About Hindecoderz

Hindecoderz is a free boat hull identification number (HIN) decoder and US Coast Guard recall lookup, run independently by Cristiano Galvao. It is not a registered company: it is operated by one person from Brazil, with no investors and no call centre behind it. If something on the site is wrong, the person you email is the person who fixes it.

Who runs it

I am Cristiano Galvao. I build and run small websites. The hindecoderz.com domain was registered in 2019. I took the site over in August 2026 and have since rebuilt the decoder, added the Coast Guard recall pages and written the HIN guides. You can reach me at contact@hindecoderz.com.

What the decoder does

Type in a 12-character HIN and the decoder returns:

• The builder, from the three-letter manufacturer identification code (MIC)
• The hull serial number
• The month and year the hull was certified or built, and the model year
• A warning if the number does not fit the Coast Guard format
• Any Coast Guard recall campaigns on record for that builder

What it does not do

A HIN decoder reads what the number says. It cannot tell you who owns a boat, whether it has been stolen, whether there is a loan against it, or whether it has been damaged. A recall listing means a campaign exists for that builder. It never means a particular boat is affected, or that it is clear. To confirm whether a recall applies to a specific hull, contact a dealer for that brand with the full HIN.

Where the data comes from

• Manufacturer codes: the US Coast Guard's Manufacturer Identification Code database. The decoder runs on this site's own server against a copy of that data.
• Recalls: the US Coast Guard's recreational boat recall records. Where a source record is incomplete, for example an open date of 1970 or a model year of 9999, the site shows it as not published rather than guessing.
• Boating licence pages: written from each state's or province's published rules. US state pages link to the state agency's official page.

How the site makes money

The decoder, the recall pages and the guides are free and will stay free. The site earns a commission in two ways:

• When a visitor buys a paid boat history report through a link on the site, sold through ClickBank.
• When a visitor buys an online boating course through a licence page (BoatTests101 or CanadaBoatSafety).

Commissions never change what the decoder or the recall pages show.

Corrections

If the decoder gets a HIN wrong, a manufacturer is missing, or a page contains an error, please get in touch with the HIN or the page address and what you expected to see. Corrections are made by hand and usually go live within a few days.