Dinghy locking poll /theft reports

I saw some posts on this forum a while back on whether or not to lock dinghy, outboard and gas tank and various people's experience and suggestions in this regard. On our two prior BVI BB charters over the past 3 years in June we never locked the dinghy and had no problems, and never had a sense of concern, but I guess that changes if you experience a theft. We are headed down at the end of the week for a Moorings BB power cat charter and I was wondering if anyone had any CURRENT experiences, theft reports, thoughts or suggestions about the need to use a cable and lock to secure dinghy, outboard and tank either at the boat over night or at the dinghy dock while ashore. Do you lock your dinghy?

Lock it 99% of the time by day and up on davits at night.

It's not worth the risk.

I lock it ashore and also lock it to the boat at night if it's a mono and has no davits. It's not a pain so why worry about the pain it would be if somebody "borrows" it?

There's really no reason not to lock it. We lock it ashore and lock it to the boat at night.

Haven't locked the dinghy in 12 trips to the BVI. Never had one go missing.

We chartered a Moorings 474 PC from the 5th to the 17th of May. During the boat check-out, I asked about a lock for the dingy. I was told "no, just take the little plastic clip on the coiled wire with you". I left it at that and that is what I did. My biggest concern was the Full Moon Party at Trellis Bay. No problems at all. Secretly I thought, it would have been a good thing if someone stole that dingy with that awful junk motor! Not really, because we experienced a dingy theft about 12 years ago and that was a big hassle! Incidentally, it was impossible to lock the boat! It would lock, but the lock could be easily defeated by sharply lifting up and sliding left at the same time. If you must lock things up, bring your own cable locks. One for the dingy and one for the boat. I'll say it again, we had no problems.

In the early trips we never locked the dinghy but things change and you need to use common sense. BVIYC always provides a long cable and lock for the dinghy. We use our judgement as to locking ashore. If we are close by in daylight hours usually not, but if we go to dinner somewhere at night where we do not have eyes on the dock ( Cane Garden etc.) we will lock the dinghy. We always lock it at night to the boat. Just don't want the hassle of losing it.

The expression in the Caribbean for cruisers is "Lock it or lose it".

14 years here, never locked a dinghy, always took the "red,orange coiled thingy", never had an issue. A moorings captain told me, just be sure to bring one home.

We always lock it to the boat at night and to the dock if we go ashore. I also put a cable and lock on the outboard to the boat. Back about 10 years ago we was about to pull out of a slip in Nanny Cay. As we waited for a boat to go by I noticed they didn't have a motor on their dinghy. When they passed I could see their outboard hanging about two feet under the water by their lock and cable. So, from then on I always locked my motor to the dinghy too. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Wink.gif" alt="" />

Money's getting tighter on-island
The economy - not that great
Why not lock things up - just to feel better?

End of the day, I think its really simple. Dinghy's have been stolen before. So is the 2 minutes it will take to lock it up more of a hassle then what you'll deal with if it is stolen? It's also probably worth checking to see what your liability is if it is stolen.

When I was in Antigua years ago there were young teens with nice dingys they all used a plastic bag to wrap around the kill switch where the little plastic clip went.
Humm?

There are too many "why not?" responses to consider them all rhetorical.

1) It's inconvenient.
2) It's a psychological burden to have to consider theft at every turn.

Yes, of course it's even more inconvenient to have the dinghy stolen. However, the actual probability of the dinghy being stolen also figures into this calculation. Personally, a discussion of the actual prevalence of dinghy theft and it's consequences is of more value than a blanket "why not?" applied to every possible precaution.

Every mutual fund prospectus ever written states: "Past Performance Is No Guarantee of Future Results." Now, try to think of an area of life (sports, education, career, family, government, etc) to which this law does not apply. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif" alt="" /> Just sayin'.

Ssshhh! We assign lock and unlock duties to the grandkid who dons the coxswain crew shirt on a given trip. They think its fun and a high honor to wear the floating wristband and key! <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Wink.gif" alt="" />

Of course. I was just relating my experience. It provides a data point regarding prevalence, nothing more implied.

+1 LOL, Anyone can "own" one of those little plastic clips! Or use a quarter, a stick, a shell.....It is a shame to have to care these days, but "taking the little plastic clip" gives you about 2 seconds worth of security.

