Preventing Theft of New Electronics

[Jules_M]

Yesterday I installed a new pedestal guard, a Navpod and three display units - a Zeus3 9" MFD and two Triton2 displays.

The Navpod has "tamperproof" screws holding the face to the back. That might deter some thieves but all you need is an allen key with a hole in the center and you're in. I had a bit for an apex in my collection that fit perfect.

B&G provides wood-type screws to secure their instruments to whatever face they are mounted to. Remove the trim strips, take out a phillips and you quickly become the proud owner of some new electronics.

Last night I removed the face and brought it into the house. But I don't want to have to do that every time.

Any suggestions?

[LoudMusic]

Is electronics theft an honest concern? This is the first I've heard of it for boats.

[nhschneider]

I have heard of a few reports of marine electronics thefts, however, since used marine electronics have such a low value even on the legitimate secondary market, it hardly seems worthwhile for the thief in terms of risk. Anecdotally, our chart plotter has been mounted in a Navpod in our cockpit for ten years - no one has ever bothered it and we’ve spent a fair amount of time in places where poverty can make people desperate.

Fair winds and calm seas.

[Lake-Effect]

Originally Posted by Jules_M

Any suggestions?

The "tamper-proof" hardware is sufficient to deter the most common sort of thief who is usually just a desperate opportunist. You could look into finding even more tamper-resistant hardware, or figuring out how to add some sort of locking cover over your pods.

No locking system is enough protection when the thief has a battery-powered grinder with a cutoff disc. A plastic pod would cut like butter.

More professional thieves know that it's not so easy to fence stolen displays, and that the hassle of removing them isn't justified by the low potential returns.

More hassle = less-likely to be stolen.

Here's an idea for manufacturers - add a N2K authorization module to the network, installed inside, so that nothing would work without it.

[stormalong]

Make a canvass cover to go over the pod.

Two reasons:

1) Sun protection.

2) Out of sight means someone has to go on the boat to see the electronics to decide if they want to steal them. No "casing" the boat from the dock.

[tkeithlu]

We've locally had some episodes of electronics theft, but it's usually VHF radios, which are self contained and easy to sell off the back of the truck. As Lake-Effect suggests, make it out of sight and inconvenient and you'll stop it. Unless you've got a chronic problem where you sail, I suspect the fear when looking at new very expensive stuff you just installed is worse than the realistic threat.

[akprb]

Go to bed and don’t concern yourself one bit.

In the highly unlikely event they are stolen you get an almost free upgrade if you have decent insurance.

If you live in a place where they are stealing that kind of gear may want to consider moving :-)

[MJH]

Originally Posted by Jules_M

Yesterday I installed a new pedestal guard, a Navpod and three display units - a Zeus3 9" MFD and two Triton2 displays.

The Navpod has "tamperproof" screws holding the face to the back. That might deter some thieves but all you need is an allen key with a hole in the center and you're in. I had a bit for an apex in my collection that fit perfect.

B&G provides wood-type screws to secure their instruments to whatever face they are mounted to. Remove the trim strips, take out a phillips and you quickly become the proud owner of some new electronics.

Last night I removed the face and brought it into the house. But I don't want to have to do that every time.

Any suggestions?

I can only advise to have adequate insurance but I'll pass on my personal experience.

Many years ago on my previous boat (San Juan 28) I had a unique teak radio cabinet that the previous owner had made and installed. It was quite lovely with an older VHF and CB radio installed along with a push to talk telephone type microphone plus fuses for easy replacement. It was really nice and set this boat apart from its production sisters. Well, the thieves didn't just take the old radios, they took the entire cabinet. It cost me way more to replace the one-off cabinet for this boat than the new replacement radios...make sure your properly insured.

~ ~ _/) ~ ~ MJH

[Dooglas]

Originally Posted by stormalong

Make a canvas cover to go over the pod.

Good advice. Never had anything stolen from under a cover.

[Montanan]

Originally Posted by MJH

I can only advise to have adequate insurance but I'll pass on my personal experience.

Many years ago on my previous boat (San Juan 28) I had a unique teak radio cabinet that the previous owner had made and installed. It was quite lovely with an older VHF and CB radio installed along with a push to talk telephone type microphone plus fuses for easy replacement. It was really nice and set this boat apart from its production sisters. Well, the thieves didn't just take the old radios, they took the entire cabinet. It cost me way more to replace the one-off cabinet for this boat than the new replacement radios...make sure your properly insured.

~ ~ _/) ~ ~ MJH

That reminds me of my neighbor when I was growing up. She had a rather grand collection of jewelry and each night she would put the jewels she had been wearing that day in with the others kept in her beautiful jewelry box that was on her vanity top and then she would go hide the key to the box in the adjacent bedroom. One day her home was burglarized. The burglars took the entire box. She never thought through that the box was desirable and easy to cart off with. Her insurance paid for the substantial value of the jewels and the box and other stolen goods. She liked to tell the story and of her misconception of safekeeping her valuables.

I agree as to putting a canvass cover over the navpod, so as to keep them protected and clean. Sun, dirt, poop and eyes off. There are very few incidents of nav electronics being stolen because there is no ready secondary market for such, what are they going to do, put it on the local Craig's list or take it to a pawn shop. The most likely thief would be another mariner for their personal use / say the victim of a lightening strike needing to replace everything without insurance.

[boatman1]

The fabric cover(s) for the helm is a prudent addition. Is there insurance out there w/o a whopping deductible?. My experience with collecting from insurers (most recently from Irma damage) doesn’t provide any peace of mind that there will be compensation to cover a loss.

[zeehag]

the only place i sailed i needed to concern my self regarding electronix theft was san diego. once i left usa i became safer.
covers for tronix are good to prevent deterioration of screen and to keep all clean . it aint clean out here .

[Ferrari]

Had $12,000 in Diving equipment and tools etc stolen (even our good steak knives) but all electronics including a computer tower left untouched!
Incidentally, claim paid out promptly by Pantaenius, though this is not necessarily a recommendation.

[SV Sailfish]

Do what us die hard Harley riders do...

Park the boat in the living room.

No worries!

[Moontide]

A friend puts a 5 gallon bucket upside down to hide his stuff. No problem in a not so nice marina.