- Action: To Do List item B0005 – Obtain ships name and homeport stencils.
- Completed: 30 April 2021
- Cost: $117.04
There are many internet discussions and opinions about selecting or changing the name of a ship. Some folks expend great effort and time in determining the boat name that will satisfy them and their ego, reflect some level of belief, idea, or identity. Some select a name on a preconceived idea of marketing the boat name selected to promote themselves on social media with monetary end goals in mind - from reviewing boating websites this appears to be an increasing popular strategy.
The boat we purchased already had previous names Circe, Cinnamon Rose, and Modesty Blaise as identified on our History of Ownership and Vessel Names website page, with the current name now being Indra. We do not know the reason the previous owners selected the name Indra; we had never heard of this name Indra before, but it sounded interesting. A little research on the name Indra revealed it was of Hinduism or Buddhism origin; and was the name of a supreme god in their religion that was recognized for the power of thunder and lighting, and championing righteousness. In the language Sanskrit, the word Indra means “possessing drops of rain”. We decided not to change the name. We will likely change the name Indra at some point in the future.
We selected our Homeport based on our US legal resident address, Green Cove Springs, Florida. We had previously changed legal residence from California to Florida for a multitude of reasons, but principally to end paying excessive state taxes. Our mail consolidator and forwarder, St. Brendan’s Isle is also located at the same address in Green Cove Springs, Florida. Through their service we have a legal resident and mailing address. We have Florida driver licenses, identification cards, and are registered to vote in Florida based on our legal resident address. Check out their services on the internet - it appears many "non-stationary" people subscribe to the service for the same reasons we do.
The USCG requirement was: Ships name and hailing port clearly marked together on the hull (usually stern), minimum lettering 4 inches in height [46CFR 67.123]. We also decided to place the name Indra on both sides of the bow due to it being a standard practice in many foreign countries for both commercial and personal boats.
After a little research on the internet, we selected Do It Yourself Lettering, Inc. to obtain stencils from. Their website allows you to design your stencils online in a relatively easy manner. We ordered two each of the stencils depicted below (Algerian font) since Indra has a canoe stern which entails placing the name and homeport on both the stern port and starboard sides. We placed a order for this on 14 April 2015 and had it delivered to our Florida address. Cost was $117.04 with free shipping. We had it shipped from Florida to Naga City, Cebu, Philippines by our mail forwarding service, St. Brendan’s Isle on 29 May 2015 and received it on 11 June 2015. Next step is to finish the hull painting before these can be applied.
This work item was no longer require as we decided to rename our boat DOVE - see post here.
