Vespa storage on boat deck

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Corky Row

Veteran Member
Joined
May 12, 2018
Messages
27
Location
US
Vessel Name
King of Nothing
Vessel Make
Hampton Endurance 658
I am thinking of putting a vespa scooter 300cc (small motorcycle or equal) on my boat deck and wonder if anyone else has done this. Would appreciate input on how to secure, details on mounting brackets, tie down options and general issues with doing this. My davit can handle the weight and rotation required to go over the side and I have room on boat deck.
 
A Vespa or any motor cycle/scooter won't last long exposed to salt air and sea spray even up on the boat deck. If you do it consider it a throw away item after a few years up there.

Years ago I had a friend who took an air cooled generator with him on a passage across the Gulf of Mexico from Galveston to Veracruze. It was tied to the cabin top. When it got there it was a pile of rust.

David
 
Wouldnt you need an extended boom or davit arm to get it far enough off the boat to get it into a dock? The physics would seem to be a lot different due to the weight I would think. There was another guy dreaming of how to take his Harley awhile back. Not sure what happened to him or the Harley... probably got an RV ;-)
 
I am thinking of putting a vespa scooter 300cc (small motorcycle or equal) on my boat deck and wonder if anyone else has done this. Would appreciate input on how to secure, details on mounting brackets, tie down options and general issues with doing this. My davit can handle the weight and rotation required to go over the side and I have room on boat deck.

Seen it done many times. A boat at our dock, similar sized to yours, carries a dirt bike behind his dinghy. Lifts it up and down with dinghy davit with no problem. Tie it down well and get a good specific lifting sling and padded water repellant cover system made for it.

Also, get some motorcycle surface treatment spray and dose your Vespa up, similar to what the trailering Harley guy might use - WD 40 would work well maybe too..
 
I can see it working. I would want a waterproof cover, I would want to rinse it with fresh water regularly, and while rinsing I would use something like Salt-X or Salt-Away.
 
You're going to want to use a 'motorcycle wheel chock' installed on the deck. You then install a couple of padeyes forward of the handle bars. The tie down straps shoudl pull the front wheel into the wheel chock. This should keep forward and back motion to a minimum. I would install the same at the back and have four tie down points.

You'll need to make a small block to place between the front tire and the front fork crossbar. When you reef down on the tie downs it will compress the front suspension. The suspension under prolonged load will cause the seals to start to leak. The block prevents the front suspension from overcompressing. Without a solid front end, if the suspension compresses, slack is introduced to the tie downs and the bike fallsover. You'll need to prevent the front end suspension from compressing without putting pressure on the suspension. The block achieves this.

Google the following:

Motorcycle wheel chock
motorcycle fork saver

ratcheting tie downs, not cam-locks. I had a friend almost loose a dinghy when the spring on the cam-lock tiedown rusted and the strap started to slide.
 
I've worked on a bunch of these for RV friends, not sure I personally would store on a boat unless really well sealed off from the environment, they can be a bit fussy to keep running well. If you are really handy then not a bad idea, but if you are a person when something goes wrong you drop off to get repaired I'd rethink it.
 
You're going to want to use a 'motorcycle wheel chock' installed on the deck. You then install a couple of padeyes forward of the handle bars. The tie down straps shoudl pull the front wheel into the wheel chock. This should keep forward and back motion to a minimum. I would install the same at the back and have four tie down points.

You'll need to make a small block to place between the front tire and the front fork crossbar. When you reef down on the tie downs it will compress the front suspension. The suspension under prolonged load will cause the seals to start to leak. The block prevents the front suspension from overcompressing. Without a solid front end, if the suspension compresses, slack is introduced to the tie downs and the bike fallsover. You'll need to prevent the front end suspension from compressing without putting pressure on the suspension. The block achieves this.

Google the following:

Motorcycle wheel chock
motorcycle fork saver

ratcheting tie downs, not cam-locks. I had a friend almost loose a dinghy when the spring on the cam-lock tiedown rusted and the strap started to slide.
Thanks for all the information and details. gives me a great starting point.:thumb:
 
I've maintained motorcylces and small engine equipment. Are they more difficult than these?
 
I've maintained motorcylces and small engine equipment. Are they more difficult than these?

No.

Just do the basic cleaning and maintenance and it will do fine. I've seen Vespas in many lands, climates and roads. They are amazingly tough and used in some really nasty environments. Roosting on the back of a nice Hampton will be a piece of cake if you mount, lift and cover it right.
 
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