# So why don't we name our boats?



## restrac2000

We do in our boating circle...

We call our old 18' Avon bucket boat either the "Fallout Shelter" (after everyone wanted to be on it during the last Grand trip) or "PORTS: Pit of Room To Spare" as a nod to the Princess Bride and the simple fact it had its back 1/3 floor removed by its previous owner (always a conversation starter at the ramp).

Names for the other rigs are less permanent and require too much backstory for a forum like this.

Probably more eye catching and responsible for more wayward looks than our boat names is the name of my groover, which is stenciled in black on the side of the rocket box: My Precious. Groovers on our trips have a history of naming though, from my aforementioned one to the Oval Office. 

Phillip


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## Myka

Who's cares who doesn't do what you want!


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## Paul7

Fallout shelter is a good one. Why did they remove part of the floor? 

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## restrac2000

Paul7 said:


> Fallout shelter is a good one. Why did they remove part of the floor?
> 
> Sent from my SM-G900V using Mountain Buzz mobile app


Long story short, as I understand it (he was a user on this forum so he can correct me)....

Was a last minute purchase for a Grand permit as his primary rig got damaged right before....he wanted to have a motor rig for Diamond Down so he cut it out and wrapped it. He used an everything bag for the main run I guess. Those who see it on the river want to call it a Baby S (minus the outriggers I guess) but we refuse to rename our baby. (We just use a beaver tail and a net on the bottom now.)

Phillip


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## Paul7

My kids would love that! I could just see them diving through it

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## melted_ice

Half named, half nameless. I liked named.


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## Andy H.

*Calling it what it is*

Mine's "The RV."

Though maybe the name should actually be "Soul Sanctuary" as that's really what it is.

The "Unsinkable II" was pretty clever...

-AH


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## riverinstigator

those were great. I once saw a cabin cruiser named "tranquility" and the skiff was named " in search of tranquility". Pretty clever


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## cataraftgirl

I've had two red catarafts that were named Ruby & Ruby Two. The real name was "The Ruby Slipper" because they transported me to another world. Sort of like Andy's "Soul Sanctuary." Now I have a Red & Black raft named Ruby 3- The Pirate Queen. In between I had a Teal cataraft named Jewel.


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## Spanky

I have a white boat. It's name is Moby and whoever is in it is a Dick.


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## snowjunkie

Mine is called the "Gravy Boat". 16 foot Jack's Cataraft.


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## Junk Show Tours

My raft, which was fabricated in the year 2000, is known as the Millennium Falcon.


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## xena13

My red cat is named Miss Scarlette and my duckie is named Daisy.


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## caverdan

Most rafters I know name their boat. Our oldest 14' Avon was named by my brothers little girl........Old Gray Mare.....cuss she ain't what she use to be.


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## elkhaven

My hyside was Blue Balls, before that Log Jam, current boat is still in need of an official name but currently orange crush and Jack (short for Jack O' Lantern) are the leading contenders.

My driftboat was named "the Fly Line Conspiracy" as the ability to get tangled in it was simply amazing...


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## jmcdannel

My boat is the "Bataraft" after finding a dead bat stuck in the frame that we clipped out of a tree when the boat was on top of a three-stack on the trailer en route to corn creek. It's also been referred to as the "Nataraft" for those rare occasions when I drink Natty Light on it.


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## hkydef

Two kayaks. 

B.O.B. - Orange XP10 
Calypso Marie - Black and blue Remix 79. Combined John Denver and Roger Clyne song titles to get the name. 

Yup. It sounds a bit weird when I say "I'm going to paddle Marie today". Even my boating friends give me curious looks at these times. My non-boating friends? What non-boating friends? They disappeared years ago.


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## Schutzie

Well, we started to name our boat "paraschutz"
but then we discovered that most river authorities wouldn't let us use it on their rivers. 

Cause, they said we don't allow no parachutes on the river.

ba da bum!

So we named it puddle pirate.