Got a rubber band, hair scrunchy, or a piece of string?
This is a $5000 chance I will not take. It's so easy for charter guests to be so nonchalant, when it's not your property. When we had our boat, we rigged a simple rig to the D rings on the the dinghy and hoisted it with a spare halyard, instant davits. A 15" steel cable from Home Depot and a decent water proof lock can save you $$$$

Cooper Island Resort tells you not to lock the dinghy to the dinghy dock giving VISAR access as the reason.

You are probably less likely to have a problem at the dock at Cooper than most anywhere else.

The Moorings doesn't provide locks unless you ask. If you check a busy dinghy dock anywhere in the BVI less than 10% of the dinghys are locked. There was a rash a dinghy thefts a few years ago in Trellis Bay. I don't recall hearing about any since then.

If you would like to see the Caribbean theft reports, this is the website: https://www.safetyandsecuritynet.com

I've noticed that actual theft is pretty random and fairly rare. Nobody locks their dinghy for months and then all of a sudden one bad actor goes on a crime spree. Until they are caught ppl who are in the know (ie local) all lock their dinghys. A bigger problem is very drunk customers boarding your dinghy and borrowing it for a lift home at places like Foxys NYE or the Willie T.

My company had a very expensive RIB stolen in SXM a few years back and the local cops (who are spectacularly unhelpful) blamed it on organized crime or crooks from off island and did absolutely nothing to help. So don't expect much help if you are unlucky enough to lose your dinghy - I think this is a good reason to lock it up, since a charterer doesn't a prayer of getting it back if it is lost.

You don't have to be the most secure dinghy on the dock, but it helps if you are more secure than the guy beside you. I always take the key (or rather the hair band) when leaving to discourage drunk hop-ons at Foxy's, and lock the whole thing if I'm going far away or if my dinghy is one of the nicer ones on the dock. Most charter dinghys aren't worth stealing, but if you've got something longer that 10ft with more that 10hp it is worth taking the time so lock it.

Now if I could only find a way to keep confused drunk people from sleeping in my dinghy I would be all set.

The link below should take you to the BVI report.

https://safetyandsecuritynet.org/the-virgins-the-us-virgins-and-the-british-virgins/

Out of all the thousands of charters there have been 11 reported thefts of dinghies/outboards since 2006 in the BVIs (4of these happened same date, time, location in West end in 2007) All of the dinghies that were stolen were not locked.

The last reported dinghy theft was in 2014 in Cane Garden bay where two dinghies were stolen.

Low probability of having your dinghy stolen. But easy control to implement. At the end of the day ask the charter company what they recommend.

BVIYC has provided a cable and lock. They encourage you to lock the dingy at night and at a dock. I lock it at a dock to keep the drunks from taking the wrong dingy.

Wheels up next Wednesday. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/circle.gif" alt="" /> <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/circle.gif" alt="" />

Its pretty embarrassing when you have accidentally taken the wrong dinghy at night. This gets compounded when the owner comes to your boat later that evening. It gets even worse when your first mate accuses him of being "drunk" and tells him to leave before he kicks his butt. Then, it doesn't help matters when the owner shines a light on the dinghy you accidentally took and it has his private boat's full name in 10" stencil across both sides of the inflatable. Life just doesn't get much better than that.

Since then, we tie a 3' foot piece of orange climbing webbing on the bow of our dinghy so that even we don't have any identification issues.

Many moons ago we chartered from Conch. The dinghy was an old fiberglass POS. We asked well in advance to upgrade to a RIB but they would not do it even though when we got there they had several on the dock not in use.. We arranged to rent a RIB from another vendor. When we went to pick it up it was a great dingy but the engine had a skull and cross bones and Stone Cold Steve Austin crap painted all over it. The story was that the engine was brand new delivered in the crate late in the day to his dock. He left it overnight and when he got back the next day it was gone. He found it (through the grapevine) but the thief thought he could camo it by painting [censored] all over it. We had the coolest engine, no mistaking it on the dock and it ran like a champ!!

Sorry, it looks like the Caribbean Safety and Security Net's URL has changed to: https://safetyandsecuritynet.org