Is boat theft a problem?

[Eddy Edward]

Hello

I’m interested to find out some more about boat theft and I’m keen to hear your thoughts and opinions. I want to gain an idea of how widespread the problem is, how we could help reduce theft and how we could help you get your boat back.

Have you had a boat stolen? Do you know many people who have? How have you gone about trying to get them back? Have you managed to get your boat back? What do you think has happened to your boat? What would help you get it back? Have you ever bought or decided not to buy a boat because you were suspicious of it?

A little about myself, I am another student doing a project which is why I’ve set up a new account, I don’t want to link my personal account to my work. We are looking to actually make, produce or design something as a result of this; it is a practical project not a just theoretical exercise.

Thanks
Eddy

[Uisce]

It is if you're Daz Clarkson!

Might be worth Having a glance through the Lost/Found forum to get a better picture. I've always been laid back about leaving boats and kit around and have never had any issues. Lucky perhaps. The trend does 'seem' to be changing though. I have even finally got around to using rack guards and also looking at boat specific insurance.

I suspect in reality we can only guard against or deter oportunistic type thefts. If somebody really wants to get their hands on your boat and you don't have the luxury of a garage or secure indoor storage, they'll get them!

:(

[Ieuan Belshaw]

I've left my boat, paddle & kit outside... Should put it into the garage. Cheers for the reminder!

There was a post on here not long ago. Some lads on quad bikes stole some play boats and the owners weren't stood very far away!

[Uisce]

Indeed. The Daily Mail loved that one:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2132732/Police-chasing-thieves-stole-kayak-quad-bikes-culprits-werent-wearing-crash-helmets-injured.html

[Randy Fandango]

We had the rear fire door jemmied open at our centre and half a dozen boats, paddles etc pinched (approx ooh a hastily grabbed transit van load) in the ten minutes before our linked alarm summoned the rozzers.
A year or two later, two plus some paddles were recovered from our local travellers' site where no one "knew anything about them...."
I'd quite like to see your device to stop this happening in the future:
A free condom machine at the entrance to the traveller site perhaps....
Giles

[quicky]

You can get waterproof tracking devices for boats but they are too expensive and big for kayaks at the moment.

I Work with RFID systems (Radio Frequencey Identificateion Tages) and have one of those hidden in the boat with my personal details on. The can be read with a reader if the boat is stolen to prove ownership and cannot be reprogrammed. A mini tracker would be really cool.

[kayaker_13]

I have had my club broken into twice and both times they stole my boat and some one elses.
I got it back both times, first time the twat stuck it on ebay, the second he hid it in a near by field with stolen gear from another burglary.
They passed up the chance of stealing creek boats and only took Play boats and some paddles.
They clearly did not know ass from elbow when they took the boats as mine is worth about £300 and the moved an £800 play boat out of the way.

[Big Henry]

They clearly did not know ass from elbow when they took the boats as mine is worth about £300 and the moved an £800 play boat out of the way.

One way of looking at that is that those within the paddling community are basically trustworthy.

[Randy Fandango]

They clearly did not know ass from elbow when they took the boats as mine is worth about £300 and the moved an £800 play boat out of the way.

One way of looking at that is that those within the paddling community are basically trustworthy.

Hmmmm. We had a boat taken by a Poly group many years ago from the Dart get-out on a Saturday who didn't bring it back to the river on the Sunday but squirrelled it away at their bunk house.
When grassed on by another club who'd seen them do it and confronted by me they claimed it had been abandoned at the get out and were somehow doing us a favour. Strange as they left the get-out well before we did.
The guy who'd taken it had no intention of going to his bunk house to get the boat until after he'd had his paddle and it wasn't until I first threatened him with the police and then gave him a sob story (property of a heart-broken twelve year old blah blah blah) that he went to get it.
W*nker.
Giles

[filo]

A mate had his boat pinched from Miss Davis bridge on the Tryweryn, having left it there whilst walking back to the top to get his car. There were lots of boaters around and other boats on the banks.
Dave.

[Ieuan Belshaw]

One way of looking at that is that those within the paddling community are basically trustworthy.

Someone nicked my throw bag at the Tryweryn (top car park) last summer, I was maybe 15m from my boat with my back turned, totally bamboozled me...

[kayaker_13]

They clearly did not know ass from elbow when they took the boats as mine is worth about £300 and the moved an £800 play boat out of the way.

One way of looking at that is that those within the paddling community are basically trustworthy.

That is true, I believe that the paddlers are more trust worthy then members in other sports, but that’s just my opinion.
I put a message on UKRGB and I had about 6 people contact me with in two days saying they had seen it on Ebay, it was really nice to know that there was a good support from the paddling community.

Also on another note, only today I found a pikey snooping around the club sheds, neary had some more boats nicked!

[Eddy Edward]

Thanks for the replies so far guys.

I'm a little shocked that someone would steal a boat at the Trywery, that along with a few other stories I've read are pretty disguisting! I'm not sure a Condom machine would help, but a remotely triggered blob of explosive under the seat would be a pretty big deterent to any would be thieves.

RFID... in the boat with my personal details on.

I'm really interested in this Quicky, do you mind if I ask what lead you to do it? What advantages does the RFID chip have over writing your name and adrress in it, do you think it would help you get it back if it was stolen? do you think it would be possible in the future for all boats to include a chip? With modern smart phones starting to have NFC readers built into them it would be really easy to read the chip and check who owns the boat?

