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From what I can tell, HIN plates from this era were made in three stages. As noted by Joe, the company abbreviation (BWC) and hull letter were photoscreened on the aluminum plates. Presumably, the company could have had complete supply printed up at the beginning of a production year. On my plate and others of the era I have seen here on the site, the four digit hull number appears to have been engraved (probably by pantograph engraving machines: computerized rotary engraving machines and laser engraving machines weren't available until later). The numerals have a fine double outline that is not etched too deeply into the plate. Finally, the motel year/month seems to have been stamped into the plate. BWC probably had an outside supplier (or suppliers) fabricate, silkscreen, and sequentially engrave the plates. The company probably added only the year/model information. When you look at these plates, you can see that the hull number and model year/month characters are not always perfectly aligned.
When whoever gave my Montauk its crappy paintjob, they apparently painted over the HIN plate on the stern. At that point, I have a feeling they could probably read either nothing, or at most, the model year/month numerals. At some point the owner decided they needed to the HIN (registration, insurance). They tried to sand off the paint using first a sanding block, and then an oribital sander. This was a decent strategy for the deeply stamped model year/month characters. The patterns remained filled with residual paint and were easy to read:
The engraved hull numbers were a different story. The sanding removed the paint and the numbers, except for a very faint impression of the last digit, a "3". This digit can only bee seen in bright light and at a sharp angle. It is so faint, it barely shows up in the photograph above, and then only if you enlarge it. The other three digits could not be see, let alone read, under any conditions.
I needed to know my HIN for the same reasons as the original owner. I decided to try to read it fro the back. I drilled out the rivets holding the plate to the stern:
While the year/month characters are raised from the stamping process, the hull numbers are different. They seem to be more of a heat affected zone that creates a different surface finish where the letters. Regardless of the physics behind the process, I now have enough information to reconstitute my HIN: BWCB5443M75I. I have ordered a replacement from MagicBrush.
If your HIN is completely worn or sanded off, don't despair. As long as the plate is there, you should be able to read the engraved and stamped characters from the back, and there is enough information on WhalerCentral to determine the silkscreened characters.
PS - My hull stencil number is also illegible due to being filled with paint. It will take a little archeological excavation with a pick and paint thinner to clean out the characters.
PPS - The sanding marks on the old HIN plate show me that the boat was either painted twice , once off-white/greyish tan and once brilliant white, or else painted one time with a primer and a top coat. There is a lot of information on that little plate!
