Registering a WW boat in Ohio

I just bought a used Wave Sport Godzilla from a guy who moved here from Colorado. Ohio has these silly registration laws, which, among other things, require you to fill a boat ID number on the form. My other boats–rec and touring–had such numbers stamped into the plastic under the bow. I can’t find any kind of number on this one. Can anyone suggest where it might be? Or should I just make one up? My experience with the Division of Watercraft bureacrats is they are prisoners of their own rules, and will refuse to give me a sticker if I just tell them “it doesn’t have one.”

Try them and see. If they refuse,
go ahead and paddle it, but if you are stopped, just say you are from Georgia. Ohio does not require out-of-staters to have registered boats.

“All” boats are required to have a HIN

– Last Updated: Sep-03-05 1:47 AM EST –

All boats manufactured or imported on or after November 1, 1972 must bear a HIN. The HIN is a 12 character serial number that uniquely identifies your boat. The HIN has an important safety purpose. It enables manufacturers to clearly identify for boat owners the boats that are involved in a defect notification and recall campaign. A HIN is not the same as a State registration number, which may be required to be displayed on the bow of your boat. The HIN is a Federal requirement; your boat’s registration number is a State requirement similar to the license plate on your car. The HIN, however, is required to be shown on the State certificate of registration.


This was taken from the USCG web site. It is not a State law but a Federal requirement. If your boat does not have one it is possibly stolen and had it removed. My guess is if you look you will find it, but besides that your boat will be impounded if you paddle it in Ohio or any state and are stopped and it does not have a hull number. I would go back to the seller with this info and have him help you sort this out!

Move
Move to a better state. Why live in Ohio anyway? Sounds like it has too many damn bureaucrats.

My other boats have HINs
But I can’t seem to find it on this one. I’d welcome suggestions from WW boaters as to where to look. I know the guy who sold it to me, and i’m sure it is not a stolen boat. He just happened to live in a state with no registration requirements, so he never had to find an HIN on it.

I lived in Arizona many years ago.
Too many crazy right-wing white people in that state. Ohio ain’t perfect. But it beats the heck out of Arizona.

I think mine are generally on…
…the stern by the grab handle.



Or go to boater talk



http://boatertalk.com/forum/BoaterTalk



And post there.



Where in Ohio are you? I live near Caesar’s Creek Lake. Several good clubs arond the Dayton

area. And there’s a good one at



http://kayaking.meetup.com/76/



The ODNR people–who handle the registration–would

make a group of petty minded bureaucrats look

progressive.



And last, but not least, pay no attention to g2d.

We ran him out of Ohio, and one look at him will

tell you that he’s a throwback to some really

bizarre missing link experiment. The dude creeps

me out. he’s disgusting, smelly, and he has a

tendency to break wind at any moment.



Actually, now that I think on it, I quite like him.






True, but it’s a Coast Guard law

– Last Updated: Sep-03-05 1:46 AM EST –

Not an Ohio Law.

Looking from the front of the yack the number should be on the rear left stern near where the deck and hull come together.

the boat absolutly must have a Hin number or it is not legal to use in any state. Ohio will not issue a registration without a HIN.

Contact Wave Sport and tell them you can't register the boat and they should be able to help you and can actually issue a number if they forgot to put one on the boat. (unlikely)

Also the boats original "Statment of Origin" will have the HIN on it.

I recently had to contact P&H about the HIN on my kayak and they were a great help and even gave a complete history of my yack including exact day and time it was made, when it was shipped to the U.S. and who ordered it.


On boats without transoms or on boats on which it would be impractical to the transom, the HIN must be affixed to the starboard outboard side of the hull, aft within one foot of the stern and within two inches of the top of hull side, gunwale, or hull/deck joint, whichever is lowest. The starboard outboard side of the hull aft is the preferred HIN location for many manufacturers. On catamarans and pontoon boats the HIN must be affixed on the aft crossbeam within one foot of the starboard hull attachment.

See http://www.boatsafe.com/nauticalknowhow/hin.htm

Also see red note at the bottom of this page...http://www.nordicaboats.com/html/hin-numbers.html

Colorado made boats
MIC codes for Wave Sport boats serial numbers begin with “WSP”… the first 3 figures of the HIN number. http://www.coloradoboats.com/manufacturers/

Thanks NT and Rroberts
The info you guys gave me sent me searching again and I found it–under the stern handle, lightly scratched into the plastic by hand with what looks like a ballpoint pen!

Near Cambridge
Thanks for the link to the Dayton group. We’ve got a new club, the Wills Creek Paddle Club, comprised of Cambridge-Zanesville area paddlers, mostly river and lake paddling.



http://groups.yahoo.com/group/wcpc/



Two guys in the club (now 3) have WW boats. My other boats are rec/touring and I’ve done some ocean paddling, but on rivers nothing more than a very occasional class II drop. This boat almost fell into my lap, and was priced so low I had to buy it. When I’ll actually get it out on the water is another question. I hope to get some WW instruction from the tow WW guys I know in the near future.



I guess I’ll get the special mail-in registration in Columbus, so I don’t have to stick 3-inch registration letters on it.

Great your in business, are you sending
for the Ohio hand bowered craft alternative registration? that replace’s the long strand of numbers with a single sticker?



http://www.dnr.state.oh.us/watercraft/reg/hpoption.htm

You are also welcome to join…
…the Harveysburg Paddling Club.



We have a growing list of members. We were formed so that we could kick a guy named Ron Metzger out.



But ron has good beer and throws good parties, so we let him back in on double secret probation.



The rules of membership are:

1) don’t talk to ron

2) drink his beer



We do have some cool car stickers.

Here’s a link.



http://boatertalk.com/gallery.php?imageid=3351



Let me know if you want one. I have some extras.




N.T., people make their own boats
like strippers which do not have serial numbers. I have not heard of the Coast Guard or any state agency confiscating home-built boats. Evidently some local enforcement people have some common sense.

Evil Ronzo sez your member is not
worth listing. Check his comments under your kilt on LL.

It’s The Weather
It’s the weather and desert that makes AZ appealing. Getting alone with people is the easy part. Just don’t talk politics or religion, accept on B&B.

I am from ohio
I am also a dork who has read the Ohio boater’s laws hand book cover to cover (twice). You remeber that little book they gave you when you got your other registrations. Well in it is how to contact the coast guard if your boat doesn’t have a HIN on it. I would give you the information, but I am also REALLY lazy, and my book is in my truck. All I can really tell you is that Page six is where it tells you how to properly apply the OH Registration numbers.

HIN numbers
Division of Watercraft offices can issue HINs for home-made boats. They come on little brass plaques with holes so they can be riveted or screwed to the hull. Home builders in Ohio have to buy these before they can register their boats.