Someone stole my dinghy!!

[Daddyo]

So I'm in Annapolis working the boat shows. I'm anchored in Spa Creek 50 yards from a public dinghy dock at the end of a dead end street lined with multimillion dollar houses. It's Sunday and I leave the dinghy (named "Amen") and walk over to the show, Sunday night after Mass I return to the dinghy to go back to my boat and it's gone, line cut. Now I'm in Annapolis for the next week, two days cruise from my marina, without a dinghy! I had to drive a thousand miles each way from Virginia to Maine to get this dinghy. I'm just a bit pissed! The picture is from five days ago headed up to Annapolis.

-- Edited by Daddyo on Sunday 10th of October 2010 10:29:45 PM

-- Edited by Daddyo on Sunday 10th of October 2010 10:31:21 PM

 

[markpierce]

Bummer!* Hope it didn't have an outboard engine.

 

[BaltimoreLurker]

It's a mini crime wave.* An El Toro racing dinghy was stolen out of our community boat yard last week.* A fenced & locked boat yard at that.* We're about 20 miles north of Annapolis.

 

[Moonstruck]

That is a horror story.* It is like being away from home, get your car stolen, and can't rent another.* It sounds like a special dinghy that you lost.* That plus probably special chocks and/or lifting bridle could make it hard to replace.* Unfortunately, there are those kind of people around.* Wonder what the "severe" punishment would be for them if caught**

Hope you get your dinghy back unharmed.* Does anyone know a good way to disable a pull start outboard?

***

 

[Forkliftt]

Good question. Might keep a spare spark plug gapped at .000" that you stick in place of the working one.

 

[Daddyo]

ITS BACK!! The water taxi guys looked for it last night and found it!

 

[Woodsong]

Seriously? They found it??!! Did they catch the people who "borrowed" it?
I worry about my rib getting stolen as well...moving to a new marina that is not gated and parking bow in will leave my RIB exposed and visible, along with my kayak. I am thinking about getting a cable lock and locking them down to a stanchion as a deterrent.....Already had my dingy's gas tank and fuel line stolen from a very nice marina we used to be at- left it on the dock one Sunday...came back next day to put it away as I realized I forgot about it, and poof, it was gone.

 

[macattack_ga]

Daddyo wrote:ITS BACK!!

Wow! How often does that happen? You must be living right!
Hope there is a good story to be told.

*

 

[jleonard]

Good for you glad someone found and returned it.

I almost had mine stolen a few years ago at Mystic Seaport during an MTOA rendezvous.
Dog was aboard at night and barking which is very unusual. Didn't notice anything until the next morning and I found a really nice sharp lockblade knife open on my swim platform. I think the barking made the theif nervous and he exited so quickly he forgot his knife.

 

[Baker]

I put mine in an empty slip 2 slips down from me. I woke up the next morning and there was a new boat in the slip and my dinghy was gone. So I figured the new occupants must have moved my dinghy. And they said there was no dinghy in the slip so we finally figured that someone did indeed abscond with it(I always try to find a way to use that word). Well we filed a police report and it was over insured so we were already shopping new dinghies. I decided to take the Prairie Dog for a ride by myself. I was cruising Clear Lake and I see a dinghy way off in the distance coming toward me. It was way too far for me to get an ID on it but I kept going towards it just for sport. It gets closer and still nothing to ID it. Closer yet and it is getting interesting. I get right up on it and it is our dinghy with 4 young kids in it(14,14,12,12YO). I am up on the flybride along side them asking questions of where the dinghy came from. I tell them to take it to shore now and am on the phone with the Seabrook PD. They are smart enough to realize that the phone to my ear was likely connected to the Police and they hit the shoreline where a dock was, tied the dinghy up and scurried like cockroaches into the neighboring apartments. The cops showed about 1 minute later and just missed them.

We still own the dinghy and have a fondness for it. The funniest part about this whole thing is when I went over to reclaim the dinghy, in his haste, the youngster that tied it up had tied a perfect bowline knot in about 3 seconds.....wasn't his first time around a boat!!!!!

The original Mercury motor has since been stolen and replaced with a Yamaha and everything locked down like Ft. Knox.

 

[Pineapple Girl]

WOW!* I am so glad for you that you got it back!

 

[Larry M]

We lock the dinghy when ever we go to a dinghy dock and hoist it every night.** Typically when*a dinghy is stolen down here,*all they want are the outboards.* On the inflatables, if they can't get the engine off easily, they cut the transom off from the tubes.* When we bought this outboard 2 years ago, the first thing we did was remove all the manufacturers decals, added some flat black paint and then some of our own decals.* I love it when we part next to those brand new shiny outboards.

