Locking Your Boat/Ignition

demonboy

demonboy

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This summer I was called over to help a dragging boat. One of us was able to climb through a hatch, find the keys, start the engine and re-anchor the boat. The owner was away from the boat for the whole day and it would certainly have hit the harbour wall had we not moved it.

This incident started an argument between Liz and myself. We always lock our boat when we leave it for any period of time. I still want to do this but our ignition is inside the boat. I'm arguing that we should move the ignition to the cockpit and always leave the key in the ignition. I figured if someone really wanted to steal your boat they'd do it whether you made it easy for them or not. They'd break in anyway. Liz disagrees and says it's asking for trouble and would encourage opportunists to steal the boat. Bear in mind our ignition key is not the key to unlock the washboard so either way the boat would stay locked.

What do you think?
 
demonboy said:
This summer I was called over to help a dragging boat. One of us was able to climb through a hatch, find the keys, start the engine and re-anchor the boat. The owner was away from the boat for the whole day and it would certainly have hit the harbour wall had we not moved it.

This incident started an argument between Liz and myself. We always lock our boat when we leave it for any period of time. I still want to do this but our ignition is inside the boat. I'm arguing that we should move the ignition to the cockpit and always leave the key in the ignition. I figured if someone really wanted to steal your boat they'd do it whether you made it easy for them or not. They'd break in anyway. Liz disagrees and says it's asking for trouble and would encourage opportunists to steal the boat. Bear in mind our ignition key is not the key to unlock the washboard so either way the boat would stay locked.

What do you think?
Click to expand...

Regardless of the practicalities (I think you are right), I am sure that the Insurance company would be pleased to refuse your theft claim as you had left the keys in the ignition?

I can hot wire any boat ignition system in the amount of time it takes to get to the back of the panel plus a minute or two.
 
Not all boats have a key operated swtich on the engine control panel.

There are two versions of the common Volvo Penta panel. one has a key operated switch, the other a toggle switch and a push button for the starter.

If your main isolator switch is inside the locked boat it all becomes almost irrelevant.
 
To give Liz her credit the insurance company not paying out was one of her main concerns too.

But what if one's anchor was dragging towards a load of rocks? The fact someone could jump on the boat in one's absence and save it makes the risk of an insurance company not paying out due to theft worth taking. Since most of our time is spent at anchor what is realistically more likely to happen? Theft of our boat or it dragging and being saved? When we got to this point in the discussion we stumbled.

After we saved the boat this summer (Liz was absent from this incident) we had a discussion about this subject. The other three boat owners who helped rescue the boat were all full-time liveaboards, and they agreed that they left their keys in their ignition, or at least somewhere easy to find, precisely for this reason.

I don't know how to hot wire an ignition (maybe I should learn) and I wouldn't have thought a lot of people do, so let's assume the person saving your boat can't hotwire. Vic, I'm not sure I understand your statement. We have a key ignition inside the boat. It is this that I was proposing to move to the cockpit.
 
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No I would NEVER ever leave the boat unlocked and NEVER ever leave any keys on the boat. When we were on Acension Island we were ashore and the boat was dragging. We did'nt know at the time. Other boat owners saw what was happening, got on board one let out more chain which stoped the dragging and the other kept his dinghy along side just in case.
Hope your voyage is going well

Merry Christmas

Peter
 
demonboy said:
After we saved the boat this summer (Liz was absent from this incident) we had a discussion about this subject. The other three boat owners who helped rescue the boat were all full-time liveaboards, and they agreed that they left their keys in their ignition, or at least somewhere easy to find, precisely for this reason.
Click to expand...

Well, don't wanna rain on your parade, but if you were aboard and the boat still ran onto the rocks, bet your bottom dollar the Insurance company would not pay out as you would be found incompetent or not qualified in some way.:D

Minefield. I hate today's wriggly worm tactics, but I guess that people have falsified claims in the past (an epidemic actually) and its the Insurance company's revenge. Damn them

Me? I would just go with the flow. My key, when I am aboard is tied to the engine panel. What use would it be if I needed the engine only to find the key had gone missing and I couldn't start it?
 
FullCircle said:
Well, don't wanna rain on your parade, but if you were aboard and the boat still ran onto the rocks, bet your bottom dollar the Insurance company would not pay out as you would be found incompetent or not qualified in some way.:D

Minefield. I hate today's wriggly worm tactics, but I guess that people have falsified claims in the past (an epidemic actually) and its the Insurance company's revenge. Damn them

Me? I would just go with the flow. My key, when I am aboard is tied to the engine panel. What use would it be if I needed the engine only to find the key had gone missing and I couldn't start it?
Click to expand...


Minefield indeed.
Scratching my head.. after 11 years in place, if I pull the key.. will it come out??
 
My ignition key is rusted in place too. If ashore for a while, I lock the main hatch but leave the battery master on so that someone can move/rescue the boat. I can lock the battery master with a removable key and my diesel cut off valves are very well hidden if I am really worried about theft - but never felt the need so far in the E Med. A mate uses a bike lock on the steering quadrant and has an alarm with SMS etc - overkill IMO except it once alerted him to a high bilge alarm.
 
demonboy said:
I don't know how to hot wire an ignition (maybe I should learn) and I wouldn't have thought a lot of people do, so let's assume the person saving your boat can't hotwire. Vic, I'm not sure I understand your statement. We have a key ignition inside the boat. It is this that I was proposing to move to the cockpit.
Click to expand...

