Outboard Security

[ppenman]

Does anybody know of any equipment i can buy to increase the security of my outboard ? Having just had an 8 month old Suzi DF150 nicked in the supposedly secure marina it would be nice to know of anything i can fit in addition to the useless engine locks mandated by insurance companies. As this is the second outboard i've had stolen from a rib in the past 8 years I'm thinking about giving up ribbing.

[Channel Ribs]

Originally Posted by ppenman

supposedly secure marina

I am sorry to hear that

I think your problem is the marina, if thieves have the luxury of time then they will remove any preventative measures you put in place.

[actions]

Originally Posted by ppenman

Does anybody know of any equipment i can buy to increase the security of my outboard ? Having just had an 8 month old Suzi DF150 nicked in the supposedly secure marina it would be nice to know of anything i can fit in addition to the useless engine locks mandated by insurance companies. As this is the second outboard i've had stolen from a rib in the past 8 years I'm thinking about giving up ribbing.

Yup, Malthouse has it right, if the thieves have time on their hands it doesnt matter what security locks, bolts and or chains you have in place they are going to get what they want.

Maybe speak to your marina and see what they can do. Was your last outboard nicked from the same place?

[Xk59D]

put a gps tracker in it would be my first option after speaking to the marina.

cheers

[achille2124]

Have you tried the lock nut? With this, they can't remove the bolts that keeps the outboard attached to the transom, they have to steal the whole boat....

http://www.mcgard.com/marineproducts/outboardmotorlocks

[Channel Ribs]

Originally Posted by achille2124

Have you tried the lock nut? With this, they can't remove the bolts that keeps the outboard attached to the transom, they have to steal the whole boat.

Alas they can be ground off, really well tooled thieves will also have a set of sockets and can remove them silently.

The opportunist thief can be put off fairly readily, but the high value motors are worth the time and effort that can be required to remove them. Sometimes only the power heads or gearboxes are removed, such are the lengths they will go to.

It is a sad fact that the insurance companies just tally up the statistics, a few guys from the marine industry (me included) offered them a chance to identify and reduce the windows of opportunity for hard-core thieves. They were not interested.

[achille2124]

Originally Posted by malthouse

Alas they can be ground off, really well tooled thieves will also have a set of sockets and can remove them silently.

The opportunist thief can be put off fairly readily, but the high value motors are worth the time and effort that can be required to remove them. Sometimes only the power heads or gearboxes are removed, such are the lengths they will go to.

It is a sad fact that the insurance companies just tally up the statistics, a few guys from the marine industry (me included) offered them a chance to identify and reduce the windows of opportunity for hard-core thieves. They were not interested.

I know what you mean by "opportunistÉ. I worked with the Coast Guard when I was a student and we were dispatched in Montreal area with a Hurricane 733 with twin Mercury Optimax 150.

During one night, some thieves came on a boat, in the middle of our busy leisure marina and stole both engine....it was quite a shock when we came in the morning!

They were obviously very determined to get those!

[ppenman]

Hi,

thanks for your replies. Engines were stolen from different marinas although both were in South Essex. This time they drove through the security barrier, professionally covered the cctv cameras and then set about cutting/grinding through the outboard mountings of two other boats as well as mine. It would be nice to get something that would send me a text if it detected unauthorised movement. I wonder if keeping the boat on the water using versadock or similar would reduce the risk of theft.

[actions]

Originally Posted by ppenman

Hi,

thanks for your replies. Engines were stolen from different marinas although both were in South Essex. This time they drove through the security barrier, professionally covered the cctv cameras and then set about cutting/grinding through the outboard mountings of two other boats as well as mine. It would be nice to get something that would send me a text if it detected unauthorised movement. I wonder if keeping the boat on the water using versadock or similar would reduce the risk of theft.

I know that you can get trackers which have been mentioned already.

Tracker which is also the name of the company do several levels of alerting from simple tracking to letting you know if it is moved without permission and sending an alert, however i'm not sure if they can squeeze one in an outboard. http://www.tracker.co.uk/TRACKER/Default.aspx

[Turbodiesel]

We sell these locks, very very good, not the cheapest but they have been proving to be about the best on the market.

http://www.outboardmotorlocks.co.uk/...t-volcano.html


And you get discount with us so they are £50.54 plus poatage.