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## Grifgav

I was going to name my new orange Aire 156R "Orange Crush" but on a recent Cabarton float I saw the Sarah (from Cascade outfitters) and her fiance had named his NRS cat Orange Crush and had it stenciled...I was very sad. My boys are now deciding between "the creamsicle" and "the Thing (of Marvel comics fame). My old green Star Super-Bug was called "the flying pickle".


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## ebh0619

We named our big yellow Maravia the "Yella Belly" after a recent Hell's Canyon trip where we noticed how many empty Coors Original cans it could hold!


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## JustinJam

I've got a 16' bright yellow Maravia that has "The Sun" stenciled on the side in hebrew. Previous owners put it on, but easily the brightest boat on the river. Good for signalling to other boats where your campsite is.


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## bigben

<=== that 'lil fella's called the Darkwing Ducky... let's get dangerous!!

still trying to think of a good name for a yellow hyside...


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## elkhaven

bigben said:


> <=== that 'lil fella's called the Darkwing Ducky... let's get dangerous!!
> 
> still trying to think of a good name for a yellow hyside...


Tweety?


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## melted_ice

bigben said:


> <=== that 'lil fella's called the Darkwing Ducky... let's get dangerous!!
> 
> still trying to think of a good name for a yellow hyside...


4B For Big Ben banana boat


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## bigben

hmm, both really good ideas. i like the 4Bs!! That one might stick!!

i was gonna name it Flintheart Glombgold, but no one knows who he is. 
Might be the coolest name of any cartoon bird.


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## fourtyfloater

My 13 ft RMR is called "Miss Tuesday Night" as she is a bit heavy but she gets the job done, a nod to a lowbrow monthly contest I might have taken part during my college years.

My mini me is "Monty" as in the the Full Monty as when I row it down the Gunny Gorge it often is not very pretty and there is a lot of bumping and grinding going on.


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## jamesthomas

Our cat is Drop Out. Our oldest did exactly that after one semester and Ive been grateful ever since.


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## stinginrivers

The 14' is Ichimasho

It is Japanese for let's go, when I worked on the tulley river most of our customers were Japanese so every morning we would herd everyone down to the river by telling them Ichimasho kudasai.

For some reason I loved that because then we got to boat one of my favorite rivers.




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## John the welder

My friends 16' Hyside is the Beer Hen 


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## king

my first boat was 16ft bucket boat campway, I ran the rogue and Klamath a lot I called it blue thunder


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## Learch

Our Sotar is the Banana boat, kids named it (more or less) My buddy has a big Momentum Harrier IK we call the Big Blue and Ugly. Someone asked us why, and I was like "Look at the damn thing!" It is loved, though, have run it through Blossom with my wife at about 5k. We actually lost it that morning to a drastic river change overnight. We were camped at Horseshoe bend and had to chase it for 2 miles that morning. Never dropped camp so fast in all our lives
The same guy got a white Mini Me we call Casper. They are friendly boats! (everybody loves 'em) One of these days he'll sell me that Big Blue and Ugly...


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## caverdan

My 16' Avon is named Marge.....large Marge the river barge. My brother and I bought matching green mini mees back in 2002. We named then the "pickles" Peeder and Pieper. My 12' Vanguard is named the Marshmellow.


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## xena13

Looking forward to introducing Miss Scarlette to Marge in a few weeks on Lodore.


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## restrac2000

caverdan said:


> My 16' Avon is named Marge.....large Marge the river barge. My brother and I bought matching green mini mees back in 2002. We named then the "pickles" Peeder and Pieper. My 12' Vanguard is named the Marshmellow.


I think there is an obligation to have another Big Adventure reference in the fleet now.


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## BmfnL

My red JPW cat is "Cinnamon Girl"


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## brendodendo

The superpuma is Buddy Blue (as in Rainbow Bright's boy friend) . I let the wife name it. Seemed like a good i idea at the time. 10+ years later, the boat has lived up to its name.
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## Pinned

NRS E-140 named " Rubber lovin' ", she can't seem to stay away from other rubber boats.


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## David L

My raft is named Boat.


