To download and install your e-book (116 Kb): After you have type in your password (that we will send you once your card has cleared) and clicked Submit Password, your browser will ask you where you want to download or save the file to. Enter the path with the password.exe i.e. if your password was 123456 you would enter:
c:\windows\temp\123456.exe when asked where to save the file to.

Once the file has finished downloading,
Click Window's Start, Run, then enter: c:\windows\temp\password.exe (type the password we give you +.exe. The file will unzip to a folder on your c drive named boatnames.

Open your web browser, click File, Open then enter:
c:\boatnames\index.htm

     For more detailed download and install instructions, click HERE.Use your browser's back or return button to return here.

Distributor discounts: query at the above address. 

Chapter 2: Christening Ceremonies--How boats were formally named in the past, current United States Navy Protocol, and informal ceremonies anyone can use. 

Chapter 3: US Navy--How the US Navy names each class of vessel and a list of all active US Navy ships.

Chapter 4: The United States Coast Guard--How the US Coast Guard names each class of vessel and a list of active vessels names.

Chapter 5: Picking your Boat's Name--Information on present naming requirements, procedures, and a list of over 4500 real names of boats to assist you in picking your boat's name. 

Appendix A: Registering Your Boat--How to register your boat, documents required, and address/phone numbers of the offices that register boats in all US states and territories. 

Appendix B: Documenting Your Boat-- Requirements and offices of the US Coast Guard to acquire Federal Documentation for your Vessel and how to do it yourself, saving you hundreds of dollars.

As an avid boater for over 30 years, I took for granted boats and names. I chuckled at humorous names in passing, wondered at the meaning and ingenuity of others. Affected periodically with the unique maritime disease of "footitous," I would purchase a new, larger or faster model. When I opened a charter business in Florida I found that I had to name a small fleet. My partner and I ended up with six boats of varying types and sizes. I looked in the local marine stores and libraries for books on boat names, without much luck. I found a small paragraph in the USCG Auxiliary Safe Boating Course, less in the USPS books, and a chapter in Boating Etiquette. I began to develop the idea for this book. It is intended to provide the new boat owner some maritime lore, history and suggested names. Boat names are like personalized license plates, one is only limited by the imagination. I began this book including explanations of the meaning of a lot of the names. I gave up! Some were easily understandable. Others I had no clue. Some were researchable, but I found more hours were spent trying to decipher some one's brain storm than writing the book. Rather than mix the format, I have provided references in the Bibliography to assist you with words not found in the dictionary. The myriad spellings of a single word are included in some cases. Don't blame me for butchering the Queen's English. The plays on words and intentional misspellings abound in the registered names of boats and ships. It probably started as a lack of education and evolved into mind games with the rest of us. Hopefully, this guide will be a starting point. Best wishes in your nautical adventures.

Joe E. Kilgore

Is a member of the United States Power Squadron and Boat US. Joe is a SCUBA Instructor and holds a U.S. Coast Guard Merchant Marine Master Near Coastal License. He has operated charters, taught diving and achieved the rating of Quartermaster in the Sea Explorer Program. He is a graduate of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga and holds Masters degrees from the University of Southern California, Salve Regina College, and the Navy War College. He is an Army Special Forces officer and a Military diver.

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