Name change

We are ready to change the name on our "new" trawler. I have two questions

1. What are the rituals associated with name changes?

2. How do I remove the glue and the shadow of the old name off?

The rituals are whatever you want them to be. Our ritual for changing the name of our boat when we bought it was an orbital sander, a heat gun, and some citrus cleaner.

Other people get all weepy eyed over the process and chant things and make offers and break bottles of perfectly good wine or whatever under the delusion that the boat actually gives a crap what you call it.

If you subscribe to the anthropomorphism of inanimate obects like boats there are plenty of detailed descriptions of the various "rituals" you that can find in the search archives of this forum. Or Google it--- you'll find descriptions there, too.

We found a heat gun applied LIGHTLY and a citrus cleaner like Citrix does a good job of removing old vinyl lettering, glue residue, etc. from gelcoat. If you're concerned about appying too much heat, use a hair dryer instead.

Thanks guru,

After looking at some of the names given, I agree that the boat could not care or they would be embarrassed!
I will try the citrus cleaner and drink the wine.

Greetings,
Mr. Marin. Blasphemy!!! May Poseidon forgive you...

Renaming Your Boat - BoatSafe.com

For the shadowing we used a product called "Totally Buff" to cut some of the oxidation on the rest of the transom (it helped but didn't get it perfectly matched), then use your preferred wax. You will still likely have some shadowing but when you apply the new name it isn't nearly as noticeable.

http://www.fountainofyouthrestore.com/Fountain_of_Youth-Home_of_Power_One/FOY_-_Totally_Buff.html

I'm with Marin. I am not superstitious and don't think the boogieman will smack me down for ditching the piece of crap name our boat came with. However, Bess feels differently and we, for lack of a better way to describe it, made up our own ceremony. Tequila and some random mumblings seemed to do the trick for her. Now Southern Comfort is Skinny Dippin'.

That's my story and I'm stickin' wid-dit.

Tom-

Takeitesea said:

Thanks guru,

Click to expand...

Just to set the record straight I know a lot of stuff about a lot of things, particularly floatplanes and Boeing and what a dumb place Hawaii is to live. But the only things I know about boating are what I have either experienced myself with the two boats I've been most involved with or what I learned from other people who I've judged to have problably forgotten more about boats and boating than I can ever hope to know.

So I am by no stretch of the imagination a "guru" when it comes to boating. If you don't know this already those titles--- newbie, member, senior member, and guru--- are applied strictly on the basis of how many times a participant has posted to the forum. I have no clue what the limit numbers are but at least in my case the titles have nothing to do with actually knowing anything.

I have seen stuff after a career in the Navy.. Poseidon and Neptune are NOT to be trifled with! Dename your boat and and ask for the same passage for your new to be named vessel. Then toast the gods of wind and sea and ask for protection of your new boat.. then simple christen her.
Marin is right.. Heat gun GENTLY will work.. took off the hidious former name of my vessel.

oh and Congrats! Whats the new name?

oh and DONT say the new boat name while the old boat is still so named.. its a superstition for sure by Stevie sang all about it!

Ceremony is part of the fun. Have a party!



It's an opportunity to meet interesting people.

Boat renaming at my marina a couple years ago:

As far as the physical part of removing decals, a heat gun is the best way but it takes some practice. Don't just heat a spot, heat a large section of the decal. A plastic scraper is the best thing to use to lift one edge, then pull and heat, keeping a large section (a foot or so if the decal is that big) warm.

Done correctly, the decal will come off with the glue intact. Too cool and the decal will tear or the glue will remain on the gelcoat.

Acetone and paper towels are good for removing any remaining glue.

As for removing the shadow or "ghost" left by the decal, the answer is, you can't. The ghost is the area of gelcoat that has been protected from weathering by the decal. The surrounding area wasn't protected. You can't make the area under the decal look like the rest of the boat, the only thing you can do is try your best to make the rest of the boat look like the area that was protected by the decal.

So, start with an agressive "fiberglass restore" product. If that doesn't work, move to rubbing compound. If that doesn't work, wet sanding is all that is left.

You may be able to blend the affected area in or you may have to do an entire section of the boat (like the transom).

48° Vigor's Interdenominational Boat Denaming Ceremony

Renaming Your Boat - BoatSafe.com

My boat was named "HIGH COTTON" when I bought it and my wife and I figured that was a pretty good name so that's what it's named still today. No thoughts of changing it.

The new name for the boat is Take It E-Sea. The name comes from an expression started by my father many years ago. He wanted us to be careful so he said,
"take it easy". He was thrilled when he saw it in our first boat.

Here's a link to the thread of a similar discussion last year.

http://www.trawlerforum.com/forums/s3/changing-boat-name-4664.html

I hope you have some Eagles (Take It Easy) on your playlist for the christening party!!

Eagles - Take It Easy - YouTube

Don,
I like the new name!!!! Congrats again my friend- very excited for you all!

P.S. If you haven't put two and two together I just did a moment ago- this is Tony from Watermark! Super nice to see you on trawler forum!!!