Boat stamps

[Michael Barnett]

Where can I design & purchase a boat stamp?

[nhschneider]

A quick search will produce hundreds of companies that can make you a rubber stamp, however, we chose to have an embosser made instead. As we sailed through Indonesia, all the government officials seemed to like the embossed effect. Several of the boats we cruised with needed to buy stamps once they got there which wasn't hard but they had a lot of trouble finding ink pads. We got our embossed from:

Custom Embossers & Electric Seals At Fred Lake.

Our embossed imprint has our boat name, boat make and model, hailing port and USCG Documentation number.

Fair winds and calm seas.

[biker6977]

I"m just in the starting phase of preparing for cruising retirement.
What is a boat stamp and must you have one?

[a64pilot]

You don't need one, but sometime foreign officials are impressed with more official looking papers, sounds silly I know.
I have a fried who exports aircraft, sometimes he will place a large coin under a Gen Dec and rub it with something to give it a stamped look. He says they accept the stamped forms much more easily

I'm going to get one, and boat cards too

[nhschneider]

So far, we are only aware of two countries that require boat stamps: Indonesia and Sri Lanka.

On the other hand, it's a nice way to identify books that you loan out but in no way ever guarantees that you'll get the books back!

[rwidman]

Originally Posted by Michael Barnett

Where can I design & purchase a boat stamp?

A stamp company.

[Seymore]

Originally Posted by a64pilot

You don't need one, but sometime foreign officials are impressed with more official looking papers, sounds silly I know.
I have a fried who exports aircraft, sometimes he will place a large coin under a Gen Dec and rub it with something to give it a stamped look. He says they accept the stamped forms much more easily

In many places, like China and the Far East, there are many people who can't read or write, who can't even read or write their own name. Nonetheless, they are astute merchants and professional people. To 'sign' checks and documents, they have what is called a name stamp, which is a small stamp with their name on it. Bank and government offices and everyone will accept documents with name stamps, exactly as they accept signed documents in the Western World. They guard their name stamps very carefully. The system works very well.

The foreign officials and the airplane buyers with the Gen Dec are glad to see document stamps, a system they're familiar and comfortable with.

[GordMay]

Greetings and welcome aboard the CF, Michael.

[weavis]

Originally Posted by Seymore

In many places, like China and the Far East, there are many people who can't read or write, who can't even read or write their own name. Nonetheless, they are astute merchants and professional people. To 'sign' checks and documents, they have what is called a name stamp, which is a small stamp with their name on it. Bank and government offices and everyone will accept documents with name stamps, exactly as they accept signed documents in the Western World. They guard their name stamps very carefully. The system works very well.

The foreign officials and the airplane buyers with the Gen Dec are glad to see document stamps, a system they're familiar and comfortable with.

Ive had a Chinese 'chop' of my name for about 15 years. When dealing with Banks or stores in Hong Kong or China, I started adding my "chop' to the cheques or order form. Sometimes I dont even sign the proforma invoice and just use the 'Chop'. They have one on file and compare it

[monte]

Sometimes a stamp is required, eg buying duty free fuel in Montenegro requires a boat stamp. They will make one for you if you have a couple of days to wait and a spare $€30

I designed ours, rendered it to a PDF format and sent it to a stamp maker. Cost about €30

[biker6977]

So what needs to be on the boat stamp? Boat name or persons name?
Boatcard- business card with boat name, owners names, email, blog, cell number?

[Paul L]

I've also used a boat stamp on crew letters for US passport extensions. It just makes it all look official.

[a64pilot]

My understanding is the boat card is more of a social thing, you meet fellow cruisers and for them to remember you, you give them a boat card, so pretty much what you said as long as you don't mind giving out that data.

I don't have either yet, but will, they are on the list , long list

[weavis]

Originally Posted by a64pilot

My understanding is the boat card is more of a social thing, you meet fellow cruisers and for them to remember you, you give them a boat card, so pretty much what you said as long as you don't mind giving out that data.

I don't have either yet, but will, they are on the list , long list

Vistaprint

[captain58sailin]

The vessel stamps that I have used in the commercial marine, had vessel name, net, gross tonnage, and official number, (for USA documented vessels) The one I had made for my vessel, has the Name, Official number, HIN, net, gross tonnage, Home port. I have not yet used it outside the USA, but from my experience, I believe it will suffice. I purchased a self inking type stamp to eliminate the need to carry an ink pad in addition to my stamp. When dealing with shore side vendors in other countries, the delivery person asks for the invoice to be stamped to show the vendor that the material was received by the intended party. In some ports I have been in, if you are sending material off the vessel, either for repairs or simply to discharge, the person carrying the material needs an accompanying letter with the vessel's stamp and Capt. signature to assure the guards at the gate that the material was not stolen.