To catch a Thief ....

[MrBee]

We keep our boat at Owens Landing marina in Perryville, Md near Havre De Grace.
Last Thursday the Wife and i went down to do a quick paint job on the bottom and found that our Wheel, Steering Shaft, access cover had been stolen along with the Complete X-5 auto pilot system. Because the job was done neatly we feel the thief knew what was there and how to get it rather than a local thug needing to make a few bucks. The boat is an Irwin with a Factory pedestal and shaft that is different than most. After removing the wheel and access cover then the shaft it looks like they followed the wires to find the Course computer that was installed in a cockpit locker on a rear bulkhead then broke inside and traced the wire to the Electronic compass, cleanly pulling all the wires through. Even searched through our books and took the manual that goes with the auto pilot..

We hate to think it was another sail-boater but who else would take the steering shaft an Backing plate knowing they need that to reinstall on another boat.
Anybody see a person rebuilding there Irwin pedestal and installing an auto pilot not carried to the boat in a factory box......
We don't think it was a local person, someone that had been on the search for these parts and probably seen our boat while it was in the water over the summer and just waited till the right time to do their dirty deed.
We are on the lookout now for a replacement.

So much for being a trusting person.

What really ticks us off is if the thief can't find replacement parts for their boat and don't want to spend a few thousand $$ to install an edson system then what makes them think we can afford it !
all we can hope for is that what you send around to others will come back 10 fold.

Thanks for listening to this and next year we will go to the hassle of removing all our electronics, especially if in a yard with NO security or camera's .

Brian

 

[RichH]

Got insurance? got serial numbers? talk to police and file a report?
Do some marina walking, including waterman's marinas/docks ... higher probability of recovery that way.

 

[Ross]

What did Stan and Susan have to say concerning? Were you in the yard mast up? or outside the fence mast down?

 

[AbbySedge]

To Catch a Thief

We keep our boat at Owens Landing marina in Perryville, Md near Havre De Grace.
Last Thursday the Wife and i went down to do a quick paint job on the bottom and found that our Wheel, Steering Shaft, access cover had been stolen along with the Complete X-5 auto pilot system. Because the job was done neatly we feel the thief knew what was there and how to get it rather than a local thug needing to make a few bucks. The boat is an Irwin with a Factory pedestal and shaft that is different than most. After removing the wheel and access cover then the shaft it looks like they followed the wires to find the Course computer that was installed in a cockpit locker on a rear bulkhead then broke inside and traced the wire to the Electronic compass, cleanly pulling all the wires through. Even searched through our books and took the manual that goes with the auto pilot..

We hate to think it was another sail-boater but who else would take the steering shaft an Backing plate knowing they need that to reinstall on another boat.
Anybody see a person rebuilding there Irwin pedestal and installing an auto pilot not carried to the boat in a factory box......
We don't think it was a local person, someone that had been on the search for these parts and probably seen our boat while it was in the water over the summer and just waited till the right time to do their dirty deed.
We are on the lookout now for a replacement.

So much for being a trusting person.

What really ticks us off is if the thief can't find replacement parts for their boat and don't want to spend a few thousand $$ to install an edson system then what makes them think we can afford it !
all we can hope for is that what you send around to others will come back 10 fold.

Thanks for listening to this and next year we will go to the hassle of removing all our electronics, especially if in a yard with NO security or camera's .

Brian

Sometimes that is easier said than done. And that is so true,, what you send around comes back 10 fold. Been there! Done that!

 

[MrBee]

Ross we are inside the fence, mast up. Stan was sympathetic but thats about all they can do i guess. We know it is VERY unlikely that the person will ever be caught. We are glad for the insurance we have but would gladly trade that value to see the person go to jail.
"To catch a Thief" is just a flashy title for the post. If the local police happen to catch a person on something else and would find our stuff then great but thats about the only chance there is. It's just one of those things, ain't like the forensics team showed up to cordon off the area.

I just wanted others to know what happened and hope the thief reads this forum and always feels the need to look over their shoulder.

 

[Dan Johnson]

Last summer...

in North East we had a large sailboat stripped of all its electronics (a very substancial amount I might add). The job was done neatly, with all wires unpluged, not cut, and all mountings unbolted. It was done at night, during the week, when there was very little marina activity occurring. The police still have not made a recovery nor even developed any leads that I am aware of to date. Several of the other local marinas also were hit last summer. We suspect the thieves to be water borne at that time of the year.

 

[higgs]

bummer big time.

 

[RAD]

So sorry about your loss but look on EBay and Craig's list......hey ya never know criminals are stupid

 

[Joe]

So sorry about your loss but look on EBay and Craig's list......hey ya never know criminals are stupid

It's pretty obvious the equipment was stolen with the idea of re selling it... otherwise you could just get a list of all Irwin owners that could use similar equipment and track their asses down.... but I tend to think they would be advertising the complete systems somewhere, so outlets for this type of equipment should be monitored. I would also check salvage yards that purchase used boat equipment.