Any engine that requires you to pull out a 'stop' button to stop it doesn't need a key of any description to start it. Hence the warning signs not to turn the key off before stopping it on the pull button - the engine will continue running, although it may not do your alternator a lot of good. You only need to bridge the power cable and solenoid terminals on the starter motor, a screwdriver will do this quite nicely, to turn the engine over, upon which it will start. Applies to my Yanmar, although it wouldn't to the Bukh it replaced.
 
...and another thing.
S'pose you as rescuer start the engine, but locked down below the engine inlet seacock is closed......and you seize the engine. Oops.
 
We never take our keys out of the ignition on our boat unless its in a marina and we are leaving it for a long period. Whilst living aboard we always leave the keys in when going ashore although we do lock the companionway hatch. Twice the boat has been boarded and 'rescued' by friends - once after another boat tripped our anchor in a crowded anchorage in the Canaries and another time when a mooring buoy came adrift. If they hadnt been able to start the engine then I wouldnt like to think what would have happened.......
 
Yanmar. It is part of my spring pre-launch commissioning, remove key from cockpit starter, clean, replace, check it turns. I did take it out the first winter ashore but it takes far longer to clean out the keyhole in the spring and the yard lock the travel hoist at night! Rest year stays in the starter panel.

John
 
I leave my ignition key in but nobody could start the engine, that is unless they know the secret coded swear words which have to be first muttered then yelled, and in the correct order too, before it will even think of firing..:D :D
 
Tricky one.

I have rescued four boats dragging at anchor. Three had the keys in the ignition, with the companionway locked. All three were in the Caribbean. The one without a key was in Spain and turned into a nightmare. We got it secured in the end, but came within inches of major damage. Had the key been there we would have had no problem.

One of the Caribbean boats was a heavy steel ketch and without being able to start the motor would have taken out several boats as it went through Simpsons Bay in 40kts of wind.

It certainly seemed to be accepted practise in safer parts of the Caribbean, especially in crowded anchorages, for cruisers to leave a key in the starter, but to keep the boat locked up.

I imagine many insurance companies have not had to pay out (and don't even know it) because fellow cruisers have been able to start the engine of an unattended boat that was dragging through an anchorage. But you can guarantee they would absolutely refuse a claim IF they knew a key was in the ignition of a stolen boat. And if someone really wanted to steal it, not having a key would be a minor inconvenience as starting a diesel is pretty easy.You don't even have to start the engine, just sail it or tow it.

I would think the decision would depend on the relative safety, regarding theft of the boat, and the type of anchorage and the type of cruisers in it. But there would always would be an insurance issue.
 
I was there at the time, Demonboy. The boat you helped rescue was one of three that dragged in the same harbour, Pythagoran on Samos in the midst of a strong Meltemi.

Most of the posts seem to be thinking along the lines of a policy for all occasions -- seamanship by rote. Surely this is not what we do as skippers? We make a judgement on the circumstances prevailing at the time. In this case -- fierce gusts, iffy holding -- the risk of loss by dragging was far, far greater than risk of loss by theft. Surely the only prudent course if absent from the boat was to leave it so that a Good Samaritan could easily start it.

Another factor must be consideration to others. Drag in a crowded anchorage, and your's might not be the only boat at risk. If I was downwind of you, I'd be pretty brassed-off to get on board and find I couldn't start the engine.

In benign conditions/good holding, a different course might be followed. And, of course, if there are no other boats around in the anchorage, leaving the key in would be pointless, anyway.

I'd have no hesitation in justifying this to my insurer. And I'm confident that if they prevaricated, the Insurance Ombudsman would take my view. (This opinion gained through some experience with the ombudsman -- an excellent body.)
 
Bloody hell, Mac, how great to hear from you!

I think when you say:

the risk of loss by dragging was far, far greater than risk of loss by theft.
Click to expand...

probably hits the nail squarely on the head. I think a judgement has to be made based on the particular circumstances of the day. Unfortunately I can only either lock the boat up completely or leave everything open in order for someone to rescue my boat. This therefore goes back to my original question of moving the ignition to the cockpit. At least if I do that then I have a choice as to what to do.
 
Bloody hell, Mac, how great to hear from you!

I think when you say:

the risk of loss by dragging was far, far greater than risk of loss by theft.
Click to expand...

probably hits the nail squarely on the head. I think a judgment has to be made based on the particular circumstances of the day. Unfortunately I can only either lock the boat up completely or leave everything open in order for someone to rescue my boat. This therefore goes back to my original question of moving the ignition to the cockpit. At least if I do that then I have a choice as to what to do.
 
I suppose the correct answer is if you are leaving the boat and you have any reason to think you might drag lay out a second anchor.

We've been to many places where leaving the key in the ignition or the boat unlocked would be crazy. Especially if the French are around.
 
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