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## hojo

All of our boats have names or proper titles. My latest is "The Toucan."


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## webstar

My 16' Vanguard is "Frank the Tank". It was called a frankenboat as I was outfitting it as cheaply as possible (poverty boater, but I prefer Colorado junk boater), and it manifested from there.


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## MT4Runner

ebh0619 said:


> We named our big yellow Maravia the "Yella Belly" after a recent Hell's Canyon trip where we noticed how many empty Coors Original cans it could hold!



My big yellow Maravia was "The Man Can". On our maiden voyage with it, we had 24oz PBR man cans to drink, and as I was explaining to my buddys it had 24" tubes, they decided it was too much of a coincidence for the name not to stick.

13' Trib is "The Sports Car"

156R Aire is "No Worries"

14' cat is the "Bobcat" (blue tubes, yellow frame and straps for my alma mater Montana State, Go Cats!)


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## melted_ice

Kids call it "Gray Bouncy"

I'll go with "Bottoms Up" for PBR consumption, bloody mary bars, and while I wasn't on the oars at the time she may have shown her bottom to the sky


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## bloodhound

Rooster









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## 2kanzam

I'm so bad with coming up with names for anything...I have been trying to name my Old 14' blue hyside and my 14' blue NRS Revolution forever now. "Old Hyronsides" and "The Revobluetion" are the only things that even came close to sticking, but they need something more personal.

I also have "The Intex" and "The ducky" 

I'm not very creative : (


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## Barney Fife

We have a 14' Hyside named Goose. Full name Gray Goose. Just because, our NRS IK became know as Duck Duck.


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## goldcamp

I had a camo boat which we called "Ramboat". Rambo + boat


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## caverdan

xena13 said:


> Looking forward to introducing Miss Scarlette to Marge in a few weeks on Lodore.


 Marge might not make that low water run.......but Gray Eagle will be there.


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## laughing water

*Looking for a new name.*

My first boat was a Udisco. (If you can run a Udisco, you can run anything!) It had more patches than original rubber. (Those of you familiar with Udiscos are nodding in understanding right now.) The Udisco was called "The Styx Ferry". My second boat, a Riken, was called "The Plug". A river has holes, I had the plug. I have a sick-fast Jack's Plastic Baby Cat. It is called "Bug" in honor of my son who soloed his first Class V in it. I just scored a blue NRS 136. Any suggestions?


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## laughing water

bigben said:


> <=== that 'lil fella's called the Darkwing Ducky... let's get dangerous!!
> 
> still trying to think of a good name for a yellow hyside...


Chiquita!


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## quinoa

My NRS E140 is Vera, short for Vera Lynn. Her name is from a song on Pink Floyd The Wall. Her name came about on her first voyage after a spectacular night under the stars, deep in a canyon, high on shrooms and listening to The Wall surrounded by my closests friends.


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## grumper13

What a fun thread! I don't have much to add, but here it is:

The old maritime tradition is that you name your boat after a female beloved, like your sweetie or mistress or daughter or ??, for good luck. I figure in river rafting, it's flip insurance (right?). My boat (Aire 143E) is the "Lil' Robin", named for an older sister who I never knew, cuz she died in infancy. Not keeping with tradition, my lake boat (a 20' outboard) is the "Toybox", cuz of all the skis, wakeboards and tubes that it hauls. My Grandad had many motorboats (being a Johnson outboard dealer), back in the 50s-60s that he ran on rivers (mostly Glen Canyon and other parts of the Colorado) and they were all named "River Rat". He would just add a number behind the name....I think the last "River Rat" was VIII ! 

And to close, a tech tip: Vinyl repair paint, available at auto parts stores, is a good and economical alternative to urethane paint for putting a name on a raft. It's not quite as durable, but I've been happy with it and it's a lot cheaper and easier to apply.


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## g.soutiere

My boat is "the short bus" because I am a little special, and the pfd's I let my friend's use say gerry's kidz


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## laughing water

Back in the mid 60s there was a TV show about a dolphin. He was the fastest, most graceful, strongest thing in the water. Maybe I should name my new boat after him. Whatcha think?

