has anyone else marked their outboard?

Burnham Bob

Burnham Bob

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I know my new-to-me honda has an engine number but has anyone else any suggestions for identification in the event of theft? Obvious answer is a security marker pen inside the housing/cover but all suggestions gratefully received.
 
Burnham Bob said:
I know my new-to-me honda has an engine number but has anyone else any suggestions for identification in the event of theft? Obvious answer is a security marker pen inside the housing/cover but all suggestions gratefully received.
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Mine has my post code stamped on the flywheel
 
Burnham Bob said:
I know my new-to-me honda has an engine number but has anyone else any suggestions for identification in the event of theft? Obvious answer is a security marker pen inside the housing/cover but all suggestions gratefully received.
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I am a great believer in making things unnatractive to a potential toerag tea leaf. I have stripped the stickers off my nice 3.5 Johnson and using stencils, roughed up the plastic cover,and then painted our boats name in special flexible paint on each side. It would not be easy to remove the paint without solvent-this would damage the plastic-and even if successfull the roughened name would stand out as matt compared to shiny. I hope they would go and nick another one and leave mine alone!
 
Find an old top that fits and paint in wild colours to make it look old, manky and just about working, then add some patches to the shoulders and various other wear points on the dinghy. In theory nobody will touch it with a barge pole let alone steal it.

Prevention is better than cure, a good outboard handle lock and maybe a combination rope (you know that 10/12mm rope/wire stuff that inshore trawlers use) for a painter, its a bugger to cut but easy enough to splice and handle (especially if serve it with a nice bit of tared marlin after).

Otherwise, trust to luck - if it gets stolen you'll never see it again in any case!
 
maby said:
So now you know why it vibrates so much! :)
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Lightly stamped close to the centre with a small sharp set of stamps.
If I ever take the flywheel off I'll lay it flat on the bench and use the big stamps on it
 
One of the first things I did was write my name on the cowl and in many other not so obvious places. Dinghy and other things are done the same, inc fenders. Did this after I came back to the boat and someone had taken two of four new fenders I'd bought.
 
Does anyone (and do the police) use a system like Datatag as found on bicycles and motorcycles? Not so much a deterrent (not without gert big datatag stickers) but it'd sure help you get it back if plod ever came across it and thought to scan for a tag.

On bikes they tend to be coated in epoxy and dropped down a tube where the epoxy cures and it never comes back out again.
 
WilliamUK said:
...if plod ever came across it and thought ...
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Bearing in mind the current news items, those two words don't seem to fit in the same sentence!

In our club yard many boats are shored up with timbers emblazened with our boat name - difficult to reclaim except by letting them topple over. If you can't trust your friends, what hope is there? I'd agree that making the motor look like it won't fetch a good price at the local pub is the best first step and marking under the cover is good.

Rob.
 
WilliamUK said:
Does anyone (and do the police) use a system like Datatag dropped down a tube where the epoxy cures and it never comes back out again.
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I used to sell saddles and we could buy a microchip (perhaps like Datatag) which could be inserted into the saddle and the idea is that the Police are given scanners and if they come across a saddle which they think may be stolen they scan it. Good idea in principal but I dont know what the range of the micro chip is, certainly with the one they put in our dog was rubbish as when we went to the Ferry Port to go to France they scanned the dog and could not find it. So dropping a micro chip down a tube where it is surrounded with metal may shield the chip.
I am a believer in prevention not recovery after the event.
I had a hand held engraver and as far back as the late 70's I would engrave all my boat stuff with my name. I am also a believer in removing things. is there anything under the engine cowling which could be removed.
As far as making an item unattractive, I sold a horse trailer and the buyer painted every panel in a different colour assuming that this would deter thieves. Wrong. It was stolen. The only reason she got it back was that the side loading ramp came down and was hitting parked cars so the thieves unhitched and left it there. She had put a cheap wheel clamp on which was bypassed.
If I was trying to make an expensive outboard safe, I would start with a second hand cowling painted bright orange, but underneath I would engrave everything with the engine number.
This also works very well on car windscreens, as a stolen cars windows are worthless if they are engraved with a registration number.
Get some security chains, real ones not this rubbish which is in ordinary shops. Anything to deter them.
I was once told "Act as if you are not insured"
 
