How do you secure your boat on trailer at home.

[TXJOLE]

My new boat will be coming home Saturday (i hope. I have a barn to store it in 60 away from my house at my parents. BUT i'm minutes from the lake. I would like to keep it at my house in the driveway for awhile while I plan to use it. How do I secure it in my driveway (too big for my garage.) Wheel lock? ball lock? chain? lock the folding tounge? or all those? What do you guys/gals do?

 

[rickdb1boat]

Re: How do you secure your boat on trailer at home.

Either take one wheel off and support it with a stand or use a wheel lock. Tongue lock is good, but will not deter someone who is determined to get it. Make sure you don't leave the spare tire on the trailer...

 

[salty87]

Re: How do you secure your boat on trailer at home.

i use one of the gorilla locks...ball lock.

 

[crazy charlie]

Re: How do you secure your boat on trailer at home.

Try your best to have the tongue face the garage.This alone is the biggest deterrant you can have.A trailer is very inviting to a thief if the tongue is looking him right in the eye.Lock tongue and pull a tire or chain a tire.

 

[TXJOLE]

Re: How do you secure your boat on trailer at home.

I like the pulling the wheel or wheels ideal. Got to remember that spare thing too.

 

[TXJOLE]

Re: How do you secure your boat on trailer at home.

I got a story about something kinds like that! I had a ATV in the back of my truck and was at my GF apartment the night before a hunting trip. I had it backed to a brick wall, I mean touching it, thinking no way to steal it. Some scum popped my hood cut my battery cable, then climbed under my truck and CUT, not unhook the shifter linkage. Shifted it neutral rolled it out (used my boot as a stop to keep it from rolling) and started unloading it. Someone saw them and snapped a picture out of a window and the flash ran them off. (only to have that same ATV stolen 3 months later)

 

[Surffx]

Re: How do you secure your boat on trailer at home.

Give it the BOOT<br /><br /> http://www.palmaautoboot.com/ <br /><br />

 

[Silvertip]

Re: How do you secure your boat on trailer at home.

A buddy (apartment dweller) had a piece of leaf spring cut to fit the slot in a wheel on his trailer. That had a lock in it. His snowmobile was chained to the trailer and trailer to a light pole. The chain to the light pole was cut and the trailer dragged two miles before the tire blew. The PD followed the black mark to an alley where another trailer was stollen along with the snowmobile that had been freed from the original trailer. If they want it, they'll get it. If they can't get IT, they'll get what's IN it. They'll take the prop and/or lower unit or entire outdrive if its an I/O. Install an alarm system. Covers can be made with triggers. Motion detectors and other tricks can be employed. Best bet is to find secure storage. I bought the biggest boat and swing tongue trailer that would fit in my garage. Could have gone another foot though.

 

[dingbat]

Re: How do you secure your boat on trailer at home.

The combination of a hitch lock and a good insurance policy have suited me well for the past 10 years

 

[Solittle]

Re: How do you secure your boat on trailer at home.

I'm with dingbat on the insurance. Get full coverage & replacement value. Also reread Upinsmoke's post a couple of times.

 

[SwampNut]

Re: How do you secure your boat on trailer at home.

I employ the security services of Rottweiler, Mastiff & Pit Bull, Inc. I just leave the doors unlocked, it's cheaper than buying them food.<br /><br />Otherwise, it's just a matter of how much effort do you put toward making your boat unattractive. You can't make it impossible to steal, just less attractive than another nearby target. Chains are fairly low on the effectiveness scale; easy to cut. Some of the new high-tech cables are much better. The wheel boot is pretty good for heavier boats, but they'll just drag the lighter ones.<br /><br />A paging alarm is always a good idea, but only effective if you're home and ready to act if it goes off.

 

[Bigjohn1]

Re: How do you secure your boat on trailer at home.

Spot-weld the coupler attaching nuts. Not fool-proof but just adds one more "delay" to a potential thief.

 

[boatgrunt]

Re: How do you secure your boat on trailer at home.

simple...buy a crappy boat (89 Citation with 4.3 OMC) like i did and no one will want to steal it. You get the piece of mind, a few extra coin in your pocket and still manage to have some fun here and there!

 

[flounderman]

Re: How do you secure your boat on trailer at home.

I have a chain thru each wheel and wrapped around the frame and then locked.Use as heavy a chain that you can get thru your spokes.

 

[Silvertip]

Re: How do you secure your boat on trailer at home.

