Anyone know where the serial number is

[HenrysCat]

Hi all, just renewing my insurance and this time round they want the serial number, I can't find one anywhere, I've looked on the transom, all round the exterior, in all cupboards nothing, any ideas? It's a Viking 23, built sometime in the 80's

 

[pvb]

It probably doesn't have one. Make one up, who's going to check?

 

[Billy no mates.]

Call David Mawby boat broker in Nottingham, he deals in those, should know location.

 

[Poignard]

Hi all, just renewing my insurance and this time round they want the serial number, I can't find one anywhere, I've looked on the transom, all round the exterior, in all cupboards nothing, any ideas? It's a Viking 23, built sometime in the 80's

I don't know who you are insured with but my insurer had a box on the proposal form for the serial number of my hull and, as I couldn't find a record of it and couldn't get to the boat to get it, I left the box blank and there was no come back from the insurer.

Many boats won't have a serial number at all.

My serial number is on the inside of the transom , just under the deck. A bit awkward to get at.

 

[vyv_cox]

The serial number of my 1985 Sadler 34 is 38 on the original invoice and is written in felt tip pen on the seat cushion foam and the fuel tank. However there is no hull number anywhere.

 

[donm]

I bought a Trapper 500 kit in about 1980 and the hull number was written in resin “snail creep” inside the hull and could be seen with a torch by crawling inside a cockpit locker and looking tight to the underside of the deck. I only mention this as the Sadler and Trapper yards were close to each other and they seemed to share similar build techniques .........

 

[Momac]

It probably doesn't have one. Make one up, who's going to check?

Better to declare there is no such number.

 

[Tranona]

Hull numbers (HIN) have been compulsory now for 24 years and commonly used (or something similar) for some years before that. However as suggested by others in the glory days of British boat building such things were either considered unnecessary or at the best inconsistent and only variably positively marked on the boat. Not surprising that insurers would like to know if there is a physical identity for the boat it is insuring, so have a box for it on the proposal form. However they are realistic and it is OK if you leave it blank. They may question it and you just have to explain that you do not have any number on your boat.

 

[HenrysCat]

I told the insurer that there was no number on a boat this age and they said............. "just make one up and get it etched on the hull" so I said "how about my home postcode?", the reply was "yes thats fine"

 

[Mark-1]

It probably doesn't have one. Make one up, who's going to check?

I have exaclty the same 'problem' and that solution never occured to me before, but yeah, that's the answer. If I can't find it after 5 years of ownership what hope have 'they' got of disputing its validity.

I will choose the same number as the sail number, add a few zeros at the begining if 'they' need more characters.

Mind you, nobody's asked yet.

 

[guernseyman]

The hull number will be somewhere not likely to be anti-fouled or painted. Mine is on the rear wall of the cockpit sump i.e. between the drain inlets.

 

[Mistroma]

The serial number of my 1985 Sadler 34 is 38 on the original invoice and is written in felt tip pen on the seat cushion foam and the fuel tank. However there is no hull number anywhere.

I remember that our 1980 Southerly was sail number 25 and we did use that in a few documents, mainly races of club applications where they asked for sail number. She was Part 1 registered but HIN field was always left blank and we always used Reg. No. for insurance. I began to discover S95/26 on the back of various panels, inside cushions etc. over the years. It was obvious that hull 26 had been given the sails destined for hull 25. We owned her for about 24 years and stuck with no. 25 on replacement sails.

I was looking around at prices for other S31s prior to selling and found with one in Wales with S25 on the sails. At least I know where hull 25 ended up but never found out if someone delivered 2 mainsails with no. 25 in 1980 sails had just been swapped in error.

I don't think HIN was much more than a load of felt tip markings put on misc. bits before sticking them into place inside the moulding. I wouldn't be surprised if OPs boat never had any plate or etched number indicating a hull number. Insurance companies must know that this will be the case. Even our Part 1 reg. had HIN field left blank and that was never questioned when renewed.

 

[Tranona]

Often sail numbers were allocated to a licence to build to the design - my old Eventide was YME 634, allocated by Yachting Monthly who then held the design rights. I also have a licence to build a Riptide 31 from the same designer, sail no. 64

Many builders used sail numbers that did not correspond with hull numbers as the sail no was usually issued by the class or designer. Other builders use yard numbers that were not connected to the design (they might be building several different designs at the same time) but used to identify components destined for a specific boat and found on backs of bulkheads, floor panels and so on. When I worked for a boat builder this is the method we used as it was useful to show the surveyor (most of our boats were built under survey) that the parts existed to complete to the next stage.

HINs were brought in to provide a common method of identifying a specific boat and who could argue it was not needed!