Hull Identification Numbers

[Raya]

There have been several mentions of HIN numbers in recent threads. A common request of forum members is to try and find out a bit of the history of their Investigator. This is often difficult as the name and registration number of the boats can change over multiple owners. The boat (sail) number is the best identifier of a particular craft, but because of the age of the boats, very few have their original mainsail. To complicate matters, sometimes a replacement sail has the number from a different class of boat, or a number given to the Investigator by a yacht club for competition purposes.

The Hull Identification Number (HIN or sometimes called Boatcode) theoretically gives us another avenue of identification and a chance to cross reference to the boat number. The HIN number consists of 12 characters and was first introduced by the US in the mid-seventies and later taken up by other countries. In Australia, manufacturers started to attach HIN number around 1985 although it didn’t become mandatory to have one until around 2001. Only three states, NSW, SA and WA, require the recording of HIN numbers for registration purposes.
The format of the HIN number is mandated by ISO 10087:2006. The standard dictates that the identifier contains the information shown in the file "ISO HIN specification" below.

In a perfect world, a HIN number for an Investigator would reveal the date and month of manufacture and the boat number in the serial number field. This was what Brett, the owner of Zephyr, tried to do but found that the last three digits of his number were EZ7 which didn’t make much sense.
As the majority of our boats were made prior to HIN numbers being affixed by the manufacturers, and because the number became mandatory for registration transfers in some states, most HIN numbers on our boats would have been affixed post the manufacturing date. The format of the number in these cases is different that mandated in ISO 10087:2006.

In South Australia, the HIN number is issued by the Department of Planning, Transport and Infrastructure (DPTI) and appears in the yellow attachment below.
The only complete HIN number for an Investigator that I could find was for a South Australian Investigator called “Minnie Ruby”. The HIN was listed in a sale advertisement. The number was
AU TSA 001105 AM 1

Which confirmed the coding table above. I don’t know the sail number of “Minnie Ruby” but it isn’t 105 which belongs to “Rex”. Only allowing one digit for the year of issue is useless as a single digit could be in any decade.

Western Australia follows a similar pattern of coding the HIN number (see attached below) with the exception that the DPTI code becomes the Manufacturers Identification. As the number is issued by the Department of Transport, maybe the TWA stands for “Transport WA” and is not really a manufacturer’s identification. The third attachment shows the WA coding explanation.

I was unable to find any explanation of how HIN numbers are derived in the other states. Brett’s number for Zephyr ending in EZ7 suggests that NSW using a similar system to both WA and SA with an agent code of EZ issued in the year 2007 (maybe).

There appears to be a couple of other formats that were used prior to 1984. I found this explanation on an Australian Govt PPSR site for the pre 1984 numbers.

Format 1 – no country prefix – ABC 12345 1278

ABC = Manufacturer’s identity code
12345 = serial number
1278 = certification date

Format 2 – no country prefix – ABC 12345 M78D

ABC = Manufacturer’s identity code
12345 = serial number
1278 = alternate certification date (the “M” is an indicator that the characters following indicate the year and month of production – so in this case it would be (sic) November 1978)

The sites goes to explain that the coding letter for the month during the years 1972 to 1984 started with January = F and after 1984, January = A. (I continue to be amazed that there can be so many variations of a standard. What use is a standard if no one sticks to it.)

So where does that leave us Investigator owners as regards gleaning information from our HIN number? I suspect that they may be little hope but perhaps there is a glimmer. I’d like to see a few more examples especially where the sail number is already known. I’d also like to see an example of a HIN on a post 1984 boat. This would cover boats from about sail number 120 onwards. The number should have been affixed by the original manufacturer for these craft. Maybe, if members provide some more examples of HIN numbers, a pattern might emerge. If anyone has a contact at a boatcode (HIN) provider, please ask them how they come up with the number.

[Zephr]

It's interesting Ray I have looked more closely at my sails and one of them has a Fremantle label on it suggesting it came from WA, and my HIN starts with AU-TWA which suggests the HIN was installed in WA but the boat has made its way to NSW at some stage. I'll post the full HIN shortly.

