[depman160]

A friend of mine just bought a used Sea Ray....he was told it was a 1979.
His boat is an 18-foot Sea Ray Seville open bow with a 100-hp outboard on it....just so you know!

Looking at it, I told him it was way newer than that and figured a quick check of the HIN would prove it......

Well, there are 2 sets of HIN numbers on his boat, the top one, I assume is the actual HIN, which makes his boat a 1988.

I found that Sea Ray has a site similar to this one and thought I would go and look around. I wasn't able to find anything specific to explain the 2 sets of numbers, so I contacted the guy who runs the site, as well as owning a marine supplies company.

The only thing he could tell me is that the top number is the HIN, but had no clue what the bottom number was.

Just wondering if anyone here might know....

I added a pic...ignore the Dymo label number at the bottom!

[indykoch]

I'm no expert at reading manufacturer's HIN numbers, but a picture of the actual boat would really help. My dad always had Sea Rays. In fact, we had a 1989 200BR growing up. From what I remember, '88 or '89 was the first year they got rid of the "Seville" name.

The second line looks like model info - "SV" for Seville, "16BROB" for 16' Bow Rider OutBoard, and "1979" for... year?? The 16 could have been the model name, not actual length (which I understand is actually 18').

Get a pic of the boat if you can and I could tell you for sure whether it's '79 or '88.

[Phlorida]

Sea Ray is still in operation, I passed their factories the other day. I am confident that they would help you out, call or email customer service.

[depman160]

I did a quick search of 88 Seville's and they are the same as my friend's boat. and the guy did tell me the top number was the HIN and that it was an 88....
I will email Sea Ray directly and see what they say!

[jgreen]

Hi Depman, here's a link to Sea Ray's manual archive.
Model Archives : Sea Ray Boats

[jgreen]

I just looked at a sea ray site and found this too
he second line is Sea Ray's manufacturing number. It makes sense to your dealer who can use it to order parts, identify gel coat colors, etc.

[depman160]

Thanks guys!
I looked at their site and found that info too.
I guess my friend got a good deal then....paid $1200 cash for a boat that, from what I have seen around the web, is going for $4000-$5000!

I guess Sea Ray has to be different by confusing people with two 12-digit numbers stamped on the hull!