Registration

*Registration*
	You may ask why have I registered Mouse Pad in Great Britain rahter than the USA? Well its a long story that goes back before Crusie '97. So I will give you a brief answer. I originally registerd Mouse Pad as a US Coast Guard Documented vessel unti my return from Mexico where I found out that the company I had used in Deleware for the process had made a huge blunder. They let me document the vessel even though I am British, for documentation you have to be a US Citizen, hence the change to a British Small Ships Registry (SSR). But that all changed again in 2003/4 when the British SSR rules changed.

	The British rules for small boat registration changed and I had to re-register Mouse Pad under Part I rules. Basically it was similar to a American Coast Guard Documented vessel becoming a commercial vessel. As such I had to have the boat measured for tonnage of cargo (don't ask me) and put the name, registration numbers and home port on the transom. So now Mouse Pad is registered with Lloyds of London as a Privatly oporated Commercial Vessel.

	In the process of preparing for that I found that I really needed to re-paint the transom as the paint was getting thin plus the old name just wouldn't come off, it left a shadow behind! It came out great and I like it.

	You will notice that I changed the Home port, or port of registration, as Mouse Pad is now under Part I registration in Great Britain and I had to use a known port from the list provided by Lloyds not just any town as before. I chose Teignmouth, Devon. It has 2 special meanings for me. 1- My grandfather (on my fathers side) retired there back in the late 50's so I got to spend my summers there playing around in his clinker built wooden dinghy. Also my grand-mother (on my mothers side) had a small cottage (Rose Cottage) on the other side of the estuary (Shaldon) for a many years. 2 - one of the original solo-round-the-world sailors used Teignmouth as his starting point, about the same time I was growing up there (1968)