Where is your Placement of USCG Documentation No?

Crushin It

Crushin It

Well-Known Member
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Oct 10, 2006
1,716
Safe Harbor Marina Kent Island, MD
Boat Info
2006 44 DA
QSC 8.3s
Engines
Cummins QSC 8.3s 500HO
So the Coast Guard boards my brothers boat today for an inspection. They run thru the entire check list and he passes. His Documentation No is in his engine room. They tell him it should not be mounted in a hatch and leave it at that. So, does that mean any numbers permanently fixed in the bilge area is wrong? For those of you documented, where do you all place yours?
 
Interesting...I've seen a step-up of patrols around Annapolis already this year...

DNR stopped s ksyaker off my dock and fined him $200 for not having a life jacket..no warning...

The DNR officers was IMO relatively reckless in his boat maneuvering. Way above speed for no wake zone...I offer a slip to tie off so he didn't have to keep maneuvering and he declined.

I'm wondering what kind of year this is going to be...

Where was your brother?
 
Engine room. They also hit me for that about 5 years ago when I was boarded.
if you google it, it will tell you letter fonts, height, etc.
 
villain style said:
So the Coast Guard boards my brothers boat today for an inspection. They run thru the entire check list and he passes. His Documentation No is in his engine room. They tell him it should not be mounted in a hatch and leave it at that. So, does that mean any numbers permanently fixed in the bilge area is wrong? For those of you documented, where do you all place yours?
Click to expand...

Just had my VSC, and our doc number is engraved on a laminated board that is epoxied to the transom in the engine compartment. Screws alone are no good, it does have to be "permanently" bonded to the hull or a stuctural member. The CG Aux officer crawled down into the bilge to check that it was actually bonded to the transom and not just screwed in. I think the idea is that if it was removed, or altered, it would be obvious, in theory anyway.
 
Boat Guy said:
Interesting...I've seen a step-up of patrols around Annapolis already this year...

DNR stopped s ksyaker off my dock and fined him $200 for not having a life jacket..no warning...

The DNR officers was IMO relatively reckless in his boat maneuvering. Way above speed for no wake zone...I offer a slip to tie off so he didn't have to keep maneuvering and he declined.

I'm wondering what kind of year this is going to be...

Where was your brother?
Click to expand...

I think he was right by rt 50 bridge on Severn headed towards ego alley.
 
villain style said:
So the Coast Guard boards my brothers boat today for an inspection. They run thru the entire check list and he passes. His Documentation No is in his engine room. They tell him it should not be mounted in a hatch and leave it at that. So, does that mean any numbers permanently fixed in the bilge area is wrong? For those of you documented, where do you all place yours?
Click to expand...

The CG was right. The purpose is to ID the boat under the worst possible conditions, e.g sunk, or swept away in something like a Hurricane that tears everything apart. Conceivably a hatch cover could be torn off. Likewise screws could corrode off and allow the sign board to become lost.

Henry


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD
 
I put mine on a stringer in the engine room using 3" black vinyl letters, then coated with a layer of clear epoxy. I seem to remember reading in the past that the idea was to install the numbers below the waterline in case the boat burned to the water, then the numbers could still be found.
 
La Maddalena said:
I put mine on a stringer in the engine room using 3" black vinyl letters, then coated with a layer of clear epoxy. I seem to remember reading in the past that the idea was to install the numbers below the waterline in case the boat burned to the water, then the numbers could still be found.
Click to expand...

Me too. Funny thing is that my boat was documented before I bought it but I couldn't find the number anywhere, so I put them on myself. Either the PO didn't do it or its in a really, really funky spot! Now they are front and center once you open the hatch you can see them clearly.
 
Mine are on a stringer also. 3" black vinyl that is clear coated over it. There would be obvious evidence if someone tried to remove it.
 
Mark and I PM'd about this one. I had an encounter with the USCG Aux last weekend - more like a friend did. He was about 20' away standing on our SUP without a PFD on his or the SUP. They approached him and read him the riot act, wrote him a $100 fine and while all 6 of them were so focused on him, they almost hit us at anchor. While all this was going on, I was down in the cabin pulling out my USGC Docs, etc. My wife informed me of all this after the fact while I was getting my gear ready because I felt I was going to be boarded based on that. I completely promote safety but the whole thing was a little ridiculous.

As far as the documentation location - this is what I found and shared with Mark:

Interior Display (Recreational and Commercial)In addition, the vessel must have the official number permanently affixed in block-type Arabic numerals of not less than 3 inches in height, preceded by the letters “NO .” on some clearly visible interior integral structural part of the vessel .Arabic numerals are the most common symbolic representation ofnumbers in the world. Permanently affixed means that the numbersmust be affixed to the vessel so that alteration, removal, or replacementwould be obvious. Numbers can be painted, carved, or welded.For more information on documented vessels, contact the U.S. CoastGuard National Vessel Documentation Center at (800) 799-8362 oronline at www.uscg.mil/hq/cg5/nvdc

The "on some clearly visible interior integral structural part of the vessel" probably can be taken literally to the point where if you have to open a hatch to see it to be interpreted as 'not in the clear'. My numbers are of the right size, font, etc and epoxied over such that you'd have to dig them out which would definitely show the alteration requirement. From an aesthetics point of view I'm not going to 'affix' them to somewhere clearly visible in the cockpit.

Maybe it depends on how bad of a day these guys are having....
 
Ours is on a plate that is then mounted to the front of our starboard fuel tank. It's not mounted to the actual fuel tank, but hardware that surrounds it. Our dealer placed it for us when we bought the boat.

We get boarded every season, but early in the season we also do a USCG Aux safety inspection. We have never had the USCG ask to see our doc # when we are boarded. We're always boarded by USCG, not AUX. They usually sit right at the confluence of the Anacostia and Potomac rivers. They have always been friendly.

I will say this, if you look like you know what you're doing and your boat is in good shape they tend to board you less than the day boaters who have 10 people packed in the boat. DC Harbor Patrol stops day boaters all the time, but we've never had them say anything to us.
 
Our number in on a 1/2" think piece of wood epoxied to the interior gunwale in the cockpit. Can't miss it when you board the boat.
 
looked up he answer to the question I asked:smt024 happy boating
 
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I am embarrassed to say, mine is on a carved piece of wood, sitting in a cabinet!!! I probably should do something about it!
 
image.jpgI posted before, but here is a photo. Plain as the nose on my face.
 
Not to be a contrarian, but I'm not sure your number board complies with the USCG requirements since it's not attached to an "interior structural part of the hull". Maybe the cockpit is considered part of the hull. When I researched this years go before installing the CG numbers on our 360DA, I thought I read that the installation should be on a structural component (e. g. a hull stringer) and it should be below the water line so that if the boat burns to the waterline it can still be identified. I admit the CG language doesn't say this explicitly, so I'm not sure where I read it.
 
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