Motor stolen

[steelhead597]

Some creep stole the outboard motor off my brothers boat.
Let me know if you run across someone selling a used 2011 Tohatsu 4 stroke 20hp outboard.
Perfect condition he only had it in the water 3 or 4 times before it was taken.

[Amx]

What horse power? Was this Lowes boat on a lake? Someone had their motor stolen mid summer and replaced it with a Tohatsu. Hope they didn't get a second motor stolen.

[steelhead597]

Sorry i forgot to include that it is a 20 horse

[The Quadfather]

Well,, I just did a Tohatsu search on Craigslist. Of course didn't come up with anything to specific about 20 HP. But sounds like the motor was just taken recently. Besides your watching CL. You might want to post an advertisement that is " Wanted 20 HP Tohatsu" see what you come up with. Might need to wait a few weeks for the knucklehead to relax a bit before he tries to sell it. If you get a hit... go look at it,, if you think it is yours, go home contact the authorities. But on that note...... it is a good time for all of us boat owners to maybe take note of serial numbers or something on our outboards. You would need some kind of proof that it is actually yours. I say this... and I have an outboard, LOL. Do I have any serial number written down... Noooooo.. They also make those hand tools that can scratch name and info. into any item.
Good luck! Damn the bad people anyway!

[edge540]

That really stinks, I keep a memory card from my camera in the safe that has hundreds of pictures of all of my crap. Take close up pictures with your macro setting of the serial numbers of items that have them. Real easy to prove its yours when you have a bunch of pics.

[natetreat]

That really stinks, I keep a memory card from my camera in the safe that has hundreds of pictures of all of my crap. Take close up pictures with your macro setting of the serial numbers of items that have them. Real easy to prove its yours when you have a bunch of pics.

Make sure you also get a pic of that serial number on your camera too, you know those things move like hotcakes on the under ground

Seriously I can't believe the gall of some folks.

[steelhead597]

Thanks for all the input I guys. Hard lesson for my brother he didn't do a good job securing the motor. It was on the boat in the driveway in front of his home.
We are watching CL and visiting the pawn shops. He lives in Millcreek.
I live in downtown Seattle and I am used to protecting and documenting my property.
My little bro thought his older brother was a little on the paranoid side, but unfortunately these days you cant even leave a roll of toilet paper lying around or some loser will take it.
He does have the serial # but not a lot of photos so we are keeping our fingers crossed.
Thanks for keeping your ears and eyes open for us, luckily it is a brand new motor and unique enough we have a fighting chance to find it.

[Bodofish]

I had mine stolen a few years back too. The motor is gone, call the insurance co. By now it's half way to Florida or Mexico, it will never be seen around here again. If it was pro's that took it, no matter what kind of deterent device was on it only took them about 30 seconds to have the motor in the van and gone. When mine was taken, it was in the middle of the day my son was home as were the neighbors across the street and next door. The motor had an outboard lock and a Kryptonic bike lock, the ones that are impossible to cut..... The only thing anyone saw was a non descript gardening truck. Now mine is nice and warm in the garage if it's not in the water.

I must say I'm kind of suprised at the timing, this topic usually rears it's head in the spring. Oh well I guess the the theives never take a day off.

[steelhead597]

UPDATE We got the motor back!!! Last week we spotted the exact same motor being listed on CL. We contacted the Sheriffs and I contacted the seller and made an appointment to go view the motor and buy it. Instead of a buyer showing up the sheriffs did and low and behold when they checked the serial number it was a match! Long story short the seller has a lot of explaining to do to the Snohomish Cnty sheriffs office and my brother got his motor back home. Thanks to everyone who pitched in and offered advice, you know who you are (Quadfather!) A good lesson to the rest of us to be deligent and mark and document your property well.

[Bodofish]

Yahooooo!!! You were very lucky. If it were pros, it would have been gone, gone, gone. The take away is have it bolted and welded to the boat or buy an outboard stand and bring it inside when not in use. It's the only two ways to keep from being taken again, well at least the last one.

[G-Man]

Glad to hear the motor was recovered, I love a dumb thief story with a happy ending! Seems that most intelligent thieves are working as bankers, stock brokers and politicians these days...

[mav186]

They don't call it "Dope" for nothing....excellent news

[kzoo]

That's great to hear, you don't hear it too often. I hope they throw the keys away on the dirt bag!

[mtom938]

This is OUTSTANDING news. Congrats to you and your brother! Like others I wish we could see more success stories like this.

[steelhead597]

And now "The Rest of the Story"
The motor was perfect when it was stolen had maybe 10 hours on it. When we got it back the prop was dinged, bottom had been in the rocks, side of the engine cover had scratches all down the starboard side. Course the idiot had the LS motor on a john boat sheesh.
When I was pretending to be the buyer and talking to the guy on the phone he told me he bought the motor 2 months (our motor was taken 10/14/11), that he bought it from some guy on CL for $1900. When the the sheriff should up instead of me to buy it his story changed, he told the sheriff he bought it 3 weeks ago and paid $900. Mind you he was selling it on CL for $2150.
The guy walked away from the sheriff, they only confiscated the motor and called my bro to come pick it up.
The sheriff did request him to provide some type of proof either receipt or otherwise to validate his story.
Problem is the guy is claiming to be a victim too that he bought a stolen motor. The sheriff argued that you bought a $2000 brand new motor for $900 and didn't think anything was out of wack?
Likely the guy in possession of the motor did buy it on CL knowing full well it was hot and just wanted to turn a buck, or he is the jerk that took it in the first place.
Bad news the sheriff told me unless he confesses to some degree to doing something wrong it is very unlikely the prosecuting attorney would ever pursue this case and charge anyone.
My brother was just ridiculously lucky it was a brand new motor, not a very common name brand Tohatsu and he had means to prove ownership.

[edge540]

Glad to hear you got it back, I bet it has a really good lock on it now....

[steelhead597]

Ya it does is on a boat stand locked in the vault under his castle lol

[romanfishing]

I am glad that the story has a happy end. I went on a missionary trip to Baja Mexico and somebody came and took my 14' V-hull aluminum boat on a trailer from a fenced property. It is about 2 years now and no signs yet. I wish I would post here and someone could spot it based on descriptions because my boat was an unordinary one I had a 4x4 pedestal/seat at the end of the boat. I used the pedestal to fish bass standing to the rear of the boat.

[Amx]

Post a picture.

[romanfishing]

Somebody offered me a cheap 140hp 4 stroke Suzuki without serial number or any paperwork. It is very suspicious and I even called police department asking if anyone had missing 140hp Suzuki outboard motor. They told me that they are unable to help me without a serial number. The owner explains that they need money to pay mortgage payments that is why they need to sell it right away. I don't want to help thief or encourage any criminal activity because my outboard can be next if there is going be demand for cheap outboards. But, at the same time I can't offend honest people for selling cheap just because they are broke and desperately need money. What would you advise me to do? Also, I am thinking it is kind of impossible to steal a 140hp outboard because it is impossible to lift it by two people. Maybe it is not the case?