Dinghy theft

[Chotu]

And the crazy part is just from the poll on the forum, over 30% of everyone has had their dinghy or motor stolen. Wow.

I’d love to see a geographic poll. Or at least a map where people could pick off where it was stolen.

[Pegu Club]

Four plus years of cruising, we only lock our dingy in some spots In Florida, we don’t lock it when in the “family islands “ in the Bahamas, like all circumstances, learn to read the room you are in…,

PS, the thieves, they don’t want your dingy, they want your outboard, the dingy is just a means of conveyance, generally 15 HP and up are the targets, below 9HP, you are generally not a target,

Fair winds,

[argonauta1]

Circumnavigated and dinghy never stolen: Rarely left it down at night, if ashore, mostly locked it to the dock. Essential to be able to hoist it up to deck level or even as far as mid shrouds in doubtful locations. Be street smart, net work!

PS, we had a 15 HP and a 2 HP both Yamaha. Unless on passage, one was always locked to the dinghy, the other locked to the yacht.

[dpreacher]

My MG has a flat right now...

[dpreacher]

No one wants an ugly dingy. Heard about one cruiser putting random repair patches on his inflatable [unneeded] so it LOOKED like an old beat-up deflatable. Miscellaneous paint patches and rough spots on his outboard [like you] and no one ever stole his gear.

[donradcliffe]

Originally Posted by chrisr

i think it depend very much upon where you are. here in FP, theft is negligible. from what we hear, it's very different in eg caribbean

sorry to hear about your experience jim. would have expected hobart to be relatively safe

cheers,

In Papeete some low life stole my nice Danforth dinghy anchor, but left the dinghy.

At Lizard Island, the anchor was left in the sand, but the dinghy was long gone.

[neilpride]

Raise it or lose it.

[BBill]

I'm only aware of the east coast of Florida but would beware anywhere here.
+Zodiac stolen off a friends 32' ketch during overnight transient dockage at Dinner Key, Miami.
+Honda ob stolen off dink when pulled on the shore in Indian River, Melbourne, Fl.
+Boom stolen off my 32' ketch while moored in the Banana River, Merritt Island, Fl

+Also know of a 15hp ob stolen off a 14' alum dink in Georgetown, Bahamas.

+A friend of mine has a cottage on Lubbers Quarters in the Abacos. He tells me twin engine center consoles are stolen frequently. Boats are found later with engines missing.

[chrisr]

Originally Posted by donradcliffe

In Papeete some low life stole my nice Danforth dinghy anchor, but left the dinghy.

At Lizard Island, the anchor was left in the sand, but the dinghy was long gone.

yes...we have a nice stainless steel dinghy anchor c/w stainless steel chain, which does NOT live in the dink.

safe as it is here, there's no point in putting too much temptation out there !

cheers,

[carstenb]

Originally Posted by sailorboy1

A LOT of dinghy thefts are really dinghies that go on "walk about" because don't tie them up well. Here in the Bahamas I know of 3 the last couple days that did this.

r

After 7 years of full-time cruising, we've never had a dinghy stolen. We have lost 1 oar - we think it was stolen. We've rescued any number of dinghies that decided to go "walk-about". Always wonder why people neglect to tie their dinghy
properly

[Tortuga's Lie]

Originally Posted by Chotu

Here we go! Some actual data. Right out of Florida, the “top state for boat thieves.” (I definitely don’t doubt that, I’ve been utterly ransacked down here)

The better part of 1000 outboards a year are currently being stolen here.



https://amp.miamiherald.com/news/loc...273117655.html

And these guys seem to be responsible for quite a few of them.

Reminds me of my brothers boat. He had a 16 foot center console with a 90 hp outboard bolted to the stern. He had this boat in dry storage in Homestead Florida in a fenced in storage yard. He went one day to check on his boat and a thief not only stole his outboard, but used a Sawzall to cut it off the transom!!!

[wingssail]

Originally Posted by Chotu

And the crazy part is just from the poll on the forum, over 30% of everyone has had their dinghy or motor stolen. Wow.

I’d love to see a geographic poll. Or at least a map where people could pick off where it was stolen.

Most amazing: 30% have had a dingy theft.

And it happens every season here in Mexico.

Yet innocent newbies continue to arrive here every season and leave their dingys tethered off the back of their yachts tied by a rope. Do they not read ANYTHING?

[Celestialsailor]

One night, while at anchor in the Sea of Cortes, I had the dinghy and 6hp Tohatsu tied behind the boat. I was in the cockpit enjoying the late evening. After awhile you become sensitive to slight sounds. I felt something move the boat. When I stood up from the cockpit and looked, I saw a series of hands along the toe-rail. It was 6-7 men in a Panga. I startled them and received a pile of "no problemos. Can't say for sure if it was an attempt or not. I'm leaning for the former.

[Nicholson58]

Originally Posted by Bycrick

I’ve been cruising the Pacific Coast since 1998, from SF to Ecuador. The only time I’ve had something stolen was from my backpack in downtown Panama City. And that was purely an accident, because they just reached in and grabbed my wallet, an electronic translator and a candy bar. All were only temporarily in the outside pocket. The only time anything boat-related has ever been stolen was a cheap plastic flashlight out of the dinghy one night ashore and an anchor buoy which somebody wanted badly enough to swim down and disconnect it from the anchor.

The anchor buoy was removed, probably for cause, by another cruiser. An idiot in Bequai dropped one near us. We’d been there for over a week. At 5:00 AM it was banging on alternate sides of my hull. It was fouled in my prop and rudder. I used my rope hook to cut it off. Diving to inspect for damage I noted we had dragged his anchor all around the anchorage.

If everyone used one it would effectively halve the anchorage capacity. There is no place for these things in a proper, usually crowded anchorage with a nice sand bottom.

[Nicholson58]

We are live aboards in the eastern Caribbean now for seven years. We have not had a dinghy theft or OB motor. A Tilly hat was taken in Dominica five years ago. This season, also Dominica, our SS 2.5# Mantus dinghy stern anchor was stolen. It was a cruiser who drove over the easily seen white line, wrapped it in his prop and decided to keep it. I dive for it-gone.

We have a bow locker for the triangular gas can. The can is locked in the locker to the pad eye on the floor. The engine is locked to a stern pad eye. The dinghy is always locked to the dock. We haul the dinghy on a bridle at night with the spinnaker halyard. Lock the dinghy to the boat. All of the above are SS heavy chain. We rarely are out at a dinghy dock after dark. The motor is a now a very old 15 hp 2-stroke Mercury Mariner with a special paint job.