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Old 01-14-2015, 11:25 AM   #1
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Boot key beware!

My buddy is cruising the Keys and informed me of a significant theft problem in Boot Key Harbor. He was anchored there for a few nights with his Trinka sailing dingy tied to his stern. Between 9PM and 11PM it was stolen. He was aboard when this happened. He has reported the theft to the police. They told him that there has been a significant increase in harbor theft recently. So bee careful and keep an eye open for a 10" Trinka dingy, beige color.
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Old 01-14-2015, 11:42 AM   #2
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2 words. exploding dingy.
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Old 01-14-2015, 01:21 PM   #3
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Numbers 1 and 2 of theft reports in all areas of the country and world are the outboard off the dinghy or the dinghy itself. Best if possible to raise them, but, if not, certainly need some strong locking mechanisms.
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Old 01-14-2015, 06:11 PM   #4
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Exploding or Sinking Dinghy would be really easy to do. Heavy duty sinking line with enough slack to allow the thief to clear your boat from the blast radius from the dinghy. Line goes tight.....dinghy goes boom....
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Old 01-14-2015, 06:23 PM   #5
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Sorry..... Commando was on tv today LMAO
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Old 01-14-2015, 06:45 PM   #6
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Exploding or Sinking Dinghy would be really easy to do. Heavy duty sinking line with enough slack to allow the thief to clear your boat from the blast radius from the dinghy. Line goes tight.....dinghy goes boom....
m
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Old 01-14-2015, 09:06 PM   #7
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We just spent 5 weeks at the mooring field in Boot Key. During that time I've heard no mention on any thefts. Any problems are known through the fleet the next morning on the daily net. I don't doubt it happened as described. Boot Key is a great place to stay, just be diligent.
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Old 01-14-2015, 10:35 PM   #8
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Exploding or Sinking Dinghy would be really easy to do. Heavy duty sinking line with enough slack to allow the thief to clear your boat from the blast radius from the dinghy. Line goes tight.....dinghy goes boom....
A wee bit over the top, perhaps ...but what about a plug in the bottom of the dink that goes in from the outside, attached to your boat with a strong line that doesn't float... About a 3" hole oughta be big enough to sink the dink about 10' after the plug comes out...leaving you with a recoverable dink instead of a pile of kindling...and a much lower likelihood of taking out the boat on the next mooring along with the dink.
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Old 01-14-2015, 10:43 PM   #9
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Peg-what about a spare holding tank in the dink? The plug gets pulled, the thief is covered in "effluent", and then should be easy to find. If nothing else, arrest him for illegal waste discharge.
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Old 01-14-2015, 11:06 PM   #10
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Dinks have positive flotation and won't completely sink unless one seriously compromises their integrity.
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Old 01-14-2015, 11:25 PM   #11
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Reminds me of an electrical engineer friends car prowl solution. He hooked 110v to primary of ignition coil then secondary to car body. Probably at about 250kilovolts. Later that foggy night a knock on the door. It was a cop. He said ,"whatever your car is doing make it stop". They walked out to car to see a wonderful and large corona discharge. He unplugged it.
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Old 01-15-2015, 06:11 AM   #12
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You're right Peg, blowing up the ding would be a waste of a ding..
Perhaps a UV dye pack like the banks use? It could be set up for wireless too! Ding gets too far away and POP goes the dye bag... Naturally this would need to be a disarm able system
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Old 01-15-2015, 08:27 AM   #13
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Much as I like the idea of explosives, I had to settle for a more passive anti-theft system: My dinghy looks old and well-worn. OK, admittedly, it IS old and well-worn.

My theory is, it'll be one of the last ones in the anchorage that thieves would be interested in.

Now I have to work on the outboard. That's kind of old too, but it looks brand new. I was thinking of trying to find a beat-up cover from the same model, or maybe some kind of tape that makes it look beat-up.
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Old 01-15-2015, 08:39 AM   #14
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...Now I have to work on the outboard. That's kind of old too, but it looks brand new. I was thinking of trying to find a beat-up cover from the same model, or maybe some kind of tape that makes it look beat-up.
That has worked for us. Here's our 15 hp, Yamaha 2 stroke, 2months after we bought it. I took the factory decals off, used some black primer and then added our own decals.
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Old 01-15-2015, 08:49 AM   #15
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I use a dingy lock that covers the mount screw handles so it cant be removed. Then I use a plastic covered cable with prominent lock to connect the dingy to the boat or shore.
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Old 01-15-2015, 02:10 PM   #16
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A realistic solution to dink and outboard theft is a motion activated floodlight and security camera mounted high enough to prevent the thief from seeing it. Even a few years ago, that would have been prohibitively expensive...today the cameras that let you use your phone or tablet to see who's at the front door are dirt cheap. Not only would suddenly being bathed in light send the would-be thief running for cover, but you'd have a photo of him for the police. 'Twould really be simple to rig up, and if power resources are tight, a solar panel could provide all the power it would need.
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Old 01-15-2015, 06:42 PM   #17
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We just spent 5 weeks at the mooring field in Boot Key. During that time I've heard no mention on any thefts. Any problems are known through the fleet the next morning on the daily net. I don't doubt it happened as described. Boot Key is a great place to stay, just be diligent.
Best solution to avoid missing dingy is to tie it securely. it is easier to report theft, and more likely to get insurance paid out, than to accept that it wasn't tied up properly the night before.

To be fair, for the OP's friend he does not really know whether it just got loose on its own or with the somebody else's 'help', and fearing the worst is a natural reaction.

I always lift it. A good and easy to use lifting system is worth the investment and better then the hassle and expense of replacing a missing dingy.
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Old 01-15-2015, 07:20 PM   #18
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If you secure the motor to the dingy and the dingy to the boat with hardware stronger than bolt cutters....

Then isn't time or power tools required to steal the dingy which is either undesirable to crooks or very likely to wake you without fancy systems?

at least if the dingy is close aboard to where you sleep?
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Old 01-15-2015, 07:38 PM   #19
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... I always lift it. A good and easy to use lifting system is worth the investment and better then the hassle and expense of replacing a missing dingy.
What he said. We don't lift it to the boat deck but enough to get it out of the water every night. Based on the anchorage, we may even add a lock/cable to Hobo. We have never lost our ride and the side benefit is the bottom stays clean (er).
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Old 01-16-2015, 07:35 AM   #20
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What he said. We don't lift it to the boat deck but enough to get it out of the water every night. Based on the anchorage, we may even add a lock/cable to Hobo. We have never lost our ride and the side benefit is the bottom stays clean (er).
I guess you accomplish most of the same as lifting it to the deck, but just curious, you have it half way, why not lift it the rest of the way? It's just an extra two or three minutes.

I guess in general for those who do have the ability to lift to a deck, I'm a bit confused as to why they don't do it. Maybe some lifts are more trouble than others but we just don't find lifting it up and putting it back down to be a problem.
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