Boat trailer thieft

T

thataway

Active member
Last night at about 4 AM some one came into our neighborhood and stole an alunium boat trailer. It was made for a Shamrock 22 Keel drive (inboard with keel) so it was not a "normal" outboard trailer. It was all alumium--and there is some speculation that the thieft was for the metal--that the trailer would be cut up and sold as scap (pretty expensive scrap--since it was a custom trailer and cost over $7,000).

This brings about the issue of trailer security. I had one stolen many years ago, where the simple padlock was cut off of the toggle on the ball hitch.

Our own boats are behind a locked gate in our side yard, and have one of the hitch locks which is a ball with about 1/2" steel U surounding the bottom of the hitch. The two trailers are chained together with 5/16 G4 Chain, which also goes thru the wheels, as well as over the frame, and there are the steel "boots" which lock onto the wheels on each trailer. If some one wants to steal a trailer, it will be hard to stop them, but you can make it a difficult as possible.

We have 24 hour 8 camera streaming video survelance to a 5 gig hard drive, so we do have a record of both a casing car coming into the neighborhood about 30 minutes before the theift, and the truck which was only in the neighborhood for less than 5 minutes, leaving with the trailer (lights hooked up and all)--the Sheriff will examine these videos in the AM

This is mostly a heads up that some scum bags are despirate and stealing any metal to cut up and sell for scrap--lock down the trailers and any other valuables. Taking copper wiring and aluminum wiring as well as air conditioning parts is popular in our area--but boat trailers for scrap seems to be a new one.....
 
The difficult part of securing an aluminum boat trailer is securing it. Even if you lock the hitch a truck can chain it up and be gone in no time. I would guess one of those high decibel motion detection alarms would be the best or putting it behind the house and out of sight.

Think I’ll stick with galvanized.

Bob, what heck are you doing up so late you should be in bed? I'm 4 hours behind you so still early here in Alaska.
 
Sorry to hear of the theft-loss of the trailer. One of the things I have seen done is to put the boat name on the trailer, maybe several places so it is seen from each side at least. One fella burned it onto steel plate with a welder, and welded the plate to the trailer. Probably would help if it was going for scrap. Another idea is to remove the lights and license plate -- highly likely to arouse police suspicion if seen on the road. Removing a wheel makes it a bit tougher to tow away too.

Harvey
SleepyC :moon
 
Just a few weeks ago I was cleaning out. I 10 old alum scuba tanks that could not be hydro. I tried to sell them for $25 each. No takers. I took them to the scrap yard and got $350 for them with out the valves. I sold the valves on ebay for $5 each. I had no idea they would pay so much. I thought then that alum is/would be a target.
 
We have the lock on trailer hitch, chain around tires and frame, and 1.5m cpl of motion sensing lights right over the trailer and boat. If someone wants it, they will be able to get it but hopefully it's at least a less appealing target.

We are exploring additional protections for house/property.

--Matt
 
Warren, that is one and a half million candles burning. I believe that cpl is another way of abreviating CP or candle power.

Some good suggestions. We do also have motion sensors and lights--no alarms, but video cameras covering the area. We are going to mark the trailer with a sharpie and then use a center punch following the lines to impress the logo on the trailer (initials, boat name etc).

The boat was stolen from a vacant lot, which was several hundred feet from the nearest house. That house did not own the boat trailer. The other boat trailer which was on that lot (a Tom Cat 24 trailer) was moved to behind the house of the widow of the person who owned the Tom Cat 24. Having the trailer out of site is also some protection. But if someone wants to steal a trailer, they will.

Generally our neighborhood is very safe. We had had some change and DVD's stolen out of a couple of cars, and a couple of gas cans stolen in the last year--otherwise, no problems. But we do see more cars roaming the dead end street recently. I suspect that they are looking for things to steal. Our area is offically over 12% unemployment--and I am sure that in reality it is much higher. The area had been hoping that the EADS tanker project would bring some jobs--but not to be. Construction is almost zero, and that was a large segment of the work force.
 
funny you mention the tanker deal. here in Boeing land everyone is excited that Boeing got the deal. It will help my business a lot. In realty EADS , a European company, would have provided more American jobs if they got the tanker but those jobs would have been spread out over the country. As where Boeing's job increase are not as high but concentrated here in Everett and in Kansas.
 
Last year, 2 days after bringing my boat home from storage, someone climbed in the back of the camperback and took 2 new led flashlights, a Mag-Lite, and a crappy set of binoculars. About $120 loss. Luckily all of the other electronics have quick disconnet brackets and were in the house. We have always done that. I then bought a Viper alarm system with a motion sensor. If you are within 3 feet outside of the boat, a warning chirp will sound. If you enter the boat, the alarm horn is so loud, it's disorienting (I've tested it). I also have a basic lock on the hitch coupler and big wheel lock. I'm not making it easy for anyone anymore.

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