Jim@sea said:
I used to sell saddles and we could buy a microchip (perhaps like Datatag) which could be inserted into the saddle and the idea is that the Police are given scanners and if they come across a saddle which they think may be stolen they scan it. Good idea in principal but I dont know what the range of the micro chip is, certainly with the one they put in our dog was rubbish as when we went to the Ferry Port to go to France they scanned the dog and could not find it. So dropping a micro chip down a tube where it is surrounded with metal may shield the chip.
I am a believer in prevention not recovery after the event.
I had a hand held engraver and as far back as the late 70's I would engrave all my boat stuff with my name. I am also a believer in removing things. is there anything under the engine cowling which could be removed.
As far as making an item unattractive, I sold a horse trailer and the buyer painted every panel in a different colour assuming that this would deter thieves. Wrong. It was stolen. The only reason she got it back was that the side loading ramp came down and was hitting parked cars so the thieves unhitched and left it there. She had put a cheap wheel clamp on which was bypassed.
If I was trying to make an expensive outboard safe, I would start with a second hand cowling painted bright orange, but underneath I would engrave everything with the engine number.
This also works very well on car windscreens, as a stolen cars windows are worthless if they are engraved with a registration number.
Get some security chains, real ones not this rubbish which is in ordinary shops. Anything to deter them.
I was once told "Act as if you are not insured"
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I believe the datatag scanners and chips work well enough through tubing.

I'm right with you on prevention and acting uninsured though. I won't even leave empty carrier bag in the car because "it costs nothing for a thief to smash a window to see if there's anything in the bag".
 
Had always figured nobody would steal my 28 year old Johnson with it's wooden shift and peeling paint but someone passed up a brand new unsecured Honda 4st just 50m away and cut the security lock to steal mine.

So the current plan is to paint large red polka dots over both motor and dinghy. I can't see the point in marking the motor in hard to see places, the thief will still steal it and if he finds the marks will just deep six it.

I suppose in the rare event of the police recovering stolen property it would help to get it back to you but that does not happen much out here.
 
Scroats tried to nick my yam 8hp four stroke last year. Luckily they failed but left it hanging in the water by a remote cable. Fortuntately, it survived. They did nick the tank though. Poole marine police were great. They suspected someone and got em with loads of gear including my tank.

Their recommendation was smart water from here: http://www.selectadna.co.uk/?gclid=COnNio6Lsa8CFYEKfAodl2vDHg

Its easy to apply, permanent and comes with plenty of warning labels.

I was surprised to learn from them that the most common reason not to prosecute is not being able to identify the owner of the recovered goods and link them with a recorded theft!
 
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Alpha dot or other registered marking kit, used on motorbikes generally but will work on anything.
Also in your area, marine watch covers, speak to your local police they sell them and will explain the details, I got a cover in Essex when they first introduced them, fantastic simple idea and it works.
The Honda cover comes off and the police cover goes on, if the outboard is stolen, the new owner or theif has to buy the Honda cover to sell or make the engine work, as soon as a cover is ordered the police call in on them to check the engine number and if its nicked......so are they.
 
TQA said:
Had always figured nobody would steal my 28 year old Johnson with it's wooden shift and peeling paint but someone passed up a brand new unsecured Honda 4st just 50m away and cut the security lock to steal mine.

So the current plan is to paint large red polka dots over both motor and dinghy. I can't see the point in marking the motor in hard to see places, the thief will still steal it and if he finds the marks will just deep six it.

I suppose in the rare event of the police recovering stolen property it would help to get it back to you but that does not happen much out here.
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Our dink is spotted! Our motor has gold covers and painted leg so is pretty distinctive. We lock the motor to thr dink and can lock the dink to the boat or the dock. None of it would be easy to sell. But if desperate then they could be stolen
 
Burnham Bob said:
I know my new-to-me honda has an engine number but has anyone else any suggestions for identification in the event of theft? ...
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I'm considering marking mine: "Please Steal Me!"

You can buy a set of punch markers for about £15, see example here. My personal view is that the postcode is not ideal for this, so I use my driving licence number in the UK, it is an easily recognisable string.
 
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rickym said:
Our dink is spotted! Our motor has gold covers and painted leg so is pretty distinctive. We lock the motor to thr dink and can lock the dink to the boat or the dock. None of it would be easy to sell. But if desperate then they could be stolen
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I think that may be the way to go. Must be something that the potential thief can see and make them think it is too distinctive to make it worth the bother of stealing as they are more likely to get caught. Of course the downside is that people will think it is something driven by Mr Blobby
 
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