DIY Boat Cards

Traveling by boat we meet a lot of people - we live “next door” to them in marinas and anchorages. Having a common bond, we get to know each other quickly and “what do you do for a living” and "can you believe that traffic” is replaced with “what do you think of the upcoming weather” and “where can I find the showers”. It's nice to be able to have a little something to remember these people by, so most cruisers carry boat cards which are similar to business cards, only the boat is the “company” being represented.

Our contact info has been changing frequently so we haven't been able to decide on what to print on our boat cards. Instead we've been sharing our contact info on bits of paper or outdated business cards.

We wanted boat cards that were easy to update and economical. Shipping to Mexico is not very reliable so we decided to make our own. Before leaving the US we bought a small WiFi color printer - so we can print from any device and can put the printer anywhere - and heavy cardstock paper (cheaper than precut business card paper). We designed cards that work for us right now and only printed enough to last a couple of months. When something changes or we get tired of the design we will make new ones.

Cutting the cards was a bit of a challenge since there really wasn't any room to bring along a papercutter (though I might still buy one). I'm using a fabric cutter and a straight edge to make the cuts and they are coming out pretty even.

We have a folder with business card holders on board to keep track of companies we use in maintaining Camille and the people we meet on our journey.

Oh, and the back of our card has a photo of us since it's nice to be able to put a face to the name years later. Back in the 80s when I was cruising with my parents I kept a logbook of the people we met (which I cherish to this day) and one sailor wrote this: 

“It's easy to come and go. The hard thing is to remember.”