Umm. Maybe not.


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## elkhaven

laughing water said:


> Back in the mid 60s there was a TV show about a dolphin. He was the fastest, most graceful, strongest thing in the water. Maybe I should name my new boat after him. Whatcha think?
> 
> Umm. Maybe not.


That could be a great name for a boat, depending on your style...

I've given my raft names above, but my little jet boat is the "valdez", as it's always crashing into things and leaves an oil slick behind it...

and the pilot is usually impaired...


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## sea hag

Boat has the same name as when I got it, bad luck to change the name of a boat. 
Sea hag


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## spider

I dubbed my 18'er "The Groover Mover"


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## joecoolives

My 12 Ft Whitewater Dory Is Named Tipsy.


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## Adroit

Best friend's 12' Trib is known as Obstinate. On the thwarts we post all the rapid sections worth while on and their classes at the time we run it.












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## firejenson

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## firejenson

Chose this name after several buddies kept calling her buckskin, and the rapid on the deschutes.


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## Wendell

The 14' NRS is called the Miss Esther after my lovely bride of 25 years. She is with me even when she can't make the river trip.


I inherited my Dad's old aluminum fishing canoe he and his fishing bud's painted "World's Worst Fisherman II" during a walleye fishing and Schlitz drinking trip to Little St. Germain in Wisconsin. I miss those guy's!


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## amv48

My duckies name is La Verkin, after the town in Utah where its maiden voyage was on the Virgin River. 

My cousin named his ducky Hauxana Beyulle after the former Russian gold medalist figure skater, not sure why?


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## John the welder

Waldo got his name on a Westwater trip...Steve, his owner woke up at midnight one evening to the sinking realization that his mini-me was gone, nowhere in sight. At first light, he was up and out searching. He found his raft floating calmly in an eddy half a mile down river. Ever since, whenever we set up camp, we always ask - Where's Waldo?
Sunny was named for her color, because river trips are always fun with her, and, for her most admirable ability to stay - sunny side up.


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## InflatableSteve

My raft is called Blue Skies after the Willie Nelson song, and my IK's name is The Ugly Ducky.


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## Rojo

Red 14' Self-bailer..."Rojo" Spanish for red, J sounds like H.
Red IK solo........... "Rojito" Little red.
Purple IK solo........ "Purple-lalla" Old IK resurrected to Viking Valhalla to fight again.
Crew cab Truck..... "Gojo"
Red tandem Trailer. "Towjo"

16' Cat................ "Hippie Cat". Numerous decorative patches, microbus.


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## Schutzie

Schutzie's favorite names for boats over the years

1)Lonesome polecat (the guy who named it says he didn't know what a polecat was when he chose it, he just liked the name)
2) Osaka Maru (first boat I rowed, but not named by me)
3) Thilly Boat (Kudos if you know where this name came from)
4) Puddle Pirate (name of my SeaRay)
5) Desert Rose (D-9's dory)
6) Buck Me (seen upside down on the North Platte)
7) Pig (Pontoon rowed by a former cop)


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## kikii875

My purple Aire is named "The grapes of raft". My brother's boat had a commercial name on it so the ranger at Lee's made him cover it up. He used duck tape to name the boat after his wife. On the same trip in 2011 my nephew was rowing my Riken and we had yet to name it. He had never rowed before but was willing to do it as long as he didn't have anyone else to worry about on the boat. He did great and the only hiccup was when he got dump trucked in Lava. A motor rig pushed the boat to shore at tequila beach. The boat was right side up and he was holding on to the side but not anxious to get out of the water because all he was wearing after his swim was his PFD. That night we christened the boat "Commando".


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## Mountainsandrivers

My 14'6 Wing was named the Damp Dream at the factory, but since it has a yellow floor and red tubes, it had the colors of the ketchup packets at McDonalds and it became Fancy Ketchup. 
My boys have named our little black shredder the Dark Knight.


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