Keeping my tender safe

[magic mark]

I think the engine looks cheap but the dinghy looks a bit too smart. What do you reckon?

 

[magic mark]

I’m not sure if the picture is attached or not

 

[[2574]]

I think the engine looks cheap but the dinghy looks a bit too smart. What do you reckon?

I reckon it’s been nicked! No sign of it…..

 

[magic mark]

This is the third time I’ve tried to upload a picture

 

[westernman]

Just half deflate it.

No one nicks a half deflated inflatable. And they won't bother to see if it can be inflated and stay that way. They will go and nick a fully inflated one.

 

[LiftyK]

Only use stainless steel padlocks and constantly maintain them with WD40....or the key will get stuck in it and it will look even more inviting

An alternative lock to consider is Plastimo’s padc lock. It looks brass-like but I’m sure isn’t. I’ve owned several, small and large, and found them to be indestructible. They must be more than 20 years old and just keep on going. They are inexpensive too.

 

[magic mark]

Thank you everyone for your suggestions . It sounds like the easiest thing is to “distress” the dinghy so that it looks like it’s worth nothing

 

[Chiara’s slave]

Ours is 25 but in good order. We let some air out if leaving it, and as our engine is 100% genuine old crap…..but rock solid reliable, we hope that’s enough.

 

[Bouba]

Thank you everyone for your suggestions . It sounds like the easiest thing is to “distress” the dinghy so that it looks like it’s worth nothing

It will still be useful for the thieves to help them steal the good tenders with......

 

[Stemar]

When my OB was new years ago, I postcoded it with a "Dremel" but, over the years, the engraving faded, and when it was nicked, plod wasn't interested in serial number or identifying features.

 

[Crowblack]

It’s fairly easy to lock the shaft and battery of a Torqueedo to the dinghy - we take the tiller with us as it’s very light.

Me too, plus most of the electronics in the Torqeedo are in the tiller arm.

 

[[2574]]

Me too, plus most of the electronics in the Torqeedo are in the tiller arm.

We have the EProp, the tiller arm isn’t removable unfortunately. We do chain the battery to the dinghy and the leg is clamp locked on to the transom. Just a shame that we have to resort to these security measures.

 

[RupertW]

We have the EProp, the tiller arm isn’t removable unfortunately. We do chain the battery to the dinghy and the leg is clamp locked on to the transom. Just a shame that we have to resort to these security measures.

I’m not sure we really do in most places - for example we have never chained the dinghy up in the UK, Med or Canaires so they could have taken the locked on stuff. But in the Caribbean all advice is that security is really needed (and we have had a dinghy taken when we just tied it to the boat overnight (given back for $100 as they found it “floating away around the end of the bay).

 

[Stemar]

My OB was stolen from Hardway, in Portsmouth Harbour. I'm sure there are places it won't happen, just as there are places where you can reliably leave your front door unlocked and honesty boxes work for your garden produce, but there are definitely places in the UK where it's unwise to risk it.

I've never locked the flubber to a pontoon where others may need to get in, but I do lock up OB and dinghy to the boat if I'm leaving them overnight now.

 

[asteven221]

One feels like such a misery locking everything up when leaving the tender ashore but regrettably it is necessary. We’re anchored at Tighnabruaich at the moment and brought the dinghy up on the davits last night as I’m aware of a dinghy that’s been stolen from here this summer from the back of a moored boat. Also, believe it or not, a mainsail and genoa were cut off and stolen from a yacht on a mooring at Colintraive last year. Unbelievable but sadly true.

Wow that is shocking. I have a mooring there and regularly leave £2.4k worth of tender on the pontoon. Never heard of any problems of theft, but after reading yout story I will be getting security guards.

 

[Chiara’s slave]

The problem we have is not theft, but crass and inconsiderate tender parking. People leave their tenders on the private mooring side of the pontoon when room is tight on the public side. They lift their outboard, and then the prop chews the shit out of my bows. Big prop scars very obvious when she was stripped off recently.

 

[geem]

We don’t ever lock ours in UK/French/CI waters (but the outboard is locked to the dinghy)
However I’ve heard that tenders regularly disappear in the islands and waters we’re heading for. A long length of s/s wire is on the shopping list. On the mother ship, the tender is lifted onto davits so it’s much harder to swim out and nick it.

Get a Motorlock. Most people use s/s chain on their rib. Ours is about 12ft long. It means you can still get it locked to the dock if you are two dingies deep at the dock. Our chain is permanently fitted to a d ring that is bolted through the bow of our hard dinghy and then the nuts are glassed over. We use it as the mooring chain so no other rope needed at the dock. We still have a rope painter for tying alongside a boat as normal.
Chain is easier to live with than wire as it takes up no space. Wire needs coiling

 

[geem]

An alternative lock to consider is Plastimo’s padc lock. It looks brass-like but I’m sure isn’t. I’ve owned several, small and large, and found them to be indestructible. They must be more than 20 years old and just keep on going. They are inexpensive too.

Check the wording of you insurance policy. Most require a proprietary locking system. A paddlock through the easily smashed off aluminium handles doesn't meet this requirement

 

[LiftyK]

Check the wording of you insurance policy. Most require a proprietary locking system. A paddlock through the easily smashed off aluminium handles doesn't meet this requirement

Thanks for bringing this up. I will check. At least my long wire and padlock, through the towing eye of the dinghy, increases the chance of the dinghy being there when I return to it.

 

[Graham376]

Check the wording of you insurance policy. Most require a proprietary locking system. A paddlock through the easily smashed off aluminium handles doesn't meet this requirement

Some of the propriety locks are bad news with the lock in the bottom face and no drainage. After several months, I had to cut our lock off with disc.