A bolt cutter will take snap a chain or the lock that secures it in a heartbeat. Having nosey neighbors helps, especially if they are up late at night. <br /><br />Probably the cheapest alarm system is one that uses the loudest auto/truck horn you can find. Since thieves are generally not rocket scientists, they will not look for a trigger. A trigger can be made in a number of ways. A simple switch tucked behind a wheel that pops when the wheel is turned or if the cover is lifted can be easily fashioned. Noise and light are enemies of thieves. Even a fake (or real) security camera pointed at the boat can be effective. A motion sensor yard/spot light can be helpful as well. These are simple and relatively inexpensive tools. Just use your imagination. Even a simple two-conductor wire running under your garage door can be used as a trigger. A connector on the trailer would serve only to connect the two conductors. The brains of this alarm would be in your garage. The thieves see the cord and think its one of two things (charger or alarm). They pull the plug and your alarm goes off. They cut the cord, the alarm goes off. They ignore the cord and the alarm goes off when they attempt to drive away. If you have electric brakes, a hidden switch can be actuated when a wheel turns. By the time they figure out what's up they are very obvious to everyone around. Lastly -- Employ Smith & Wesson!

 

[jlinder]

Re: How do you secure your boat on trailer at home.

I like the alarm idea - especially with having the brains in the barn and just a wire to the boat that looks like a charger.<br /><br />The motion sensor with a light also sounds good. You could even mount a dummy camera next motion detector.<br /><br />What about some concrete in the ground with a big ring to lock to? Maybe a u-shaped piece of metal that goes around the axle and has holes in the end to allow a heavy locking bolt go through the metal and the ring sunk in the ground. <br /><br />The metal ring would be protected and the u shaped metal would be reistant to bolt cutters. There are some locking bolts used to prevent theft of your trailer ball that look like they would be hard to cut.<br /><br />I agree that if they want it they will get it. You simply have to make it so that it's not worth it, or it is eaiser to take someone elses boat.

 

[jlinder]

Re: How do you secure your boat on trailer at home.

Double post - admins please delete

 

[TXJOLE]

Re: How do you secure your boat on trailer at home.

I was thinking about one of those battery door alarms that Radio Shack sells. The 2 magnets kind. I'll figure something out. I'm looking into a camera too. I got full value replacment insurance but that means down time while you wait for all the paper work so I rather not deal with that.

 

[craze1cars]

Re: How do you secure your boat on trailer at home.

Having the whole boat stolen is one thing, but it's not as common NOR as easy as stealing PARTS of the boat. Driveway-parked boats are PRIME for such activity. And having the boat parked nose-first in the drive with the rear of the boat far from your home's windows will only ADD to the desirability of pulling parts from your rig, especially if you live on a lightly travelled street.<br /><br />So don't forget to take measures to protect your motor and/or outdrive. I'm not sure what you're buying...but if it's an I/O those Mercruiser outdrives are thief magnets, and it only takes a socket wrench and 3 minutes to drive away with your $3,000+ outdrive safely tucked into their trunk. $500 stainless props take exactly 10 seconds to remove. And $10,000 outboard motors are similarly easy to walk away with in very short time. There are special locks for sale that are specifically designed to prevent all of the above...probably available right here on Iboats. Buy and use them.<br /><br />I'd frankly be more concerned about this type of activity than having the entire boat towed away by a thief. But both do happen...<br /><br />I'm surprised only Swampnut has mentioned the #1 theft deterrent in the good ol' USA. A dog of ANY breed left outside overnight in a chained fence, as long as it's a dog that likes to bark at people nearby. They're far more sensitive to noise and movement than any alarm, and even if they can't get to the thief outside the fence, the constant barking will drive the thief away before any humans have a chance to check on what the dog's barking about.<br /><br />As for me? My boat is left inside a locked workshop, and my neighbors pair of fenced German Shepards bark viciously at me EVERY SINGLE TIME I walk across my backyard to the workshop door day or night. The neighbors apologize to me for the noise, and in return I give them a hardy THANK YOU for providing my workshop with the best no-charge security system compared to anything I could ever pay for. No thief could ever walk near my workshop without stirring up one heck of a racket.

 

[scotttu]

Re: How do you secure your boat on trailer at home.

Rottweiler and a 12 guage shotgun might help....<br /><br />Get the tongue off or a lock for it.<br /><br />We don't have any i ssues like that here, and I have homeowners insurance, and it sits on county property across the street (Considered ours under a lease).....<br /><br />We've caught every thief who ever entered our cul-d-sac neighborhood and every one of them were prosecuted (and taken down at gun point of course)......<br /><br />Course it helps having 3 cops live on the street