Trailer registration issues

[Mike H.]

Hello all...

I purchased my boat last year and although the boat had all the documentation I needed to register it (New York) the trailer had no registration or any documentation.  Does anyone know if there is a VIN# etched on the trailer somewhere?  I have what I believe is the standard issue trailer from Hutchins(?), it has a "Hutch Trailer" sticker (with an Indian Head on the sticker)  on one of the frame members but no other info.   It looks like there may have been a data plate/sticker(?) on one of cross members but it looks long gone.  I launched & sailed it 3 times last year (HAD A BLAST!!!) on a local ramp a few miles from my house but I really want to take this boat to other lakes & rivers both far & near & want it to be legal.    A friend  suggested I register it as a "home built" trailer where I would only need the weight of the trailer, does anyone happen to know the weight of the trailer?

Any help would be appreciated,

Thanks,
Mike

[Mike H.]

OOPS, I forgot...

I should have added the trailer is for a CP16 for trailer weight info...

thanks again

[Craig Weis]

1~Is the trailer for a Com-Pac; 14-16-19-Picnic-Sun-Horizion-Eclipse-Lageacy? Weight can be calculated.

#2~Who made it? Performance? Oh I re-read and see Hutch Trailer [Private Label] and it's for a 16.

My '19' Performance Trailer has a packet of information I have in my ship's papers and has the following in it.

Trailer Model # CSVH 19E 1997/1998.

Serial Number of 40ZSP191XTPP38518.

"TCF Mfg. Posi-Lube 2 year Limited Warranty Application" Posi-Lube 1020 S. 86th st. Tampa, Fl 33619.
for a Performance Trailer Serial # 40ZSP1910WPP54618. 1 page. [A typo?]

A "Replace-A-Hub hub assemblies installation and care" 1 page.

"You and Your Trailer. A Guide to Ownership and Operation". 17 pages.

A "Dico Limited warranty & Tire Maintenance For Dico Tires". 4 pages.

A Performance Trailer, Inc. 6430 47th st North, Pinellas Park, Fl. 34665 1-813-525-5001 "Customer Check List Guide".
1 page, both sides. One red. One green [Are we color blind?]

That is all..I have Wisconsin plates now and they send me a plate sticker for $18 a year? Always have their hand out and never is it enough. TAX to death.

I have never found any number stamped into the metal on this trailer. But it does have lube instructions for the Pos-A-Lube sticker on the trailer. Possibly under that?
Best I can do. skip.

Tell them you bought some channel iron from Ryerson Steel and made the trailer.

To calculate a S.W.A.G. for weight.
How many foot of 2 inch x 1 inch x 3/16 inch @ 2.32# per foot do you have?
Plus add 220# for two hubs and one 6'-6" sq steel tube axle with u-bolts and mounting plates with two~three leaf springs.
Add 15# each for a 10" rim and tubless tire.
Add 12# for the 2" ball hitch and safety chains.
About 35# for the winch/strap and vertical support bolted to the frame. A spare? 
with mount?
Some 2# for the lamps and plate bracket.
Add a tiny bit more for the wife and the kids and so the S.W.A.G. is?

[Steve Ullrich]

Too bad you aren't in Minnesota.  Had a small problem with my trailer too, as the previous owner couldn't find a title for it, but the Dept. of Motor Vehicles was easy to deal with.  On the first visit they gave me a paper to have the previous owner sign to state that they were transferring ownership to me.  I took that back in and the DMV then transferred the registration into my name.  The trailer remains listed as "untitled" but I have plates and am on the DMV data base as the owner.  BTW, in Minnesota this trailer is small enough to qualify for permanent registration so my plates are good forever. The whole deal cost me $24.50 and less than an hour total at the DMV counting the two trips.

[romei]

This has been a sore subject with me for a long time and I just went through it again last week.  I live in PA and bought an Alacrity 19 twin keeler from Ohio a few weeks ago for a yard project.  I drove 8 hours out and when I got there we went to the Ohio BMV to get a temporary plate to get me home.  They would not issue me a temporary plate unless I had my social security card.  The fact that I was standing there with my PA driver's license, international passport, birth certificate, voter registration and social security stub meant nothing.  They seemed almost delighted when they told me I'd have to go to the Ohio social security office, which they pointed out that it would be a long line and a long wait, and then come back with a social security card to get the tag.  All this for a $600 boat and trailer.

