English
We regularly speak to the owner of an inflatable boat or RIB boat where it is not known how old the boat is.
Every boat must have a so-called hull number. The official name for this is: a Watercraft Identification Number (WIN).
Sometimes it is also called a HIN or CIN number or a hull number.
This number is always stated on the boat, for example on the back of the transom plate (engine plate) or on the manufacturer's plate. Often on the right side of the transom. However, this may vary by manufacturer.
The WIN number (formerly HIN number/CIN code) is the chassis number of the vessel. All vessels built after June 1998 have this number.
This number always consists of 14 characters:
Below you will find an explanation of the structure of the WIN number:
| NL | Country of Production |
| ABC | Unique code of the yard that built the hull/boat |
| 1234 | Serialnumber |
| A | Month of production (A = January to L = December) |
| 8 | Year of production |
| 18 | Model year |
The last 3 digits of the WIN number therefore say something about the actual age of your boat.
In the above example you can therefore read that the boat was formally produced in 2018 according to the model year (model specifications) of 2018.
Because boat builders often work with different production years, they already start new production for the following season at the end of the summer season to be able to supply the market on time with new boats.
It is therefore possible that the WIN number ends with: 718.
Then the boat was already produced at the end of 2017 according to the model specifications of the year 2018.
It is then assumed that the boat was built in 2018.