Marking Inventory to deter Theft

[dave777]

Any ideas on how to mark your boats inventory to reduce theft? I'm thinking about things like snatch blocks, and electronics.

The marks could be visible to deter theft, or hidden. Of course, some items have serial numbers.

[model 10]

I have a electric engraving thing. It makes my printing look even worse than normal but I put the boat name on lots of stuff.

[Vasco]

Frankly, I think that's a waste of time. Stolen stuff is seldom recovered and a name scratched on will not deter a thief.

[svmariane]

Marking items, having photos of items, having an inventory (etc) are wonderful for insurance claim purposes. However, the markings, like serial numbers, are academic if a thief wants your stuff. But you can try. (See other threads on boat security.)

Case: I'd purchased two new ball fenders and, using a solder iron, carved my boat's name into the tops. Hung them next to my old tube fenders.

The still-new looking ball fenders were gone within a week, leaving my old fenders looking forlorn.

(Yes, I knew that carving a name into the fenders weakened them, but figured even should they one day blow they'd still provide some cushion effect.)

[Snore]

Originally Posted by Vasco

Frankly, I think that's a waste of time. Stolen stuff is seldom recovered and a name scratched on will not deter a thief.

+1

Bill