Stop thief!

Phil Herring

Alien
Mar 25, 1997
4,918
- - Bainbridge Island
We get calls now and then to replace parts that were stolen off boats in a marina. Once, we made new sheets for an owner who had them cut off at the clew of his sail!

Does your marina or anchorage have a theft or vandalism problem? If so, what do you do to secure your boat against intruders?

theft.jpg
 
Feb 20, 2011
7,990
Island Packet 35 Tucson, AZ/San Carlos, MX
Hey @Phil Herring , how is it that your post was created a half-hour ago, but at the bottom it says one month ago? o_O

More to the subject, I certainly keep the dinghy outboard on the rail locked, but anyone could open the unlocked lazarette and pilfer. Not too much stuff of value in there except for a hookah system way in the back.
Mexico!
 
Jun 14, 2010
2,081
Robertson & Caine 2017 Leopard 40 CT
There isn't much one can do to circumvent intruders. A determined thief will damage the boat to get in if you lock the boat well. The marina where we store the boat on the hard in winter does 24/7 staff patrols, and they recommend we keep the boat unlocked for that reason -- so I leave it unlocked and remove anything of high value that isn't permanently installed. I also have a BoatCommand system with motion sensor in the interior, and could add other sensors if desired. If I get an alert I call the marina (only happened twice in the last 3 years and both were false alerts). (I could hook that up to a relay that would sound an siren alert and turn on deck lights, but I haven't seen the need and don't want to be "that guy" who has noisy false alarms going off at all hours.)
 

Gunni

.
Mar 16, 2010
5,937
Beneteau 411 Oceanis Annapolis
We had a spate of shore power cord theft. Unplugged and snipped. Marina put in a network of video cams and caught the perps, along with their car plate numbers. Lawmen showed up at their address and found a stack of wire, apparently they were burning shore power cords for the copper.
 

DougM

.
Jul 24, 2005
2,242
Beneteau 323 Manistee, MI
I haven’t heard of any serious problems either in the water or in winter storage in the nearly 15 years I’ve been there. In the winter, boats are either in marina barns or outside in a fenced and gated area. That, snow, and cold probably discourage a lot of it. In any case, I still pull almost everything that isn’t bolted down and store it at home.

In the warmer months, any boat breakins are usually minors looking for booze or possibly unsecured fishing gear.

With a Coast Guard Station at the end of the marina, the city police, the sheriff’s department right in town and the presence of the tribal police, our boats have not exactly been targets of opportunity. Even so, most of us don’t leave stuff lying around and easy to grab
 

zeehag

.
Mar 26, 2009
3,198
1976 formosa 41 yankee clipper santa barbara. ca.(not there)
someone i fired came back and took my dinghy without permission, ultimate results is he will be imprisoned if he returns to try to gain access into marina. his intention was to remove items frommy boat to which he has no rights. security now keeps better eyes on us inside this guarded locale.
man is illegally in mexico --without papers, and without working credentials. oopsy.
 

Rick D

.
Jun 14, 2008
7,132
Hunter Legend 40.5 Shoreline Marina Long Beach CA
Every once and a while, a marina gets hit in SoCal. Often it's a couple of guys. My marina had a bunch of outboards taken about a decade ago. As I recall, a couple of guys were found with a bunch of them in a garage. Power cords were taken in San Diego for a while. Most areas have some anchor-out crowd, but most are honest and keep an eye on each other, but then there are some who come in and pilfer. It seems to me that there are much larger awards for crime than boat gear. I have lost a couple of minor items. The last was a BBQ decades ago.
 
Nov 8, 2010
11,386
Beneteau First 36.7 & 260 Minneapolis MN & Bayfield WI
When WYC gets hits it is almost always outboards, and they usually take 5-6 at a time. Never boat break-ins. Because Minnetonka a big fishing lake, it it common for small boats to be trolling around anywhere at all hours, including inside the marina. The local cops suggest painting the cowling of your OB some garish color that would dissuade thieves.

