Chaser (III)

George Schneider (Email to Nauticapedia 01/04/2025) "By covering these tiny craft, I found another revelation. Every state license program is different, but in California, they began by filling up the four numbers, then added a letter at the end. When the system was first established in the 1950s, I gather they filled AA through about AD with existing boats, then progressed from there.

Around the 1990s I saw where they were trying to assign different endings for commercial craft vs. pleasure craft, but that seems to have gone away. I did find a couple specialty designations that endured: Sea Scout boats and the like all ended in YB, apparently for "Youth Boat." And exempt government vessels were assigned XC for ones exempt because they were the property of a city or county, XS for State Property, and XF for federal property, like the recreational boats provided by military bases for their personnel. But California is running out of numbers, and I was surprised to see this local fishing boat the CHASER (CF3345XP) with what I thought was a reserved licensing series. Unless this boat is exempt for some reason and "P" is the reason (Phishing?) the DMV in California is just trying to buy time before they have to be the first to put a new twist on the state licensing system. "