ships rubber stamps

[CharlesM]

Hello all

I read in The Voyagers Handbook that Beth Leonard recomends a rubber stamp to please officialdom in out of the way places.

Does anyone actually have one, and is it of any use?

If so, do you prefer the wooden handle type with a seperate ink pad, or the self inking type?

Regards
Charles

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14 days.... /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[ChrisE]

We took one on our travels to South America and the Carribbean, involving checking in and out of over twenty countries. The only use I found for it was as a fancy paperweight, that advise might have been ok in The Hiscock's time but not so sure that it is relevant now.

We found that provided you treated officials as the proud representatives of their country with their own likes and dislikes then everything went fine. We met too many cruisers that felt that they had a need to impose their values on officials, unsurprisingly they generally had a hard time.

 

[snowleopard]

i have one (self-inking)

complete waste of space.

 

[Talulah]

I have one too. Self inking. I stamp all the charts and books with it. Avoids guests getting their charts mixed up. I lost one chart from a pack so if the stamp prevents this from happening just once I am happy.

 

[Sea Devil]

Absolutely essential in Asia, Indian Ocean and Red Sea. One red sea port I forgot to take the stamp ashore to the port office and had to fill in 2 extra forms explaining why I did not have a stamp! Before that not too much use except Cuba where it went down well....

 

[jerryat]

Hi Charles,

We took one on our travels as much for the fun of it as expecting to use it 'formally'. It cost just a few pounds but has earned it's keep as far as we're concerned, not only for stamping charts as someone else has mentioned, but also our books both Pilot and general reading. We liked swopping books with other cruisers, reading their stamps (from all over the world) then adding ours before swopping them on.

Only a couple of times have we used the stamp 'officially', and that was just for fun in a couple of places in the Caribbean and was certainly not a requirement. We wanted them to use their very impressive, but long out of date, local stamp on our paperwork, and stamped their copy with ours! Lots of laughing and joking too!

Very much agree with Chris Endstone, treat all officials with respect, praise their country, relax and joke with them, and you'll have absolutely no problems whatsoever. I'm afraid we saw many examples of the opposite approach (almost all by Brits I'm ashamed to say) and these people couldn't understand why we managed to get our paperwork done in minutes while theirs took much longer.

Cheers Jerry

 

[CharlesM]

<< fill in 2 extra forms explaining why >>

I suspect I am being had here... /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif

 

[Stingo]

Charles

For the sake of two pints of beer (UK prices), buy yourself a rubber stamp. I found mine to be completely unnecessary but very useful for giving out my contact details to other cruisers when I was too pissed to write.

 

[jhr]

This one's a personal favourite:

... though you might have to be judiciously sparing in its use.

Available from Hawkins' Bazaar

 

[CharlesM]

haha excellent /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

ps.. 14 days /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

can anyone tell I am excited perhaps?

 

[Sea Devil]

No. NO joke - it was either Sudan or Eritrea - not to have an official 'ships' stamp was a problem - (I had forgotten to put it in the document bag before I got in the dinghy and could not be bothered to go back for it so said Bambola did not have one) - It was a major problem for the official involved. The first form was a statement swearing the 'ship' did not have an official stamp - the 2nd was for signing the entry papers without a ships stamp.... My own fault..

 

[iangrant]

What did you have on the stamp and where did you get it made please?

ian

 

[stevesales]

This post is a complete waste of time.

 

[iangrant]

Oh, and you are?

 

[CharlesM]

<<Oh, and you are? >>

I suspect he was not talking about your post, but about his own post...

Other than that, yes - what does one put on stamps?

I imagine you would put the boat name and registration number.

If for contact then an email address and/or web address

also space for date and signature?

I dont think owner name would be appropriate?

cheers
Charles
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14 days... tick tock tick tock.. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[dart]

Surprised no one else has mentioned it but we have seen a few cruisers who use their stamps to make "business" cards for giving to other cruisers and this always struck me as a good idea. Here's a sample:

 

[Sea Devil]

What did you have on the stamp

I had a semicircular stamp like the one posted - In the middle it said ''BAMBOLA QUATRE' on the top was 'Reg no 387469' and on the bottom the call sign '2YNT'.

Not sure it really matters what else you have beside the name and Reg Number and probably a red ink pad is better than black - more important!

I got my last one in Trinidad but I think shops like Rymans or other office supplies will make them up.

As someone else pointed out they are useful identifier of charts and pilot books when you lend them and it is always nice when you get offered a paperback to swap and it already has your ships stamp on it.

 

[ChrisE]

That's very interesting and you are the first person I've heard of that's found an official use for the stamp, I'll look ours out again. Also I like the idea of stamping the charts and ships books with it. Cor, you don't half learn a lot from this forum.

 

[snowleopard]

i did come up with one use for it - stamping RYA logbooks. trouble is it's too big, but then that's always been my problem /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

 

[jerryat]

Hi Ian,

I believe SWMBO got it made (cut) in a local office supply place in Plymouth, and I think you'll find that most similar places will get one sorted out for you.

Ours was very simple 'cos we didn't want it too big, so just has the boat's name at the top, an outline of a yacht (very simple line drawing) in the centre, below that our port of registration (in our case Plymouth) and below that our SSR number. The whole thing is a bit under 50mm square. By the way, I agree ex Bambola re the red ink - much better in our view.

One other use for ours (just remembered!) was when we signed other boats visitors books - a nice comment and a stamp - the same was done in ours and it's lovely to look back at times and remember the boats and their owners.

Just a thought.

Cheers Jerry