making boat thief proof

[bigbad4cyl]

im trying to make the boat thief proof ,im stuck/open to ideas on how to secure the dog house/ engine covor ,,,,,and how to make the boat cushion botoms that have storage under them untakeable, or lock ,allowing me to use the storage as lockable storage. any body else do this or have ideas...

 

[Drowned Rat]

Re: making boat thief proof

Put it in a garage.

 

[bigbad4cyl]

Re: making boat thief proof

house with garage in bayarea= 750,000 or more.....

 

[Bondo]

Re: making boat thief proof

Install a Pitbull.......

 

[stevens]

Re: making boat thief proof

Are you sure you want to lock those hatches?<br /><br />If thieves are on board looking for stuff to steal, a locked cover is only more tempting, and still easy to force open.<br /><br />The resulting damage is often more costly to repair than the stuff you tried to protect in the first place...

 

[AntsGrady]

Re: making boat thief proof

Where do you live that you have to worry about people going on your boat? Don't people have anything better to do?? Unbelievable........Just make sure you take your electronics out. As far as under the dog house.....are people taking motors apart around you or something?? If you have something that somebody wants they're going to get it regardless if it's locked.

 

[Wimperdink]

Re: making boat thief proof

compression locks <br /><br />Something along these designs would be the easiest. <br /><br />I think if the boat is in a slip, and a thief steps on board and sees everything locked down they will move to another boat near by. Theives are lazy and will take whats easy to get to if they are at risk of being caught. like in a marina.<br /><br />Locks keep honest people honest and only act as a minor deterrant for theives.

 

[bigbad4cyl]

Re: making boat thief proof

thnks for the link, long story short, so far two back to back seats that had I had just sold on ebay ,stolen out back of truck , caught two blacks as they drove off with the ripped/ fadded seats/ got to see there faces ........went to safe way to buy a sandwich, came out to find two guys parked next to my boat that was far out in lot , realy interested with what was inside,, found a guy sleeping in my boat under my carport..........and i live at a real good location in a good neiborhood .................and all my electrical items pumps etc will be under my dog house or behind it....my thaughts so far are to use lots of stainless chain through holes and what not , bolted to cushions underneath ............ive heard horror stories about sleeping in hotels with your boat outside etc..........an ounce of prevention ,

 

[stevens]

Re: making boat thief proof

How about installing a good alarm system with a very loud horn! Or, better still, a system with a silent alarm to your cell phone so that you can catch them redhanded. Finally, it is possible to wire up a high-voltage system responding to tampering....

 

[scotty c]

Re: making boat thief proof

we had a local incident whereby the ownner of <br />a 26'grady white equipped with 200hp &9.9<br />Yamaha's, parked his boat chained and locked on the side of the highway with a"for sale" sign<br />on it.<br />guess what, thieves did not have a problem <br />getting around the locks and stealing the whole rig,<br />the good news is that 2 weeks later, the boat & motors were found on an abandoned logging road<br /><br />everything intact except, the serial plate<br />and a decal were ground off.<br /><br />if thieves want something bad enough they will get it<br /><br />i suggest a trailer tongue lock, which makes<br />it very diificult for any thief to trailer the boat.

 

[EZLoader]

Re: making boat thief proof

In addition to the locks install a simple set of hidden locking pins. These would be inserted somewhere near the floor from outside the seats and doghouse. The pin location is covered by fabric or fake buttons to hide it. Inside you have heavy duty metal L brackets secured to the floor that receive the hidden pin.<br /><br />While the crook focus on the obvious locks they will later be confounded on how to open these items and may just leave. <br /><br />It might work to frustrate the average crook enough that he leaves before taking anything. You still will have damage from their prybars so I don't know how you win on this. <br /><br />Or you could just rig up some traps (stategically located hair trigger shotgun, well placed beartraps, 100,000 volt electrical shocking devices, powerful time delayed hidden explosives that look like loot) <br /><br />PS- I had a similar situation so I decided to put my boat into "secure storage buildings" at the local county fairgrounds. Vandals broke in one night and cut up and damaged about 25 boats, mine included. Although they caught them, the judge turned them all loose with just a warning...no jail, no fine, no compensation to the victims (juveniles...what about making their parent's pay!!!)

 

[phantoms]

Re: making boat thief proof

A boat cover tied into an alarm system.

 

[Nos4r2]

Re: making boat thief proof

Phantom's got it in one. Get an alarm-and DATATAG and microdot ID everything-making sure the warning decals are highly visible. My RIB is now tagged all over-including inside the hull and tubes.<br /><br />The other option is to chuck a really tatty cover over it-and hold it down with old bricks so it looks like there's nothing worth stealing underneath-then add the alarm.

 

[Silvertip]

Re: making boat thief proof

Anybody familiar with ham radio should be able to point you to a place that sells a sign that reads DO NOT TOUCH -- DANGER OF SEVERE RF BURN AND POSSIBLE ELECTROCUTION. Obviously the thief would know its not for real if they don't see a monster VHF antenna but they are cheap and you should have a VHF radio anyway. But then most thieves are probably not smart enought to know what an RF burn is so just the sign may work. My brother in law had a huge amplifier mounted on the trunk of his car with a label that read similar to the above. People generally stayed a good distance away from the car.

 

[Realgun]

Re: making boat thief proof

i suggest a trailer tongue lock, which makes<br />it very diificult for any thief to trailer the boat.<br />

To easy. Go to Walmart and get any 3 inch channel 2 inch ball toungue piece. 3 or 4 bolts out and in you on your way!<br /><br />Waste of money. <br /><br />Best way is to take tunge piece out for storage.

 

[bigbad4cyl]

Re: making boat thief proof

my tonge is welded on and i have a lock that goes into the ball and i have a hitch lever lock and i have it chained to a post with a krypton lock.......im just woried about my blue sea combiner , my reverso oil change pump , my 3 par max 4 water pumps , my blue sea starter selonoid my 3 optima batterys etc,

 

[LFK]

Re: making boat thief proof

Remove it, or risk loosing it.

 

[bluewater19]

Re: making boat thief proof

Move To the subururbs!<br />Up here houses with 2 car garage are only 500K.<br />Nice neighborhoods still only 35 minutes to SF or oakland

 

[bigbad4cyl]

Re: making boat thief proof

35 min to sf from cordelia ,,,,,,,,,,ya right , that is what you tell yourself i guess .............there is a couple small towns over there that look ok ,,,im living close to my older than dirt reletives right now because they are family ,,,,,,after they croak , ill bet ill move somewere that makes sence...........im in san mateo right now.i work at the port of sf.

 

[jollymon]

Re: making boat thief proof

lets see how to make a boat theft proof?<br /><br />There is only way I know to make a boat almost, completely theft proof. It will also work no matter where the boat is stored slip, driveway, storage facility, etc.<br /><br /><br />Fill the boat with concrete!!! of course it also makes hard for you to use. All kidding aside, Get yourself some good locks, pull the electronics, and other items that are expensive and easy to sell. Then get good insurance. You can slow down the casual thief, deter the vandal but you can not stop a determined thief.<br /><br />You have not told us what style of boat you are trying to protect. A bow rider has limited too no secure storage, a cruiser is a little better because you can lock the cabin and throw stuff inside. <br /><br />My attitude has been less is more. I would rather spend the time boating then chaining this and bolting that. So far I have not had any problems (knock on wood). I just use common sense, if I am at a public dock or trailering with any long stops, I pull the electronics etc.