Securing Dinghy?

[jjcarr1]

Doing my research, one question I have is, how do you secure your dingy to avoid theft when off the boat? Med or Caribbean. I'd be worried about someone stealing the dingy or engine while I'm off eating in a restaurant. Ideas?

[thinwater]

Originally Posted by jjcarr1

Doing my research, one question I have is, how do you secure your dingy to avoid theft when off the boat? Med or Caribbean. I'd be worried about someone stealing the dingy or engine while I'm off eating in a restaurant. Ideas?

If it's dingy most thieves won't be interested.


(dinghy)

[SailingHarmonie]

Lock the engine to your dingy dinghy, and lock the dinghy to shore. Have a hard to find fuel cut off valve. Take the clip on the emergency cutoff switch with you. None are perfect, but you just make it harder than the next one down the dock.

But if someone is bold enough to walk down the dinghy dock with a bolt cutter, nothing you can do will stop them from towing your dinghy away and dealing with other measures at their leisure.

None of the local crooks want your dinghy, they do want your outboard. That being said there are certainly cruisers out there who will happily steal your dinghy if they feel they need it.

[jjcarr1]

Ok, I'll look into locks for the outboard to the dinghy solutions. Dinghy to dock is probably just a cable lock. Thanks for the info.

[fox9988]

We have a long security cable from Home Depot. One end locked to the outboard clamps, the other through the bow and to the dock. We rarely use it.
Keep the lock thoroughly greased or it will seize.

[Jammer]

The topic has come up many times, and you're likely to find a variety of additional perspectives through a search.

I have a two-piece nesting non-inflatable dinghy with oars. It is insured separately from the mothership. I cruise in areas where theft is not a major problem, and other than basic prudence take no special measures to secure the dinghy while it is unattended ashore. I've thought about locking the oars in place though, and have towing padeye that is installed in such a way as to serve as a secure point for a lock.

If I use a motor with it, I use one that is 50 years old and 3 hp, which is unlikely to be of interest to thieves.

I've asked here and elsewhere about dinghy theft patterns. While the received wisdom is that most dinghy thieves are mainly after large outboard motors (and will steal a dinghy just for its motor, abandoning or destroying the dinghy after removing it), when I've asked I've found that cruisers with nonmotorized dinghies also suffer theft.

Usually when people secure a dinghy at a dock they use stainless steel cable around 10' or 15' long with an eye swaged in each end, and a padlock. The 3/16" cable used to make lifelines can be used. Some people use heavier. Some people use chain, usually stainless steel.


When I use a larger dinghy with a newer 9.9 HP Honda, I have the outboard attached to the dinghy transom with tamper-proof torx screws in addition to the usual hand clamps. As pointed out upthread, motor locking mechanisms tend to corrode making them difficult for the owner to remove even when a key is at hand.

[CaptainRivet]

First my outboard looks optically **** and beaten up on purpose
Besides an SS chain that’s locked at shore, I have the outboard locked 90 degrees with a short ABUS bike chain that is immune to bolt cutter and even with an angle grinder you need 15min straight, so if they wanna tow or row it away it drives circles. Additional fuel cutoff valve.
Outboard as well as dingy have a mini GPS tracker, that a) warns me via Push message and b) with police I will visit the thieves then as non of them will find the trackers….surprise:-)

[Jammer]

CaptainRivet, what countries do you visit where the police will assist with recovery of a stolen dinghy? I have not encountered that level of service from law enforcement in my travels to date.

[JPA Cate]

The French Gendarmerie National were helpful when one of the sailboat's dinghies was stolen in Papeete. This was in 1990, so things may have changed.

Ann

[CaptainRivet]

Originally Posted by Jammer

CaptainRivet, what countries do you visit where the police will assist with recovery of a stolen dinghy? I have not encountered that level of service from law enforcement in my travels to date.

Well if they get the thief's in flagranty authorities need to act; you file a crime and show them where your dingy is and the police drives with you there.
Happened to my buddy in greece who also had a tracker on the outboard that got stolen, they found another 3 of which 2 could be returned to other owners who had filed a theft the last days.
If not I drive to location and call 112

[grantmc]

Originally Posted by SailingHarmonie

Lock the engine to your dingy dinghy, and lock the dinghy to shore. Have a hard to find fuel cut off valve. Take the clip on the emergency cutoff switch with you. None are perfect, but you just make it harder than the next one down the dock.

But if someone is bold enough to walk down the dinghy dock with a bolt cutter, nothing you can do will stop them from towing your dinghy away and dealing with other measures at their leisure.

None of the local crooks want your dinghy, they do want your outboard. That being said there are certainly cruisers out there who will happily steal your dinghy if they feel they need it.

Totally agree with these suggestions. But I think thieves are more likely to have a battery powered grinder.

I make my dinghy and motor look like crap, and try to park it near a flash expensive one in he hope that any nasty people will burgle another one.

I do agree with one of the posters in that much of the crime is actually other cruisers, and whilst it's easy to blame locals, that may not be fair. But it's not like thieves leave calling cards.

[Benz]

I have a had a rowing dinghy stolen at night from the mothership, the painter sawed through with a dull machete. It was a pretty rough neck of the jungle, though, which cruisers were in general avoiding just then.
Otherwise, my rowing dinghies have presented little interest to thieves, though once in Costa Rica, where respect for personal property is not taught to children, my dinghy was used as a playground and sandbox, with oars, thwarts, and baler scattered around the beach, though not technically stolen.
I have means to lock the oars into the boat with the same cable I can lock it to a dinghy dock, but I prefer to travel to places where I don't even bother locking the mothership.

[rslifkin]

I've been meaning to pick up a suitable cable setup to lock the dinghy and fuel tank together and to a dock, but I haven't picked one out yet. Currently, we keep a lock over the outboard clamps and I take the kill switch with me when ashore, but that's about it. We've yet to cruise an area where dinghy theft is really a concern, plus our 50 year old, somewhat worn aluminum skiff with a 6hp on the back isn't the biggest target in most places.

[CaptainRivet]

Originally Posted by rslifkin

I've been meaning to pick up a suitable cable setup to lock the dinghy and fuel tank together and to a dock, but I haven't picked one out yet. Currently, we keep a lock over the outboard clamps and I take the kill switch with me when ashore, but that's about it. We've yet to cruise an area where dinghy theft is really a concern, plus our 50 year old, somewhat worn aluminum skiff with a 6hp on the back isn't the biggest target in most places.

Yes they love the bigger outboards and if small then preferably our preferred ones too, the older 2 strokes 15hp Yamaha and mercury as well as the 9.8hp Tohatsu.
Wanted to get rid of my 15hp Honda 4 stroke brick but nobody stole it so far...insured and better then selling it :-)

Abus sell bike chain from extremly hard steel that you need 15 till 20min straight with an angle grinder to cut it.
Use the long one for my ebike and for the dingy in places where theft is known.
My Outboard is locked in 90 degrees incuding the steering pin with a short one of these, so you drive circles if your try to row or tow it.

[Jammer]

Originally Posted by CaptainRivet

Abus sell bike chain from extremly hard steel that you need 15 till 20min straight with an angle grinder to cut it.
Use the long one for my ebike and for the dingy in places where theft is known.
My Outboard is locked in 90 degrees incuding the steering pin with a short one of these, so you drive circles if your try to row or tow it.

The heavy security chains are out there; I have one from Tulsa Chain that I use for certain situations ashore unrelated to my cruising life:


https://www.tulsachain.com/security-...ecurity-chain/


They'll cut to any length and provide a woven nylon sleeve if desired. I've had good service from them.