The reality of the matter, and this is what these kind of thieves depend on, is that most victims will simply call the insurance company and let it go... The insurance cos. will pay off because it's cheaper than bearing the cost of an investigation.

I disagree that it wasn't a local person... on the contrary it was probably a local who knew the patterns of the boat yard. I also suggest that this probably didn't happen during the middle of the night, but rather in broad daylight by people that looked like they were working on the boat legitimately. It's much more suspicious to see people working on a boat under cover of darkness. I'd check to see if there have been any other thefts reported here in the recent past and let your feelings be known to the police investigator. I would also post notices to every other boat owner asking if they have seen anyone working on your boat during the time the theft occured. You never can tell......

All I know, is that these a-holes need to be caught and prosecuted... too many get away with these deeds because they know there will be very little investigation.. so it's up to you to be proactive. It's very satisfying "to catch a thief" (1955, starring Cary Grant and Grace Kelley, directed by Alfred Hitchcock... one of my faves)

 

[MrBee]

Joe you are probably right, the more i think about some of the comments here it was someone that knows they need all the wiring intact to resell or reuse. The last time we were on the boat before finding the items stolen was just before Christmas so there was about 2 months that we were not checking ebay and craigslist for the items.
We already reported the serial numbers to the electronics company. I don't know if they keep track of that but they should have a list. then they could check incoming pieces for repair against the list and if it's stolen report to the owner. Probably never happens that way.
Well, heading to the police station now to pickup the report.

 

[Dan Johnson]

Thieves...

A decade ago, the "old" OMC kept a list of stolen motor serial numbers. A mechanic could call in a number on a motor brought in for sale or service and determine if it had been reported stolen. As a dealer, we caught several perps this way trying to get away with stealing a motor.

I doubt if the electonics firms bother to do this due to the sheer volume of their production and lack of the dealer network for warranty registration.

 

[Bad Obsession]

Keep an eye on ebay and craigslist. Check out the pawn shops in the area as well. Make sure you filed a police report for this with the serial numbers enclosed so that the event can be listed in NCIC.

It is so sad when people come into marinas and steal crap. We all are kind of vulnerable there and we can be a little complacent at times. I have walked by boats and seen equipment left out and not locked up. I have seen outboards on the back of sailboats without locks.

True....Locks are for honest people but it still helps. The big things is to make items a harder target so they take more time to steal. The problem is when people have time and take it they really can wipe us out.

I am really sorry to hear about this. Being in Law Enforcement I hope that you took the time to call the police to the scene so they can process it. This is a felony since the amount of items that they took is so pricey. Thefts like this should still be processed and things like latent prints were probably present. It takes time but it is a great feeling to get a hit on a latent print and solve a case.

I hope that your stuff can be located. If not I hope insurance covers some of these damages. Nothing more frustrating than a situation when you have a large setback that costs this kind of money because it takes money from current projects.

 

[Merlin Clark]

So sorry about your loss but look on EBay and Craig's list......hey ya never know criminals are stupid

=======

My neighbors house was broken into and small electronics stolen. Luckily he had recorded all the serial numbers and the slimeballs were busted after pawning the goods.
Our town is small enough that the cops still care/have time to deal with stuff like this.

Sorry for your loss MrBee. For me, the feeling of being violated (home, boat, car) is worse than the loss of the belongings. I hate thieves.

 

[JVB]

If your boat or other valuable toy is vulnerable to theft consider getting a game camera like this "Primos Truth Cam 35 Camera" at Amazon.com
http://www.amazon.com/Primos-Truth-Cam-35-Camera/dp/B003PVGA1O
It's a weatherproof motion activated camera which will automatically photograph every critter or person who enters its field of view. It can be set to take 1 or several pictures each time motion triggers it. The resolution is good enough to identify a person or read a car license tag if within about 25 feet. Daylight pictures are full color. A panel of infra-red LEDs flashes when it takes a night time picture in black & white. It runs on 4 D cells and will take several hundred pictures. It can also be set to take short videos (10 second or 30 second if think) but I haven't tried that yet. You would need to camouflage it so it wouldn't be noticed. JPG images are stored on an SD card (not included) like those commonly found in ordinary digital cameras.

 

[soling42]

Keep an easy on-going wide spread search on craigslist classifieds by using
http://www.crazedlist.org/
It'll search every craigslist ad in numerous cities of your choice with key words. I use it to look for odd stuff nationwide(not that your search will be). Your case sure sounds like somebody who needed exactly what you had, searched for it and you were the unlucky guy.
Good luck in you hunt. Mike