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#1 2011-02-24 20:05:39
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- Kraken
- From: Dublin Bay
- Registered: 2011-02-24
- Posts: 333
HINs and CINs - Hull Identification Number and Craft Identification Number
[Moved from 'Technical Advice' pages, dated 06/11/07]
The information in this short article was provided by Bob Hathaway, who we should like to thank, with some recent information, mainly concerning ISO 10087.95, supplied by the Royal Yachting Association.
When your boat is next out of the water and you start polishing the hull, you might just notice a few numbers and/or letters moulded into the fibreglass. This is the Hull Identification Number or HIN. If, like me, you've never noticed a HIN and want to go looking for one, you will find it near the stern. On boats with canoe sterns, it is on the port quarter one inch below the capping rail. On boats with a transom stern, it is on the port transom and one inch down from the capping rail. Now, you may have read, in one of our own Technical Manuals even, that the identification number is also moulded internally at 'a hidden location'! Don't waste too much time looking for this internal HIN, as the vast majority of Victoria Yachts just didn't have one.
The idea of a hidden, internal HIN is probably intended to identify stolen yachts, whose external HIN is all too easily changed, modified or obliterated. It appears to be part of the Common European Recreational Craft Directive or CE RCD, although I have yet to find this in writing. As such, do not expect to find it on boats built earlier than circa 1995. The exception might be on boats built for export, particularly to the United States of America, where a more advanced HIN system was already in use. Note, the current CE standard was based on the U.S. system. On the relatively few occasions that an internal HIN is to be found on a Victoria Yacht it will be moulded inside the stern roughly opposite the external number. On a Victoria 34, look in the starboard lazarette. It is more a case, then, of being hidden from view rather than being deliberately being hidden in some obscure location!
Max Mason contributed the following:
2008-01-17 17:28:10 - Max Mason
As a follow up to my search for Hull Number for my 1987 Victoria 34. According to the Victoria Marine and Morris Yachts folks, the boats in the US need the Hull ID in an "hidden" interior location. No one I contacted could tell me where this "hidden" location might be. While doing some engine work last month, I found the Hull ID Number posted on the front cross member motor support frame.
It is clearly intended that the HIN should be moulded into the hull when it is being laid-up, and that will be the case normally. The R.Y.A. makes the point that this is not the legal requirement and any responsible person may add a HIN at a later time. The R.Y.A. also starts to use the term CIN (Craft Identification Number) rather than HIN, which fits in well with a Recreation Craft Directive. Some craft now don't have hulls in the accepted sense, for example, rigid inflatable boats and personal watercraft spring to mind.
Having found your HIN, what can you do with it? You might try decoding it, of course. This will be dealt with in several separate paragraphs because not only did different countries have different ideas but so did different builders.
Victoria Yachts (except Westerly moulded hulls), for the home market, built approximately 1979 - 1996
The format used was YY/NN, where YY is the year of moulding and NN a series number meant to define the NNth hull from that mould produced by Northshore, who moulded most of the hulls for Victoria Marine and Victoria Yachts. The number does not relate to the Contract Numbering system used by Victoria Marine or Victoria Yachts.
Victoria Yachts with Westerly moulded hulls built approximately 1993 - 1995
The Westerly HIN system that applied only to a very few boats, maybe only one or two, before they were brought back into line, is probably based on the CE system (see below).
Newer Victoria Yachts and any earlier ones intended for export
The HIN system defined by the CE Recreational Craft Directive was applied to all boats moulded in 1998, and probably some in late 1997, or even 1996. The R.Y.A. gives the following CIN example based on ISO 10087.95
GB-RYA B7 123 G 2 93
GB-RYA would mean a boat built in Great Britain by a builder with the code RYA.
B7 123 would be the model and serial number of the boat.
G would be the month of manufacture, i.e., July (seventh letter of the alphabet and seventh month of the year).
2 would be the actual year of build, to allow boats completed in 1992 to be sold in 1993 as a 1993 model.
93 would be the year of completion.
If that makes any sense to you, try this complicated example sent to us by one of our members, Max Mason.
HIN #XGTV3402J687
We would expect the 'X' to mean export and the 'G' to be Great Britain. The 'T' might be part of the country code but is more likely to be part of the manufacturer code. The 'V34' is pretty obvious but we are not sure about the '02'. It is unlikely that it was the second boat out of the mould. Since this HIN was not typical of the time, it may mean the second boat to be exported to the U.S.A. 'J' means October, '6' means 1986 and '87' means 1987.
So, Max has a Victoria 34, whose hull was laid-up by Northshore in October 1986, was exported to the U.S.A. and Morris Yachts, in particular, for sale there in 1987. The boat's name was 'Elan' but has now been changed to 'Blue' and Max sails her out of Los Angeles.
If any of you discover any 'exceptions that prove the rule' in your personal numbers, please let the Secretary know and we will incorporate any fresh information into this page with appropriate acknowledgments.
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