Robbed by a Fellow Boater

[sailstoo]

After having the contents of my unlocked sailboat ripped off some years ago I bought one of those air horn alarms. I set it at ear level so that when someone pulled the unlocked top companionway board up to enter the boat the air horn would go off in their left ear. Considering your boat is as close to the house as it is you should be able to see a deaf guy staggering away. The downside is you absolutely have to remember it's there before you open the hatch.

[Mike43]

Would not take much imagination to rig one of these. Use white pvc tape to insulate 16 gauge wire at stanchions. run wire about 1" or so from life lines. uninsulated. Have discreet switch so you didn't ring your own bell. It would be fun to listen to the swearing in the middle of the night.

Field Guardian Sentry Battery Energizer

[David_Old_Jersey]

Great

Not had an improvised security / weaponary thread for a while

Funnily enough at the weekend I gaffer taped a bread knife to my extendable boat hook - creating an impressive looking weapon, that was also 100% useless for cutting the painter of a dinghy tied to the dock from 10 feet away.........but if there had been a Somali Pirate within the dink then he would have been in trouble . (In the words of Corporal Jones: "They don't like it up 'em" ).

Meant to take a photo. But forgot and left it on the coachroof........I hope no one steals it

[Ti' Punch]

I can see it now. In my attempt to electrify the thieving bastiges I'll end up creating a stray current problem and eat away both my sail drive legs. That would be karma at work. I thought about driving some 2 inch nails through a piece of 1/2 inch plywood and leaving it under the carpet just inside the salon door. My wife thinks we could probably be sued if I did ever catch a crook on it. How would that be for irony? Catch the crooks, get my tools back, and then the court system would award my house to the bad guy for the pain and suffering caused by my improvised punji trap.

Actually, I'm going today to look for the battery powered motion detector/siren somebody mentioned earlier. I'm having trouble finding a commercially made lock that will work for my door. I drew something up and see if I can't get a machine shop to make it for me at a reasonable price.

[KillerBoo]

In the early winter of last year I had a little problem with thieves/idiots in the marina. First they stole the battery from my car. Then after I got a new one they came back for that too. Got an alarm and got to keep my battery. Installed an alarm in the boat as well and never had any problems there either BUT...
My shore power cord was cut 3 times together with a couple of cords to other boats, and they took the CEE-adapter that I had to have to plug it in.. after 3 of these pointless thefts (the adapter cost like 2 dollars to replace so why steal one.. they just wanted to fck around I guess) Brilliant to have no power in freezing temps..
So, eventually I got tired of it and started to figure out what to do. I thought of stripping the cords leaving them bare and taped to the cover of the connector, letting them have the full 230V through the body.. but since I´d probably get more problems with the police than they would I skipped that idea. Also, wouldnt have been so fun if a small kid would touch it while waiting for their parents to finish up to go home...
So, I sacrificed a wine glass, thin nice glass.. crushed it into tiny pieces and superglued them onto a spare adapter that I used on nights only. Whammo, one night I woke up from a scream of pain Once I got up and out, the idiot was gone oc but left me some satisfaction when I saw the trail of blood.. They never came back

[MarkJ]

So sorry to hear about this theft.

Having the boat at the bottom of the garden is a wonderful thing for convenience Don't keep those thoughts about moiving to a marina. Better to upgrade your security somehow and advise your neighbors to do so before they get their kit niked.

[barnakiel]

I think the sailing community will have the same average of thieves as the real world. Why should it be otherwise?

Sorry for your loss. A lesson learned the hard way.

b.

[anglooff]

Bummer!

[Jesse]

Last night while watching the TV show "Pawn stars" I learned that all purchased items must be stored for 30 days in a "buy room" so police can check for stolen goods. Your tools would not be displayed for sale for at least that long if sold to a pawn shop. Have you checked ebay or Craigs list?

[Ti' Punch]

Pawn Stars is educational in so many different ways. I would love to see Rick trying to make a deal for my nice Klein wire strippers. Rick:"These are really quality wire strippers. I would love to have them in my shop. Just not at that price...." Thief:"Okay, give me $0.50 for them then". Ugghhh!


I just returned from installing all of my new anti-theft devices on the boat. I've got the little battery powered vibration detector pucks mounted on all the hatches large enough for a person to fit through. I put an alarm/siren on the salon door, and I mounted a motion detector/siren under the salon table looking back towards the door and the cockpit. I also mounted a wireless camera on the dock that transmits back to the tv and a pc in the house, but it looks like the distance is too far for the unit. I'm going to have to find a repeater or just use a wired camera. Still working on the lock issue. I haven't found any shops interested in taking on such a small job. I did put padlocks on all the deck and cockpit lockers and locked my anchor and part of the chain to the forward cross-beam. A pair of bolt cutters could defeat any of those locks, but hopefully they won't want to take the time. Thanks again for all the suggestions.

[ILikeRust]

Man, I hate stuff like that. Jerks.

I would put an ad up on all the local Craig's lists, saying that your tools were stolen, and giving a description. I've seen others do it on my local Craig's lists. Also watch for ads selling the tools.

I also would check all the local pawn shops and let them know about it.

The tools are about the only thing of real value I leave aboard my boat, other than the VHF and bits of the boat itself, I guess. I don't leave my GPS chartplotter aboard.

I'm very fortunate in my marina - I've been there only a couple months, but it seems that stuff just doesn't get stolen - people just leave each other's boats alone. The marina owner told me they've never had any real problems with it and it would be ok to leave my shore power cord plugged in. He was right - I have a very nice, long heavy power cord and I left it plugged in and didn't come back for 2-3 weeks. It was right were I left it. I've heard lots of stories of people losing power cords, water hoses, dock lines, deck hardware, blocks, winches, etc. It's amazing how low some people are.

[markpierce]

Originally Posted by Jesse

Last night while watching the TV show "Pawn stars" I learned that all purchased items must be stored for 30 days in a "buy room" so police can check for stolen goods. Your tools would not be displayed for sale for at least that long if sold to a pawn shop.

If the pawn shop has them, you'll need to reimburse the shop's owner to get your tools back.

[cantxsailor]

Actually if they have your stolen items all you need is a police report and a cop from the pawn detail to sign off on the whole deal. You are definately not required to pay for your own property. It's the brokers resposibility to make sure he's not buying stolen items and his hard luck if he does. If he does it to often the law gets wise pretty quick.

A pawn broker will usually ask a bunch of questions before ANY purchase if he is on the up and up which most brokers are. It is not in their best interest to buy stolen stuff because it puts their license to print money in jeopardy.

Here in Houston where I worked in a pawn shop in the old days in order to get a license you must $150k in an escrow account to cover all the loans you have on the books.

Most of a brokers business is in "loans". At 20% a month as I said it's a license to print money. Anything with a serial number or that is unique will be carefully checked out. If you pawn a stolen item you can, nowadays, expect a visit from the law. It ain't the old days. Flea markets are the place to sell stolen stuff. Much less regulation to worry about.............m

[ILikeRust]

Flea markets! Good point.

[MarkJ]

Originally Posted by Jesse

TV show "Pawn stars"

I've been cruising and missing this stuff?????

They didnt have it on when I was in Oman!

What time is it on?
Can someone send me a DVD?
Are the girls cute?

Must be time to become a CLOD.