Up at Pikes Bay on Lake Superior, I have never heard of a theft in 10+ years.
 
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Phil Herring

Alien
Mar 25, 1997
4,918
- - Bainbridge Island
The posts we use in the Monday Mail Newsletter are actually written up to a month in advance and parked, @justsomeguy. That the bottom date. The top date is when it is moved to this forum, which is automated, so it's kind of a fake datestamp to keep it sorted correctly. Mystery solved. :)
 

Sailm8

.
Feb 21, 2008
1,746
Hunter 29.5 Punta Gorda
I live on a canal lined with boats. Years ago someone stole a trolling motor battery from a neighbors boat. Also, some fishing poles disappeared from a boat. We have a very active neighborhood watch that patrols the canals. Once we had a rash of props being stolen from boats on lifts.
 
Jun 14, 2010
2,081
Robertson & Caine 2017 Leopard 40 CT
Cheap webcams everywhere are helping, but at a cost of privacy. My boat lives on a mooring and I'd love to find an outdoor rated cam that connects to cell services that would have motion sensing and send a snapshot when movement is detected.
 
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Tom J

.
Sep 30, 2008
2,301
Catalina 310 Quincy, MA
We had a number of boats pilfered at our yacht club a few years ago. Probably kids on a lark. They took loose gear laying around, like binoculars, but didn't get into any lockers for tools or navigational gear. I put in some work hours going around the perimeter fencing and fixing some areas where the kids could get in. We now have better fencing and better lighting.
As mentioned earlier, my old yacht club advised members not to lock their boats. All boats were on moorings, and on weekends the kids would go around in a dinghy and raid the boats for booze. Not worth replacing the cabin door to keep the liquor supply safe.
 
Oct 29, 2016
1,915
Hunter 41 DS Port Huron
So far so good, our boat neighbors tell me that it is very rare to have anything go missing, we winter the Sapphire in a yard which is fenced and gated and I have not heard of anything going missing there either.
Our Sapphire docks almost the furthest from the parking area but the basin is just off the river so if anyone was so inclined I am sure they could slip in off the river into the basin to do what they do. The club is just down the street from the city and state police building so they (police) are always cruising by, this is a good deterrent the down side being they also watch folks leaving the club, so one must not be over the limit as well.
 
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Nov 1, 2017
635
Catalina 25 Sea Star Base Galveston, TX
Very few boat owners at our marina keep their boats locked, and when they do, it's usually a padlock on the companionway door. That being said, the most typical break-ins at our marina are thieves who remove all the covers and cushions, steal those, and open the hatches manually from the outside to get into the boat. Hasn't happened to me, but it happened to a good friend of mine once. He had no idea until he came to his boat to do some maintenance and noticed all his tools, charts, handheld VHFs and nav equipment was gone.
 
Feb 17, 2006
5,274
Lancer 27PS MCB Camp Pendleton KF6BL
I have the US Marines watching over my boat. Ain't nothing but a thing.

However, I was missing only a jib pole once. Not sure if it was stolen or I lost it overboard. This was when I was still in a civilian marina.
 
Jun 14, 2010
2,081
Robertson & Caine 2017 Leopard 40 CT
Cheap webcams everywhere are helping, but at a cost of privacy. My boat lives on a mooring and I'd love to find an outdoor rated cam that connects to cell services that would have motion sensing and send a snapshot when movement is detected.
Answering my own question -- I did a web search and found this article about a guy who connected his Ring camera to WiFi using a 3G hot-spot. https://www.theverge.com/circuitbreaker/2016/7/12/12158354/ring-stick-up-cam-security-camera-review
 
Oct 29, 2016
1,915
Hunter 41 DS Port Huron
I have the US Marines watching over my boat. Ain't nothing but a thing.

However, I was missing only a jib pole once. Not sure if it was stolen or I lost it overboard. This was when I was still in a civilian marina.
Ain't nobody messin with your stuff........ :eek:
 
Oct 22, 2014
352
Pearson P303 #221 RockPort Maine
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