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.