My Son thinks the 3" black block letters on my Formula could use an upgrade and wants to give me a more stylish set. Comic Sans font slightly italicized, multi colored to match the boat. Easy enough to read but not strictly legal. Anyone have trouble with the Gendarmes with non block letters? Especially in Connecticut or New York.

Thanks

i use the font style "choc" or "mistral" more then any other font. It looks pretty good but what i usually do is cut a second set in three inch black plain font to keep in the glove box on the boat. If i do get stopped for that at least you show that you put some thought into it. Around here if your gonna get stopped your gonna get stopped an that is one of those things that i have heard they've used. I dont believe anyone has actually been fined or forced to change it though. As long as i have been cutting vinyl, not once has anyone told me of an issue.

Never heard of anyone else nor had any issues myself with 'illegal' reg numbers. Mine have always been the colors of my boat. Current ones are non block slanted font yellow with 1/8" purple outline, and also slanted blue. I do keep with the 3" height though.
Was stopped when I 1st got my boat for no numbers and when I explained I was having the numbers custom cut to match my graphics that week, he just commented, yeah, alot of people like matching. I had my reg papers on board, so not problem. Our area they don't care what you have, as long as you have them.

It really depends on the person who stops you. We had one officer (they dock at our marina) who was a real stickler on block letters being the only thing he'd accept. He wrote lots of tickets for that one.

Personally, I think as long as they're readable from a distance, you should be OK. But, given the fact that law enforcement has been mandated to start generating more revenue as of late, I wouldn't give them the chance.

I used a custom font at a graphics shop in the same shade as the green on my boat. I had to make the font a little larger than the actual 3" since some of the letters are actually distorted by the font choice, and dont actually reach 3" at the 3" setting if that makes sense. Have had no issues with the style of the font yet. Was actually pulled over by the MPs on post just to say I had a nice rig and he commented on the letters looking good.

get it coast guard documented, then no need to run numbers... just the yearly sticker on either side of the cowl.

check the laws in your state. I did mine custom to match the boat and I'm within the bounds of FL law. Down here it's 3" block letters contrasting to the hull.

Mine are red w/ a silver shadow, contrast real nice on the white and match the striping.

I like the way a registered boat looks with no numbers but having them seems to keep the authorities away. I have been pulled over multiple times in some friends boats that were documented. It always starts off with "let me see your documentation".

A quick story.
I ran up to NYC for lunch in October and as we neared the Verrazano Bridge we were met by a Homeland Security chopper. I was cruising at 55-60mph. They swooped down close, ran parallel for about 30 seconds, (I could see the pilot reading off the reg. #), and then they gave us a thumbs up and flew off. Having them made life easy that day.

The guys on my lake that have doc boats have also reg them with the state just to get the state numbers. The CO's on our lake eye ball every boat. They idle in front of all the tie ups looking for numbers and stickers. No numbers usually get you questioned. Sometimes you just don't want to draw attention to you. If you have no worries about being stopped, then it's not a issue.

+1 Coast Guard documentation = no ugly numbers on the hull!