Larry/Lena
Hobo KK42
La Paz, BCS, MX

 

[Daddyo]

Well it just got more confusing. It turns out that neither the police or the taxi guy found the dinghy. I got a mystery call at 2:30am from a private number and couldn't get to the phone on time. When I saw the dinghy in the morning back in it's original place at the dinghy dock I first figured it was the police. A little while later the police called and said they hadn't found it. When the taxi guy came to take me to shore and my dinghy he told me it wasn't them. The only thing I can figure is there was some serious guilt during the night and it was returned and the cut bow line was re-tied to the wall.

 

[Peter B]

Wow, what a let-off eh? All's well that ends well. Pleased to hear it. I comfort myself when we leave the dinghy on the shore on some island or beach, that not many would want such a low-powered outboard (Honda 2 - and hopefully they won't realise what a wee gem it is), and the fact our dinghy, tho still sound, is looking every bit of her 25 yrs, so nobody would want it.

 

[Keith]

I keep mine locked up with a coated SS cable and brass Master lock. I figure thieves may come equipped with a bolt cutter which wouldn't work so well with cable. I run it through the gas tank as well so it can't be lifted. The engine is locked to the dink with one of those locks that goes around the mounting screws, then the cable locks the motor and dink to the boat or dock.

 

[RickB]

Keith wrote:

The engine is locked to the dink with one of those locks that goes around the mounting screws ...

The pros can take those things off faster than you can put one on. I thought they worked too until my brand new motor vanished one night. The cops told me those things only keep the honest folks honest.

There used to be, maybe still is, a gang that was running from NW Washington down the coast to California, stealing dinks and motors along the way. They would have a guy in a boat cruise the marinas and another in a pickup to collect the loot.

Since marina dock gates open without a key from the waterside, they had easy pickings. I lost two motors and one dink. The second dink a season later they made too much noise and got scared off by a liveaboard.

Another time I found the wire lock cable had been partway cut in an attempt to steal the dink. Those multi stranded bike cables work great.

 

[Peter B]

"Those multi stranded bike cables work great."

Yes, they seem the best, and what I use - through the mounts and the transom when on the water, and the outboard goes inside when at the berth. But a pair of really big bolt-cutters will account for just about anything I guess, so although a nuisance, sometimes it is probably a good thing our marina gates need key-card for in and out.

 

[BaltimoreLurker]

Daddyo wrote:

Well it just got more confusing.

I'd guess either a drunken joy-ride, or some fellow boater really, really needed a dink - right now to get to his boat!* Wouldn't be the first time for either in Annapolis.

*

*

 

[FF]

or some fellow boater really, really needed a dink - right now to get to his boat! Wouldn't be the first time for either in Annapolis.



Would be my guess , as there extra fuel in the tank?

If you worry a second fuel line could be carried , and installed in a few seconds in a high crime area like any State Capitol , filled with criminals..

The second line would of course be plugged.

 

[ralphyost]

When we bought our boat, the dink was a white Avon but painted gray. THe gray paint has worn off in some parts and its a pretty crappy looking dink.
http://tinyurl.com/2buv39j
This picture even makes it look good !

At first the wife nagged me to fix it up and make it look better. I refused. I call it my NAVY SEAL dink. I want it to look crappy. The theives are more likely to take a nice dink and a nice looking engine.

I like the idea of removing the engine stickers and putting other stickers on it. That not only discourages theft but makes it easy to spot and positively identify at a distance.
Painting the boat name on the bottom is a great idea too !

Dink theft is common in the Bahamas also in the popular town anchorages.
Hoisting on davits sure does impede the theft process.

When ashore, even if you pulled the engine hood and simply pulled the spark plug wires off the plugs, then replaced the hood, would prevent a quick theft. Remember that a thief never knows who is watching, whether it be the owner or a friend. So they always look for quick and easy.

Daddyo - Glad to hear you got your dink back ! But you gotta know that Annapolis is known for dink theft. Been that way for years....even 25 years ago when I first started going there.

R.

 

[FF]

Dink theft is common in the Bahamas also in the popular town anchorages.

Our technique is to paint the drive leg in part with primer and different paint.

It will look like it was re assembeled from old parts.

In the Carib this and taking the engine cover on a rocky shore and grinding it , standing on it , was able to keep an Evinrude 18 on the back of a Whaler the entire winter!

A personal TRIUMPH as the 18 was the french fisherman's dream engine.

Yes heavy chain too.

 

[ralphyost]

"Yes heavy chain too"

I'll bet that had something to do with it !
R.

 

[FF]

IN New York City the motto was "Show ****", the thief will look for better pickins elsewhere.