security ideas

It's starting to get annoying each time I visit the boat (in a gated storage facility, mind you) it seems things are missing... Nothing major (yet). a few extra pieces of cordage (which have since been secured inside the cabin) which I presume people used when moving items in/out of the facility and forgot to return...

Any thoughts on some rudimentary security to document who may be visiting? As mentioned, everything that's loose is in a locked cabin (out of sight).

I suspect they may try to use some of the miscellaneous lines I have tying down items, but I am concerned that perhaps halyards and other lines may be in danger of being "borrowed".

It is hopeless to imagine anything would be enforceable (and the storage agreement waives facility responsibility), but ideally I'd love something I could submit to the facility to encourage them to pay more attention. My only leverage would be bad press on the various web areas... but would love to give them the opportunity to correct any issues I am able to document first.

Not sure if the facility is near wi-fi so constant monitoring is probably out (air card would be expensive, no?).

Perhaps a game camera?

+1

What stops them from taking the camera?

I wondered about that, too... But if I mount on masthead, it's 8 feet beyond the stern and about 10 feet off the ground when it's sitting on the trailer...

So you could probably mess with it if you had a stepladder, but I don't think these are hardened criminals... yet.

And maybe I'm just being paranoid.. there aren't any other loose lines (that aren't attached to things non-sailors would identify) laying around... But they DID have to climb on the boat to find those lines they borrowed....

I miss my old barn. Kept out of sight, under cover, for free... too bad the property owner moved....

I always thought that caltrops in tall grass provided a great deterrent to theft.

Strip the boat of anything that can disappear, including/especially the halyard and anything else that can be "repurposed" by non-sailors. Hopefully they'll leave the tiedowns and bungees alone...

How often are you sailing this boat vs. "visiting" it, BTW?

Mike

I was afraid of that, Mike....

Halyards are internal and replacing them with a runner might encourage repurposig the lesser quality line which would leave me having to re-route a long internal run

As for usage, I consider this the "off" season for me. T-storms and fluky light winds are the norm until about September (oh, and hurricane thingies, too). The rest of the year I use the boat about 1-2 weekends / month. Race probably 2-3 times / yr. It's a dead-boat society member...

This storage facility is closer to home & office, so I have the opportunity to "visit" possibly 2x per week if needed. Not that it would prevent anything...

But yes, I'll recheck and remove anything that can get legs easily (gas tank, cordage, blocks) and lock or otherwise secure the rest..

or just F* it and spend $350,000 on a house with a yard

hmmmm... I like that line of thinking...

The people taking this stuff probably aren't major criminals. They're likely people that just haven't thought through the entire act of taking this or that off your boat (otherwise, major expensive stuff would be gone). They're probably looking for a quick fix to their own problem and haven't considered you or what you have to go through to deal with whatever they've taken. Place some signs around your boat that bring to mind the fact that they are impacting someone else and not just a "thing". Whether or not they're funny, passive aggressive, or just plain old aggressive it will probably fix it.

If that doesn't do it, I'm all for electrifying the trailer with a cow fence energizer (got a plug nearby?).

A sign that reads "This boat is property of Joffrey Baratheon" should be a good deterrent :P

they must be landlubbers... other boats are here but they didn't take the fender sitting right next to the rope.

The rope had a clear PVC sleeve (where it would rub the hull when I tied the boat with it) that they actually removed and left laying on the pavement next to the boat (BOTH lines).

That was my first clue something was amiss...

maybe a nice boat cover will work best for several things... sun damage, petty theft, and I could live in there when momma kicks me out for being an idiot myself

Sounds like you have two things working against you (besides the obvious low-lifes who don't respect other people's property): The availability of useful things and the potential appearance that the boat is abandoned if it rarely moves.

Could you replace the halyard with a monofilament runner or two? If you leave it and they take it, it will be expensive and difficult to replace.

Mike

Just hook it up to an electric fence power supply. Enough to get their attention, but not enough to send anyone to the morgue. A few other nice booby traps could be fun

I was thinking of just pulling the halyard all the way up to the sheave (right now it's shackled to the mast base), coiling up the line and stowing in some sort of canvas bag attached to the mast (so the line itself is out of sight).

But knowing me I'd hoist the mast and fasten the forestay before I realize I didn't return the halyard shackle back down to the mast base

I'm thinking I'll try the game camera for $50..

And maybe a boat cover, although I doubt that would keep determined people out.. maybe just keep temptation out of sight for the petty thieves?

I used a game camera a little over a month ago to catch a junkie stealing our tools from a jobsite.Now he's a jailbird junkie. The thing to remember is that they turn on (I used video mode) every time it senses movement and can fill a memory card rather quickly in an area where there is traffic.You'll have to check it and delete the card often. They also usually have a molded in loop so you can lock them closed and to something. Set it a little ways away from your boat and camouflage it with whatever is around. the thief probably won't even see it unless it's near what he's stealing.

That's what I was thinking.... it will be at the masthead which is behind the boat and might not be where someone would look...

Might paint it silver to match the mast.. Hiding in plain sight type of thing...

Would have to fashion some sort of bracket to mount it where the windex goes (which I remove for trailering anyway)... shouldn't be difficult.

How did you catch your junkies? Were the photos good enough for the police to recognize faces?

I think the $50 Tesco one is 3MP resolution...

i would talk with the managment of the property. ask to be moved near the office or video cameras
if they wont help, find another storage facitlity with better fencing, video cameras

I would get a tarp or boat cover as well.

I was debating moving, but the agreements with the other storage facilities all read the same "no responsibility, blah, blah, blah".

