How about this idea?

[kingtin]

To encourage folk to use public transport, the Gov't provides bike lockers at most major stations. You put your name on a waiting list and as soon as a locker becomes available, it's yours for a returnable bond (key fee) of $50. You cycle to the station and leave your bike safe in the locker.

Take it a step further..............enclose and lock part of the parking areas at public ramps and issue sufficient keys for the appropriate spaces at a bond fee of say 200 bucks. If you want an overnighter, then your trailer is locked up and the only folk that have access are the keyholders. Surveillance equipment inside the enclosure is safe from the general public and if anything is amiss within that area, then it has to be down to a keyholder.

If need be (to raise the revenue) then have it an annual non-returnable key fee to cover the cost of fencing and surveillance.

Would you pay? I would if the fee was reasonable. I'd love to do overnighters but vehicles just aren't safe anymore and my overnighters are limited to the Pin where I can use Rudys or Horizon.

kev

[sarg]

Would be a great idea i think. Some places I fish, like coochin creek, on the drive back to the ramp i'm always hopeing everythings going to be intact. Cabbage tree creek could use a system like that or deep water bend.

Andrew

[RCG008]

Open to great ideas.... Thats one. It makes people think more. Obvisouly trust is an issue in todays world. I'd pay for safe returns... Maybe a nation wide club for this sort of thing wouldnt go astray... Thats a massive ask but why not put it out there. Just think how much you actually spend on our lifestyle of "happy fishing"

[finga]

Join the fishing club in the Cleveland area. They have a big fence around their carpark.

It's a really good idea Kev.
If it was big enough you could employ a 'keeper of the gate' to keep an eye on things or link the cameras to a security service.

[kingtin]

Join the fishing club in the Cleveland area. They have a big fence around their carpark.

It's a really good idea Kev.
If it was big enough you could employ a 'keeper of the gate' to keep an eye on things or link the cameras to a security service.

If it supports a fishing club financially, then why don't the Gov't jump on board with it, as in the long run, it's cost 'em nothing, wins votes, and cuts down on crime and costs to the insurance companies.

The VMR at Shorncliffe offer that kind of protection for less than 200 bucks a year (Think about it.......4 bucks a week). along with access to a pontoon. The only trouble is, there is a drop off at the bottom of their ramp (too short) and launching/trailering a big boat like mine, at a big low is no go.

The yacht club next door is twice the price and I don't like the look of their ramp either.

kev

[gone_fishing]

that is a fine idea
but red tape is a nightmare
tryied to buy a block of land on a creek once to use as a storage area with security fencing for boats and caravans with facilties to launch boats
but by the time i dealt with the red tape exceptally insurance companies as their is no "at your own risk" it was a 24 hr job with the returns of a dole bludger
which is a pity try to help and get kicked in the but isnt worth the risk

[roz]

It's a very good idea Kev.

How bad is the situation, when people like Kev have to come up with these ideas simply to protect personal property.

Just imagine the look of boat ramps when wire fences are needed to keep our gear safe..

[Argle]

Its a bit out of your way Kev, but the Moreton Bay Trailer Boat Club at Manly has secure parking, lighting, two pontoons, a beach and a five lane ramp that even big rigs can use at any tide. Overnighters are catered for too at Southern Haven down at South Straddie (not Crusoe I know...but)
They also have wash down/flush facilities supported by their own rainwater tanks.
Not to mention a pretty good bistro with well priced tucker in case the vermin arent biting
Gee it sounds good, no wonder Im a member then
Just a thought anyway mate,

Cheers and Beers
Scott

[kingtin]

Thanks for that Scott. I used to use the public ramp next door when I had kingtin but now I have a glass rig, I really need the pontoon to load the deckie and kids. I think I'll pay 'em a a visit.

kev

[Obi _ Wan]

G'Day Kev
Your idea is very good mate, i for one would like to see more security at our boat ramp car parks.
I very recently contacted Carol Cashman with regard to the Deep Water Bend boat ramp facilities after seeing some very aggro activities there as well as my young bloke getting back to the ramp one night (not all that late) to find a couple of empty stubbies on the trailer mud guard and a flat tyre(just let down) also seeing a brand new Ford XR6 with its back window smashed and its four wheels missing, just sitting on the ground it was.
All this i reported to her along with suggestions of some additional lighting and possibly some video surveilance cameras, also some one of authority to control the idiots that park where they shouldn't and make it difficult to tow a trailer through the spaces they leave.
Not long after i made contact with Mss Cashman the light at the top of the ramp was turned on again or fixed.
She sent me a letter stating that she was looking into the reported problems and would get back to me.
A month or so later she wrote to me again saying that the local Police patrol the area and that they said there were no problems!!!!!!!
Yeah Right! So where do you go from there???????????
Dosen't take long after the boys in blue disappear and the hoons are at it again.
Like i said mate i think it would be great if some thing could be done, not only at Deep Water Bend but at Cabbage Tree and other places as it certainly gets you on edge, you are out fishing enjoying yourself and all the time you are thinking, is my car and trailer all right??
It dosent seem that long ago that we never locked our place up, you could go away for a week and no one would touch your property, WHAT THE BLOODY HELL HAPPENED TO PEOPLE??????

