Hull ID Number interpretation

[JPS27]

With my boat on the hard and working on the rudder area quite a bit I've had time to stare at my boat's HIN. In (re)looking up how to decipher the characters I noticed that on some sites they list a letter-month code, but in other places people mention for example B=February, which conflicts. So two questions:

Does ERY27126M77J-1 mean: Ericson 27, Hull was the 126 E27 made, Manufactured (M) in May (J) of 1977. And what does the "-1" mean?

Also, I have another number in the head up against the bulkhead. What is this number? The last 4 digits and numbers are N, something hidden by my emergency tiller, T, -8. here's a pic of the first sequence of numbers.

Thanks, Jay

 

[Tom Metzger]

The number in the pic is the USCG document #. This means that the boat was at one time registered ("Documented") with the Coast Guard. Normally, it would also have the boat's net tonnage. For example NT 7.5.

The HIN info comes from http://www.boatsafe.com/nauticalknowhow/hin.htm

For boats built or manufactured from November, 1972 until July 31, 1984, the HIN format may look like:

• Manufacturer Identification Code (MIC)
• Hull or Serial Number
• Certification Date (2 digit month, followed by 2 digit year)

Alternatively, some manufacturers used the following format:

• Manufacturer Identification Code (MIC)
• Hull or Serial Number
• Model year("M") followed by a two digit year, followed by a single letter for the manufacture month. Please note that the "Model Year" changeover was assumed to have happened in August with this format, so its possible the boat was built before its model year. The month codes are as follows:

  A:	Aug	E:	Dec	I:	Apr
  B:	Sep	F:	Jan	J:	May
  C:	Oct	G:	Feb	K:	Jun
  D:	Nov	H:	Mar	L:	Jul

  
  <tbody>
  </tbody>

For boats built or manufactured August 1, 1984 or later:

• Manufacturer Identification Code (MIC)
• Hull or Serial Number
• Manufacture Date, where the second digit is the last digit of the year, and the first is a code for the month as below:

  A:	Jan	E:	May	I:	Sep
  B:	Feb	F:	Jun	J:	Oct
  C:	Mar	G:	Jul	K	Nov
  D:	Apr	H:	Aug	L:	Dec

  
  <tbody>
  </tbody>
• Model year

 

[dt222]

Puzzle

Jay, your ID# kind of puzzles me. My # is ER27788M75L- Ericson '27, hull 788, manufactured in July of 1975.

Don

 

[Jeff Asbury]

Here's a link that you can use to search Documented boats by name or documentation number. I searched your number 588129 and came up with a 26.7 ft fiberglass vessel named STOLEN MOMENTS.
Documentation Expiration Date: May 31, 2002. From the info I found it seems there's a pretty good chance it's your boat.

Search by name here: http://www.st.nmfs.noaa.gov/st1/CoastGuard/VesselByName.html

Search by number here: http://www.st.nmfs.noaa.gov/st1/CoastGuard/VesselByID.html

 

[Jeff Asbury]

E-27 HIN # Location

Jay where is your HIN number located on your E-27? Mine is dead center on the bottom of the transom.

 

[JPS27]

HIN deciphering and location

Thanks to all for the input. I probably should have known that that was a CG number, but didn't, and now I do, so thanks. I appreciate Jeff looking it up and now I've gone back one more name in my boat's history. Current to oldest, that would be Southpaw, Mary Jane (MJ) which I changed immediately to not warrant any more CG attention than necessary, then Slo Ride, and now Stolen Moments.

My HIN is located up high on the starboard side of transom. The only thing I still can't figure out is why there is a "-1" at the end of my HIN. I initially thought it meant "first J month" as in January.

Here's a pic:
Jay

 

[Jeff Asbury]

Jay the "M" stands for Model Year.

According to the formula (For boats built or manufactured from November, 1972 until July 31, 1984) Tom posted my HIN is pretty easy to figure out.

ERY 27 355 M73 H

Ericson • 27 feet • Hull #355 • Model Year 1973 • Month H = March

But I am also baffled by Jay's HIN

ERY 27 126 M77 J – 1

Ericson • 27 feet • Hull #126 • Model Year 1977 • Month J = May

But I have no idea what the – 1 represents.

 

[Loren Beach]

HIN mystery

Just for fun, I sent this thread link over to a marine surveyor friend of mine, knowing that the ID of a hull is important for any survey.
I will append her response... informative, perceptive, and fun.

Regards,
Loren
_____

Good morning, Loren,

I always love a mystery! In this case, I don’t have an answer. There is nothing to prevent a builder from adding digits before or after a hull number. I have seen many variations ovrer the years. I always document what I find and include a digital photo. If there is an explanation, I provide one, if there isn’t an explanation but it is irrelevant I say so, or if there isn’t an explanation and the HIN does not comply with federal requirements, I so state and recommend bringing the HIN into compliance. The method to bring into compliance can vary according to what is wrong with it so the procedure I recommend can vary greatly.

