Vessel History

[Del]

When I bought my 1970 Webbers Cove 34, the previous owner included some undocumented stories of it's history. Attempts to substantiate that history have not been very successful. There isn't even much info about Webbers Cove Boatyard on the web, or the Cousens family that owns or owned it. I had hoped WC would have records of past builds that they could refer to and provide information to me but they did not respond to my inquiry and may no longer be in business.

In another thread, someone indicated that the hull number provides certain information, I assume similar to a auto VIN. Does anyone know how to decipher my hull # DRIZ00167G27 to provide specifics of that build?

Registration transfers likely occurred in Maine, Mass, & Mich. If there is a Web way to trace those transactions, I would appreciate your guidance.

 

[Blitzen]

Since your boat was built prior to 1984 this might help you get some information out of your HIN.



HIN formats

The manufacturer had a choice of using either the model-year format or the straight-year format, both of which identified the month and year of production.
• Characters 1, 2, and 3 of the HIN are the Manufacturer's Identification Code, and are assigned by the federal government.
• Characters 4 through 8 are the alpha-numeric serial number, which is assigned at the discretion of the manufacturer (I, O, or Q cannot be used in this serial number).
• In the model-year format, the 9th character will always be M, indicating the manufacturer is using the model year format. Then characters 10 and 11 indicate the year, and character 12 is a letter indicating a month, starting with August. Thus, if characters 9 through 12 of the HIN were "M80B," the boat was built in September of 1980. Why the lettering of the months in the model year system began with August is incomprehensible.
• In the numerical straight-year format, characters 9 through 12 are simply the month and year of production. Thus, 0879 would indicate August 1979.

 

[WC1966]

When I bought my 1970 Webbers Cove 34, the previous owner included some undocumented stories of it's history. Attempts to substantiate that history have not been very successful. There isn't even much info about Webbers Cove Boatyard on the web, or the Cousens family that owns or owned it. I had hoped WC would have records of past builds that they could refer to and provide information to me but they did not respond to my inquiry and may no longer be in business.

I was thinks about this subject this morning, I own a 1966 Webbers Cove 34.
When I purchased the boat I contacted the USCG document center and was able to purchase the documentation info they had on file, the fee was $25.
I am going to look for the paperwork and then post the prior names/owners. with this forum it is possible that someone will know some history

 

[Del]

Since your boat was built prior to 1984 this might help you get some information out of your HIN.



HIN formats

The manufacturer had a choice of using either the model-year format or the straight-year format, both of which identified the month and year of production.
• Characters 1, 2, and 3 of the HIN are the Manufacturer's Identification Code, and are assigned by the federal government.
• Characters 4 through 8 are the alpha-numeric serial number, which is assigned at the discretion of the manufacturer (I, O, or Q cannot be used in this serial number).
• In the model-year format, the 9th character will always be M, indicating the manufacturer is using the model year format. Then characters 10 and 11 indicate the year, and character 12 is a letter indicating a month, starting with August. Thus, if characters 9 through 12 of the HIN were "M80B," the boat was built in September of 1980. Why the lettering of the months in the model year system began with August is incomprehensible.
• In the numerical straight-year format, characters 9 through 12 are simply the month and year of production. Thus, 0879 would indicate August 1979.

Blitz -
Good info for us all. Unfortunately my HIN doesn't fit either of the two formats. Could there be a 3rd?

 

[Del]

When I bought my 1970 Webbers Cove 34, the previous owner included some undocumented stories of it's history. Attempts to substantiate that history have not been very successful. There isn't even much info about Webbers Cove Boatyard on the web, or the Cousens family that owns or owned it. I had hoped WC would have records of past builds that they could refer to and provide information to me but they did not respond to my inquiry and may no longer be in business.

I was thinks about this subject this morning, I own a 1966 Webbers Cove 34.
When I purchased the boat I contacted the USCG document center and was able to purchase the documentation info they had on file, the fee was $25.
I am going to look for the paperwork and then post the prior names/owners. with this forum it is possible that someone will know some history

Good plan... for me as well. This forum has answers to everything DE.

 

[Blitzen]

Del,
Sorry to say that prior to 1984 not all manufactures used the same standard with their HINs and nor was it mandatory so there may be quite a bit of ambiguity.

 

[Prime Time II]

If the boat is a documented vessel you should be able to go to the c.g. web site and look it up by documentation no. it should in the hull. The doc. # is diferent than the vin #.

 

[Downeaster]

If the boat is a documented vessel you should be able to go to the c.g. web site and look it up by documentation no. it should in the hull. The doc. # is diferent than the vin #.

A surprisingly large percentage of Maine hulls - of five net tons or more - are state registered.