Living in Hope
Obi_Wan

[Bob H]

why not get someone to drive your car home and back next day, works for me .and never have no worries of no trailer etc. start paying fees for something you dont always use(sick, bad weather etc)how do they work the numbers out when they dont know who comes this week who doesnt next week,where the cut off point ceiling is sounds complicated. only takes 365 fishoes 1 day a year each to patrol carpark to make it safe, perhaps this could work, or something similar. bob h

[Feral]

G'Day Kev

Dosen't take long after the boys in blue disappear and the hoons are at it again.

Problem is its not the hoons that cause boaties trouble, a few boofheads doing circle work in the parking lot is not a great problem, its the vandals and thieves!

Yet it is the hoons the coppers will chase.

[kingtin]

why not get someone to drive your car home and back next day, works for me .and never have no worries of no trailer etc. start paying fees for something you dont always use(sick, bad weather etc)how do they work the numbers out when they dont know who comes this week who doesnt next week,where the cut off point ceiling is sounds complicated. only takes 365 fishoes 1 day a year each to patrol carpark to make it safe, perhaps this could work, or something similar. bob h

Bob, it'd have to be on a first come, first served basis as the bike lockers are. The onus should be on the council to provide and then it's up to the public whether they use the facility or not. Someone who isn't going to use it regularly isn't likely to apply for a key if it's going to cost 'em 200 bucks.

It's a matter of choice.......we should be able to choose to fish knowing our car and trailer are safe..........we choose to use or not, depending on whether we're prepared to invest in that safety. At the moment the only choice we have is to risk all for an overnighter, or even a couple of hours away can see your car broken into.

Private fishing clubs can provide the choice on private land, then the council/qld transport should be able to provide the choice on public land. Looking at most ramps, there appears to be much available land around them, so space isn't the issue and if fishos bear the cost via rego/fees etc, then the non-fishing taxpayer has no right to whine about cost to the taxpayer.

We're a big slice of the community and unfortunately we're not using our voice to get what we should be able to get considering our regos fees, insurance, and our other contributions into the economy. Our "economic clout" should be rewarded with the authorities recognising our contribution to the local economy via our vessels and our sport, and by them providing protection for that which illustrates that economic investment (our rigs and vehicles).

kev

[kingtin]

A month or so later she wrote to me again saying that the local Police patrol the area and that they said there were no problems!!!!!!!
Yeah Right! So where do you go from there???????????

Obi_Wan

Well mate, I know where I would like to go, but there was no support for it. A while ago now, I asked for anyone who had verifiable proof of incidents at ramps, either to themselves or others, to please pm me or post up on ausfish. I didn't get one reply.

I see the problem here as being one of us boaties just accepting that these things happen and as long as insurance covers it, we accept it as a "recreational hazard" and don't bother reporting it. We're our own worst enemies.

I had inquired of the police and they had stated that crime at DWB was "minimal". My experience and knowledge of that ramp in particular led me to believe that crime was either going unreported or being covered up.

My idea therefore was to gather a catalogue of crime at DWB and at ramps as a whole and present it to the Bayside Star and Northern Chronicle, police, qld transport, council, and in particular, Cllr Carol Cashman. As I say, it seems that no one at this community anyway, had anything to report. I was going to take it a step further and ask the Bayside Star and N Chron to do an article asking their readers if they had encountered problems, but I never got round to it, as without some evidence that I had expected to get here, I didn't think it worth pursuing further.

We need to wake up to ourselves and start fighting for our basic right of protection of our property. The capitalist system has always put protection of investment above protection of the individual (look at the sentences for crime against property and compare that to sentences for assault). Why then should they not afford the same protection for boaties' property as they do for multi-nationals property?.......... because it is a crime against the individual and that takes a back seat to any crime perpetrated against the state (economy).

Jeeeeeeeeeez, I'm going back to my socialist roots here but what I'm trying to say is that if this was some semi-trailer stuffed with goodies that was vandalised or nicked, there'd be no end of resources thrown at it (we can't have an undermining of the transport system and threat to capitalism now can we?) But 'cause it's some "insignificant boatie" who's worked his balls off to buy himself a little piece of heaven on the water, nobody in authority gives a shit.

Like I say, it's time we stood up and were counted.

kev

[Obi _ Wan]

Bob H, Yeah mate that would work, i know a few that can get someone to take their car and trailer home.
Unfortunately not all can do that. I for one live alone and have no one that could do that for me.

Feral, Yeah mate, i agree the hoons don't do anything other than repave the parking lot with rubber, its the hangers on that cause the problems or thats what i believe.

Kev, Sorry mate i didn't see that post, it may have been prior to my joining Ausfish.
I can assure you that if i had seen anything i would have let you know if i had known about your post.
I agree whole heartedly with what you have written above, we do not get any protection at all in matters like these and bloody hell we pay their wages

Have been told that if you drive a Toyota ute don't leave it at the Cabbage Tree ramp, apparently there has been 3 or 4 stolen from there in the last couple of years, a mate had his broken into there, appears he came back just a little early for the scum bags to complete the theft.

Obi_Wan