this may be a challenging question

[mucduc]

i have a boat trailer that i need to get registered into my name. the sticker on the side of the trailer is all tore up. i can only make out a handful of letters. they are ?S(OR G)HLAN(POSSIBLY D?)?? give or take a few question marks. i have been able to come up with "ashland" but cant find any trailer manufactors with that name. and also shetland came up in a google search, but im pretty sure thats not it. i found a post that someone said they had a "highlander trailer", but another person said they probably had a "highliner trailer" out of vancouver. can anybody think of a trailer manu. that looks like what im looking for?

thanks

also all the info on the VIN tag has been worn off except for the vin number. i have been trying to get ahold of the guy who sold it to me, but that does not look promising

 

[steve6]

Re: this may be a challenging question

here we just register them as home made in such cases..

 

[mucduc]

Re: this may be a challenging question

i have thought about that and they lady at the tag office said that i would need it inspected. it is safe enough to go down the road and not fall apart, but its a salt water trailer and the rust sure does a good job at making it look bad. so im not sure it would pass inspection. i do live in a small town thou so it may pass. but since it was registered last year in the same state i dont need an inspection.

 

[mucduc]

Re: this may be a challenging question

ok after further investigation i found that there is an H at the begining. then possibly an I. so im now believing that it is a highlander trailer. i found a post saying that highlander trailers were made by Shoreliner. so im guess that i will put highlander trailer as the model and shoreliner as the make. then have to decide what im going to do about the year of make.

 

[Silvertip]

Re: this may be a challenging question

Shorelander is another U.S. trailer manufacturer. The first few characters of the S/N are:

IMDBTCV--------- (17 letters and numbers total).

 

[rbh]

Re: this may be a challenging question

Most MFG will steel stamp the VIN into the unit, call highlander/shorelander??
and ask were they would do the stamp, if you can find it ask then to make up a new tag for your trailer.
And if worse comes to worse, call it a home built and get a prov/state VIN # for it.

 

[109jb]

Re: this may be a challenging question

First off, I went through similar with my EZ-loader trailer under my Sea Ray. The VIN label was totally unreadable like yours. What I found out was that EZ-loader not only put the label on the side of the trailer but they also put a second smaller label with the VIN # on the inside of the trailer tongue. Maybe you can get lucky.

On another note, you may want to check your state about registering a trailer as homebuilt. In Illinois it used to be easy, but people were stealing trailers and re-registering them as homemade and the state caught on. Now the trailer has to really be homemade to be registered as homemade. You fill out the paperwork and submit it and then a State Trooper comes to your house to verify that the trailer is homemade. The troper is supposed to look to see if the components,, including the frame appear to have been home fabricated or if they look like a manufactured unit. They even suggest taking pictures during construction to verify that the trailer is homemade. Hopefully if you have to go the homemade route it won't be as difficult as it has become in Illinois.

Good luck

 

[RogersJetboat454]

Re: this may be a challenging question

Too bad you're not in Maine.
I registered my trailer for my Jet boat there, even after I was unable to find a make, model, and TIN.
They didn't seem to have a problem putting "unknown" on the make, model and TIN of my trailer reg. The only real trailer info on the reg is "tandem axle", "color blue". I slid the cash for the reg fee across the counter, and they slid a plate and registration back. That was easy!

 

[whitjohn]

Re: this may be a challenging question

Too bad you're not in Maine.
I registered my trailer for my Jet boat there, even after I was unable to find a make, model, and TIN.
They didn't seem to have a problem putting "unknown" on the make, model and TIN of my trailer reg. The only real trailer info on the reg is "tandem axle", "color blue". I slid the cash for the reg fee across the counter, and they slid a plate and registration back. That was easy!

Or in Tennessee.......you don't even have to register the trailer!

 

[ondarvr]

Re: this may be a challenging question

"but since it was registered last year in the same state i dont need an inspection."


If it was registered last year in your state, the state should have all the info already, so I assume you don't have last years license plate.

If the trailer won't pass inspection I don't think I would be using it.