What year is my boat?

[FONT=verdana, arial, helvetica, geneva]From the (now defunct) Dr. Laser website:

Except for the very first Lasers, the serial number of the Laser is on the transom. E.g.: PFS80000L879

[/FONT][FONT=verdana, arial, helvetica, geneva]1971 to 1973 Hulls: For these initial lasers, the sail number is moulded on the deck, right under the bow eye. This Hull Identification Number (HIN) did not identify the builder. Beware! Some hulls with "Pointe-Claire" factory stickers in the cockpit have recently surfaced with hull numbers hand-etched under the bow eye! Ian Bruce, the father of Laser manufacturing, claims that hulls with hand-etched numbers may not be "Performance Sailcraft, Pointe-Claire" products. In these cases, the authenticity of either the hull number or the manufacturing plant is questionable.[/FONT]
[FONT=verdana, arial, helvetica, geneva][/FONT]
[FONT=verdana, arial, helvetica, geneva]It is also reported that following the Laser prototypes, the first mass-manufactured Laser was numbered 101. However, some hulls with numbers lower than 100 under the bow eye have surfaced. Ian Bruce notes that although some owners requested custom hull numbers (due to "emotional attachment" to certain numbers), he can remember only #141 as such a custom number, and the 3-4 other such hulls with custom numbers were all numbered higher than 101.[/FONT]
[FONT=verdana, arial, helvetica, geneva][/FONT]
[FONT=verdana, arial, helvetica, geneva]In fact, the early development of Laser mass manufacturing was quite rapid, involving many production facilities in a very short period of time, and it is thus quite hard today to determine which hulls were manufactured in which of these early facilities and when exactly an identification for the builder was first used.[/FONT]
[FONT=verdana, arial, helvetica, geneva][/FONT]
[FONT=verdana, arial, helvetica, geneva]Post 1973 Lasers: In North America, the first 3 characters usually form the builder's ID. The rest of the numbers identify the hull. For hulls manufactured in New Zealand, for instance, it is known however that no manufacturer identification code letters may exist.[/FONT]
[FONT=verdana, arial, helvetica, geneva][/FONT]
[FONT=verdana, arial, helvetica, geneva]In North America, these first 3 characters may be:[/FONT]
  • [FONT=verdana, arial, helvetica, geneva]
    [*]PFS = Performance Sailcraft Corp.(1971-1974) (Montreal, Québec, Canada: [SIZE=-2]still manufacturing 29ers, Bytes, 420s and Optis.
    )
    [*]ZFS = Performance Sailcraft (1974 [SIZE=-2][as per hulls 16950-51626][/SIZE]-1985) (Pointe-Claire, Québec)
    [*]PSC = Performance Sailcraft (19??-19??)
    [*]PSL = Performance Sailcraft - San Rafael, CA, USA (Owner Don Trask, 1971 through 1981)
    [*]PSI = Performace Sailcraft International (South Africa, until 1989)
    [*]ZID = Laser International (Ontario 1984-1991) Reincarnation of original Laser builder. (Also known as Performance Sailcraft Canada.)
    [*]PSB = Pearson Small Boats (1989-1991) (RI) Any PSBs with '92 ?
    [*]SLI = Sunfish Laser Inc (1991 [or 1992 ?] to March 1997) New manufacturing facility.
    [*]OQT = Vanguard Sailboats Inc., RI (March 1997 to present) Initials stand for Quarter Moon Inc. Production continued in SLI facility which Vanguard purchased. Personnel the same.
    [/SIZE][/FONT]
[FONT=verdana, arial, helvetica, geneva]Next 5 digits are the sail number. If the sail number is great than 99,999, then the first digit is a character, where A=10, B=11, C=12 etc. (i.e. a letter followed by 5 digits).[/FONT]
[FONT=verdana, arial, helvetica, geneva]Last 4 characters indicate when the boat was built and the model year. Usually 1 letter followed by 3 numbers, and occasionally 1 letter, 2 numbers, followed by another letter (see below). [/FONT]
[FONT=verdana, arial, helvetica, geneva]In the 1 letter, 3 numbers case, the letter indicates the month of manufacture (according to Sunfish/Laser Inc.):
A=Aug, B=Sept, C=Oct, D=Nov, E=Dec, F=Jan, G=Feb, H=Mar, I=April, J=May, K=June, L=July.
[/FONT]
[FONT=verdana, arial, helvetica, geneva]The next digit indicates the year the boat was built (not model year!), followed by a 2-number model year. Eg.
D494 = Built Nov (D) 1994 (4) for 1994 model year (94).
F697 = Built Jan (F) 1996 for 1997 model year (97)
[/FONT]
[FONT=verdana, arial, helvetica, geneva]For example:
SLI F1234 F494 = Sunfish Laser Inc, Sail number 151234, Built in January 1994 for Model Year 1994.
[/FONT]
[FONT=verdana, arial, helvetica, geneva][/FONT]
[FONT=verdana, arial, helvetica, geneva]Dubious trailing letter:
Some Pointe-Claire factory hull numbers contained as the last four characters a letter, followed by two numbers, followed by an unexplained ending letter. A 1980 Pointe-Claire hull is numbered "ZFS84933M80D", two 1981 hulls are numbered "ZFS98575M81G" and "ZFS98104M81E", and two 1983 hulls are numbered "ZFSA9837M83C" and "ZFSB0896V83H"!
[/FONT]
[FONT=verdana, arial, helvetica, geneva][/FONT]
[FONT=verdana, arial, helvetica, geneva]Older lasers: Last four digits of sail number may be missing or belong to an unknown code (e.g. ZFS 33426 0376 = march '76?). Boat manufacturing codes seem to conform to some industry norm - an Alden Ocean (rowing) shell hull number has a similar format. In addition, some early 1980's hulls had a trailing letter. (See section titled "NZ Lasers" below.)[/FONT]
 
Thanks sailchris,

Your quote from the past was the only scheme which didn't tell me my 1976 (ZFS) Laser was built in "1982-85."
 

Back
Top