The message on the Yacht Club chat that you never want to read: “Some outboard motors were stolen in the area tonight. We are proceeding with checks on our dock.” This has happened lately, in the La Spezia area, after a long time in which such an incident did not rise to the headlines. How many ways are there to be comfortable with one’s engine even when we are away from it? There are multiple strategies, and the suggestion is to adopt them all.
There is no way to stop a determined thief, but, like any alarm system, it is not a matter of making the task impossible as much as it is as inconvenient as possible.
If they have to take much longer to steal your engine than someone who only needs to remove a couple of bolts, perhaps they will move on.
- First, of course, use anti-theft pins and bolts to secure the engine to the transom.
They work just like those used to protect the wheels on our cars: they require a specific wrench supplied with the bolt set to unscrew them. - Clearly, the pins can be cut with a very ordinary cordless grinder.
Then, there are anti-theft bars that “hide” access to the pins.
These are a tubular steel covering the bolts, locked by a lock or padlock.
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Again, especially when the boat is on land, on stands, and the transom is well accessible, there is a risk that thieves will cut the latter directly, with the aforementioned emery or even a chainsaw.
If the solutions mentioned so far are ready to buy, to discourage stern gutting there needs some more thought.
For example, there are those who have reinforced the entire transom with steel foil.
Practically an armor plating.
While certainly impressive, I would not recommend it with my eyes closed.
We are constantly striving for speed, trim, and stability, and such a modification seriously risks compromising the on-board weight distribution.
However, the idea of taking advantage of steel reinforcements, of an appropriate size, forcing the eventual miscreant to cut out much larger portions of the hull to get around them, or much more time to cut them out, than simple fiberglass, I don’t think is to be considered overly paranoid, quite the contrary.
From DIY to GPS
Another “creative” do-it-yourself solution I have heard is to paint the grille so that it looks old.
Such a measure can, at most, be a deterrent in the reconnaissance phase, when miscreants roam around looking for the most “promising” candidates, and from a distance one can actually mislead even an insider.
Needless to say, it makes vague sense only in the case where a new engine has been fitted to an old hull.
Imagine seeing a beat-up engine on a brand-new boat oozing with cash: you might as well put up a “look at me” sign.
Trading a new outboard for an old one is not exactly like confusing gold plated with solid gold.
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Returning to more orthodox and effective methods, let us address the chapter of tracking devices.
Their operation is well known: exploiting the GPS signal, they send the location of the tracked object to the owner.
These are now well-proven systems, but they are not without some critical issues.
First, being electrical devices, they need power: they have a battery that allows them to send the signal in case it is needed.
But one must remember to keep it charged at all times!
Also, in order to send the position to the receiver, they must have phone signal and therefore a sim with some kind of subscription: and this is their real cost, rather the purchase itself.
Finally, the biggest problem, in my opinion, is that they do not serve to prevent theft, but only to eventually find the engine, provided the thieves do not find the tracker and throw it away, that they do not screen the GPS signal, and that the sim has phone signal.
Many of these systems, however, also incorporate opening sensors.
In case the engine pins are inside the stern locker, once the locker is opened, the owner is notified.
While the thieves are found to be burglarizing first the tiller and then the anti-theft pins, which we recommended first, it can take a few crucial minutes for the vigilance alerted by the owner to arrive.
Again: the only real defense is to make the task as challenging as possible.
What about outboard insurance?
But, in the unfortunate event that outboard theft happens anyway, what can we do in terms of insurance?
It is not easy to give general advice in an insurance way, especially when it comes to watercraft.
Too many different services and policies are offered.
The advice, therefore, is to read well the clauses not only of your own contract, but also to know the guarantees offered, with regard to theft, by the storage facility where you keep your boat…assuming it offers any.
The outboard manufacturers themselves help us.
From a technical standpoint, the increasing focus on electronic outboard controls has facilitated the introduction of locking systems with a proximity remote control, basically much like the keyless systems in cars.
In addition to the security function, basically an electronic kill switch, they also function as an engine immobilizer, in that it cannot be started without its remote control.
This function is available on some of the higher-end Yamaha’s and Suzuki’s.
Honorable mention to Mercury, which makes digital technology, called SmartCraft, equipable as early as 40 hp, and has developed the 1st Mate safety system, which is directly compatible with SmartCraft, but also compatible with other brands.
Of course, none of this has much relevance when only the stern foot is targeted.
In this case, defense can only be passive.
Manufacturers, for their part, should undertake to mark each part with punches showing the serial numbers of the original engine, and not just put them on the nameplate alone, which is too easily removed or altered.
With an implementation of databases at the international level (in Italy we have the one of Confindustria Nautica), one can try to make it more difficult to re-enter the market with fenced parts. How about you, what strategies have you applied to defend yourself? Stefano Monfroni
