Best arrangements for leaving boat unattended in foreign ports???

[Lightfin]

When you are cruising in places like the Caribbean or the Med, etc., and you need to leave your boat to return home for a few weeks, what are the best arrangements to make to keep your boat and belongings safe and secure while you are away??

[Sandero]

When I did it in St Marten and in Antigua, I got another yachtie to check on the boat. They had instructions about important things and it was left on anchor. Both locations had yachties who were living and working and living aboard. I had no problems. Maybe I was lucky.

[rebel heart]

Are you leaving it in a marina or on an anchor? Marinas tend to have gates and security (of some type), but moorings can be a different story all together.

The safest bet I'd go with is:

- Keep expensive stuff out of sight, and absolutely out of the cockpit and off the deck.
- Close the blinds so no one can look in and see your laptop / chart plotter / fancy schmancy gear.
- Put a good lock on, and make sure you really dog the hatches.
- Make friends with someone who's going to be there for a while, and ask them to keep an eye on it. Most sailors are happy to do this, since they'll often need the same backup from you at some point.

But I'd make a distinction between safety from a "someone is going to steal my stuff" point of view, and a "will the boat drag anchor and turn into toothpicks on a lee shore"?

[sluissa]

I remember reading somewhere that someone anchored out and paid a local kid that lived nearby about 5 bucks a day to go out and do a quick check of things. Make sure the bilge wasn't filling up, anchor wasn't dragging, etc.

[Ex-Calif]

A lot of the folks leave boats near here in Malaysia. Aside from the things Rebel Heart stated it seems common to totally drape the boat in covers of some kind.

This keeps the crap off and makes it obvious when someone is trying to get in or already has. They just might pick an easier boat.