: Here in Oregon last I looked, it wasnt required of a human-powered craft
: under 19' to have a HIN. They were working at changing that last year, and
: I dont know what became of it.

So if Harvey Golden builds a 25' East Greenland replica, it's supposed to have big, ugly stickers? Yeah, right.

: I talked to the State Police once about it,
: and they said that the HIN was a good idea so that if the boat were stolen
: they could track it - yeah right.

I left my bicycle improperly parked at Montana State one day, and the campus cops impounded it for a $10 fine. They told me I had to register it for $5, as well, before I could get it out of hock. I asked them, "why?". They said, "so we can identify it, and call you if it turns up here."

I asked them why they didn't call me when they impounded it, since it already had the little red sticker. They looked at the sticker, and said, "oh."

Revenue generation, pure and simple. I'd rather mail them a $20 check and call it even, rather than them having to inspect my HIN, inspect my state registration number and sticker, and then pay wardens to motor about and make sure I have the stupid number.

In Montana, it's called a "fee in lieu of tax", but I'm not really sure how it isn't a tax.

: Also, if you sell it it is required to
: have a registration.

Maybe if you're a retailer. If I pay you $1500 for one of your boats, who's going to care whether it's papered?

: I'm not enthusiastic about sticking big ugly numbers on my boats, and I let
: the committee members looking at the ruling know that. Nary a response.
: They probably have dollar signs in thier eyes.

Like I said before, if it were just a matter of money, I'd pay, but I really don't want big, ugly numbers on my boats. The thing that really irks me is that I don't think any of the registration money goes for boating facilities. Most of the boating facilities are paid for by fishing license fees. (which are all free put-ins) I don't even fish, but I'm going to buy a fishing license next year, because I like where the money is going.

Shawn