Boat Security While at a Public Dock

[JZammetti]

Another newbie question posted to the old salts,

When you dock at a public place, how do you know your boat is safe from theft or malice? I went on my local river and a town had a public dock and shuttle service to an eatery. The dock was unattended, so we didn?t leave the boat to get lunch. I was afraid someone would either board my boat (bowrider) or untie my lines and shove it out into the river. How do you suppress the fear?

 

[JZammetti]

Re: Boat Security While at a Public Dock

True about the car, I guess due the newbie status I fear things, lol how long does it normally take to release the fears, God, I sound like a parent with its' child..LOL LOL

 

[Home Cookin']

Re: Boat Security While at a Public Dock

hide any equipment that someone might grab--tackle box, handheld VHF.
Take your key; maybe put a small padlock on one locker and put your stuff in there--"just enough to keep an honest man honest."
It would be highly unlikely for someone to untie your boat for meaness, as long as you behaved yourself out on the water and at the ramp!
No one will take your ropes, paddle, boat hook, etc. except to "borrow" them.
On my small outboards I used to just remove the gas line.
Used to be there was an honor system among boaters and you could leave anything anywhere. Now it's not quite that way but there's an element of it.

 

[Rocky_Road]

Re: Boat Security While at a Public Dock

You can leave a note on the windshield:

"Be back in 5 minutes"...and don't put a time stamp on it!

Seriously...I would do what you did...and not leave your boat.

 

[salty87]

Re: Boat Security While at a Public Dock

some places are just too sketchy, esp if there's nobody around...no other boaters/boats and the public can just walk up.

have someone bring food back to the boat. eat at the dock or on the water.

 

[QC]

Re: Boat Security While at a Public Dock

Shut off the battery or fuel, hide the key. I do not like to take the key off of the boat though. I see this as a safety issue . . . sometimes you have to start fast, so I don't like having to hunt for it.

If all of your fears go away, then I think I'd get out of boating. Needs to be an obsession or it won't really work out very well . . . My .02 . . .

 

[180shabah]

Re: Boat Security While at a Public Dock

Pay the ins. premium and just relax.

 

[redone4x4]

Re: Boat Security While at a Public Dock

I just look around. as long as theres a much nicer, bigger boat closeby, i dont mind lol. chances are they want nothing to do with my little bayliner if theres a 30 ft Hallet or something with wakeboards all over it haha. thats what i tell myself anyways, but i do take the fishfinder and radios off the boat when leaving.

I have a "boat" bag, and everything critical goes in that bag. that bag then goes wherever I go. no more lost keys, wallets, phones, drain plug and wrench, radios, etc. its all in one bag and its always with me. it was a pain at first but i have gotten used to it, and left mine overnight many times now with no incidents. Some marinas have "security" or at least a courtesy patrol as well.

 

[haulnazz15]

Re: Boat Security While at a Public Dock

Shut off the battery or fuel, hide the key. I do not like to take the key off of the boat though. I see this as a safety issue . . . sometimes you have to start fast, so I don't like having to hunt for it.

If all of your fears go away, then I think I'd get out of boating. Needs to be an obsession or it won't really work out very well . . . My .02 . . .

Sometimes you have to start fast? Like when? After you've robbed the marina store or done a dine-n-dash at the restaraunt?!! lol. I would just stow everything in site (life-vests, ropes, etc), then lock the other electronics/valuables in the glove box if available. You could even just hide a sack somewhere if you wanted as most thieves won't take their time pulling up seats and looking behind battery boxes to find hidden treasure, they are just out for what's in site.

Take your cell phone, wallet, and the boat keys. I don't hear of people untying boats and setting them adrift too often so I wouldn't worry about that either.

 

[Gary H NC]

Re: Boat Security While at a Public Dock

Thats the only reason i like having a small cuddy...it locks.
My VHF is fixed mount but i do lock up my fish finder and other stuff.
I figure if they want it bad enough they will get it anyway.

 

[IVAZ]

Re: Boat Security While at a Public Dock

You could go to a shop that sells gag/prank supplies and get some fake poop to put inside the boat. A pitbull that has rabies and aids would be a good deterrent also.
My boat is old, I have no problem walking away from it.