[Zephr]

AU-WWA-137243EZ7 is my HIN

[Raya]

Brett,
Thanks for sharing your HIN number with the forum.

The WA in the number certainly suggests a West Australian boat and the sail logo seems to confirm it. I don't think that the boats constructed in WA have the lift up centreboard, but yours does. Maybe Zephyr travelled to WA from an eastern state and then had a HIN number fitted to the boat so that it could be registered in that state. The 7 at the end of HIN shows that this could have happened in 1997 or 2007.

The serial number (137243) doesn't give anything away. Maybe the boat number is 43 but I think that Zephyr was a later build than that. If we get a few more HINs, a pattern might fall into place. (My Investigator doesn't have a HIN.)

[Zephr]

Thanks Ray I must say I'm surprised that given so few were built that there wasn't a more prominent marking to uniquely identify each boat and when it was built but I guess times have changed a lot since then :/ Were there any other identifying features that changed over the years I know one was the front hatch having 1 or 2 hinges, possibly other things changed that might give a clue as to a range when it might have been built? Cheers

[atles]

Hi guys

my tag in QLD is

Water ways
AU-WWA062793 F58 original main sail has sail number 133 on it with the investigator sign

regards atlas

[Yara50]

Thanks Ray I must say I'm surprised that given so few were built that there wasn't a more prominent marking to uniquely identify each boat and when it was built but I guess times have changed a lot since then :/ Were there any other identifying features that changed over the years I know one was the front hatch having 1 or 2 hinges, possibly other things changed that might give a clue as to a range when it might have been built? Cheers

The first, maybe 3, boats had a well in the port locker for the motor. Normally great on a bigger boat, but not so good on an 18 footer.

[Raya]

Hi guys

my tag in QLD is

Water ways
AU-WWA062793 F58 original main sail has sail number 133 on it with the investigator sign

regards atlas

Thanks Atlas.
Unfortunately that blows my theory about WA standing for West Australia in the HIN. Out of interest, I went to a nearby boat yard and checked out the HIN plate on the second hand boats. The prefix AU-WWA was fairly common. I'd say too common for all the boats to be from West Australia or even from the same manufacturer. Your HIN also proves that the boat number is not part of the serial number. It's looking like the HIN isn't much use for identifying Investigators.

[Raya]

Thanks Ray I must say I'm surprised that given so few were built that there wasn't a more prominent marking to uniquely identify each boat and when it was built but I guess times have changed a lot since then :/ Were there any other identifying features that changed over the years I know one was the front hatch having 1 or 2 hinges, possibly other things changed that might give a clue as to a range when it might have been built? Cheers

The first, maybe 3, boats had a well in the port locker for the motor. Normally great on a bigger boat, but not so good on an 18 footer.

I remember reading in the forum where someone had an outboard well in a boat with a higher number than 3, but can't find the reference. (It may have been in the earlier Investigator web site.) In any case, there are a few more changes in design that I have noted that might help to verify the age of an Investigator. I'll list them in a new thread and see if anyone can add some more.

[Greg]

Thanks Ray I must say I'm surprised that given so few were built that there wasn't a more prominent marking to uniquely identify each boat and when it was built but I guess times have changed a lot since then :/ Were there any other identifying features that changed over the years I know one was the front hatch having 1 or 2 hinges, possibly other things changed that might give a clue as to a range when it might have been built? Cheers

The first, maybe 3, boats had a well in the port locker for the motor. Normally great on a bigger boat, but not so good on an 18 footer.

I remember reading in the forum where someone had an outboard well in a boat with a higher number than 3, but can't find the reference. (It may have been in the earlier Investigator web site.) In any case, there are a few more changes in design that I have noted that might help to verify the age of an Investigator. I'll list them in a new thread and see if anyone can add some more.

Andrews "Teria" is number 9 and originally had the outboard well which was closed over. My one is number 10 and has no sign of the well so maybe that was where they stopped them?