What is the HIN (Hull Identification Numbers) or CIN (Craft Identification Number)?

The HIN/CIN should be a 12 or 14 alpha numeric serial number that uniquely identifies your boat. It enables manufacturers to clearly identify for boat owners the boats that are involved in a defect notification, and recall campaign, plus it is easy to decipher when the boat was built; very useful for Yacht Brokers and Boat Surveyors. 

HIN numbers were introduced in The United States of America in 1972 and in the EU in 1998. Some boats in the EU did use HIN numbers prior to 1998. As a part of the Recreational Craft Directive all boats have been obliged to have a Hull Identification Number permanently stamped/etched into the hull (twice: once on the transom & once concealed elsewhere on the boat). The HIN system defined by the CE Recreational Craft Directive was applied to all boats moulded in 1998, and probably some in late 1997, or even 1996. The R.Y.A. gives the following CIN example based on ISO 10087.95 Take for example the HIN/CIN - GB-RYA B7 123 G 2 93 GB-RYA would mean a boat built in Great Britain by a builder with the code RYA.

B7 123 would be the model and serial number of the boat.| G would be the month of manufacture, i.e., July (the seventh letter of the alphabet and the seventh month of the year). 2 would be the actual year of build, to allow boats completed in 1992 to be sold in 1993 as a 1993 model. 93 would be the year of completion. EXAMPLE 1: GB-CHULU015H303

This tells you it is:

GB	Made in Great Britain
CHU	By Churchouse Boats Ltd
LU015	A serial number created by the builder. On Drascombes, the two letters denote the type, the 3 numbers are consecutive serial numbers.
H	Made in August: A = January, etc.
3	Made in 2003
03	Year of completion

Where to find HIN numbers

• This hull identification number should always appear on the transom permanently moulded or etched into the hull and occasionally on a permanently affixed plate. This is in the majority of cases to the starboard side of the transom.

• On some steel/aluminium vessels (often narrowboats/widebeams) have this identification number stamped into one of the surfaces within the engine room. It can be in the form of a weld, or a plate. Quite often, if original paperwork has been lost during ownership changes but all previous BSS certificates have been retained it should appear on those certificates recorded by the BSS Surveyor at the time of BSS survey.