridge had a six knot current? I would like to be ready for that one.

 

[dacap06]

Transome Etiquette

I quickly scanned the responses to OP's question and was surprised no one cited the USCG definition of a motor vessel (hope I didn't miss it). According to CFR 24.10-1:

Motor vessel means any vessel more than 65 feet in length, which is propelled by machinery other than steam.

Also according to CFR 24.10-1, a vessel 65 feet or less powered by an engine is a Motor Boat

Interestingly the Cornell Law School has the pertinent page on line at https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/46/24.10-1

I There are four categories to Motorboat length. They, and more details, can be found by searching the URL above for "Motor Vessel"

I agree with the majority of responders. Calling a Jefferson 45 a Motor Vessel seems not only pretentious but simply wrong according to the definition. FWIW, I call my Jefferson 42 Sun Deck a motor yacht. To my knowledge that is not a term with a legal definition, but it's a pretty good description of its design.

Regards,

Tom

 

[ForceMultiplier]

Curious - what is a 21' center console supposed to be called? Motor vessel?

 

[Jacques Burgalat]

What bridge had a six knot current? I would like to be ready for that one.

Did you ever hear the story about the sardine that blocked the Port of Marseille? Well, that's where I'm from, so maybe it wasn't quite 6 knots...

As I recall, it was somewhere north of Palm Beach, where the island is so narrow that you can see the ocean from the ICW through the trees, and the open-on-demand bridge is about a quarter mile north of the nearest inlet to the South.

Truth be told, Dutch Tjalks are good in open water (under sail and leeboards) and in flat water canals (under power). Not so much where currents tend to turn their flat bottom into a floating Frisbee, and prop effect and rudder control do absolutely nothing when in reverse.

The incoming tide, and being underpowered to begin with, incited me to warn the bridge keeper that I was being pushed towards him and could not "hold up to the bridge" like he'd asked me to.

His response was to hang tight and that he only had a couple of more cars to get through before he opened. Note that not single car had crossed the bridge since the beginning, and that none seemed to be coming our way in the foreseeable future.

When Neeltje started drifting sideways a few hundred yards from the bridge while still in reverse, all I could think to do was to slam her in forward and hopefully straighten her out before she banged into the pilings, even if it meant loosing part of her telephone pole in the process.

Seconds later, the bridge started to open, and by the time we got there, a 10-ft wide gap between the spans was enough to let the mast and rigging go through by no fault of my own.

 

[ProMaritime]

M/V, S/V, F/V are not typically placed on the exterior of a boat, just the boat name, hailing port, state or country.
You should put the appropriate one on your tee-shirts though.

 

[HiDHo]

IMO the inland lock masters don’t care much about M/V they do want to know if your a PC Pleasure Craft. Some log in your registration or documentation #’s.
Once on the Tenn Tom the lock master after closed the doors, call each PC for identification, shortly there after one PC was boarded by LEO’s. So I think the lock masters also have a BOLO list.

 

[menzies]

We just put our new name on the transom. the boat is named M/V Windward. my question is where does the M/V go?

Have you received the certificate from the CG yet?

 

[Northern Spy]

MV usually implies commercial or merchant. As does MS, FV, MT, etc...

If I heard that on the radio, I'd be looking for a small ship or larger.

Either that or I'd be looking for the guy dressed like Ted Knight in Caddyshack.

 

[psneeld]

MV usually implies commercial or merchant. As does MS, FV, MT, etc...

If I heard that on the radio, I'd be looking for a small ship or larger.

Either that or I'd be looking for the guy dressed like Ted Knight in Caddyshack.

Heck you just might see some looking like that...well maybe sounding like that...

 

[menzies]

What bridge had a six knot current? I would like to be ready for that one.

BTW, the Atlantic Blvd Bridge in JAX Beach gets damn close to that during a spring tide. A real nasty piece of work. It can throw up 3-4 foot waves on the down stream bridge exit.

Only other piece of water I know that does that is Current Cut in Eleuthera - aptly named.