> Does anyone know where I can get an ID number for my boat?

> Thanks, Dale

As I understand it:

The ultimate source in the US in the US Coast Guard. George Roberts posted quite an involved story about their numbering system a few years back. As I recall, basically the Coast Guard gives each manufacturer a number. This, as well as a state designation and a serial number from the manufacturer becomes the Hull Identificatio Number (HIN) which is required to be permanently marked in two places on the boat.

My two Sevylor inflatables both came with paperwork and each boat had a unique HIN.

When I built my strip canoe from scratch I obviously had no papers to play with, however, on registering the canoe with the state of Illinois I received a title which included a HIN that the state was kind enough to supply. I never thought about this HIN until the discussion came up on this board -- and only noticed it when I had to renew my registration last year.

The HIN is a different number than the state registrarion number, which for a canoe in Illinois is a rather small sticker, about the size of an automobile's widshield city sticker. It is not a thing of great beauty, but it is not too ugly. Boats with motors need to have the larger numbers displayed. there are several loophole and exemptions for canoes and kayaks, and special rules for inflatables (not good nailing into one of those!)

Hope this helps.

Paul G. Jacobson