A boat documented with the Coast Guard (it holds a Certificate of Documentation from the National Vessel Documentation Center) is marked under 46 CFR Part 67, Subpart I. The certificate is not valid for operation until the boat is marked as that subpart requires (46 CFR 67.120).
Name and hailing port
- Recreational boats: the name and hailing port are marked together on some clearly visible exterior part of the hull (46 CFR 67.123(c)).
- Other documented boats: the name goes on the port and starboard bow and on the stern, and the hailing port on the stern (67.123(a)); a boat with a square bow follows 67.123(b).
- Any means and materials that make durable markings; clearly legible letters of the Latin alphabet or Arabic or Roman numerals, not less than 4 inches high (67.123(d)).
- The hailing port is a place in the United States and must include the State, territory or possession it is in (67.119(b)-(c)), as in "Cleveland, OH". The Director of the National Vessel Documentation Center has final say on a hailing port (67.119(d)).
The official number
The official number, preceded by "NO.", is marked in block-type Arabic numerals not less than 3 inches high on a clearly visible interior structural part of the hull, fixed so that removing or altering it would be obvious (46 CFR 67.121). It is not a hull-side marking, and this site does not lay it out.
No state registration number
The federal numbering rules do not apply to a boat that has, or is required to have, a valid marine document (33 CFR 173.11(e)), so federal law does not require a documented boat to carry a state registration number on its hull. Some states still require a documented boat to be registered or to carry a state decal. Ask the state's boating agency. The studio's documented-boat mode leaves the number out for this reason.