Tender and outboard security

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Picks

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Evening
How do you all keep your tender and outboard secure from oiks when tied up out for dinner/drinks or shopping? I always have a fear of returning and the lot gone walkabout. Or is my distrust unfounded in my fellow non-boatie person ?!

Cheers and hope you all enjoy the long weekend.
 
Had ours stolen off the headland opposite (East of) the Falmouth town anchorage. No roads nearby. Sunny, busy day. They must have rowed off in it! (we don't have an outboard)

I have now bought a cable cycle lock and will henceforth lock at the very least the oars to the dinghy in such a way that they cannot be used to row with, but preferably lock them both to something fixed. Oars can cope fine with a largeish (1cm dia) hole in the blade without notcable performance degredation.

I also now have, somewhat on purpose, an old and very distinctive dinghy.
 
I use a 10metre long pvc coated cable with a decent padlock, so when at a tender/dinghy berth I lock it to the cleat or something else. I found that 10metres allow the dingy to be moved if it is a busy dinghy berth, also if on a beach I usually put the cable around a tree and locked to the dinghy and outboard. As for the oars, I made a small hole in each oar and used a combination lock with a retracable steel cable. You can get all this from B&Q.

I have it set-up where it only takes a few minutes to lock in place.
 
We've got a padlock through the engine clamps. A stout cable round the cleats on the dinghy dock will pursuade the bad hat to look elsewhere.

The cable is annoying to use as it keeps on coiling itself up and getting in a tangle. Planning on replacing it with a heavy stainless steel chain.
 
On my rigid tender I have 8 metres of thin ( don't remember size right now ) flexible 7X19 stainless wire, had this swaged onto an eyeplate at the chandlery then bolted to the boat.

This allows me to padlock the boat to an eye on slips etc while still not blocking the way for others.

Also a brass bung which if at all possible I remove and take with me; inside the boat I painted an arrow pointing to the bung position, so hopefully a.scrote might notice the hole and not bother.
 
1/ eat aboard
2/ eat in waterside pubs with a window seat where you can see the dink
3/ go ashore in your main boat
4/ over insure the dink & engine, or have a worthless dirty & patched dink with no engine that no-one else would sit in.
5/ leave a paid hand with the dink
6/ nail it to the jetty (not so good if you don't have a repair kit & if there are big tides
7/ relax & deal with the problem when it happens - which will probably not be that often but is a real pain when it does (especially late at night) as you can't get back aboard.

So there are lots of choices. I favour (1) as it is the simplest & cheapest. In my experience locks & bolts tend to be more trouble to the legit owner than the thief - who doesn't care if the stolen goods are damaged.
 
My insurance company only insures the outboard if the Make, model and serial number are noted with them. It's worth checking to make sure they have the information.

I just use a padlock through both eyelets of the mounting clamp levers.
 
BlowingOldBoots said:
My insurance company only insures the outboard if the Make, model and serial number are noted with them. It's worth checking to make sure they have the information.

I just use a padlock through both eyelets of the mounting clamp levers.
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This isn't enough for some insurance companies, they want a "security device" not just a padlock because some clamps are very flimsy. I've cut a slot along three quarters of the length of a piece of stainless round tube, which slides over the clamp levers. It has holes through the end to pass a padlock through.
 
What about fear of dinghy beeing stolen while you are sleeping?
I always leave dinghy with an outboard in the water during the night.

Has anyone had problems like this?

And another question: are such thefts likely to happen in Greece (Ionian)? Any stories?
 
Picks said:
Evening
How do you all keep your tender and outboard secure from oiks when tied up out for dinner/drinks or shopping? I always have a fear of returning and the lot gone walkabout. Or is my distrust unfounded in my fellow non-boatie person ?!

Cheers and hope you all enjoy the long weekend.
Click to expand...


I find that leaving a Hungry Dog in the boat is great, unless it is a RIB in which case it wont be floating when you get back :_)

Sorry yes secure your boat, I am of the belief if You have the biggest lock they will nick the boat next to it. A friend of mine tied the tender to the side of the Motor yacht he worked on went to bed and £100,000 had just disappeared. That was in Italy 2008.
 
alexalchi said:
What about fear of dinghy beeing stolen while you are sleeping?
I always leave dinghy with an outboard in the water during the night.

Has anyone had problems like this?

And another question: are such thefts likely to happen in Greece (Ionian)? Any stories?
Click to expand...

Know a couple of people who've had their's nicked while asleep. We hoist ours on the gantry and if in Spain padlock it as well.
 
They won't get very far if they steal mine as they will probably run out of fuel before they get to sea!

IMG00140-20110828-1319.jpg
 
GrahamM376 said:
Most insurers insist on "big boat's" name being permanently marked on it or, it's not covered.
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In some places (France for example) regulations say it is mandatory to have the name stamped on the dinghy, usually preceded by "T/T" or "AXE".

Without a name it will be treated like a separate boat and would have to have flares, life saving equipment etc


I had thieves jumping into my boat at night in a marina, they wanted to steal my dinghy which was lifted at the stern arch: once they touched and saw its conditions they decided not too :D
 
I use an old Forestay wire that is redundant following the fitting of roller gear. 30' long with swaged eyes both ends. Coupled with a good quality marine padlock it enables me to lock it but avoid annoying other tender users at busy jetties.

No way would it slow a determined theif but I reckon it may move the average oik along to the first unlocked tender.
 
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