Help/help/help, is vin gel-coat or plate on a 86 stratos open boat?

[larryhere]

Called a couple dealers, one said in 1986 it was in gel-coat and the other 2 said it was a plate that year! Writing to stratos directly and not sure how long or if they will respond! Enviromental police couldn't find it and impounded the boat,,,great!!! Thanks for any help!

 

[rockyrude]

Re: Help/help/help, is vin gel-coat or plate on a 86 stratos open boat?

I thought it was standardized to be stamped in the upper starboard corner of transom in the gelcoat.

 

[tpenfield]

Re: Help/help/help, is vin gel-coat or plate on a 86 stratos open boat?

Called a couple dealers, one said in 1986 it was in gel-coat and the other 2 said it was a plate that year! Writing to stratos directly and not sure how long or if they will respond! Enviromental police couldn't find it and impounded the boat,,,great!!! Thanks for any help!

Tell us more about the circumstances surround the impoundment? Since I am also in MA, I am curious if they are cracking down on enforcement, etc.

 

[larryhere]

Re: Help/help/help, is vin gel-coat or plate on a 86 stratos open boat?

If you are stopped/inspected by the enviromental cops, most will check the papers and see if the vin is a match! also if you have all the required equipment, and what ever else they feel like! They have more power than almost any kind of police,, even search i was told? The rmv in ma. has always been known as the biggest A holes, but they are worse, at least here in ma.If the numbers don't match, or in my case aren't found,, it is considered stolen, at your cost it is towed and impounded! I bought the boat and is was still on my trailer, never even went in water, but when I went to the lake,,guess who was there waiting! never seen at this lake before,, guess what!!!! Now I can't move! Now I am waiting to see when they will get around to sending someone to make a decision on what they are going to do! they use to issue numbers to old boats, 70's! this one they said is to new!!!! Just bought, and was the first time to check it out to buy,, still registered, and up to date, by old owner,,,They called it in, and everything was right,,make model and so on,, but claim that with out the numbers on the boat it self,, someone could have transfered numbers from similar boat,,,,,,,,,,,In other words, a whole lot of bs! make some more money and be a pain in the A! boats are not like cars and these stupid plates get lost or knocked off! There own pc records should be enough! This the first time I have run into this, but you never know!

 

[Bergy37]

Re: Help/help/help, is vin gel-coat or plate on a 86 stratos open boat?

Did some digging and couldn't find anything about the primary HIN location on that boat. I did however find a restore thread on a same year Stratos and saw what looked like a HIN plate under the lay-in on the aft port of the boat. To confirm it was an ID, I found this on boatsafe.com "Boats manufactured or imported on or after August 1, 1984, also have a duplicate secondary HIN affixed somewhere on an unexposed location inside the boat or beneath a fitting or item of hardware. The purpose is to help authorities identify your boat if a thief or vandals remove or damage the primary HIN on the transom" Hopefully you can at least find this one for proof.

I live not 25 minutes away from you and I'm hoping I don't get hassled. Pre-november '72, so no ID at all. Where did they tag you? Onota, Pontoosuc, or Cheshire lake?

 

[MH Hawker]

Re: Help/help/help, is vin gel-coat or plate on a 86 stratos open boat?

mine is on the second cross member from the front under the deck of my pontoon lol. I found it by accident while re-decking.

 

[Bergy37]

Re: Help/help/help, is vin gel-coat or plate on a 86 stratos open boat?

Seemed like an option..... guess not. :facepalm:

 

[tpenfield]

Re: Help/help/help, is vin gel-coat or plate on a 86 stratos open boat?

Just bought, and was the first time to check it out to buy,, still registered, and up to date, by old owner,,,They called it in, and everything was right,,make model and so on,, but claim that with out the numbers on the boat it self,, someone could have transferred numbers from similar boat,,!

I see . . . so the boat is not registered in your name, but rather the 'old' owner, did you buy the boat, or were you taking on a test run to see if you would buy it?

Technically, unless you have it registered/titled in your name, it is not your boat. It sounds like the 'old' owner's boat got impounded. I hope he gets it cleared up so that you can buy it, if you still want to.

I will keep an eye out at the ramp, when I go to launch, to make sure I have the registration certificate, etc with me.

 

[larryhere]

Re: Help/help/help, is vin gel-coat or plate on a 86 stratos open boat?

Had a place on onota for years, but been on them all! It's just a matter of luck of the draw! Also the mood of the officer, and they have a couple of rookie's, the local big shot retired! I suggest you bring the papers and apply for issued numbers,,,, you call and they come to you and issue numbers, and for any 70's and I believe up to mid 80's its very simple and takes the worry out of it! if they see it ,even on a trailer they will impound! ps SHE called this morning and released the boat and will come out by app. and issue new #'s if I can't find any behind the ss plate that was added to the transom! going to cut square out in the area where it is supposed to be! found a picture of a hull of the same yr and maker so I can see it! By the way, I have had it done a couple times before and there is no cost for it! 70's boats had only a few didgets so they issue new ones no matter what! GOOD LUCK,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,LARRY

 

[larryhere]

Re: Help/help/help, is vin gel-coat or plate on a 86 stratos open boat?

Yes, it was an attemp at a test run!!! never made the water! and yes it was his boat impounded,, with 1000 I had to deposit to take it! The way things are,,, I didn't want to get into a big fight,,,really wasn't sure what to do,, Took the boat on Friday, had to do a couple things,, went out on sunday and couldn't get him on the phone!! since then I think it has worked out,, And he doesn't even know yet!

 

[larryhere]

Re: Help/help/help, is vin gel-coat or plate on a 86 stratos open boat?

After trimming back the ss trim added to the transom,,, there it was stamped/molded into upper,outter, right side of the transom!!

 

[oops!]

Re: Help/help/help, is vin gel-coat or plate on a 86 stratos open boat?

so where is the boat now.....and at whos cost

 

[larryhere]

Re: Help/help/help, is vin gel-coat or plate on a 86 stratos open boat?

Thank god, I happen to know the tow company, and they only charged me for the tow job! 2 days later, the officer released it from impound, because they didn't want to bother coming out, and then they canceled the registation,, which was the other owners, but I have to buy untested, because I would have to register it,to try it. Besides the previous owner of coarse wants nothing to do with all this, and since he already had 1000 of the 1500,,,, so just paid the rest and hope this won't be the usual happy 2 day boat,, happy the day you buy it, and happy the day you sell it,,ha ha! At least the stste didn't charge me anything other than a big pain in the AAAA!

 

[rockyrude]

Re: Help/help/help, is vin gel-coat or plate on a 86 stratos open boat?

Under the circumstances, not sure if I would have paid the extra money. Hope you got all of the titles.