In the darkness of the marina, thieves sneak quietly along the jetties, past the expensive boats. They wear dark clothing and gloves to cover their tracks. One of them skilfully climbs over the railing of one of the boats and quietly opens the cover of the outboard motor. With a soft click, he opens the lock and begins to remove the engine from its mount. Is that what happened in Bad Zwischenahn?
Unknown perpetrators stole several outboard motors from the Bad Zwischenahn marina on Lange Straße during the night from last Friday (08/08) to Saturday (09/08). The perpetrators also stole electrical on-board instruments. According to current information, ten boats were affected. As thefts of outboards occur time and again, we would like to use our practical text to show the extent to which outboard locks can be helpful.
Large outboard motors that are permanently bolted to the boat offer a certain degree of theft protection due to their design. They are usually bolted to the stern. In order to release them, the thief must first go inside the boat to loosen the lock nuts and the shift and throttle cables. The thief also needs a partner. In addition, large engines are often very heavy and are not easy to transport.
Outboard motors very popular on the black market
This is completely different with small outboards up to around 10 hp, which are often only attached to the boat with toggle bolts. These outboards are light and easy to carry by one person. The low weight is a clear advantage in boating practice if you want to attach the motor to the dinghy and use it as an emergency motor at the same time. Unfortunately, thieves also have an easy time with these engines. They are therefore very popular on the black market. So-called outboard motor locks are designed to provide security.
We tested seven models from well-known brands and suppliers. This raised the question of whether expensive equals good? To get to the bottom of the matter, we pitted locks from Stazo, one of SVB's own brands, Osculati, Atlantis, Yctze, Trem and Fulton against each other. The cheapest lock costs around 21 euros, the most expensive is around 123 euros. All test locks are slid over the tommy screws. The Stazo Smartlock Quick Link is the only one that only covers one tommy screw.
We have tested these outboard motor locks:
The outboard motor locks in the test
As there are no prescribed test criteria for outboard motor locks, we decided to set an upper time limit for picking the locks. If a thief has unlimited time and tool resources at his disposal, any lock can be picked by professionals. We therefore set an additional tool limit for this test. In addition to the three minutes of time, our "test thief", a former employee of a locksmith, initially only had access to normal manual tools that can be found in any hobby workshop.
As the noise level of electric tools such as cordless flex or jigsaws is very high, we decided to exclude them from the test. Anyone sawing a lock with a cordless flex in the harbour at night automatically attracts attention and is very likely to be caught.
It must therefore be possible to open it quietly and with simple tools. Many thieves use so-called pick sets to open locks. They are available to everyone on the internet and, according to our "test thief", with a little skill and practice you can open many simple locks with them. We will neither describe nor show the working methods we used to pick the locks in detail here, so as not to give any lessons to budding thieves. In our test table, we only indicate whether the locks could be opened and in what time. We differentiated between two categories: firstly, the use of conventional tools and secondly, the use of special tools such as the aforementioned pick set.
Stazo locks last a long time
It all started with the locks from Stazo. They are available from the well-known accessory dealers A. W. Niemeyer and SVB in Bremen. At 1380 g and 1880 g respectively, both locks were the heaviest in our test and also made the most valuable impression on our testers. However, this is also reflected in the price. Both locks cost around 120 euros each. They are made of stainless steel and both have two keys and a key card so that a key can be easily reordered if lost. In our test, it was not possible to break open the Stazo locks without special tools. Even after the maximum prescribed time of three minutes, we were unable to open either lock without causing serious damage to the engine or the rear of the boat.
More on the subject of theft:
The Stazo Smartlock Quick Link is the only one of the locks tested that does not slide over both tommy screws. It is mounted between the mirror and the tommy screw, so only one tommy screw can be secured. Installation is somewhat more complicated than with the simple locks, and the lock does not come with any installation instructions. These can only be found on the Internet; a shortcoming in our eyes. The tommy screw must point vertically downwards, making it difficult to tighten the screw one hundred per cent. On a positive note, the lock is well made and therefore does not make any noise when the motor vibrates.
Picking bad locks in two seconds
Installation is the same for all other locks tested. They are slid over the tommy screws and secured with a lock. The Trem lock performed the worst in the break-open tests. It took just two seconds to break open without special tools. The Osculati lock was hardly any better, with a break-open time of less than ten seconds. Both could be opened with simple tools and without physical effort.
Apart from the two Stazo locks, we only had significantly more difficulties with the outboard motor lock from Vinz. It made a high-quality impression and could not be opened within the specified time in our test either.
In terms of vibrations while riding, only the Stazo Smartlock and the Outboard Engine Lock from SVB performed well. All other locks can produce a loud and unpleasant rattling or clattering noise due to engine vibrations, which are particularly common on two-stroke engines and can be annoying on longer trips.
Which lock has the best price-performance ratio?
In addition to the security they offer, our test locks differed primarily in terms of installation and price. If you value simple installation and a reasonable price, the Vinz-Atlantis is the best choice. Installation is simple and instructions are included. In our test, the lock could not be opened using simple aids or special tools, nor by brute force. At the time of our test, it cost 89.99 euros on Amazon. Shipping and ordering were simple and straightforward. The delivery time was just as quick.
If you want to play it safe and are happy to spend a little more money, we would recommend the Stazo Smartlock Quick Link. It is at least as secure as the Vinz-Atlantis outboard lock, but does not vibrate while travelling due to its design. It is also possible to connect an extra safety cable, which can be used to secure an additional outboard motor or to connect the boat to the jetty. At €122.95 from AWN or SVB, it is the most expensive in our test field. However, it is also the best lock in our test because it allows little to no vibration and is secure against special tools and normal aids.
The test result
The conclusion of our test is: more expensive is better - even when it comes to locks for outboards. All inexpensive test locks had more or less shortcomings, either in terms of handling, workmanship or security.
