You don’t have to outrun the bear
There’s a saying that basically amounts to, when out hiking with friends and you happen upon a bear, you needn’t outrun the animal. You instead need only to outrun the slowest of your friends.
The same logic can be applied to securing your dinghy. It’s obvious that with enough time and energy anything can be stolen. The trick in this case is to make it a lot more work for a “t’ief” to steal your dinghy as opposed to the one beside it.
At some point in the distant past, prior to our leaving the US, I believe I wrote about locking up the dinghy. One commenter said that we should be using 3/8″ stainless steel chain for the job. I’m positive that I laughed at that, dismissing the recommendation as being super overkill. Isn’t it ironic that that is exactly what we are now using?
After our near dinghy theft in St. Lucia we had one of our friends here in Grenada on the job, trying to source us a length of large-diameter stainless chain. For those who have never shopped for this stuff, it is EXPENSIVE! Down here it sells in the range of $15.00 US per FOOT, a price we definitely wouldn’t pay. In spite of that, our friend Ken was somehow able to find us a 12′ length for only $30.00 EC (about $12.00 US). That was an incredible deal and we were very appreciative for his help. Ken also explained how they use a Kryptonite lock to secure the large chain to the dock and our friend Donna was nice enough to bring us one back from the US in her bag of goodies. Of course, it couldn’t be quite so easy as to simply buy a lock. No, the lock won’t actually fit through the links of the chain. To allow for that, we needed a shackle and one that was modified in such a way that it could not be removed.
The first step in the process was to tightly screw the shackle onto the chain using Red Loctite on the threads. This threadlocker creates a “permanent” bond once it sets. Step two was to cut the end of the shackle off. This could have been done with a hacksaw but I wasn’t into sweating that much. I opted instead to use our handy Dremel tool (The Dremel was a going-away gift given to us by our friend Jamie. It is still one of the most useful gifts we were given — every boater needs a Dremel tool). This process was still a bit time consuming but it worked, and it only required about 4-5 cutting blades to complete the job. The final step was to take a mallet and peen the opposite end of the pin a bit so that there is no way it could ever be unscrewed. All completed, this shackle ain’t coming off without a lot of work!
The total invested in this project was under a hundred bucks, but only because we got a deal on the chain. Is it overkill? Without a doubt, but losing the dinghy is a nightmare that we’d really prefer not to experience. I’m pretty sure that now the bear, or rather thieves, will focus on the easier-to-acquire meals instead of us.
The shackle, secured on our transom with a handy adjustable vise, ready for cutting.
I love our Dremel tool!
We do not typically lock the dinghy to the boat like this but we do raise it onto the davits every night.
I posted this pic just to illustrate how it all comes together.
Please explain why the Kryptonite lock is better than a good 3/8 padlock. I certainly understand on bikes; with the Kryptonite you don’t have to carry a lock AND chain and it is much faster, as well as eliminating the possibility of cutting the chain. The chain is always easier to cut than the lock. Bolt cutters are fast, even on 3/8, so long as it isn’t HT. In this case, the chain is always accessible. Granted, walking around with 36″ bolt cutters is conspicuous.
I do agree they are fine locks, durable, and more salt resistant than most. The padding is good.
(Why do I know about breaking locks, you say? In refineries it is commonplace for someone to lock something vital and then go on leave with the keys. We always have bolt cutters handy. Additionally, if it is a friend’s item you are cutting free, cutting one link off the chain costs nothing, while cutting the lock costs a lock.)
I too have big bolt cutters on board (24-30″ I think). I think it might still be tough to cut this chain even with those. Like I said though, it isn’t foolproof. It’s just WAY easier to steal the boat beside ours!
As for the Kryptonite lock, it fits nicely through the hole in a dock cleat. I also think that the mechanism may be less prone to corrosion issues than a standard lock. Time will tell.
Silly Question Mike, how easy is it to undo those screws where the lock is, I assume it is only into fibreglass?
The other end of the chain is secured to the padeye inside the bow via a high-security padlock. It would NOT be an easy thing to cut, especially given its location. Of course, if someone lifted the boat out of the water, that whole assembly could be unscrewed. As I wrote, not impossible but difficult and time consuming.
Once again I find myself watching and learning. I am paying close atention as you are the second person to give this advise. Out neighbour has 15 feet of the same and one hell of a lock. He uses a combo lock now as one day he and his wife had there bag stolen from a beach bar.It was a long swim with a fender to get the second key.
I was just this morning trying to think how/where I could hide a spare key somewhere on the dinghy.
a duct tape ‘patch’ with the key under the tape should work well. Just make sure the key does not leave an obvious outline.
That is an excellent idea.
Hope the lock holds up, the chain and shackle sure as hell will. Hopefully the key mechanism has no steel like the locks shackle. We agree with your theory about not having to out smart the tiefs.
My guess is that it should hold up better than a normal lock.