They also clearly state "Video surveillance cameras NOT monitored". I don't know exactly what that means other than they're either too lazy to actually keep data, or those cameras are fake.

And moving to another facility would cost an additional $125/month. yeeowch.

So, while I search my ideal solution (out-of-sight storage, preferably under cover) a boat cover may be the next best option.

Sat it in the locked room , amongst the tools. Very good video. Someone on the job recognized the guy from them. He then had the gall to come up to us watching the video with the cops, and tell us he ran some thieves off. best part is he was still wearing the exact same clothes as in the video. Police can't use the vid to arrest ( go figure) but used it to get a search warrant which led to the arrest.
At the mast head it very well may be triggered by the wind.

very nice. It's good that you caught that knuckle head. I know a guy that runs a sailing gear business (that rhymes with Mike) once had some guys clean out his workshop warehouse tools. There was a security camera system but the resolution was only good enough to get a head count on how many people were involved. The quality wasn't good enough to ID anybody...which would be a major let down.

You could/should ask management what it means, but if I had to guess, it just means that no one is sitting in a booth watching the live camera footage. I'm sure it's recorded, but then you're at their mercy as to how cooperative they'd be if you needed to have the police see the tapes.

You're probably on the right path with the cover. Besides, how long can a tramp last sitting out in FL sun?

Mike

It's an F-24, but yes, the netting would probably only last about 5 years tops sitting in the FL sun..

It is made by that Sunrise company though... looks pretty sturdy.

I'm booking about 5 regattas this coming season (starting September) and if I can cram in a few cruises to the Keys I shouldn't be leaving it sitting for too long at a stretch... But I guess it only takes about 5 minutes to swipe something...

The Tasco 3MP game camera says it's got good resolution to about 25' away (not so much on the IR / Night side), so that might just fit the bill... The building I'm backed up to is metal, so maybe a magnetic mount about 10' up would give me a good field of vision but still close enough to get decent resolution...

..perhaps that "good resolution" is adequate to determine if it's a fox or a deer in the picture?

If the law around your area is like ours then the police can use the images in court provided you gave fair warning that there was video surveillance. Fair warning here is obviously visible cameras or signs. Maybe worth asking them.

Here in Fla. you don't have to give fair warning of video. Why would you warn them? Warnings only keep honest people honest. Warnings will only help them defeat the cameras. You do have to warn if your recording audio inside a building.

I had a problem with coward kids throwing rocks through an open garage door in my shop. I installed an 8 camera system with three of them mounted looking out that door from different angles. I mounted them low so I could get straight on images. Didn't take long before I got him on video. Worth every dime to see the 14 year old tough guy handcuffed in the back of a cop car crying.

I would use the game camera. However I would use more than one. At least two and maybe three. One mounted under the boat might give you a look at a their car or a tattoo on their leg. Maybe mount one on the inside of the drop in board looking back at the ****. Maybe you could make some sort of canvas bag to cover the masthead that held a camera so it wasn't easily visible.

that sounds like a good bit of work...

So far, I haven't noticed anything else has been repurposed... but the line hasn't returned either...

I may have to limit my target area (especially the movement activated cameras) since I've got other trailers in the space(s) next to me, so there might be a lot of photos of cars/people wandering about.

So perhaps the magnet mounted single camera for now, to see if (1) people frequent the boat, and (2) to make it obvious I'm keeping track (the boat is big enough they have to climb aboard to mess with stuff for the most part).

And it will take my selfies when I stop by the boat 3x per week. There seems to be another dude who's in his unit almost daily (I think it's being used as his workshop). Maybe I'll buy him a few beers occasionally and ask him to keep an eye out...

hmm....are you sure he's not the villain??

I wondered about that myself Ronald... but he's got so much stuff in that unit I can't quite pick out if any of the ropes look like mine (should have spliced eyes in them)...

Two Goldwing motorcycles, some nice woodworking equipment, and some other stuff... If I start seeing winch drums or halyards, it will be time to break out the .45

And a game camera for the ensuing fun they will have and the endless hours of entertainment for you!

kind of like a cat on tinfoil...


If I get around to setting it up (rebuilding the disc brakes on the trailer right now... ugh) I'll post the photos...

Maybe hanging up a video surveillance sign and a fake security camera is enough to scare people away.

well, it has been a little quiet there for the past few weeks. I took off pretty much anything that could be "liberated" or "repurposed" without a large amount of work so maybe they just went hunting for something easier to get.

Or maybe it was just one of those random things that got me tweaked..

So it will take another 30 minutes to get the boat ready for a sail, but I guess that's the price for not being able to keep the boat at the house...

But sailing isn't on the top of the list right now... Maintenance is. I'm seeing water in the amas which is likely coming in through the inspection ports when it rains, so I'll be removing and re-sealing those (4 per side) after I'm done with the brakes. Then, it's off to inspect the bunkboards and coverings on that, re-wire the brake lights, and troubleshoot the nav lights on the boat (stern light is out).

So, as long as no hurricanes disrupt my schedule, I'll be done in a month or so. The good thing is that most of this maintenance can be completed between daysails...

Maybe all of that maintenance will serve a dual purpose, and more visible activity (from you) will serve as an additional deterrent for the thieves.

Mike

on the nav lights; You might find an easy fix if you start with the bulb/bulb socket connections and make sure the bulbs are seated with some di-electric grease between them and the contacts in the socket (dielectric grease is available at most automotive stores).

Check. Also looked at the bulb and it appears the filament is intact.

My next step is to check to see if any voltage is coming to the socket. The bow lights work, so I know there is energy coming from the panel....

Lobster season is fast approaching