: 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.

: 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.

Youre right - the law as I understood it would have required both.

: 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.

Thats already true here - even the rowboat is a motorboat as soon as I put the electric motor on it, and it is subject to the requirement. I only use it where I wont get caught. Eventually I'll have to register that one.

: 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.

That'd be just my luck. the dopes would dump it and drown, and then sue me. I suppose it's asking for trouble, but I'm a pretty trusting guy. I did have a slight problem once, with the 6-hour canoe. I ran to the car and back, and here's a kid about to take it out. I couldnt believe it - his mother was standing right there! He hi-tailed it when I chewed him out. She just watched. I coulda punched her.

: Just another example of your tax dollars at work

Grrr...

: 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?

That used to be true. The state's biggest employer is the state itself. Next is INTEL, and the high tech industry as a whole. I could ask, but unless I had five hundred thousand other people asking with me, and a high-dollar lobbyest or three, it wouldnt do any good. I'm a firm believer in the 'one dollar, one vote' axiom. It's frustrating to see the stupid things the government does.

Actually, wood products are still high on the list - third or fourth maybe. And logging is picking up again, the second-growth forests are coming to fruit.

: Just asking.

: PGJ