Boat building is still a cottage industry and compliance with the HIN format is a low priority when a builder is worried about cash flow, personnel turnover, material availability, advertising, boat shows, dealer recruitment, screwing over partners, etc. Add to that that the person applying the HIN may have little training and less concern.

The -1 could mean anything and nothing. If I were a builder and had one model 27’ but was going to introduce an updated 27, I might want to designate if the boat that is built will be a Mark I or a Mark KII. Or, it could be the untrained kid using the label maker got an atomic wedgie just as he was completing the label and his hand reflexively squeezed the trigger a few more times!

 

[Grizz]

'Atomic Wedgie'

That particular affliction can explain a lot and cover an array of maladies with almost zero tolerance for contradiction. Thanks for sharing!

 

[JPS27]

Mystery of "-1"

Loren,
thanks for the investigation into the "-1". The reasoning sounds plausible and I can always think to myself that at one time my boat was an upgrade . Now, taking Friday off to work on the boat. The new shaft, new coupler, and new cutlass bearing are ready to go in starting tomorrow.

Jay

 

[Jeff Asbury]

Just for fun, I sent this thread link over to a marine surveyor friend of mine, knowing that the ID of a hull is important for any survey.
I will append her response... informative, perceptive, and fun.

Regards,
Loren

Thanks Loren, that was indeed very "informative, perceptive, and fun". Actually HIN numbers seem to be more logical that the wide variety of VIN numbers on our autos. I know, let's not go there.

 

[Christian Williams]

She sounds great. Too many surveyors are covered in old barnacles....

 

[wetjim]

Hull Number

We are in the process of putting an offer in on a 36C. The number on the transom is ERY36XX3M76B. At first this confused us as the model years were from 1975 (Hull #1) to 1977 (Hull #66), and we found it hard to believe that there were only 2 manufactured in 1975. In addition, there was another person on this forum that was considering buying ERY36XX1M76B. So based on the information on manufacture date vs. model year, am I to assume this boat was actually manufactured in Feb. of 1975 even though it's model year is 1976? Were there any actual model year 1975 or were they just manufactured in 1975, but the model year was 1976?

 

[bgary]

actually manufactured in Feb. of 1975 even though it's model year is 1976?

It's possible.

Makana's hull-number indicates 1985 model year.

But paperwork maintained by the chain of prior owners includes an "equipment checklist" (usually indicating delivery to a dealer) in July of 1984.

 

[Loren Beach]

Just to add some clarity or confusion, the HIN is supposedly applied to the mold in "real time". i.e. if the hull is molded out in November of 1977, it will show that in the HIN. Later, when it was finished out, and prepped for the winter boat show display and sold in January, it might well be titled as a 1978 vessel.
Several decades later, the mystery is hard to unscramble.


Loren

 

[kapnkd]

With my boat on the hard and working on the rudder area quite a bit I've had time to stare at my boat's HIN. In (re)looking up how to decipher the characters I noticed that on some sites they list a letter-month code, but in other places people mention for example B=February, which conflicts. So two questions:

Does ERY27126M77J-1 mean: Ericson 27, Hull was the 126 E27 made, Manufactured (M) in May (J) of 1977. And what does the "-1" mean?

Also, I have another number in the head up against the bulkhead. What is this number? The last 4 digits and numbers are N, something hidden by my emergency tiller, T, -8. here's a pic of the first sequence of numbers.

Thanks, Jay

That’s the one ! …THANKS!!!

 

[Jerry VB]

Jay the "M" stands for Model Year.

According to the formula (For boats built or manufactured from November, 1972 until July 31, 1984) Tom posted my HIN is pretty easy to figure out.

ERY 27 355 M73 H

Ericson • 27 feet • Hull #355 • Model Year 1973 • Month H = March

But I am also baffled by Jay's HIN

ERY 27 126 M77 J – 1

Ericson • 27 feet • Hull #126 • Model Year 1977 • Month J = May

But I have no idea what the – 1 represents.

The serial number encoding that Ericson used only has three digits for the hull number. The problem is that they made more than 999 E27 hulls, so they added -1 to indicate the "rollover". That makes Jay's E27 hull number 1126.

My previous boat was a '77 hull number 1058: ERY27058M77F-1

 

[kapnkd]

The serial number encoding that Ericson used only has three digits for the hull number. The problem is that they made more than 999 E27 hulls, so they added -1 to indicate the "rollover". That makes Jay's E27 hull number 1126.

My previous boat was a '77 hull number 1058: ERY27058M77F-1

Problem with the “J” is what about June or July??