The Federal regulation states, "All boats manufactured or imported on or after November 1, 1972 must bear a HIN." The preferred location was that the HIN was to be stamped on the upper starboard corner of the transom. The reg goes on to state "The HIN consists of 12 continuous characters at least one-quarter of an inch in height, uninterrupted by spaces, slashes, hyphens or other symbols. The HIN will be carved, burned, stamped, embossed, molded, bonded, or otherwise permanently affixed to the vessel." Prior to that date, as someone said, manufacturers did their own thing.
My 1971 36 Sport Sedan has ID numbers written in several places - I've found it written with Magic Marker on the inside of the lower helm and on the underside of the cockpit deck (saw that lying on my back in the bilge when working on the generator). Recently, I removed the forward cabin and head doors to refinish them, and I found it written on the underside of the head door. Poke around, open doors and drawers and use a small mirror to see if you find anything. It would likely be handwritten in grease pencil or Magic Marker. The number on my boat is written both as "36S178" and "36-178," presumably meaning hull no. 178 of the 36 Sport Sedan line. My USCG Certificate of Documentation lists the "IMO or Other Number" as 36-178. Yours would probably be 31 [letter] [number]. Here's a link: http://www.boatsafe.com/nauticalknowhow/hin.html --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "UnifliteWorld" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/UnifliteWorld?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
