Best ways to prevent boat theft?

[Gorilla_in_Manila]

Rick,
Depends where the bolt broke. My guess is it would have broke on the threaded section of the bolt near the bottom of the nut; ie the full depth of the nut away, on the other side of the tack weld. If he was using a shifter he must have had that on the nut, and applied enough torque to break the bolt at is weakend point near where the shank meets the thread or where you have the thread in a shear plane.
So my guess would be it had nothing to do with the tack weld and everything to do with leaving the U bolt (cruddy or not) for a long time in an extremely stressful situation.

Same like wheel studs that have rusted / fused to the wheel nut (usually after being over tightened with rattle guns) can be fairly easily twisted and broken, unless they are given a good long soak with WD40 first. No tack welds here, but happens quite regularly, and you'd see a similar break pattern.

By the way, you didn't mention anything about your mate grinding off the tack welds before leaning on the nut with a shifter.
But you destroy the nut and the bolt by doing so anyway. By tack welding any nut and bolt, you are already making the decision that the bolt and nut will be destroyed as soon as it needs to be removed.

Cheers,
Jeff

[netfish]

I've got two dogs ( not the old joke ) They go off when someone enters the area. No one has come in all the way yet.

[wayneoro]

cunning plan from a kiwi just changed houses moved boat first which would be on its ace for a few days heres the cunning bit i put trailer axle on block removed 4 wheel nuts left 5 just on hid nuts fully moved in now can't find them need to buy 4 holden mag wheel nuts thanks

[djdamo]

good ideas people thanks

[AussieBrad]

Id be inclined to put a small GPS tracking device in a concealed internal part of the boat.

and then watch the theives movments on your computer.

simple

[baitwaster]

Here are two of my "locks"
The little brown one is 42Kg, and the
white one just weighed in at 57 Kg. Sometimes I am
scared to open my own gate at night




I also have a trailer hitch lock, a padlocked front gate and a couple of
other boobytraps around the boat.

A good idea is to get some empty stubbies and tie some fishing line
to them, then put them on the roof above some concrete. Tie a fishin
hook to the other and and hook it to some part of the boat. If someone
is snooping around, they will probably snag the line and drop the
bottles on the concrete, or they will drop when the boat is moved.

JUST DON'T FORGET THEY ARE THERE as I did once.

[artesian]

G'day Jeff, that's exactly where they broke, so I reckon you are spot on with diagnosis.

No grinder involved, because it was a roadside repair due to a broken spring - as I said, the trailer had a hard life.

Sorry about the delay in posting - didn't see this one for a while.

[thejumbie]

a simple tack weld should not weaken the bolt

quote.....

Mate, locks only keep honest people out! I guess the goal of any security is to remove the opportunistic thief from the equation. #If someone wants it badly enough they'll unfortunately find a way...

true that!!!

[Poodroo]

I am lucky in that I can run the boat into the back yard. It is pretty safe where it is. If I had to leave it in the front yard I would do things like put a heavy duty chain through the trailer wheels, put a tarp over the boat with lots of octopus straps everywhere which would make it a task to remove, I have a lock going through the trailer hitch so they would have to smash the lock to be able to lock it onto a tow ball, and I would also try to have the boat parked near a big tree and chain it to that as well. And if they still managed to steal it, then that will be a big insurance claim.

Poodroo

[cormorant]

Datadot your boat , trailer and accessories and put the warning stickers on. Spray it on and register it. Might not stop the kids but will stop the pros as they have a higher chance of getting caught.

Those who remove fishing gear and GPS etc check your insurance policy as often if it isn't in the boat it ain't covered and won't be covered under household policy. Stupid I know but nearly better to leave in boat.

There is now several small self contained security cameras. Won't stop theft but at least you can see who did it. They are battery operated , look just like a security sensor or light and have a memory SD card and are activated by movement . IR so work at night and will take many frames of thieves at work. Very easy ti hide high out of reach.

Get a prop lock- props are easy money.
lower units , gearboxes, use stainless security head studs so they have to work and bring more tools for it.

There are outdoor movement alarms that are portable and can be placed under the covers and they have loud sirens. Simple mercury switch with a siren was they have to change boat angle to steal it.

Boat tracker alarms are avaliable that have several imputs for movement sensors etc that can alsosms or dial your mobile etc. Some have GPS enable as well so tell where they are towing it.

[shano]

what i have always thought of doing was to rig up the epirb. tie a string to the switch and the other end to something off the boat then when trailer is taken it will set it off tell police what has been done and they can track it

[Dirtysanchez]

There are some decent GPS based tracking systems around now, I think if you set off your epirb you would be in trouble..
I deal with a few of the manufacturers, so I can't really be plugging them here, but they are easy to find on google etc.
When I have my trailer on the car I have an extra piece of chain welded to the draw bar, and this gets padlocked to the towbar.
My trailer is also a piece of crap, so if it goes thats life I guess

[insideout]

for the larger boats, i have herd of the disc brakes having a hole drilled in them, and one of those locks that when locked on to the disc, have very little of the shaft showing,so the theives can not drive away, or cut it. Just dont loose your keys...

[SgBFish]

for the larger boats, i have herd of the disc brakes having a hole drilled in them, and one of those locks that when locked on to the disc, have very little of the shaft showing,so the theives can not drive away, or cut it. Just dont loose your keys...

Or forget to unbolt it yourself.
My God that could be messy, noisy and expensive.

[baitwaster]

A lot of blokes I know with bikes have those disc locks, some have done some serious damage trying to ride away with them on. I am sure you can get them with a movement alarm now, so it goes off if you move bike or boat with the lock still on. Also get a really bright lanyard and tie it to the hitch to remind yourself it is on there.