I have had my club broken into twice

Sorry to hear that Kayaker_13, How did you go about finding you boat on ebay? Is there anything that would have made it easier for you to search to see if someone was selling it online?

I'm hoping I may get some more responses on this thread still as it has had alot of views. One of the areas I am really interested in hearing about is how people have gone about trying to get their boats back? What would have helped you, what did you do that did and didn't help and what ultimately helped you get it back?

Thanks again, Eddy

[Eddy Edward]

I put a message on UKRGB and I had about 6 people contact me with in two days saying they had seen it on Ebay, it was really nice to know that there was a good support from the paddling community.

Seems like you answered my question whilst I was typing a reply. The person didn't wait long till they put it on ebay, do you think if the thief had left it 6 weeks or 6 months untill they tried to sell it you would have had the same response?

[kayaker_13]

Seems like you answered my question whilst I was typing a reply. The person didn't wait long till they put it on ebay, do you think if the thief had left it 6 weeks or 6 months untill they tried to sell it you would have had the same response?

No but this would only be becasuse people would forget.
There have been posts in the pasts on UKRGB where people have just seen dodgy Ebay adverts for kayaks and asked any one if they are missing and boats matching the description.

[quicky]

Hi Eddy,

I work for the Biggest RFID company in Eyrope. They put tags on all sorts of things. from food to car parts, Libraries, to clothing. They are not likes the ones you see in the shops. A lot more tiny. The idea of tagging my boat came from the number of boats that we getting stolen from places like Pyranha. It was and idea to use the heavy duty tages in a boat to prove ownership. (Was also talking to a few tracking companies to see what size they could make a waterproof tracker but making one smalle and light seems to be a little way off)

The work in a variety of ways. some cannot be wiped when coded, other can be recoded but only with the correct code entered to do it that only the tagging machine knows. It was just a proof of concept really but may help is the locating of stolen properties real owners.

[Gazza]

My boat was unstrapped and taken from the roof rack in a pub/restaurant car park in bedfordshire. Turned out to be some young kids (12-14 maybe) who were taking it down the dump to mess about in it and probably trash it. However as they were making their way through a housing estate a resident came driving home at break neck speed and screached to a halt next to them. He was just pulling up at at his house and happened to be driving like a loon, but it spooked them and they threw it and ran. Said resident thought this was strange behavouir and figured they'd stolen it so he threw it in his garden and called the police and I had it back within the hour.
How lucky.

Ironically we found out later my wife's uncle had spotted the kids removing it from my roof as he left the pub, but not realising it was my car and boat, thought nothing of it.

Since then I've invested in one of those cords with the ball on the end that you slam into the car door. I guess it won't stop a determined thief with wire cutters but might save it from the opportunists.

[SimonMW]

I've started putting my boat in the boot of the car if not driving with more than three people (Mondeo Estate. Could fit the QM2 in there!) Saves fuel due to aerodynamics too.

Gutting to hear that someone has had a boat stolen from CT though. I know it can be a problem at HPP. Shame these thieves aren't fully aware of how difficult a used kayak can be to shift on the used market! Maybe they'd think twice then!

[SimonMW]

Not sure how well this would work with kayaks?
http://www.smartwater.com/Personal.aspx

Won't prevent the theft but could be handy in proving that a kayak belonged to you if you are lucky enough to track down the culprit on eBay etc.

[Big Henry]

Have you tried typing "Stolen" into the search bar on here? You get over 1600 results to read through at your leisure.

Generally I think when people have had boats stolen have advertised the fact on this forum people look out for them (eBay, local rivers, etc) for a while until they are forgotten about after a while. Often threads are posted about eBay items that they consider dodgy - poor knowledge of what they are selling, describing things wrongly etc.

[scottdog007]

My mates were paddling the Giarsun Gorge last year in Switzerland and one lost his boat at the end of the day down the class 5 at the end. Some Austrian paddlers were coming past and planning to paddle this section, so my mates asked them if they found the boat could they put it on the bank and they would pick it up the next day.

The next day came along and as my mates got near to the Giarsun Gorge they suddenly saw the Austrian guys driving the opporsite direction with their boat on top. My mates turned the car and trailer around and took chase. It took ages to catch them but they caught up with them at the Switzerland/Austrian border and they pulled infront and stopped them. They didn't argue as my mate is 6'3" with a face that looks like it has seen too many rocks. :-)

[Mikers]

You can use a standard mobile phone as a tracker. Companies like this one will track a phone for a fee. http://www.followus.co.uk/ I've not found a free provider.

All you need is a phone waterproofed and hidden in your boat. Just charge the battery up and you'll be able to track it until the battery dies. Accuracy isn't brilliant, but it should work for recovering a stolen item.It ain't rocket science.

[mpooleman]

May seem daft but how encouraging manufacturers to mould one of those microchips that you use to identify dogs into all boats, you would just have to ensure it didnt cause a weak spot when choosing location, maybe under the security bars or near drain bung.

Its like a tiny ball-bearing, lasts for years and years, low cost (its only about £15 to get one put in a pet, I'm sure their much less to buy wholesale)

The police could just scan a boat and it would give them the owner.

Regards

Mark

[-Ginge-]

You can do it yourself. Buy one of the motorbike tank chipping kits, heat up a spot in the cockpit rim and fudge it it. If it gets pinched tell the police where it is and they can use the bike chip reader.