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wrote:
I have a friend who is having Fl. title problems on a 1976 19/20'
North
American center console after doing extensive cosmetic refurbishment
along with a new transom and console.

Are there any Ft. Lauderdale old timers here who may know if North
American put the hull I.D. elsewhere besides the transom?

Is anyone familiar enough with basic hull differences between the
N.American and the similar 17' and 20' Makos of the time to settle
the
question.

The cap is original but repainted over the years.

Thanks

The difference between the 1976 N.American and Mako has been determined
to the satifaction of the law,
BUT! They still won't give the guy back his boat because the shop who
redid the transom, although they acknowleged the number on the written
estimate and receipt they gave the guy when he dropped off the boat,
didn't etch it into the transom before it left the yard..

What a nightmare.

Guy buys a decommissioned rental boat with a rotten transom in the
Keys. Knows the boat and seller for 7 years, always having an eye on it
until it comes up for sale.

Seller, a notary himself, is as honest as they come. I've known him 15
years and know the rental boat for the full 7 years it was in service.
Even rented it myself a few times while mine was down over the years.

When he bought the boat for his rental fleet, he went to the tax office
with the previous seller and had no problems getting title at that time
nor did they have any problems with this recent sale and retitling.

The guy takes the boat to Miami and puts in a yard selected after
getting bids. While sitting in the yard, another guy sees the
N.American which had just been painted and goes to the law and swears
its his Mako which was stolen just recently.

When the first guy picks up the boat gets a block away from the yard,
he's taken down at an intersection at gun point, SWAT style during
which he actually suffered broken bones along with a trip to jail. He
did not resist.

The law mistakenly claimed the boat was the stolen Mako and confiscated
it.

Now they know the boat is not the stolen Mako. But still won't return
the boat because in spite of having full title, documentation and sworn
statements from the previous owner and documentation from the boatyard
stating the numbers before the work.

The law thinks all the unrelated events are some kind of conspiricy.

Another set of numbers elsewhere in the boat would settle the issue.