Charity Boat Donation - donate a boat, yacht, jet ski, waverunner,
water craft or any type of vessel

Boat Donation Process — Hull Identification Number — What it means

HIN (Hull Identification Number)

On our Boat Donation Form we request that you put in the HIN (Hull Identification Number) of your boat.

Not to be confused with VIN, (Vehicle Identification Number), but similar in function, HIN stands for Hull Identification Number. It is used exclusively for watercraft.

Every boat imported to the US or manufactured in the US on or after the date of 11/1/72 must bear on it a HIN (Hull Identification Number); a 12 character serial number. The HIN is different for every boat. For safety purposes the Hull Identification Number plays a very important roll. Because the HIN distinguishes the watercraft clearly, it assists the manufacturers to search out particular models that are defective. It also assists our charity and the auction company for purposes of record keeping in the donation process.

It is important to note that the Hull Identification Number is not the same as the registration number issued by the state your boat is registered in. These are two separate entities (The registration number will usually be found on both sides of the bow of your watercraft). Where the registration is a state requisite, the HIN is a Federal one.

The following picture shows what the HIN looks like. We ask for this information on our boat donation form.

Note: You can find the HIN on your State Boat Registration Certificate.

So please look for this when you fill out the boat donation form. The Registration number is the number that is on bow of the boat and we require that too.