Can You Force Buyer to Change Boat Name?

[sailingmonica]

A friend of mine up here in Canada was forced by age and health to sell his beloved boat, which he owned and enjoyed with his family for 17 years. The boat's name (not registered) was a combination of the names of his three children and hence very dear to him. The fellow that bought it, as irony would have it, has a cottage on the same lake, about 1/2 mile from my friend. Well, when the new owner takes the boat out, my friend and his wife cry on their dock. He asked the new owner to please change the name as he cannot bear seeing it, but they refuse because they believe it is bad luck to change a boat's name. Is there anything he can do? Is there a superstition that would override the above? Does he have any legal rights? Again, the name was not registered, the boat has a licence number and he just named her after his kids.

[Dave the Canuck]

Hi Monica. A very sad tale. Many do believe in superstition regarding naming/renaming a boat. Here is a link to a site that explains how dename and then rename a boat. FYI, I followed this ceremony when I got my new boat and, if anything, I've been a lucky boater since then.

Hope this helps.

48° Vigor's Interdenominational Boat Denaming Ceremony

[Jolly Roger]

Well I agree, it's a sad tale as related, but your friend needs to grow up and get over it. He could have sold the boat on condition the owner changed the name, but he didn't. So he just needs to stop killing himself, and open another bottle of beer.

[S/V Illusion]

As it may relate to Canadian law, here in the U.S. the only viable way in which anyone can control the name right would be contractually by stipulating the desire to retain right to the name in the Purchase and Sales Contract. I infer the owner did not have the foresight to do so upon sale of the boat. If that is in fact the case, he retains no right to the name nor can he bar a subsequent owner from any right to ownership of the boat, including it's name.

[Starbuck]

Can you force a buyer to change the name of your boat? (emphasis mine)

That's the whole point: it's not his boat.

[TaoJones]

I have edited the title of this thread so that it better fits our Home Page Portal layout, and in doing so may have caused some confusion about Jeff's post (above). His quote is of the title as it originally appeared.

As to the subject of the thread, I agree with him that once you've sold it, it's no longer "your" boat. If there is an issue over the name, it's too late to do anything about it beyond asking the new owner to change it. If the new owner refuses to do so, you have no further recourse.

TaoJones

[donradcliffe]

If you want to get the name changed, do it before you sell it....

[cdennyb]

Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but I read this to say the previous owners have a family tragidy basically and if you handle this diplomatically, I say "IF", then all parties could get together for a very somber, meanifull, renaming ceremony, and everyone on the previous side would be able to get 'closure' and the new owners would get a new name for their new family vessel, something they would be able to "relate to" instead of someone elses' memories.
Just my thought of what I'd do about it.

[Microship]

I sold my first Nomadness (Corsair 36 tri) to a delightful fellow in Canada, and didn't want him to keep the name since I have a web presence around it. So he did the sensible thing, minimizing lettering expense and accurately reflecting the nature of the boat: he peeled off the first 2 letters!

[fstbttms]

Originally Posted by Jolly Roger

Well I agree, it's a sad tale as related, but your friend needs to grow up and get over it. He could have sold the boat on condition the owner changed the name, but he didn't. So he just needs to stop killing himself, and open another bottle of beer.

+1

Jeezus, are we talking about adults or 3-year-olds?

[svDragonfly]

It's just a name - my guess is he'll feel just as sad to see the boat sailing by him at the lake even IF it were renamed. He can either ask again - friend to friend, pretty please, and here's how to avoid bad luck while doing it - or he's just going to have to move on...

[Morgan Paul]

I would say your friend should be grateful to have sold his boat in a sagging economy. He should stop whining about petty BS.

[Morgan Paul]

Does he have any legal rights?

LOL. What a joke.

[driven]

There are several things he could do:

Perhaps he could pay the new owner to change it? Offer to pay for new stickers, etc of whatever the new owner wanted. There's a price for everything!

He could offer to buy the boat back, pull the name off, and then resell it.
He could pick up and move.
He could not sit out and look at the lake anymore.
He could change his attitude about it, and be glad the ol' girl is still sailing proudly displaying the name he had given it.

Those are options that I bet will be met with resistance, but options nonetheless...

Me thinks your friend has a severe case of regret-itis, and perhaps while it does hurt to see what was once his boat out there on the water providing enjoyment to someone else - that someone else did pay him to purchase the boat, and that includes the stickers on the back with the name.

Your friend should have pulled the name off the boat before the sale, or stipulated it in a sales contract that it mush be changed. Neither of which were done, and therefore, your friend is stuck with the consequences of the choices he has made.

Let's not pin the responsibility of this on the new owner of the boat, and suggesting there would be legal options makes it seem so, it's rightly your friend's problem and he's just going to have to pull up his big girl panties and get over it at this point if asking nicely doesn't help.


Once again another shining example of people not happy with the consequences of their actions and wanting to shift responsibility (by implying the new owner is somehow in the wrong).

I wonder.... if he had a dog, and had to give it up due to age and health, and the new owner took it for walks in the neighborhood, if he'd want the dog's name to change too?

Chances are like svDragonfly said, a name change alone wouldn't make it any better, and it's really the joy and experiences and realizing those are gone that's what hurts.

-Driven

[Morgan Paul]

Let's not pin the responsibility of this on the new owner of the boat, and suggesting there would be legal options makes it seem so, it's rightly your friend's problem and he's just going to have to pull up his big girl panties and get over it at this point if asking nicely doesn't help.

Exactly. Very well stated.