All boats manufactured or imported on or after November 1, 1972 must bear a HIN. The HIN is a 12 character serial number that uniquely identifies your boat. The HIN has an important safety purpose. It enables manufacturers to clearly identify for boat owners the boats that are involved in a defect notification and recall campaign. A HIN is not the same as a State registration number, which may be required to be displayed on the bow of your boat. The HIN is a Federal requirement; your boat's registration number is a State requirement similar to the license plate on your car. The HIN, however, is required to be shown on the State certificate of registration.
The boat manufacturer must display two identical hull identification numbers, no less than one-fourth of an inch high, on each boat hull. The primary HIN must be permanently affixed (so that it can be seen from outside the boat) to the starboard side of the transom within two inches of the top of the transom, gunwale, or hull/deck joint, whichever is lowest. On boats without transoms or on boats on which it would be impractical to the transom, the HIN must be affixed to the starboard outboard side of the hull, aft within one foot of the stern and within two inches of the top of hull side, gunwale, or hull/deck joint, whichever is lowest. The starboard outboard side of the hull aft is the preferred HIN location for many manufacturers. On catamarans and pontoon boats the HIN must be affixed on the aft crossbeam within one foot of the starboard hull attachment. The second is usually hidden inside somewhere.
Hull identification numbers are useful for locating your boat if it is stolen.
Hull identification numbers are useful for locating your boat if it is stolen.
Hull identification number
On the hull
Hull Identification Numbers (HIN) or the boat registration numbers on the hull? The HIN is placed on the boat during manufacture. It is similar to a VIN number on a vehicle. The boat registration number on smaller boats is a state registered number similar to your vehicles licence plate. Where as on larger vessels the hull numbers are federal issued numbers.
on the boat hull
NICB national insurance crime bureau
Locating your boat if stolen
hull identification number - same as the VIN on an automobile
locating your boat if it is stolen
starboard side of stern
Usually on the transom - it might be a thin plate covered by layers of paint. To be more precise, after October, 1972 vessels built in the United States were required to place 12 digit hull identification numbers (sometimes referred to as HIN) on the vessel's hull. The HIN is typically sighted on the starboard side transom of these vessels. These numbers are typically imprinted or engraved into the hull. Foriegn made vessels will typically have a hull manufactuerer number somewhere on the back quarters of the exterior hull or inside the hull. These foriegn vessels are not HIN numbers like you see in the United States but more hull numbers based on how many were produced of that model (such as "hull number 512").