The gall of some of these lowlifes in society is amazing.
Hope the fella gets it back in one piece.

John

I'll likely end up saying a lot because, this is a pet subject of mine & I have a declared "vested interest" in that I supply boat tracking and theft alarms systems.

Anyone interested has only to visit my website forum to learn all they need to protect their boat!

I didn't join all the dots for you guys in my post here yesterday.....but if you looked closely at my GPRX post, you'd quickly realise - a GPRX enabled mobile phone hidden away inside that or any other boat, would make it instantly "trackable" back to where the lowlifes have it stashed! ;o)

How cheap is a pre paid mobile phone these days, some are free with certain phone plans aren't they? Add in the $29.oo odd for GPRX software upgrade and you essentially have yourself a hidden tracking device! (Winks as good as a nod to a blind man!).

Of course it would be prefferable the crooks didn't know these sorts of details... :rollseyes: - so how do we inform the honest people then?

There is some possibility that crooks can get a shopping list for boats, or parts from boats, like expensive electronic's, just by perusing the forums and looking at the details of members and their vessels.

People these days SHOULD, try to protect their info a little more maybe....erase the rego numbers from boat photo's before you post them - don't take pics of it outside your house with the letterbox number or street sign visible, or your car/trailer rego etc..

All of that just makes it a little too easey for the scum to shop for your boat!!

Sadly - govt databases aren't as secure as we like to think and things like car rego's & boat rego's CAN and sometimes are used to get your address etc...

There are all sorts of reverse phone number search programs available on the internet these days (e.g. you post up your phone number for someone to arrange a fishing trip and a crook can then run your address from it)!

Try to make life as hard as you can for the crims..is my advice.

Likewise client databases at Marine dealers, who sold you your boat or electronics, or service your boat may not be as secure as we would wish..

Just be careful is all - not saying that there was anything more the poor fellow here could or should have done to stop people stealing his boat - maybe he was just unlucky!

Only last season here in Mandurah a group of guys were having a BBQ and few beers in the back yard one evening prior to a early morning fishing jaunt the next day!

As one of em left in his car he notiiced the sounder unit missing from the boat dash, in his headlights as he was leaving!

Some low lifes had stolen the color Furuno sounder, from the boat on the front lawn while the guys were laughing and having a feed and few beers out the back! They didn't just take the head unit either - this was a complete bracket, transducer and power wires / fuse everything!

They must have pulled the transducer wire right thru the loom front to rear to do this - talk about balls of brass!

Only last week I went to pick up the bro in laws boat from Perth - which hadn't been used in a year! When we tried to unlock the hitch lock clamp - it wouldn't come apart for love or money and we sprayed crc etc - used the key and tapped gently with a ball pein hammer for an hour to no avail!. In the end One good hit from a slightly larger ball pein hammer was sufficient to pop the whole lock/clamp off over the front of the tow hitch!

Of course once we got it off, it fell apart didn't it! Rollseyes.

If you do go to my forums - and look under vessel security heading - you'll see a article with a video - of locksmiths demonstrating a set of 'bump keys' available off the internet that will open over 90% of all the locks in the world in 3 seconds or less. So, all the locks in the world don't mean much these days - they are outdated technology!!

You can delete this post Adam / Andy if you feel so inclined - but until boaters and fishers address the issue of vessel security seriously - it's a waste of bandwidth IMHO to post "be on the lookout" notices for stolen boats like this one above - and deleting the advice I post only makes the crooks lifes easier IMHO!

At the end of the day we all have to assume some responsibility for our own security because no one else is going to do it for us!
Police are flat out looking after crimes against the person and haven't really the resources, time, or inclination, to solve thefts!

Yes, I try and make a living helping people, with vessel security products. What I've offered here is "free advice", from a qualified & licensed vessel security specialist, nothing more - in the hope it might help a few people keep ownership of their beloved boats a little longer.

Sadly these days - being insured isn't enough, once your boats gone - you'll find out that unless you had an agreed value policy with sworn valuations on your boat every 2 years - that you'll only be paid out for market value (which won't be enough to replace your boat)!

If your unlucky enough that bump keys are used to steal your boat - then the locks will all be opened and there will be no sign of forced entry into your yard or vessel...when you call the police to report it! In that case (no sign of forced entry) - the insurer is within their rights to assert that you must have forgot to lock it up and failed in your obligation under the insurance contract to take reasonable steps to secure it against theft, and therefore deny any liability for the claim!

Anyone who takes no steps (and the locks as I've described = no steps) to protect their boat - I am sorry to say, doesn't have a leg to stand on when it is stolen!. Likely your insurer MAY not make you whole again!

I can guarantee that probably not one boater who reads this will do a damned thing to protect their vessels security, in the next week, month or year because we are all pretty much apathetic!.

Then when we are the vitim - we want sympathy, money from our insurer and help from our fellow anglers / boaters to "be on the lookout" for our vessel??

Sorry people - the days of free tows when you broke down and honest neighbours are long since gone! Guy 3 doors up from me had all his fishing rods stolen outta his shed only last week.

Most crimes against us are carried out by people who have been in our yard or live within 250 meters of us! (Crime stat fact!)

Our boat was on the canals here in Mandurah for 2 weeks last year when we arrived before we disturbed 2 guys trying to break into it at 2.30 Am one Thursday morning!

I was lucky this time - & it was enough for me to take steps to better protect mine...

The rest of you may NOT be so lucky and may not get a warning, as I did!

If you choose to do nothing, then I am sorry but IMHO you deserve no sympathy when the inevitable happens! Thats a tough nosed way to be, but experience has taught me just how apathetic boaters are and that nmakes it tough to have sympathy after the fact when your trying to help them before the fact and they don't want to know!

Some folks you just can't help!

Cheers!

"Piscator, non solum piscator" - "A fisherman, not just a catcher of fish"

http://www.flywest.com.au

Guaranteed 1000 words in every post aye flywest ;))

-----------------
Jay Burgess

Yeah - just call me Biro - guaranteed 1000 words in every refill! ;o)

Accidentaly vaccinated at birth with a grammaphone needle and ain't shut up much since!

Ever since we disturbed the guys breaking into our boat - it's been one a them subjects that mere mention of it pushes my buttons!

If fishing were as easey as getting a rise outta me it would be called catching not fishing! LOL

Cheers!

"Piscator, non solum piscator" - "A fisherman, not just a catcher of fish"

http://www.flywest.com.au

Here is Ira's quote from FWA forums.

"hey guys

cheers for your help yeah sorry for the late reply but the boat was recoved like basically around the corner only wish i had gone for a drive when i knew it was stolen it was returned but WITH OUT THE 90hp evinrude little *naughty word* cut all the cables and took the motor off and dumped the boat and drove off so if you see or hear about a 90ph Evinrude with a serial number 003979929 contact the police or me on my mobile with is 0404824890 "

It is very common now for theives to tow the boat only a block or two away at best and dump it in a quiet street where, they can watch it at a distance from someone house window or factory, or parked car etc.

This way if it has a tarcker and the owner or police show up there are no where to be found!

If no one shows up in 12 - 24 hours they return and tow it further to strip what they want from it!

It is always a good idea to drive round a bit if your boats stolen - likely as not it won't be far away - the crooks are dead scared of being caught with it behind their vehicle because of a hidden GPS tracking device!!

Cheers!
"Piscator, non solum piscator" - "A fisherman, not just a catcher of fish"

http://www.flywest.com.au