Any outboard lock recommends please?

Having had my dinghy outboard stolen off the back of my yacht whilst we were asleep on it when it was just locked with a padlock, I went for

http://outboardmotorlocks.co.uk/

Also consider making your outboard really obvious and if possible a bit tatty looking. Paint on or etch engine numbers, boat name, marina berth etc so that it has many distinctive features
 
I went for this approach....
SS851200.JPG
This was after someone was disturbed trying to take it off my dinghy, he had swam across a river and planned to swim back with the outboard!!! It was on a fairly new dinghy that was no locked and worth more than the outboard!!! Not very clever criminals round my way.
After that I got some red puncture repair material and put the boat name down the side of my grey inflatable so if anyone tried getting it off they'd end up with a knackered dinghy anyway.
 
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I used a high grade stainless padlock through the clamp bolts but 30seconds with a sharp hacksaw will cut through them and they can be bought and replaced cheaply. No lock will defeat a determined thief if the outboard is worth anything, as the various bits of the outboard are intrinsically weak and can be cut or broken. The best that you can do is deter the casual thief and make it difficult for the determined one who just might go elsewhere.
 
When on the bracket stored on the back of the boat, I use a padlock through the two handle holes, figuring it would be difficult to get a hacksaw near them - won't stop a determined thief with a cordless angle grinder though! (Honda 2.3)
I also have my post code scratched in the plastic inside the hood - ditto with the grp dinghy, but that's very tatty.
 
I keep my dinghy alongside the big boat with a bow and stern painter, the outboard is locked onto the dinghy and at night I also have a security cable from the dinghy/outboard to the big boat which is padlocked onto the big boat out of reach of anyone alongside. In areas that are dodgy I also rig my dinghy alarm (see attached document for wiring diagram),

The alarm is based around a simple car relay (e.g. Radio Shack 275-005). The alarm has a wire loop that runs from the dinghy, outboard motor and fuel tank to the big boat so it looks like an additional security cable. When the system is armed a large red flashing LED comes on in the wheelhouse. If the loop is broken, the relay triggers the alarm.

The alarm on my boat is connected to bright lights, flashing lights and buzzers but as the relays can handle up to 30 or 40 amps you have a large choice about what you can to connect it to. The electrical supply for this comes from inside the big boat so a thief would be hard pressed to tamper with it

The theory is that the thief will cut the cable on the dinghy thinking it a security cable and this will trigger the alarm BEFORE he/she has made off with the dinghy.

As an additional measure, as we sleep in the aft cabin, I have extended the loop to make a “panic” switch so that we can activate the alarm from inside if we see something not quite right.
 

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Not much point on locking up the toggles on the screws if it is an inflatable, 30 seconds with a Stanley knife and they can cut off the transom. But it will deter the opportunist and as such is better than nothing.

3/8 th stainless steel chain looped round the outboard leg and secured with a Kryptonite bike lock. The chain led through the gas tank and a lifting eye to something secure ashore or on the boat and locked on with another Kryptonite bike lock. This is what the cruisers who have had a dinghy and or outboard stolen tend to use. They also lift the dink out of the water EVERY night on davits or a masthead halyard. This will defeat all but the most determined and well prepared thief.

A simple padlock through the toggles stops the joy riding kid or casual opportunistic thief.
 
IMHO, the best security for the outboard is to make it look not worth stealing! When mine was new, I took a Lidl "Dremel" and engraved my postcode very visibly on both bits of the engine cover and the fuel tank. That immediately makes it harder to sell.

One other thought. You want to make it secure enough to deter the opportunist, but not so secure that a determined thief will destroy the transom to get it.

Whatever lock you get, a few squirts of ACF 50 will keep the lock working smoothly. I've never yet found a "corrosion resistant" or "waterproof" lock that stood up to sea water for long.
 
I think the trick to security on boats is just enough to deter the un-equipped opportunist but little enough for the equipped determined scumbag to take it with least damage caused to everything else, they will take it anyway and the damage will outweigh the loss otherwise, I've seen transoms cut away with chainsaws on grp cruisers inland to get the engine resulting in a write off boat.
Same with cabin doors, it's easier to replace a few posessions than replace the bulkhead that the door was hanging on.
 
Problem though is that some of us sail in area (Andalucia) with 30%+ overall unemployment but youth unemployment 60%+ where threat of dinghy or outboard theft is very real. We haul ours up each night and chain + padlock if ashore.
 
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I was told yesterday by my insurers that the only acceptable lock is one that is 'designed and marketed as an outboard anti-theft device'. On the basis that all of these seem to clamp to or replace the outboard securing screws, which I am unable to do due to the small recessed well that they are in, they are unable to cover my outboard.

I wanted to suggest my idea of a bicycle hard lock fitted under the outboard leg (when raised) through 10mm u-bolts in the hull plus locking catches to the outboard well hatch lid, but they are unwilling to even discuss an alternative.

So, the motto as always seems to be check with your insurer because my policy wording was not this explicit.
 
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