How do you tell what year your boat is?

[Antharian]

I am looking at two Catalina 25's.

One claims to be a 1984 and the other was sold as a 1985 to the current owner, but somehow he thinks it's a 1981 based on the title.

Is there any place I can inspect the boat for this information, or tell tail things to look for?

Regards,

-A

 

[Stu Jackson]

HIN is the hull identification number

see: http://www.c34.org/faq-pages/faq-hin.html

 

[Warren Milberg]

Any boat built or imported after 1972 ought to have a Hull Identiifcation Number, usually found on the upper starboard portion of the stern. See http://boatsafe.com/nauticalknowhow/hin.htm

You can also ask for a copy of the each boat's title. If the date on the title and the date of the HIN do not match, walk away.....

 

[sand sailor]

here's how to decipher the HIN
first 3 digits are manufacture's code,4 is model 5-8 are number of production,9-10 are year produced,11 is month12-13 are model yr
been trying to construct the right # for my boat but the wonderful state of california has been refusing to be helpful in this matter

 

[kloudie1]

Example a 1984 Hunter 34 which was the 800th hull built Jan 5, 1984 .. Its number would look like HUN 34800A584.. the A being January.. and as Warren's post said there were a couple of ways that the date could be put in..
Good luck