[kerny]

Originally Posted by Turbo Diesel

We sell these locks, very very good, not the cheapest but they have been proving to be about the best on the market.

http://www.outboardmotorlocks.co.uk/...t-volcano.html


And you get discount with us so they are £50.54 plus postage.

I have one of those fitted on mine, give it a bit of wd 40 now and then and the locking mechanism is fine, they look good as well

[Jizm]

Originally Posted by Turbodiesel

We sell these locks, very very good, not the cheapest but they have been proving to be about the best on the market.

http://www.outboardmotorlocks.co.uk/...t-volcano.html


And you get discount with us so they are £50.54 plus poatage.

They look pretty good, anybody got one, any thoughts?

[T 15]

a tracker is the only way to try to find it, over here the thieving b's use a chainsaw to cut the transom/well to take the o/b still attached thus leaving ur boat/rib with no engine & no transom..........


was told that if you remove the engine hood during long periods of storage & keep it some place away for ur boat, this MAY reduce the chance of ur engine being stolen as the cost for them to get a new hood is too much........but I would think that they then just steal a hood to match........??

[Channel Ribs]

Originally Posted by T 15

a tracker is the only way to try to find it, over here the thieving b's use a chainsaw to cut the transom

Someone on here was going to fit one of the little GSM trackers from China inside their engine wiring. Not sure if they did or how they got on.

The Spot Hug might be an option, just looking at the specs and being less than 10cm square with a temperature tolerance of 85ºC it should be possible to hide one of those in amongst the wiring. The keypad is wireless, so no one will know where the actual tracker is hidden.

I still believe the best option is to keep the boat in a well-lit and populated area, ideally with passers by at random times of night.

[Ian M]

Originally Posted by Jizm

They look pretty good, anybody got one, any thoughts?

If I remember rightly Jim, sorry Bedajim, had one. Seem to remember he wasn't too keen.....................

[Superjetjim]

This makes me worry.. What happens if my engine is nicked? (92 Merc 150 v6) - how much would the insurance pay out? - I assume they wouldnt replace it with a new one, just pay current market value? - How would you get another, never seem to see old large motors for sale..

Come to think of it where to the thieving gits sell these stolen motors?

[M Humphray]

Having had two Yamaha's 250 stolen last year, and now that my insurance renewal is due, they are more or less insisting that I fit trackers to each of my replacement outboards. The obvious problems are:- keeping the tracker out of sight, battery life, and most importanly keeping it out of the heat of the engine. I have made a suggestion to the Brokers that when the boat is out of the water then the trackers are fitted to the engine and when in the water, on the boat, (I awaiting a reply on this) Coming back to the main point of this thread, "is their anybody out ther making a tracker for outboards, that insurers will accept. Please don't go down the lock route, can we please stick to the subject.

[Channel Ribs]

Originally Posted by M Humphray

is their anybody out ther making a tracker for outboards, that insurers will accept.

The insurers are only just starting to come to terms with the need for trackers and other proactive measures, so you should find they accept any device that looks like it will help. Given time they will no doubt decide a standard.

A device like the Spot Hug will stand the temperature inside the cowl of most engines, but as you say having the option to move it to the boat during the season will help with that.

For power you would need to run an extra feed back to the engine from the batteries, most devices have a built in battery but this will not last the months needed.

[Starovich]

I had a 60 out of the water being fixed. was on the hard for 2 weeks , it was nicked, the night after it was fixed?! i was very suspect abotu that but couldnt prove anything.

9 months later the old bill found it and returned it to me

This I think is the best security, I know a couple of yards who use dogs for overnight security, just dont try to get at the boats once the gates are shut

[Channel Ribs]

Just another thought, would your insurance company accept a loop of wire that runs to and back from the engine? That way a boat mounted system could be activated by removal of the engine.

Or are they after tracking of the engine once removed?