Theft of dinghies (JVD)

On Facebook there is quite a lot of discussion of dinghy theft from all the mooring fields on JVD. Is there an uptick? Anything being done?

I spoke to my friend at Moorings and he said there is an uptick to include one of from a boat he was captaining. Cane Garden Bay and JVD

Lift them and lock them. Every night. Lock them at dinghy docks whether you think you need to or not. Much better to be safe than sorry.

One crew on Facebook was mighty ticked, they are on the hook for $8k ...it seems stolen dinghies are not covered in charter insurance.

"One crew on Facebook was mighty ticked, they are on the hook for $8k ...it seems stolen dinghies are not covered in charter insurance."

We had one "disappear" on our last charter through TMM. Cost us our charter deductible $1000.

yikes, I guess that's "reasonable"
He doesnt mention the charter company he was with but this was the guy's post on BVI Charter Chat

"Given the fact that our dingy was stolen. And SEVERAL-reports of others, is there any way to get dingy insurance? It cost us ~8k. If not, it is unlikely we will return."

How do you protect the dinghy if you don't have a davit to hoist it up? I can lock the motor to the transom or pull the motor off and bring it onboard (like they want you to do in SXM) but that doesn't protect the dink itself.

Dinghy thefts are very rare and as I posted before many are dinghies simply tied up wrong or pulled up on the beach and the tide gets them. There is a problem on Jost at the moment but I suspect it will be handled or has already been handled by the locals. The cable locks provided are long enough to lock the bow eye to the stern but you might want to bring a separate shorter cable lock to secure the engine.

Totally agree with George. This kind of thing has happened before and when the collective community realizes how expensive a stolen dinghy can be (in terms of tourism loss), someone puts a stop to it.

My dinghy is still here this AM :-)

We found that dinghy thefts always seemed to coincide with school holidays…we invested in a very long cable that secured the dinghy motor as well as the dinghy itself. Realize that this might not be possible for one time charterers. As regards to the thefts themselves, where exactly are they going to go with your dinghy?

The worst case scenario which has happened before is its organized theft out of the USVI. The dinghies end up there where the engine is removed for sale and the dinghy abandoned unless it’s nice and new.

On our next trip, we will have a LandAirSea locator stashed on the dingy.
Will help us to locate no matter the cause of disappearance.

LandAirSea

Might leave one on the boat as well, just in case of a failed mooring pendant.

Or it gets stolen like the 42’ Moorings monohull in CGB……

George C1 is much more in tune with what’s happening in the BVI than me, but the word in parts of the local liveaboard-cruising community is that petty theft as well as dinghy and outboard theft has risen noticeably in the BVI over the last several months. I have heard several lively discussions about it recently. At least two cruisers gave accounts of thefts they were personally aware of. Whether accurate or not that’s an opinion working its way around segments of the local cruising community. Additionally, an operations manager at one of the biggest charter companies (not TMM where my boat was previously in charter) told me they were experiencing a definite uptick in dinghy thefts. He did not mention JVD as a “hotspot”. Nonetheless, I think it’s more than poorly tied dinghies or tidal theft.

In over 3 years we have never left our dinghy in the water overnight. It is always “lift and lock”. I know it’s easier on a catamaran. We have 20ft. of 8mm SS chain that runs through our outboard, gas tank, and a forward eye with 2 heavy duty locks. If someone really wanted to steal our dinghy at the dock they could undoubtedly do it; however, we hope our dinghy is one of the least inviting potential victims on the dock. Charterers are much more vulnerable because they are usually relying on a cable lock of some type that the average 10-year old could defeat. Just locking a dinghy, regardless of its pregnability, is at least a minor deterrent because most dinghies I see are not locked up at all.

Most charter dinghy locks could be defeated with pliers, no need for bolt cutters. The deterrence in the BVI is there are almost always easier targets! I usually lock my dinghy in two spots, Cane Garden Bay and West End. Reading the threads I may have to rethink that in June.

There has also been an association with human trafficking and illegal migration. A month or so ago a larger inflatable disappeared in the middle of the night from Saba, the same night a boatload of illegals was discovered on that end of Virgin Gorda.

Dinghies have disappeared from West End, probably for similar reasons. At one point it was felt that flights from Beef to Santo Domingo served as a route for those who couldn't fly through US airports, and instead used the St. John-West End route. This is in addition to "entrepreneurial" runs. A group of illegals was picked up on their way to West End this morning.

