I've read in the past that a boat's personalised rubber stamp can be an aid in clearing into/out of some ports where bureaucracy rules. Has anyone here found them to be useful?
If so, what's the optimum size and layout? I'm off to the Caribbean shortly and would appreciate anything which will enable me to spend more time at the bar and less in the customs office!
Yes, it is true, a rubber stamp for your vessel works wonders. The size that I went for is the same as is stamped, by the jobsworth at immigration, in your pasport. That is two and a bit inches by about an inch or so.
Include the name of your vessel, SSR number and the home port. Oh, and I have a dark red ink pad, looks "official". There are self inking units available now. Should be even better !
Yes, it is true, a rubber stamp for your vessel works wonders. The size that I went for is the same as is stamped, by the jobsworth at immigration, in your pasport. That is two and a bit inches by about an inch or so.
Include the name of your vessel, SSR number and the home port. Oh, and I have a dark red ink pad, looks "official". There are self inking units available now. Should be even better !
73s de
Johnth
What a good idea, I hadn't thought of doing that..........
It is quite amazing how something as simple as a rubber stamp officialises something so well in so many places. I would suggest a date stamp though perhaps oval with the yachts name over the top section and the Part 1 No or SSR No on the bottom. To make it fully official you stamp the paper then sign across the stamp.
I remember once paying a hotel bill in Poland pre collaps e of evil empire and not only did each cashier have a little merry go round with a fine selection of stamps for mine the cashier delved into a drawer anbd brought out the reserve supply which was spread over the desk and a few choice ones selected for application to my receipt. It clearly worked as the receipt was acccepted as proof I had spent the right kind of money and allowed me to change money back into sterling.
On a practical note. The print shop will will make up the stamp from your artwork, which is best done on computer and can be quite complex if you wish, you may want to experiment with font styles and include graphics, eg sail logo. Do not forget your own name as skipper.
Yes, we had a "ship's stamp" made recently (at Staples - a bit pricey but you can get them much cheaper by mail order) It is not self inking, therefore cheaper.
The more info you have on the stamp the more 'official' it looks - up to a point.
Name (s/y or m/y prefix)
Country or Port of registry (we are SSR so its 'England')
Call sign
SSR no. (or Official no. if you are part 1)
LOA
Beam
HP
Size 40 x 20 or 50 x 25.
Might be useful if you are sailing 'foreign'
Hope this helps.
Cheers,
Michael.
__________________
Constant vigilance is the price of safety
Our keel does not wobble
Bought a DIY kit from Staples - produced a very good self-inking stamp with the usual info on it. I didn't meet any hostile officials, but the chaps in Cabo Verde certainly seemed to approve of it.
They can also be usefully employed as an 'ex libris' stamp inside the cover of your sailing books. A gentle reminder to the borrower of where the book should be returned.
The colloquial name chop, when referring to these kinds of seals, was adapted from the Malay word cap during the colonization of the Straits Settlements, and is still used to refer to rubber stamps.
__________________ "Success comes in a can, not a cannot"
They can also be usefully employed as an 'ex libris' stamp inside the cover of your sailing books. A gentle reminder to the borrower of where the book should be returned.
I designed and bought two self-inking stamps - one for some friends that were off to the Carib - they stamped & then gave the copy of _We Didn't Mean To Go To Sea_ to a local kid they met out there who was learning English <awwh>
The second friend keeps his boat in the Solent, and as well as using it ex libris has used it to stamp the biceps of a 12 year old (& his father & the rest of the crew ;-) at the conclusion of a trip.
__________________
"when the ship arrives in a wine country, there the master shall procure them wine to drink." Article XVII, Rules Of Oleron
The colloquial name chop, when referring to these kinds of seals, was adapted from the Malay word cap during the colonization of the Straits Settlements, and is still used to refer to rubber stamps.
Amazing idea to help through the paperwork and maybe redress the balance between yottie and official.
However... I pity the next boat the official meets. "Where is your official Yacht Stamp", he asks. "What stamp?" comes the reply. Immediate "yacht-arrest" (similar to house-arrest but floating) until stamp can be produced - prompting much whittling of stamp from those wooden bungs we keep in the bilges.
Living in France, I have noticed the humourous possibilities for stamps. Having looked at quite a lot of Chinese artwork, the 'chops' on the base were the signitures of the artists.
A
BTW, for cheap cards and STAMPS. look at vistaprint.com Turned up a week later
Over here in "former soviet land" the local authorities always insisted on stamps on everything. ( getting a bit easier now though)
10 years ago we could not get a document signed off without a stamp, so made one on paint shop, then printed it over the document, it was obvious what we had done, but they needed to see a stamp and they got one one the document, made them happy.
We have also resorted on one occassion to doing a rubbing over a coin with a pen top, made it look like embossed stamp, signed over it, worked OK.
We then invested in a proper embossing "stamp" . Worked wonders, they loved it.
I guess Refueller might have some similar stories from his region about officialdom and red tape.
In my time living in Germany - which I think of as the home of stamps - I discovered that round stamps beat square ones. In my early days there, if you went to have stamp made, you actually had to have documentary evidence of your right to that stamp - especially for a round one.
Particularly appealing are the huge stamps which stamp a form on the page, which is then completed by stamping smaller stamps in the boxes.
Over here in "former soviet land" the local authorities always insisted on stamps on everything. ( getting a bit easier now though)
10 years ago we could not get a document signed off without a stamp, so made one on paint shop, then printed it over the document, it was obvious what we had done, but they needed to see a stamp and they got one one the document, made them happy.
We have also resorted on one occassion to doing a rubbing over a coin with a pen top, made it look like embossed stamp, signed over it, worked OK.
We then invested in a proper embossing "stamp" . Worked wonders, they loved it.
I guess Refueller might have some similar stories from his region about officialdom and red tape.
Yes ! Absolutely true.
And if you produced a document written in English, for example and instead of stamps you put some bright red sealing wax over a thin green ribbon and used the reverse of a theepenny bit as an indentation, when you flashed this at comissars, etc., they would snap a salute ! Gaspadin !
I read in a sell up and sail book that couple placed some UK Postage Stamps, the ones with her Her Majesty The Queen's head, onto certain ships documents, stamped over with the ships stamp to make it look more official. If my memory recalls it was a home made document verifying proof of ownership and title to yacht! I wonder if the Vat man would accept it on their return?
I read in a sell up and sail book that couple placed some UK Postage Stamps, the ones with her Her Majesty The Queen's head, onto certain ships documents, stamped over with the ships stamp to make it look more official. If my memory recalls it was a home made document verifying proof of ownership and title to yacht! I wonder if the Vat man would accept it on their return?
Wouldn't surprise me. Often the way the bureaucratic mind works is that if one has OK'd something the others will not query it!
They are absolutely vital when sailing in South East Asia – no boat stamp, no paperwork completed. Since we got the Med, we’ve only used them in book swops.
Indonesia is the stamp maker’s paradise. We reckoned that Indonesian desks have special drawers for the 100 or so stamps every official seems to need. Our record was 13 different stamps on one document.
To alleviate the mind boggling boredom of dealing with officialdom, SWMBO and I used to have a small side bet running on the size of the largest stamp that would be used that day. We gave up when one official opened his bottom draw and with difficulty drew out a stamp the size of an A4 sheet.
He inked it with a roller, and with eyes bulging, sinews popping, lifted it over the document.
When the stamp came down, the desktop creaked and groaned, dust drifted down from the ceiling, dogs for miles around started barking frantically and it registered on a local earthquake monitoring station.
Rubber stamps for officialdom
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