Dinghy theft in St Martin

Thieving of dinghies in St Martin seems to be a sport it is so popular. One has to wonder where all of these semi rigid inflatables and their outboard engines end up. It is a small island and with the amount that go missing on a daily basis, each of the locals should have at least a few dinghies and outboards each. That is to assume that the locals are to blame...Yachtsmen would never do that to other yachtsmen, right?

Naïve comments aside, it is an epidemic for this little island. With the replacement cost of our outboard and dinghy in the region of over 10% of the entire boats value, we make damn sure we look after our secondary mode of transportation. If we woke up with no dinghy one morning, our only way ashore would be to swim.

We have a few tips for not becoming a statistic.

1. Lock the damn thing up! That is not just to say at night, but everywhere we go we chain our dinghy to something fairly immovable. Often I might be tempted to just tie it up and pop into a store etc. Sally always reminds me to chain it regardless and it is a good habit to get into. After all, you would lock your car if you popped into the store, so why not lock your dink?
2. Have the right chains / locks. Often I see people with a thin 3mm $30 cable to secure their $20,000 dinghy and outboard. We have a 6mm chain to secure the dinghy to a pier with a nice lock at the end of it.

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   happy chain!

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   Stainless bar can be seen with lock and cable

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   Old photo when the sunbrella cover looked a little nicer.

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2. Have a good lock on the outboard. The most valuable part for most thieves is the outboard. Despite the dinghy sometimes being more expensive to replace... We have a great stainless steel outboard lock mechanism that stops the outboard from being unfastened from the transom. Through that we secure the fuel tank with a loop of 4mm wire. The replacement value for a fuel tank and 20litres of fuel is in the region of $100! Pays to have it secured.

1. No flash Harry! We have a wanked out dinghy cover that covers our dinghy and makes it look very tatty and old. It isn't, but other people don’t know that. The same goes for our outboard. It has a cover on it to not only protect it from the sun, but to remove any distinguishing features as to the make and model. We have heard that some outboards are stolen to order.
2. Nighttime. We often raise our dinghy out the water. This has a dual benefit. Firstly the bottom growth dies off so that it stops us having to beach the dinghy to clean it as often. Secondly – It is a far more difficult thing for a thief to nick a dinghy if he has to climb on your boat and slack off a halyard to do it.

1. Markings. Some people have all sorts of markings on their dinghy and outboard. There are guys that specialise in making your tender standout and less tempting to steal as it is potentially more difficult to sell.

At the end of the day, you don't necessarily have to have the best security in the world. If a thief is determined enough, they will always be able to find a way to relieve you of your goods. But sometimes by just having a little more / better security than the dinghy next to you is enough to ensure you zoom back to your boat while the man next to you trudges to the Grenadarmie to make a report.