RW, are they moving from USVI to BVI, or are they finding their way to BVI as a way to sneak into US?

We have never once locked our dinghy with no issues, but reading this stuff I'm thinking of bringing my own cable and lock this time around.

I had my dinghy stolen at the West End a couple of years ago. The police were, quite obviously, not interested in filing a report and did their best to dissuade me from doing so (because an official report goes into the official statistics). The general opinion then was a "quick" drug run to the USVI; the outboard only had a 9.8HP outboard which doesn't have a huge resale value and the Carib dinghy has little value on the black market. The police hinted that my line had chafed through or I'd not tied it correctly...

We saw night runs into Francis when we were moored there last year - no lights. And discarded PFDs in the bushes…..

As near as I could figure, Dominicans living illegally in the USVI couldn't visit the DR because they would have to fly through US territory to do so and they lacked documentation. But if they worked their way to the BVI, they could board InterCaribbean for the DR. Not sure how that worked in reverse, but perhaps they could get a BVI visa then disappear.

I guess I will be bringing down a cable and lock to lock up the dinghy everywhere we go.

My experience has been the charter companies provide a cable and lock - definitely the type that could be cut with heavy shears, no need for bolt cutters, but at least, as has been said, petty thieves will move on to easier targets…I’ve never given locking the dinghy a thought, but probably will this year while down there….
Related: what d’you think about locking the big boat while ashore or overnight? Also never given a thought in the past, in fact, I’m sure I’ve slept or left with all doors and hatches open in the past- is this becoming a not recommended practice?

We lift and lock the dinghy every night and lock when at a dinghy dock. We also lock the boat at night and when ashore.

Lock the boat at night? Closed up with AC every night? I think I'll have to take my chances on getting my throat cut :-)

Right? I did have a friend aboard once that insisted on 62* as the overnight AC setting…the whole exterior of the boat was “beer canning” with condensation in the mornings…till the generator cold water intake sucked in some sargassum, then we had some more pleasant island evenings….

Yeah nah.

"See this" (holds up A/C circuit breaker)
"I'm the Captain now"

We lock the salon doors - we do open the hatches in our cabin in the cooler months when there is a great breeze instead of running the AC but the salon door is always locked. Figure they likely won’t jump down on me while I am sleeping as they don’t want to steal me (haha) but actual valuables up top
😉

We have AC but rarely use it. Even last summer in Grenada we simply switched on the fans (3 in our cabin) and opened the hatches. We lock the saloon door and the hatches in the other parts of the boat. We have motion detecting, high intensity lights in the cockpit that are not activated by wave action or lines moving. A person, or the occasional trespassing bird will activate them. No siren, but we keep an air horn close at hand. Our security lights are extremely bright and I think they are enough for reasonable security (during the night) at anchor.

When we go ashore, I always pull the lanyard off the outboard. That slows down anyone who "accidentally" takes the wrong dingy after too many painkillers.

I take small pink trash bags down which we use in the head and then we tie on all dinghy handles as well as battery light so if you are taking ours you have to know it...

I'm certainly not touching that dinghy!

New crew assignment… Dinghy Sleeper.

Are these bags used in the head before you put them on the dinghy or are they the type you use in the head and serve as pink flags? I hope the latter, but the former is definitely away to deter theft.

I'm sure Bailau meant the latter but the wording was ambiguous and I was just having a bit of fun.

LOL, man what a job! Maybe a blow up Doberman?

lol…all good and we use clean ones on the dinghy

Many in the Caribbean when purchasing a new dinghy engine will get a beat up old engine cover and swap them out. New dinghy engines are prime theft items!

Its not just a maritime problem.I just heard from Laura, who manages my place, that some had stolen the house water pump and that replacement and making the next one thief proof(yeah right) was estimated at $1,200.This is something I never thought would happen in our beloved BVI's ..but its time for us all to wake up.Laura suggests cameras at the house....

Arriving in the BVIs tomorrow afternoon sometime. Sounds like I need to purchase some security items.

Posted yesterday on Facebook

One of our neighbor boats had their dinghy go missing in Setting Point on Sunday, 4/21, from the Lobster Trap dinghy dock while they were there for dinner. Wasn't locked. Never found.