TOPIC: HULL ID # Question- Scott boats

I have a sport scott (14 footer) and a flying scott boat. i have given them both a once over and cannot seem to locate a serial number. these are aged boats- if it was on a plate on the transom then that's probably gone on both of them- nothing in that area other than an OBC capacity plate.

Anyone have any ideas? i know that some makers had some pretty unusual locations for putting their serial numbers. Thanks!!

Very possible never had any type of ID on the boat. There was no requirement for them until November 1972 in USA

Andreas

aye, possible but unlikely. i had one that i had wanted to keep a few years back and it was titled with a non-state-generated hull serial number but i never did find the number and due to circumstances had to sell the boat before i had time to find the S/N

I recently owned a 1971 Thunderbird with one owner original title with boat hull ID number on the title. Though the manufacturers plate was on the boat with clear information about hp, load, where it was made, model type... but nowhere on the tag or entire hull was a number even found. Registered and used in Wis from 1971 until 2018. When I sold it with all proper documentation and original title with original owner name on it to a person in Indiana. They said the title was really a registration... funny that it said Wisconsin TITLE right on it. They would not register his boat until he applied for a new hull ID and they had to inspect that he engraved it right into the transom gelcoat. They finally approved it after about a month of back and forth. It was only a $350 boat. What a crazy experience.

When the Federal regulations were written for recreational boats part of the intention was that states would assign a HIN to home built boats and boats built prior to 1972. The law clearly states that all recreational boats are to have an HIN. To that end the USCG assigned a Manufacturers ID code (the first 3 digits of the HIN) to every state and US territory. Well, some states simply didn't do it because they felt it wasn't mandatory. So around 2017 Congress amended that part of the Federal Boat Safety Act, to make it mandatory and the USCG began requiring the states to do it. I even got one for my 1972 Sea Ray (Sea Ray hadn't assigned one) So. Don't blame the state. It was Congresses intent all along, but some states weren't complying. Now they are. In Washington they actually sent out notices to all boat owners of boats that did not have an HIN, and as you said wouldn't re-register it until the HIN was on the boat.

A TITLE is not a registration. A TITLE is legal document proving ownership, a registration is not. 29 states currently (the number gets bigger each year) now issue Titles for boats. Why? Primarily boat theft and insurance. When I was stationed in NY we used to see people steal boats in NY, gin up a fake registration and bill of sale and then register them in NJ or CT. There were actual tri-state boat theft rings. The International Assoc of Marine Investigators (IAMI) has been trying for many years to get all the states to do it. They even got the USCG to propose a regulation requiring boats to be titled with a national Title Document. It never made it past the proposal stage. It would have been a financial boondoggle and an administrative nightmare for the Coast Guard.

PS: IAMI Also wanted a 17 character HIN like the VIN on your car. Thank God that never happened. It would have been a big administrative nightmare for boat manufacturers and state registration offices.