Check the details.
Follow the evidence.

1. Find the hull number or boat name

Enter a 12-character HIN or a country-prefixed CIN/WIN. You can take a photograph of the plate: OCR runs on your device, and you must review the characters before submitting. Older or custom boats may not have a supported number.

2. Understand the result

A HIN check decodes its format, date and manufacturer code. It does not authenticate the boat. Searching a boat name or make/model looks for that phrase in published MAIB report titles. A shared name does not establish that a report concerns the same vessel.

3. Complete the checks we cannot do

Match the hull plate to registration and ownership documents. Search current and previous names. Ask for survey reports, repair invoices, insurance claims history and proof of any finance settlement. Arrange an independent marine survey before committing.

What about “gone vertical”?

Public sources use terms such as capsize, listing, flooding or foundering. We use the source categories and show the original report. We do not treat a rescue call-out or a similar name as evidence of a capsize.