Dinghy Security - Thoughts please

[oldtomcat]

Just curious: Why don't motor makers have a key lock system like motorcycles?

[zboss]

Rust?

[nimblemotors]

Don't have an outboard on your dinghy, then nobody can steal the outboard.

[lonesoldier0408]

The worst looking vehicle, on the road, also gets avoided. I have many safe miles, due to driving a P.O.S.

[markpierce]

Originally Posted by roverhi

...
Having said the above. Think most dinghys go 'walk about' and are not stolen. Something about the small diameter painters untieing themselves. Ours did it twice when we were out. Fortunately winds were onshore so we just looked downwin. It also happened tp other cruisers. Other than Central America, did not hear of a dinghy actually being stolen.

My dinghy once loosened its bow and stern painters and drifted away. Fortunately, it drifted astern to cuddle a buddy's boat rather than going down the slough toward the bay. Here at the place of the "crime" but still attached to the mother boat:

[nhschneider]

We cruise in some very remote areas and we feel we take prudent measures to discourage dinghy theft but we're well aware that our dinghy is vulnerable regardless of what we do. We refuse to obsess about it even though it would be a major hassle if it were stolen.

Our outboard is locked so the clamp bolts can't be undone. We use a 15' bicycle cable and a massive pair of stainless steel padlocks and secure it to anything ashore that's impossible to move. Also, we take our fuel hose with us (I first reverse the hose and pump what was in the hose back into the tank) to discourage joy riding.

I removed all the decals on the cowling that advertised that the outboard is a Yamaha and replaced it with decals that say 'Komat'su'. A man stopped me at a marina and said that he worked for Komat'su for years and didn't realize they made an outboard. "Four stroke," he said, "right?" I corrected him by saying it was a two stroke and the most quizzical look I have ever seen covered his face.

Fair winds and calm seas.

[iancoombe]

If we feel a little vulnerable we end for end the fuel line and run it for a minute before turning it off when the motor dies and they still have fuel they wont paddle far before abandoning it.

[Nadezhda]

Having taken a dinghy around the world, the place where I feel most vulnerable is back here in England. An Australian that I know sailed over to England via all sorts of places and got his dink nicked on his first day in London.

[wrwakefield]

Originally Posted by Heath68

Hi All,
I'm quite new to this forum but once I had my dream dashed by forum members I'm having to learn to live with a dinghy... Now here's where I am hoping all you folks have enough years and miles in the bag to give some good ideas/thought on the following:

How do you think most dinghy's are stolen? What do you think is a good way of avoiding such thefts? .. now I have my own thoughts but as a relative newbie I'm probably way off the mark.

My impression (and please correct if necessary) is that you drop ashore, tie off said dinghy and someone sees (or is told of) a nice dinghy that with a minimal amount of hotwiring (is it needed?) is ripe for the taking... so it is.. only to be sold for spares or as a whole to unsuspecting people elsewhere..

You didn't mention what kind of dinghy you have, so this may not apply for you: Years ago when I was cruising Mexico and Central America [with a different boat and dinghy than I have now...] I had a hard bottom dink. I installed a small diameter inspection port in the hull [below the waterline] that had a removable cover. I unscrewed the cap and put it in my pocket while ashore, and ran the locking cable through that hole to make sure anyone looking was aware of the hole in the hull.

Perhaps this could also be done low on the transom of an inflatable with good effect...? [Though I haven't modified one in this way...]

In case this is helpful.

[Bulawayo]

Originally Posted by Heath68

Hi All,
I'm quite new to this forum but once I had my dream dashed by forum members I'm having to learn to live with a dinghy... Now here's where I am hoping all you folks have enough years and miles in the bag to give some good ideas/thought on the following:

How do you think most dinghy's are stolen? What do you think is a good way of avoiding such thefts? .. now I have my own thoughts but as a relative newbie I'm probably way off the mark.

My impression (and please correct if necessary) is that you drop ashore, tie off said dinghy and someone sees (or is told of) a nice dinghy that with a minimal amount of hotwiring (is it needed?) is ripe for the taking... so it is.. only to be sold for spares or as a whole to unsuspecting people elsewhere..

We install U-bolts through the transom and another into our anchor locker (not all dinghies have these). We flatten the threads to make them harder to unbolt. We then run a plastic covered steel cable cover with loops in the end around the outboard engine (only) to the transom U-bolt. The fuel tank is secured forward with a second cable and this cable extends about 10ft beyond the bows and can be padlocked to a secure point. We prefer flexible steel cable (we use rigging wire which is pretty stiff) as we believe it to be harder to cut than chain and more weather resistant. Our dinghies, we have two, have the mother ships name painted on the hulls in large letters. Our outboard motors were stripped of the manufacturers paint (pretty easy to do) and were then repainted carefully using yellow paint. They are very distinctive.Our dinghies are 100% aluminium (including the tubes) and are very different to most dinghies. Make your dinghy and engine standout and they are less likely to find a new owner. Also, paint the mother ships name inside the outboard engines cowling. I was interested in the comment about making the items look shabby. At Inhaca Island an Australian boat had done this and his dinghy was stolen off the davits - the boat doing the stealing simply sailed under the back of the victim and slashed the davit lines and the dinghy landed on their deck and they sailed off into the dusk. The dinghy was tracked down by other yotties and the police were of no use as they said the dinghy and engine were clearly just about of no value! Despite several witnesses the police refused to investigate further as the thief claimed he had found the dinghy washed up on the shore. Theft of dinghies in some parts of the world is just about standard - we always pull ours out of the water every night and lock it.
Personally, I really like the idea of a removable screw down hatch cover as someone else posted.