Mike,
How is the chain secured to the dinghy?
Good question. Copied from comment above:
The other end of the chain is secured to the padeye inside the bow via a high-security padlock. It would NOT be an easy thing to cut, especially given its location. Of course, if someone lifted the boat out of the water, that whole assembly could be unscrewed. As I wrote, not impossible but difficult and time consuming.
Mike hear a lot of people saying they carry bolt cutters (WHY???)
For stealing dinghies of course. 😉
We have bolt cutters on board because that is just a tool I had back on land and decided to keep. I have used them multiple times though to cut chain and locks, including underwater, cutting our anchor chain to retrieve a fouled anchor.
I have heard that European boats sailing offshore are required to carry cable cutters, for dealing with rigging wire. Not sure if that’s true or not. Bolt cutters would apparently not fair too well with that.
All the boats I’ve sailed with offshore have a large bolt cutter on board. And we all knew where it was with the rest of the emergency equipment. If a mast fails in a storm and it’s bashing the boat…cut it away, smartly!
Cable cutters I assume, not bolt cutters.
If the mast comes down in a storm at sea, you have to cut it free before it has a chance to act as a battering-ram against the hull. Hence, bolt/cable cutters are standard equipment on most well-equipped offshore boats.
I watched the video where they intentionally broke the rig (I linked it here I think) and a basic hacksaw did a pretty quick job on the rigging. They’re a LOT cheaper than big cable cutters too.
I’d point out that even 3/8″ stainless steel chain is probably easier to cut through than 3/8″ stainless steel 7×17 wire rope would be. Bolt cutters often have more trouble with cutting wire rope than chain because it mashes flat and slides between the jaws of the bolt cutters instead of cutting.
More cut resistant to bolt cutters but not to a hacksaw. A hacksaw is a lot easier to come by and easier to carry that 3′ long bolt cutters!
But… working a hacksaw on a bucking deck, with the cable jerking around, sucks. I bet blades break faster than you can replace them.
Often there is a u-bolt that can be cut on smaller bolts. Sometimes the tunbuckles. Mostly, the cable is often quite managable by bolt cutter RIGHT where it emerges from the swage; it can’t mash flat there. Done it up to 3/8-inch.
I have never tried this and hope to never have to!
We lost a dinghy last month at Cane Garden Bay. Some thought the line came loose during a squall that night, but I think that we were the closest to the beach and someone swam out and took it. I think if it had simply come loose it would have still been in the bay. Never worried about locking to the boat, only the dinghy dock. Lesson learned.
That sucks!
If we left our dinghy in the water we would lock it. In our case, I figure that by the time someone gets it down off the davits, right beside where we sleep, I’ll be out there hitting them in the head with a mallet!
Almost identical to my setup. I went with a mini U-lock that’s just small enough to fit through the chain without a shackle. Having a Walker Bay with no outboard doesn’t hurt either.
hehe… yeah, it’s a bit less likely that a serious thief is going to walk row away with yours. Joyriders? Perhaps.
Much less of a target. Although I did actually catch someone stepping foot aboard in Miami Beach right after removing the motor.
Hey, what happened to that blond haired guy who used to write this blog?
Hair color changes with the seasons. 🙂
In my local market we have a tool stool in which I found a 2 1/4″ diamond coated disc cutter complete with arbour? specifically for the dremel although not made by them it was cheap £2-00 and will cut and grind some amazing metals including toungstone (I used it to re shape a toungstone tipped router cutter) it would have made short work of the shackle thats for sure! maybe worth a thought if you dont allready have one?
To tell the truth I NEVER actually know what blade I should be using! I’m sure I frequently make the wrong choice.
We did something similar when we cruised in the Caribbean for 7 years. Thievery was unfortunately all too common in certain places like Venezuela and Trinidad. However, there’s an old saying that locks only keep honest people honest. A determined and talented thief will get anything. My other point though, is that we had friends who NEVER locked anything, the boat, the dinghy, nothing… They didn’t want to be delayed if they had to leave port quickly for any reason – and they never had anything stolen. Still, I’m with you – I always locked stuff – no use tempting fate!
Larry
You’re right Larry, as the title and text of the post suggests, you don’t need to prevent determined thieves from stealing your property. You only need to make the prospect of dealing with your security measures less appealing that dealing with that of your overly-trusting neighbors.
As for your friends, my guess is they weren’t driving a RIB with a 10+ HP yamaha on it!
I love the idea, but some times the simplest things can be overlooked, appears a really sharp fully charged battery powered saw could just cut the stanchion pole and there is no connection ? am I missing something here ?
Yes, you are missing something. As the caption below the pic reads, I only locked it to the stanchion for the pic. I don’t typically lock it on the boat at all. The chain is to lock it to a dock. And as the other post reads, anything can be cut. Our dinghy will just be a whole lot more difficult to steal than just about every other tender on the dock.