 

[ziggy]

Re: Boat Security While at a Public Dock

i'll walk off and leave mine too. for a little while. usually i'm fairly close by though. i'll take my wallet and i might take my key with me. i'm with ivaz though. other boats look more lucritive than mine usually. i don't have anything particularly expensive to take either. unless they want my cooler with my steaks in it... ya, right... cheese and crackers is more like it..

I see this as a safety issue . . . sometimes you have to start fast

a fast getaway qc? on a i/o boat? that requires 5 min. of blower time prior to start? maybe even a sniff?

 

[scoutabout]

Re: Boat Security While at a Public Dock

A lot has to do with the dock and the environment. If it's a place I know well, I'll leave it but first take the precautions noted by various people above. Or if I can see it from the patio, restaurant, etc. that always is a plus. Other places, maybe not. Generally, I'm more worried about my vehicle and trailer. People know if you're not in sight, chances are you are gone for hours and they have some real time to rip you off or do some vandalism.

Sorry -- that probably didn't put your mind at ease!

 

[QC]

Re: Boat Security While at a Public Dock

Okay, clarification in order . . . the key thing for me is not marina specific, but more just a general thing. At anchor or adrift is probably a better example. If I need to move for anything I don't want to be hunting down the key, so mine never leaves the boat, and usually not the ignition. I don't run the blower if I am about to go over a waterfall . . . okay, so i don't boat anywhere near any waterfalls . . . Get my drift? .. . . Pun intended.

 

[H20Rat]

Re: Boat Security While at a Public Dock

if you are really concerned about someone untying it (and at docks with kids running around unsupervised, this probably is a real possibility), you could use a cable lock designed for a bike and run it THROUGH the center of the cleats. if that is too short it wouldn't be hard to rig up a cable lock system on your own.

 

[Expidia]

Re: Boat Security While at a Public Dock

Delaware! I'd bring a sandwich and eat on the boat

I have lockable lockers and put my electronics in them, but I still only mostly eat in restaurants that I can pull up to their docks and still see the boat.

I will sometimes walk a few blocks to a nearby town while I leave my rig at a public dock, but the small towns on the lakes I frequent here in upstate NY have pretty much zero crime around the docks.

Still, if you have insurance you need to ask yourself is that sandwich worth the probably $250 deductible? Better off having someone stay with the boat and bring food back. Periods of recession only increases the instance of petty crimes.

 

[BWR1953]

Re: Boat Security While at a Public Dock

Well, I have to relate my story here.

Back in the mid-80s, a buddy and I were striper fishing Silver Lake in southern California and the fishing was awful. After several hours,we noticed the aroma of fresh burgers and fries coming from a restaurant up on the canyon wall of the lake. So, we headed over to the dock, tied up and just left everything rigged up, unsecured and laying in the boat.

About the time our burgers arrived, we looked down at my boat, some 150 feet away and saw the most horrendous thing...

...a school of several hundred stripers were just tearin' the livin' bejeezus outta the water less than 50 feet from my boat! Shad and shiners were jumpin' 2 or 3 feet outta the water trying to get away!

DANGIT!! LOL!

 

[ziggy]

Re: Boat Security While at a Public Dock

I don't run the blower if I am about to go over a waterfall . . . okay, so i don't boat anywhere near any waterfalls . . . Get my drift? .. . . Pun intended.

man do i get your drift. i don't boat near any waterfalls either. but i do boat the missouri river that has buoy markers on it... lack of attention floating down the river a couple years ago left me with seconds to start my i/o or mow down a green can sideways. i think the can would have won but i don't know because i moved out of its way fast enough. only a second at most to spare, i was way to close. no blower either... lesson learned with my heart in my throat that day. good thing the key was in the ign, where it always is when i'm onboard..

 

[grego]

Re: Boat Security While at a Public Dock

I just leave my puppy on board, she,thinks that she ownes the boat.

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: Boat Security While at a Public Dock

it really boils down to common sense. if it looks bad, probably is. i leave boats docked at the boat ramp all the time, while i go get parts. never a problem. but there are a few old guys always around fishing from the docks, and we are all friends.