[boatman61]

Originally Posted by zboss

This chain and lock are the things to get... cables don't stop thieves.

Security Maxx - Lockup Chain

Our dinghy was stolen off the back of our boat WHILE WE WERE ON IT AND AWAKE in January of 2014. It was attached by a painter and a secondary cable.
.

$h1tttttttt... was it far to swim when you jumped out..??


Sorry.. to good to pass...

[wrwakefield]

Originally Posted by Heath68

Hi All,
I'm quite new to this forum but once I had my dream dashed by forum members I'm having to learn to live with a dinghy... Now here's where I am hoping all you folks have enough years and miles in the bag to give some good ideas/thought on the following:

How do you think most dinghy's are stolen? What do you think is a good way of avoiding such thefts? .. now I have my own thoughts but as a relative newbie I'm probably way off the mark.

My impression (and please correct if necessary) is that you drop ashore, tie off said dinghy and someone sees (or is told of) a nice dinghy that with a minimal amount of hotwiring (is it needed?) is ripe for the taking... so it is.. only to be sold for spares or as a whole to unsuspecting people elsewhere..

If one's security measures fail, and if the value of the dinghy warrants, you could also purchase a Spot Trace satellite tracking device.

We have been evaluating this approach online and it seems like reasonable recovery insurance for a $100 purchase price and $100/year for satellite tracking service. Our thinking is $1,100 over a 10 year period is much cheaper than adding our RIB with 15hp outboard to our current cruising insurance policy... Of course, there is no guarantee you will recover the stolen property, or recover it in usable condition...

Per the user manual, the owner-replaceable AA lithium batteries and remote powering options look reasonable too.

We have thought about installing one under the outboard cowling where it might remain undiscovered long enough to effect a recovery.

We would include our sat phone on the SMS list the device sent alerts to so we could use it anywhere.

Just another thought...

[Bulawayo]

Originally Posted by zboss

This chain and lock are the things to get... cables don't stop thieves.

Security Maxx - Lockup Chain

Our dinghy was stolen off the back of our boat WHILE WE WERE ON IT AND AWAKE in January of 2014. It was attached by a painter and a secondary cable.

By happenstance, we had just registered our dinghy with florida but had not yet changed the numbers. When it was stolen, a guy tried to register the boat using the wrong numbers and it flagged the police because they guy was a known pawn shop owner who was known to be unsavory.

A Detective was assigned and when he went to interview the guy he had him take him to the place the dinghy was "found" which was apparently in the woods about a mile from water, so the cops took the dinghy and put it into evidence lockup. He was able to track down my info and contact me and we got the dinghy and motor back in perfect condition. My wife drove a u-haul up to the lockup to retrieve it.

We were lucky. Anyhow, as far as dinghy theft we have it pretty covered now.

Hi zboss - cables don't stop thieves?
Sadly, I have a revelation for you - nothing stops a determined thief. We have seen a dinghy with the whole transom sliced of as the thief wanted the engine. Size for size, we believe cable is harder to cut than chain - try with your bolt cutters and then you may change your opinion. Regardless, given a big pair of bolt cutters, or hydraulic cutters, they shall simply slice through just about anything. Any half aware thief that has pre-selected your dinghy shall come prepared. Looking at the anti-theft suggestions the idea of removing an inspection cover in the hull of a RIB seems very sound to me. The only problem is when you want to secure whilst the dinghy is floating, but it is another weapon in your arsenal. I shall certainly start having a look for aluminium ones - plastic being too vulnerable to damage or UV degradation.

[wrwakefield]

Originally Posted by Bulawayo

Hi zboss - cables don't stop thieves?
Sadly, I have a revelation for you - nothing stops a determined thief. We have seen a dinghy with the whole transom sliced of as the thief wanted the engine. Size for size, we believe cable is harder to cut than chain - try with your bolt cutters and then you may change your opinion. Regardless, given a big pair of bolt cutters, or hydraulic cutters, they shall simply slice through just about anything. Any half aware thief that has pre-selected your dinghy shall come prepared. Looking at the anti-theft suggestions the idea of removing an inspection cover in the hull of a RIB seems very sound to me. The only problem is when you want to secure whilst the dinghy is floating, but it is another weapon in your arsenal. I shall certainly start having a look for aluminium ones - plastic being too vulnerable to damage or UV degradation.

Hi Bulawayo,

I'm the one who used the inspection plate in the hull of a hard dink in the past. At that time I used a 3 inch inspection plate with a clear lexan cover because it is what I had onboard... That provided a peep hole underwater too, and was plenty robust.

Now with our fiberglass RIB [which we currently secure with stainless chain] I have thought perhaps a stainless deck fill with the neck cut off might be a good approach for below waterline use...

Just adding to the brainstorming...

Cheers!

[Bulawayo]

Hi,
I have just spent a couple of hours looking at screw in inspection covers. A couple of questions to help me, please.
I am concerned at the loads imposed on a 9" plastic screw in lid. Did you have a fast moving dinghy? I am wondering about what happens in a choppy sea when the dinghy is slamming / bouncing into waves ? It would be rather inconvenient to have the hatch blow out. Perhaps a 6" circular hatch in the transom would be better but these do not seem, after my brief search, to exist.
What about the underside of the hatch? The underside of the lids and frames appear to have stiffening ribs - what happens to them when you drag the dinghy up a beach? I looked at the fuel /water tank fillers but a softwood bung or similar would quickly block that up. My dinghies (we have two) have aluminium hulls and they plane very easily so we need something pretty robust. Possibly the fuel / water fillers in the transom would work where they are not subject to load and also would not need their trunks cutting off. Makes me think that we should also remove the drain plug when beached.