Manufacturing Date, Age, Max HP from Federal HIN

[fisher fella]

I have a Montauk 17 boat [with federal hull identification number] BWCE25655707,


Give me the boat manufacturing date, age, and maximum rated horsepower.

I'd like to re-power and modify a few things.

[biggiefl]

There should be a black stencil number in the splash well. That helps. Are you sure the reg # is correct? Usually on older hull the last digit is a letter. Is this a newer 170? If so then it might be correct and it is a 2007. If not newer it would indicate a 1970 but they did not have HIN numbers until 1972.

Pics?

[jimh]

The federal hull identification number only encodes a limited set of data: the manufacturer, the model year, and the production epoch. To learn how to decode the federal HIN, please read the FAQ answer in the REFERENCE section FAQ answers. See

Q1: How old is my Boston Whaler?

and

Q2: Where is the federal HIN located.

You can find the FAQ in the REFERENCE section of the WHALER section of the CONTINUOUSWAVE website. "

Here is a hyperlink:

http://continuouswave.com/whaler/reference/FAQ/

The federal HIN does not encode the maximum horsepower. A separate CAPACITY PLATE is required to be attached that give the boat's capacities in clear text, no encoding.

[jimh]

There are three epochs of federal HIN formats:

--1972 to 1984 STRAIGHT YEAR

--1972 to 1984 MODEL YEAR

--1984 to present in the NEW FORMAT

You state the boat's HIN as

BWCE25655707

This number is not a good fit in any of the three formats. The problems with your reported HIN are:

--if pre-1984 STRAIGHT YEAR there is no month "57"
--of either of the other two formats, no LETTER in MONTH encoding.

Is the HIN molded into the hull?

Is the HIN embossed on a metal tag attached to the hull with rivets?

Take a photograph of the HIN and post it in this thread.

Also, the production sequence number of E2565 is for a 13-foot hull. There are no MONTAUK models in a 13-foot hull.

Perhaps you have become confused and your boat is a 13-footer.

[fisher fella]

Hi Jim, thanks for the information as I did fail to mention that the Registration normally on the transom, was ground away for some unknown reason as I purchased the vessel from a younger lad who got it from a police auction in Ontario.
Anyways, he mentioned that there was another spot where a registration number was located, under the centre consul. So I believed him when he supplied me the number I quoted in the original email..I have not tried to find the number under the consul as of yet..

A 13 footer would have been a lot easier to tow along our highway , in plus 35 Centigrade a few weeks ago..loo..... Bottom Line, I bought a real nice boat which should last me until my final days up here...stay safe and happy boating Jim.

[biggiefl]

There is no HIN in the center console that I know of. There may be one in the forward bow anchor locker. Do you have documentation on all of this? Are you sure it is not hot? Many people read the HIN wrong as the metal tags fade. He might have screwed it up and DMV did not catch it and now you are stuck with the wrong HIN number on the title.

[jimh]

A HIN that was molded into the hull and ground away could only be done intentionally. The boat’s history sounds very abnormal. Very abnormal.