anti dingy theft

[carol]

sorry to ask this question, but, we have had alot of theft at our marina. we lock our motor to our dingy, yet what stops someone from just driving if away and cutting the lock later? Does anyone have any ideas how to lock the dingy to a kleat? Thanks

 

[Ian McGain]

lock the dink

One suggestion is to take a cable with two eyes used for motorcycles (not the big chain stuff) and bolt one end to the wood transom on the dink. The other end gets locked to whatever or, as in my case, wrapped arround a piling and locked to the cable. This will not stop someone who is determined but might slow them down. The motor is set on my stern rail on a motor mount.

 

[Richard Marble]

Paint it white

This reminds me of something that happened to me. In 1996 I bought a sail boat with an outboard mounted in the back. The motor had been painted white but the seller said that it was a new Honda not more than a year old. I asked him why he painted it and he told me that if they look good motors would be stolen by lobstermen. The boat was moored for several years and no one ever bothered the motor.. One day several years later however I was talking to another sailor and told me how you can always tell if a motor is stolen.He said the first thing they do is paint them white!

 

[Eric]

Remove the prop?

Actually, there are a number of simple parts you can easily take with you from the motor that would make it impossible to START the motor. But, then you might ask what if the thieves showed up with their own oars? Or, worse yet, they simply tow YOUR dinghy with someone else's dinghy that they COULD start the motor on. Or, they could air lift the dinghy from a helicopter maybe ... or ...Actually, we take our motor off our dinghy when we're not using it. Kept on our stern rail (locked) or spends most of the time screwed to a nearby parking fence (locked).