Re: [Paddlewise] Thief-proofing methods?

On Mon, Sep 30, 2002 at 05:15:35PM -0400, TomL wrote:

< .. snip .. >

> My wife tells me that several boats have recently been stolen in Kittery 
> Maine's "Kittery Trading Post" parking lot. KTP is one of the northeast's 
> biggest seller of kayaks. The thieves simply cut the webbing and made off 
> with the boats. It seems that sometimes they unbuckle the webbing to make 
> passersby think they (the "unbucklers") are actual owners.

< .. snip .. >

> But anything I can do to slow down or discourage the "enemy" is
> worth considering.

A mix of suggestions, some serious, others less so:

1) Leave a large dog in the car (preferably one that looks more
   ferocious than he/she really is).  If well behaved, leave the
   windows down far enough for the pup to exit if determined.
   Convince them that anyone taking a boat other than you and yours is
   bad, and you're all set.  If not so well behaved, leave the window
   cracked wide enough to be sure they have plenty of air, and then
   sit back and listen to a *real* car alarm when someone tries to
   spend time de-boating your vehicle.

2) On a more serious note, if you use front and rear tie-downs,
   replace the rope with cable, complete with loops at the ends.  And
   then instead of tying it to your bow/stern and under-car hooks,
   pad-lock the darned thing.  It's success would depend somewhat on
   how sturdy the attachment point is on the bow and stern of the
   boat, but it would actually work on many I've seen.

3) And finally, take the approach of many a city dweller and college
   student who rides their bike and has to park and lock it in various
   open locations.  Make it (the boat that is) as absolutely ugly as
   possible.  People don't steal ugly bikes (although they've been
   known to spot the nice parts on the ugly frame) as often as nice
   ones.  The same is likely to go for boats too.

And on a quite serious note, find out if your boats are covered by
your insurance (car, home owner's, or renters) against left when taken
from your vehicle.  Car contents can be covered, in the event of
break-in or theft of vehicle.  I make this suggestion because you
might not wish to do anything more elaborate than using lock cores in
combination with a Yakima/Thule cable.  As someone (Ralph Diaz, I
believe) pointed out, the determined thief will win in the end anyway.
It might be better to let them have the boats if they want to work at
it, whilst not destroying the vehicle in the process.  Chalk it up to
the descent of society, replace your boats with the insurance $$$, and
realize it won't be an everyday experience.  Having seen firsthand
what thieves can do when stealing car-topped bikes, by taking rack and
all, the damage to be repaired on the vehicle can be downright scary.

Just some random late-night musings ...

-.- jwd

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