Ohio doesn't title any trailer less than 4000 pounds, so this trailer didn't have a VIN plate, VIN number or a title.  On top of that, this guy had a certificate of origin for a jet ski trailer with a GVWR of 786 pounds that was in someone else's name.  Clearly not the paperwork for this trailer, but that's what he tried to give me.

In PA, if you don't have a notorized title from the other state, or at least a VIN number stamped on the trailer and a bill of sale, you're pretty much looking at hours and hours of runaround, DMV agony and a rectal exam. Well, maybe not the rectal, but the whole process is uncomfortable I can tell you from past experience.

I told the guy that this was a deal breaker since I wasn't going to jump through the social security card hoop and he agreed to let his registration plate on the trailer till I got it home.  I had already made up my mind that I wasn't going to go through the trouble of Penn DOT with this trailer so I agreed just to get the boat home and figured I'd find another trailer down the road.  Then 6 hours into the trip home the fender fell off the trailer, with the guy's license plate, and ripped the cap off the tire leaving only cords and a tube.  Luckily I had taken a spare along.  I walked back and looked but couldn't find the fender or the license plate.  I changed the tire and made it home, vowing to scrap this cursed trailer.  I have already lined up a deal on a PA titled trailer and will modify it to haul my new old boat.   

Moral of the story is, do your due dilligence "before" buying anything that needs titled or registered in your home state.   

[Rick Klages]

Hello all...

I purchased my boat last year and although the boat had all the documentation I needed to register it (New York) the trailer had no registration or any documentation.  Does anyone know if there is a VIN# etched on the trailer somewhere?  I have what I believe is the standard issue trailer from Hutchins(?), it has a "Hutch Trailer" sticker (with an Indian Head on the sticker)  on one of the frame members but no other info.   It looks like there may have been a data plate/sticker(?) on one of cross members but it looks long gone.  I launched & sailed it 3 times last year (HAD A BLAST!!!) on a local ramp a few miles from my house but I really want to take this boat to other lakes & rivers both far & near & want it to be legal.    A friend  suggested I register it as a "home built" trailer where I would only need the weight of the trailer, does anyone happen to know the weight of the trailer?

Any help would be appreciated,

Thanks,
Mike

For NYS DMV guess 400 Lbs.  I have a 1990 and it was a challenge because "Hutch" is not listed as a builder for some reason.

[Craig Weis]

"Hutch Trailer" is 'private label' made by Mr??? or Mr/// and they all build to the same dw'g. without being a trailer mf'g.
That's why I say 'home built'.

Question: If an  Alacrity 19 twin keeler lost one keel, would she sail faster then molasses going up hill?

skip.

[romei]

Question: If an  Alacrity 19 twin keeler lost one keel, would she sail faster then molasses going up hill?

skip.

Good question, but one I hope never to be able to answer :-D 

BUT.....  I'll let you know next year how she sails with two keels as a gaff rigged sloop in the bay.  Until then, it's CP16 all the way baby!

[KPL]

Mike -
When I moved from Kansas to NY in 2000, I brought my 1983 Holder 14 and trailer.  In KS, the trailer is covered under the boat registration.  To register in NY, I had a Police Office come over to the house to verify the Serial number, which was welded on the trailer, there was no VIN.  That got it taken care of.

As for my CP16, I registered the magic tilt, the number wasn't a vin, it was on a plate up near the hitch connector.  For it, they wanted gross weight, so I put down 1500 for boat and trailer.
Hope it helps..
Kevin

[Rick Klages]

1800 is the rated load on my 89 "hutch".  I/O good enough.

[Smitty]

Very easy to register a "home Built" trailer here in Texas.  They just want to know the empty weight and carrying capacity.  I purchased my CP 16 a few months ago and the guy did not have any registration, documentation or title for the trailer.  I have not registered it yet but I will register it as a "home built" boat trailer.  I have done this before with various trailers I have purchased over the years and have never had a problem.  I dont think the DMV really cares as long as they get your money.  (at least in this state)   Good luck.

Smitty

[B.Hart]

  In  Florida a trailer under 2000#'s does not need a title only a weight ticket from a scale to get a tag.  BILL