Can anyone tell me what year a Hobie 18 with Serial # CCMC02S4A585 was made?
Thanks in advance,
Here is how the serial number works, as required by the U.S. Coast Guard since 1973.
The first three letters represent the manufacturer of the boat.
The next letter is the model of the boat, but there can be a bunch of different letters for the same model of boat if more than 9,999 of that model are being built in a year.
The next four digits are the actual serial number, including the preceding letter (If more than 9,999 boats are built, there could be more than one boat of that particular model for that year with that particular four-digit serial number, so the preceding letter indicates what "batch" that boat was in for its particular year of origin.)
Then there is one letter which indicates the month of manufacture (A is January, B is February, C is March, etc.)
The last three digits indicate the year the boat was built and the model year. i.e., the first of the three digits is the last number of the year it was built, and the final two digits are the model year. In the case of Hobie Cats, just as in cars, the model year changes in September. So boats built starting in August will be the next year's model number.
If the last three digits are 303, it would mean the boat was built in 2003 and it is a 2003 model. If the last three digits are 304, it means it was built in 2003 and is a 2004 model.
In the case of the serial number questioned in the post, CCMC02S4A585, it says the boat was built by Coast Catamaran Manufacturing, and it was a Hobie 18 with serial number 0254 (it is a "5", not an "S"), and it was built in January of 1985 and it was a 1985 model.
For Hobie 14's and Hobie 16's older than 1973, a four digit number was used. The number was stamped into the forward pylon post on the outboard side.
I got this information from Matt Miller of Hobie Cat Company, and as a result of my query, he has now added it to the information on the Hobie website. You can find information about the serial number by going to
www.hobiecat.com and clicking on "Product Support" and then on "Warranty Info."
