Knot 2 Fancy

I received this request for boat name help a couple of weeks ago, but you guys have been keeping me pretty busy with these. If I haven't gotten to yours, I promise to try over the next few days.

Brian wrote:

It's our first boat - nothing fancy - 19ft ski boat. We are a family of 4. We are not a fancy bunch. Just planning to have weekend fun this summer, fishing, skiing, and tubing. Looking for a fun name for our boat. Thanks for the help.

My first thoughts for Brian is that he and his family isn't fancy, since he said it twice. How about:

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New Orleans on my mind

Strange. New Orleans was on my mind when I got this message yesterday from some sailors looking for help with a boat name. Here's their story:

Two middle-aged couples own the boat. The men have sailed for many years, with many sailboat races (local and blue water) under their belt. The women are recent sailors(5-7 years). We live in New Orleans; the boat will be located on the south shore of Lake Pontchatrain. We all appreciate fine wines, good food. Our work life history is from varied areas: automobiles, government, architecture and plant manager.

Any suggestions for these fine-loving folks? My suggestions are lame right now, but I'll comment later if I think of more than stereotypical Naw-Leans stuff:

Captain Creole
Cajon Dancer
Easy Wind
Crescent City Cruiser

Bite This and other fishing boat names

Just spotted these boat names on a fishing forum:

Bite Me and Offensive Tackle

I've seen Bite Me before, and hear it quite often. But Offensive Tackle is new to me. Great name if you're both a fisherman and a football fan (which is probably a pretty high percentage of the male population of boaters who fish).


Other variations that these names made me think of are Bite This, Defensive Tackle (for fishermen who don't catch much), and even Right or Left Tackle.

Of course, even Tackled works for those who once carried the ball and also like to fish.

Thanks to BiteMeFiji on Bloody Decks - the fishing forum for hardcore anglers. (BLoody Decks - another great name for you fishers)

Filthy Oar and other dirty boat names

Thinking about naming your boat with a potentially offensive name?

There's an interesting discussion about the pros and cons of dirty boat names over on SailNet. The young guy who started the thread stays active throughout the discussion and progresses from naming his boat Filthy Whore to naming it "Briella" after his kids.

My vote is for the latter, though if I did go the other way I would be likely to mix it up a little, and perhaps name it Filthy Oar.

The discussion is worthwhile for its comments about potential FCC violations (for yelling profanities over your boat's VHF radio), as well as for its insight into the thinking of yacht club sailors vs. sailors who talk like, well, sailors.

You can read the entire thread at SailNet here.

The Otter and other Boat Names

Tiffany Ott just sent us a message looking for ideas for boat names.

Her message in its entirety:

My husband and i just purchased our first boat. It is a 21 foot party barge pontoon. We live in Wisconsin and are putting it in the Mississippi River. Our last name is Ott, so my husband wants to name it the "Otter". But I heard it was bad luck to name it beginning with the letter "o". I wanted to name it "spoiled brat" because my husband has been wanting this boat for awhile. Any suggestions?

Well, I've not heard much about the the "O" thing with boat names and found a few examples of popular boat names starting with the letter "O" -

Off The Hook
Out of Control
Odyssey
Obsession
Outcast

HOWEVER, if you want to stay away from a leading 'O', my recommendation would be to simply place another word in front of "otter", as in:
The Otter
or, one of my favorites:
Sea Otter

Alternatively, try these on for size:

Ott'a Control (as in "Out of Control")
Ott'a Here (same concept)
Breakfast at...

Also, not sure where to go with this, but you are from Wisconsin, which everyone knows the Badger State. You may or may not know that badgers are from the same family as otters - Mustelidae or Mustelids. According to Wikipedia, mustelidae are commonly referred to as the "weasel family". You probably don't want to put 'Weasel' in your boat name, but what about a tribute to both your home state and your last name and call the boat, "All in the Family".

Two Tickets to Paradise

Danny sent us a message yesterday in search of a new boat name.

message:

I am a Ticket Broker living in AZ & putting a boat in San Diego. The name must have "tickets" somewhere in it.

Help Danny and maybe he'll get you a deal on some Van Halen tix. Comments please.

How about:
Front Row (I know it doesn't say 'Tickets')
That's the Ticket
Ticket Envy
GottumNeedsum (as in, Whose Got'em, Who Needs'em)

Boat Names Spotted in the Bahamas

The following boat names of note were spotted in the Bahamas by Mary and Blair Buchanan, a Canadian couple living aboard their Tartan 3500 - which they named Strathspey (learn more about this boat name) - and cruising the coastal waters of the Eastern Seaboard. They blog about their adventures, which is how we get to hear about the interesting boat names they found.

Among the most memorable names that the Buchanans noticed:
Worthless Wench, Feral Cat, Rum Tum Tiger, Wings of Angels, Wind of Peace, Sam the Skull.

Read their entire post here.

24/7

Alex writes, "24 year old male. i just purchased my first boat.
19ft bomber vanguard. it has a 5.7 l engine. and its red and white."

Alex, dude, you're 24 and have a NICE, flexible, fast boat - good for both fishing, skiing, and generally having fun on nice days.

I like the boat name 24/7 based on your age and the hours you will probably spend on your boat; one drawback is that you're not going to be 24 forever, but it's still a nice, short name.

I invite others to post boat name suggestions to this and other requests on this site.

Thanks!

One-Armed Bandit

An email was recently sent to me - I think they were looking for help with their boat name, but it was hard to tell, as the message was short and sweet.

It read, "I Love to Gamble. I play the slot machines."

With so little to go on, many other questions raced through my mind... does the boater like to fish, is it a speedboat, rowboat, sailboat, family, single man, woman, grandmother?

Any suggestions out there for our friend?

How about...

The Gambler

Slots & Knots

BAR BAR BAR

Spinning Reels

Jackpot