Dinghy Theft from the Beach

[Westie]

Leaving your dingy on the beach is always risky. Any tried and true solutions / suggestions to reduce the chance of theft? I thought of using a simple "dog leash screw" that you thread into the sand, connect a length of "tc" chain to it, place the dingy over it and bring the chain over the sides of the dingy and padlock. Have to consider the tide situation etc. but sounds like it might work. Finding a padlock that is really difficult to cut may be the weakest link! Suggestions - thoughts?

[Boracay]

The best deterent that I have seen was an inspection hatch installed into a circular hole cut in the botom of the dinghy.

The owner kept the hatch with him and put a chain through the hole and around the dinghy, locking it to an iron ring bolt set into the side of the concrete footpath.

Most people round here seem to rely on a combination of old dinghy and chain.

I was silly enough to leave a new pair of oars and rowlocks in a boatyard and they walked.

The most trouble seems to come from a boat owner who needs to get to their boat and fails to return the dinghy.

The other advantage of the chain is that (under Ozzie law) breaking or cutting something to gain possession is a much more serious offence.

[cooper]

Chris is right , l too have seen this form of "asset protection". One of those plastic dingy bulkhead hatches of the screw in type, works brilliantly. Its big enough to loudly point out..."this boats gotsa bloody big ole in its bottom"......a warning sign that usually send shivers up the spine of even the dumbest of would be thives. The chain through the hole around the outside of the boat and a solid inanimate object is the "finger" pointing at the hole. Another little helper is one of those cheap door alarms. The battery powered type that go gang busters when they are moved. Turn dingy upside down and reach up under and turn thingy on.......The type that barks like a dog may not be so usefull !

[Intentional Drifter]

But I wonder if it might in places with fewer treacherous things laying about?

ID

[D.D.]

Originally Posted by Intentional Drifter

But I wonder if it might in places with fewer treacherous things laying about?

ID

[Topazken]

Stay out of the Caribbean and you should be OK. Seriously, I have left my tender on hundreds of beaches, never a problem until Porlamar where the thieves stole my inflatable. They swam out to the boat at night and cut it loose.

All of the Pacific is safe.

[beowulfborealis]

Sometimes people don't always understand why a dingy is sitting on the beach. They think its abandoned or something. I knew one guy who kept having problems because he was anchored in a place where many people passed by on this beach. Finally, he wrote on the bench of his dingy "Please don't mess with my dingy, I can't get to my boat without it." That seemed to help.

[Jim Cate]

Originally Posted by Topazken

Stay out of the Caribbean and you should be OK. Seriously, I have left my tender on hundreds of beaches, never a problem until Porlamar where the thieves stole my inflatable. They swam out to the boat at night and cut it loose.

All of the Pacific is safe.

All depends on where ya reckon the Pacific ends! Had our RIB and o/b cut from the back of the boat whilst on a mooring off Battery Point in Hobart. Cops said it was likely druggies from Bridgewater up the Derwent, and sure enough, the pore ol dink was found there under a bridge. The mongrels took the clapped out Suzuki 15 off of it, poured some petrol in it and set it alight. Bastards... nearly new 5000 buck dink, 250 dollar motor.

Locals were very upset and many came by to offer apologies for their local hoodlums behavior. But, I seem to remember that the Hiscocks had a dinghy pinched there too!

Anyhow, life is awkward for an anchor-out cruiser when the dink goes walkies, so take care!

Cheers,

Jim and Ann s/v Insatiable II now lying Airlie Beach, Qld, Oz

[Weyalan]

There are low-life scum pretty much anywhere in the world, unfortunately. Hobart, though remote, is not exempt. I have had my car stolen here a few times... generally by late night drunks looking for an easy way home. Until a few years ago, it would generally be found a little the worse for wear, in one of the outlying suburbs, and one could go pick it up and drive it home. These days, though, forensics and DNA testing have improved, so they torch them instead... this is probably why they torched your dink too, Jim

[Vasco]

Never have to worry about dink theft on a beach in the Bahamas. Only place you might have to think twice is in Nassau but we're only there to clear in.

[svHyLyte]

Originally Posted by Westie

Leaving your dingy on the beach is always risky. Any tried and true solutions / suggestions to reduce the chance of theft? I thought of using a simple "dog leash screw" that you thread into the sand, connect a length of "tc" chain to it, place the dingy over it and bring the chain over the sides of the dingy and padlock. Have to consider the tide situation etc. but sounds like it might work. Finding a padlock that is really difficult to cut may be the weakest link! Suggestions - thoughts?

We have a small folding grapnel anchor, 200 feet of line and a dog-leash screw anchor in a canvas bag aboard our dinghy. When going ashore on a questionable beach, we pitch the anchor off-board about 100' feet from the beach with a bight of the line through the ring on the shank. Once we get ashore, and the girls are disembarked, I walk out into the water about knee deep and screw the dog-leash anchor into the bottom. One end of the bight of line through the anchor shank is passed through the ring on the screw anchor and tied to the other end of the bight, together with the dinghy painter. With that the bight can be hauled in and the dinghy floated out to the anchor (set a "Diver Down" flag to discourage investigators) and the bight secured with an overhand knot at the screw anchor and. To ensure I can refind the dog leash screw anchor when we're ready to depart, I have a yellow tennis ball with a length of twine passed through it that I tie to the dog-leash anchor.

The foregoing is effective where the tide rise and fall is not too great and, of course, where the water is warm enough to wade in without undue discomfort, such as the west coast of Florida, even in the winter! (Of course, why would anyone sail anywhere else, eh?)

FWIW...

[Palarran]

Has anyone tried putting a simple padlock through the frame of the motor so it won't turn. Then someone would have to have another boat in order to tow yours, which would seem fairly obvious.

[off-the-grid]

Not to revive an ancient thread...but is a kayak less likely to walk?

[boatman61]

Pull the pin and take the prop with you....

[cat man do]

Originally Posted by Boracay

The best deterent that I have seen was an inspection hatch installed into a circular hole cut in the botom of the dinghy.

The owner kept the hatch with him and put a chain through the hole and around the dinghy,

+1