Need help with Laser Hull ID Number

[portableveblen7]

I took the next step in my sailing journey with the purchase of an old laser. I'm trying to decode the HIN to learn a bit more about the boat. The HIN reads OQTG0719I001. Trying to decipher the code using these instructions (https://sailingforums.com/resources/laser-serial-hull-number-identification.15/)

I get:

OQT = Vanguard Sailboats Inc., RI
G =16 (0719)
I = April
001 = manufactured in 2000, 2001

However, cross-referencing the sail number (160719) with the range of dates here (https://www.laserinternational.org/about-the-laser/how-old-is-my-laser/), it shows 160719 as a boat built in 1996. Am I reading it right? Was the boat manufactured in 2000, as printed on the HIN, or 1996, as indicated by the sail number?

 

[WCB]

At some point Vanguard and then Laser Performance stopped using that method to dechiper the HIN for a sail number. Is there an ISAF or World Sailing plaque in the cockpit?

Otherwise, your detective work is correct and I agree, something doesn't add up, unless it's the issue where the HIN no longer tells you the sail number as they no longer do.

 

[CaptainAhab]

You want to know the construction date of the hull. You've figured that out. The sail is off of a different boat. Very common with older Lasers. The vast majority of our old Lasers that race at our Club go by the sail number and name on the transom. The hull number is irrelevant, because no one can read it. Buy yourself a new iSail training sail and number it like the hull if you care. New sails aren't just faster. They give you the ability to depower the rig. Old Lasers are known for having baggy stretchy sails that can't be effectively depowered.

 

[WCB]

You want to know the construction date of the hull. You've figured that out. The sail is off of a different boat. Very common with older Lasers. The vast majority of our old Lasers that race at our Club go by the sail number and name on the transom. The hull number is irrelevant, because no one can read it. Buy yourself a new iSail training sail and number it like the hull if you care. New sails aren't just faster. They give you the ability to depower the rig. Old Lasers are known for having baggy stretchy sails that can't be effectively depowered.

No, that's not correct. Vanguard and Sunfish/Laser(US builder with different owners) before them coded the sail number into the HIN. If you decipher the HIN, it tells them that the sail number should be 160719 but that doesn't fit with the build year which looks to be 2001.

 

[Foredeck Shuffle]

At some point Vanguard and then Laser Performance stopped using that method to dechiper the HIN for a sail number. Is there an ISAF or World Sailing plaque in the cockpit?

Otherwise, your detective work is correct but I agree, something doesn't add up, unless it's the issue where the HIN no longer tells you the sail number as they no longer do.

I have had three Vanguard Laser's come through my hands and one of them had the wrong HIN identifier. The boat plague, original bill of sale, and an old dealer picture that came with the BoS had a sail number that the HIN did not match. Always figured it was a small error, but you worked at Vanguard for some time so that makes sense now.

 

[WCB]

I have had three Vanguard Laser's come through my hands and one of them had the wrong HIN identifier. The boat plague, original bill of sale, and an old dealer picture that came with the BoS had a sail number that the HIN did not match. Always figured it was a small error, but you worked at Vanguard for some time so that makes sense now.

It does happen. I remember something about that where there was a mistake made. If memory serves, the HIN is created by an old school rotary label maker that presses the letters into the tape, only this one was special as it created the letters backwards. Very prone to human error.

 

[Gouvernail]

The boat should have a sticker on the back of the cockpit with the sail number….. or at least evidencebit was once there. Sometimes the serial number was scratched in the gelcoat under the handrails.
170000 boats happened before 2002. It could be that G was supposed to be H.