Pearson Yachts Forum

Pearson Boats - Model Specific Discussion => Pearson Sailboats 26-30ft => P26 => Topic started by: Winkj63 on October 26, 2021, 01:02:56 PM

Title: HIN
Post by: Winkj63 on October 26, 2021, 01:02:56 PM
Hello All
  So I’m in a quandary over the hull ID number on my P26. I was actually able to get her registered and titled last February after a couple of conversations with the Virginia Dept. of Wildlife Resources and my insurance company, but the number isn’t a standard HIN.
  The HIN begins with NJZ (not PEA) and after some digging I discovered this signifies an HIN assigned by the New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission to a boat that is homemade, salvaged and/or has no manufacturer HIN.
  I know from some more digging that she’s a ‘73 Pearson 26 hull #558 formerly named “Esprit” and I’ve discovered a previous owner who lived in Maryland but had a jersey.net email address but that info was current back in 2003 and attempts to contact them have been unsuccessful.
  My problem is that the number assigned by New Jersey comes up as “invalid” in a title search, not to mention makes insurance agents scratch their heads, so I can’t find any information on the 48 year old boat like previous owners, locations, manufacture date, sale date, and why she might have been salvaged. New Jersey issues the replacement HIN numbers in numerical order that don’t relate to manufacturer, model, or date.
  The boat hasn’t been damaged or sunk. She’s definitely not homemade. Maybe she was abandoned and somebody applied for a new title in order to sell her but what happened to the original HIN? Why would they need a new number? All that’s there now is a silver foil sticker with the crazy NJZ hull number.
  If anyone has any ideas on how I can find out more about the life of this old survivor I love to hear it!
  I’m about 90% finished re-habbing her. All new running rigging, bottom paint, fiberglass repairs, re-bedding hardware and working out the kinks on the electrical system. Replacing the mast support beam and painting the main cabin are next.

Wish me luck!!
Title: Re: HIN
Post by: Last Resort on October 26, 2021, 05:39:14 PM
good luck to you, sounds stressful!  Especially if you're insurance companies in the US are the same as here in Canada right now.  First, many of our insurance companies won't even insure a boat over 30 years old now, and if they do, it's only at market price, not your surveyed price. Also, I just found out that none of ours will insure a "homemade" boat...it has to be from a known boat builder.  Now we know yours is, but somehow you might have to prove it.  AGAIN, Good Luck!!!
Title: Re: HIN
Post by: popeye323 on October 26, 2021, 09:55:43 PM
In Massachusetts if there is no hull id# present one will be assigned by the state, which sounds like happened in your case.

 I know for a fact that some manufactures will "hide" the hull id# some where inside the boat.
This number is same as the external hull number but generally is not in plain sight and acts as a means to identify boats were the external hull number is missing or has been altered. Not sure when this practice was started but maybe somebody on this sight might have run across this number on the Pearson 26 and can point you in the right direct.

Happy Sailing no matter what the hull id# is
Title: Re: HIN
Post by: Dolce_Vita on October 27, 2021, 09:23:39 AM
The manufacturer's HIN is usually molded into the hull.  If the foil sticker has been applied over it, you may be able to read it without destroying the sticker by placing a sheet of paper over it and rubbing a soft pencil across it.
Title: Re: HIN
Post by: Dolce_Vita on November 03, 2021, 09:16:03 AM
Given the information you've supplied, we almost have enough to generate the original HIN.

See the page here at https://www.pearsonyachts.org/hull-identification-number.html
for details.

Since the boat was built before 1984, it uses the older form of the HIN:
Mfg + Model Code + hull num + "M" + year + month

As you stated, Pearson's Mfg code is "PEA".

The only 26' model produced in 1973 is model code "46"

Hull number is "558"

Year is "73"

Month is ? ("A" through "L")

Thus, HIN = PEA46558M73?


This gets you close, but close isn't good enough. 

Further research shows that over 1700 P26's were built.  Hull numbers in the 1976 timeframe were in the 1200 to 1369 range.  Since this exceeds the three digits allocated for hull number, they get truncated, often confusing things.  Since yours was built in model year '73, it's unlikely that the hull number exceeds 1000.

The best way I can think of to determine the final "month" character is to locate the HIN for either hull # 557 or 559.  These are almost certain to have been built in the same month as yours (hull #558).

With this in mind, I poured through Dan Pfeifer's old P26 archives, and found the following info:

1973 -- Peg & Bill Gray ( # 558, Esprit ) [ irish541@jersey.net ] Upper Chesapeake Bay MD
1973 -- Gary Mckenzie ( # 559, Diamond LiL ) [ Gary478@aol.com ] West Palm Beach, FL

Now I'm guessing you already have the first line, but the second line may give you another lead to follow.

Good Luck!