Hi Glen;

Well now there's at least one interpretation that I've heard from two different sources (unless it was your brother I spoke to on the phone???). But does that make it true? Who knows? I hope your brother is right, because I have no great burning desire to put any markings on the outside of my hull. But there was that article in Wavelength magazine written by Larry Burden, an RCMP officer, who insisted that a H.I.N. is required by law, even for homebuilt kayaks. A strict reading of the Regulation would seem to agree with him ......

25.1(1) Every pleasure craft that is manufactured in Canada, or imported into Canada, after August 1, 1981, shall be permanently marked with a hull identification number in accordance with the construction standards ..... yadda yadda yadda.

25.1(2) ....... blah blah blah ....... if a pleasure craft is home-built, the Minister shall issue a hull identification number for identification purposes.

But here's the rub. Does it make any difference that the regulation seems clear, or that the cops insist its the law, when the regulators themselves don't acknowledge or enforce the requirement? At the end of the day, its all far too convoluted and time-consuming.

On a practical level, I think your brother hit the nail on the head. If it means the cops will take you seriously if your kayak is ever stolen, then maybe its a good thing to have. Even better if its not actually the law, since you then don't have to put any marks on the outside of the boat. It can be nicely hidden in an inconspicuous spot (or several).

Still, I think I'll let Grant be the guinea pig on this, since he so graciously volunteered. I'll hang on to my $5 application fee until he reports back.

'nuff said;
Ken

: I spoke about this to my brother who is with the Auxiliary Canadian Coast
: Guard and he insists that HIN's are only for motorized vessels. However if
: your boat is ever stolen, the police probably won't even look for it if
: you can't provide them with some kind of "serial number". To
: this my brother says it is OK to label your boat with some kind of
: homemade label that contains info such as your initials and date of
: manufacture. Now if someone checks with their local police force to know
: what kind of info they would require for locating a stolen boat we might
: be onto something.

: But then "Murphy" will probably arrange it so that no two police
: forces give the same answer. If we keep bugging the Coast Guard about this
: issue they will probably figure out that they can make money by charging
: us for HIN labels and oblige every boat to have one. Then we will all be
: complainimg that we don't want HIN labels.

: Glen in Baie-St-Paul.