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

This is the same as a VIN on a car. You get the funky aluminum tag riveted to the dash in front of the steering wheel. Technically, when you sell a vehicle -- car or boat -- you are exchanging the title to it, and the title has to be able to match up with a unique vehicle. HINs and VINs are just convenient systems for the state to use to register these titles.

: I'm not enthusiastic about sticking big ugly numbers on my boats, and I let
: the committee members looking at the ruling know that.

HINs are dinky. I think they only have to be 1/4 inch tall (roughly 6mm) and you put at least one on the inside of the boat. teh bottom edge of a coaming is a popular place on a kayak, under a gunwale or deck is poplular on a canoe. Somebody would need to stick their head inside your boat to find these things. The state will issue a decal for canoes and kayaks in Illinois, something about the size of a city sticker for the inside windshield of a car.

If you have a motor (again, in Illinois) you need to affix bigger numbers -- and I think here is where you get into the "ugly" issue. In effect these are the same thing as numbers on an auto license plate. The idea here is that someone can identify you from a distance. It is sometimes a good thing. People have called in to report drunk and/or unsafe boaters and the state has been able to track them by their registration numbers.

And when you get out of your boat and a stray teenager or two decide to take it a few more miles downstream while your back is turned, you can call the local gendarmes and let them know exactly which boat they should be looking for.

: Jerks.

Just another example of your tax dollars at work

Isn't Oregon a big lumber and maritime state? Wouldn't they think highly of encouraging a homegrown wooden boat building industry? Can't you write a letter to your state representatives suggesting taxbreaks for small builders, and reduced or free registration for locally made boats?

Just asking.

PGJ