Preventing portable motor theft

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Deadmeat

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Knoxville, TN
I'm getting closer to buying a boat and have about decided to get a new Yamaha 25hp. We live on a quiet street with woods on one side and the back of the house and neighbors who are gone during the day on the other side and across the street. I'll be parking the boat under a carport with the motor next to the woods but it will still be visible from the street. When we lived here before I had a boat with a 30hp Evinrude mounted on it and never had any problems but I'm still worried about someone stealing the motor. On my old boat I used an outboard motor lock that covered the transom mounting bolts, looped a chain from the motor handle through the the drain hole and padlocked it, and used a trailer hitch trigger lock on the trailer. The basement is nearby and although I could take the motor off and store it until the next time I go, it would be a pain so I'd rather leave the motor mounted. What things are you guys doing to ensure that your portable motors aren't stolen if you leave them mounted to the boat? And since one way would be just to take boat and all, what are you doing to keep the boat from being stolen?
 
My boat works really well but looks a little rough - so my theft prevention system involves the neighbor who has a brand new 'toon boat

My hope is that any thief woudl head across the street for teh new boat and leave mine alone :mrgreen:
 
The motorlock should be enough to keep it safe. I had to cut my motorlock off because the previous owner didn't have a key for it. It takes a high speed angle grinder, a cut off wheel, and about thirty minutes to take the lock off. They are made of hardened steel.
 
I park my boat off an alley in the city. Even though there is a street light right above, there are trees and bushes that provide plenty of cover. I don't know if I am being paranoid or not, but here's what I have done. I locked the two motor mount screw handles together. This is practically no protection since a well-placed hammer blow would break the cast handles easily. This would only deter the lazy thief. I bolted the motor to the transom through the motor mount with ss bolts w/nylon stop-nuts. In this case the thief would have to plan to bring along a wrench in addition to the hammer and have another five minutes or so to get the bolts off. As the final deterrent, I have a Kryptonite cable threaded between the motor shaft and linkage, around the trailer axle and wrapped around a 24" d. tree. In this case the thief would have had to bring either a cutting torch or a chainsaw and either one would make enough commotion to wake even me in the night. It's another compromise for living in the city.
 
I locked the two motor mount screw handles together with a master lock. Lost the key, so it is pretty well permanent.
Other option is to bolt the engine to the transom, most theives arent going to take the time (or have the tools) to un-do two large stainless bolts/locking nuts.

The trailer is the bigger risk: its easier to steal the whole boat vs the motor. I had mine stolen at the ramp back in 1999. I had a standard lock on it & they cut it, back the trailer off my truck, hooked it to theirs and away they went. Damaged the old ratty (unlock) trailer parked next to me to get my shiny new one.
Quite a shock when I got back the ramp & my trailer was gone. Luckily my boat fits in my truck & the dealer had one on the lot, so I could get anotherr right away.
So, morale of this story is to get a good trailer lock as well as a good motor lock.
 
Sounds like your doing about all you can to prevent theft. Since your buying new I would check into boat insurance or if you have home owners insurance make sure they will cover it in case of theft. Keep your receipts and serial # in a safe place just in case.

I heard of a theft where one guy had a transom lock on his outboard but the thieves just removed the long bolt that holds the bracket to the motor and took off with the motor minus the bracket.

The trouble with having something new is somebody else wants to steal it from you.
 
Here's a lock that secures the trailer tongue when not attached to the tow vehicle hitch:

https://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/...=trailer hitch locks&cm_ite=netcon&hasJS=true


here's an outboard motor lock (2nd pic/item from the bottom): https://www.hitchcorner.com/locks.htm

Here's a locking system for the hitch ball, because if soemone really wants the trailer, or the trailer and boat, all they have to do is unscrew the nut on the bottom of the ball, back their vehicle up to it, install the ball and nut, and away they go.
https://www.tommylock.com/trailer-hitch-locks.html

Another variation on the ball lock:
https://www.iboats.com/Durasafe_Ball_Lock/dm/cart_id.391514796--session_id.004104814--view_id.38372
 
I have a piece of aluminum extrusion the is "c" shaped that fits over the handles perfectly and I put a lock through one. I wrap a cable around everything with a padlock and bolted through the transom.
 
I've got 2 dogs.
1 is a nice gentle Black Lab.
1 not so nice, Looks like Black Lab.
,,,, and one invisible fence that goes around the whole property.

Dog hears, barks, lights go on, dogs get turned out, then I come out not so un-armed.
Nothing has come up missing in a long, long time. :LOL2:

Letting folks think you're not in the all-together can help too. :mrgreen:
 
I have a heavy cable type bike lock that goes under the knee brace and through a handle on the front of the motor. The boat is parked under a motion sensor light.
 

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