Boat broken into

wilkinsonsails

Active member
Joined
4 Jan 2010
Messages
929
Location
Kent
Visit site
Discovered the padlock forced on the boat today in Faversham Creek.
Hand held icom VHF, Garmin GPS binos and power tools gone .Police coming to look next week.:(
Best go round the jumbles again.
 

Danbury

New member
Joined
17 May 2013
Messages
599
Location
Southsea
Visit site
Discovered the padlock forced on the boat today in Faversham Creek.
Hand held icom VHF, Garmin GPS binos and power tools gone .Police coming to look next week.:(
Best go round the jumbles again.

I'm not a criminologist nor am I Police trained.... but I reckon they'll be long gone by next week...
 

chewi

Active member
Joined
8 Oct 2007
Messages
1,805
Location
Poole
Visit site
Sorry to hear your trouble
Mine was broken into 3 times in one season, and that really takes the fun out of it.
I got to know the police quite well that year, and they told me fingerprints in a seawater
environment were unviable within a day or two.

Thankfully have had no more trouble since I moved to a deeper mooring.
 

savageseadog

Well-known member
Joined
19 Jun 2005
Messages
23,301
Visit site
Discovered the padlock forced on the boat today in Faversham Creek.
Hand held icom VHF, Garmin GPS binos and power tools gone .Police coming to look next week.:(
Best go round the jumbles again.

Not a great idea to leave valuables like that on a boat. I know you're not to blame but the reality is that it rewards the scum.
 

C08

Well-known member
Joined
8 Feb 2013
Messages
3,725
Visit site
Not a great idea to leave valuables like that on a boat. I know you're not to blame but the reality is that it rewards the scum.

Yes but it is such a pain to take home plotter, radar , HB Compass,HHVHF,binos etc every time of leaving the boat, particularly if you are on a mooring rather than a walk off. I was broken into in Red Wharf Bay twice in the mid 90's and I recall the police were totally disinterested in the thefts and I had to demand that they took details of stuff stolen, but then that was in Wales and I am not Welsh! My insurers then(PANTS) were excellent.
 

jerrytug

N/A
Joined
31 May 2006
Messages
3,778
Location
Lorient
Visit site
I tied up on that exact wharf for a month or so, and it has a very safe feeling, the last place you would expect thieving. I used to happily wander away from the unlocked boat without it even occurring to me to think of padlocks etc. So the owners of the robbed yacht were in no way negligent but extremely unfortunate, a one in a million stroke of bad luck, totally atypical on that mooring.
 

Danbury

New member
Joined
17 May 2013
Messages
599
Location
Southsea
Visit site
I tied up on that exact wharf for a month or so, and it has a very safe feeling, the last place you would expect thieving. I used to happily wander away from the unlocked boat without it even occurring to me to think of padlocks etc. So the owners of the robbed yacht were in no way negligent but extremely unfortunate, a one in a million stroke of bad luck, totally atypical on that mooring.

I was brought up in Faversham, so I know the area quite well... the problem with the Creek area is that it is a short walk to a council estate that's generally full of thieving low-life... There is a similar area close to the Oare Creek side of town !
 

Robin

Well-known member
Joined
30 May 2001
Messages
18,063
Location
high and dry on north island
Visit site
Discovered the padlock forced on the boat today in Faversham Creek.
Hand held icom VHF, Garmin GPS binos and power tools gone .Police coming to look next week.:(
Best go round the jumbles again.

beware the repeat 'visit' after they think you will have replaced the first instalment!

Fit an alarm, we used a simple battery powered PIR alarm (about 30 quid IIRC from B&Q, with an extra external speaker as well fitted inside the cabin, I think 130 decibels is unpleasant to the thief even if nobody around outside hears anything. We also had a simple rape/shed alarm fitted to the sliding hatch ( they have a pull pin activation method) and fitted 'Alarm fitted' warning labels to all hatches. We were done in our then (UK) YC marina and subsequently survived two return visits when others on the same pontoon did not so maybe we encouraged them to shop elsewhere, good for us but not so good for neighbours. In Our case the police were slow to arrive and did nothing even though 12 boats were done on one pontoon in one night. They said they knew the likely culprits but could find no evidence, probably because they didn't bother to look or even take fingerprints from the obviously handled stuff around. They spent more time warning me of the consequences of rigging scrote traps myself than they did investigating anything.
 
Last edited:

Seajet

...
Joined
23 Sep 2010
Messages
29,177
Location
West Sussex / Hants
Visit site
A few years ago mine was among 6-7 boats broken into while ashore at a club near Chichester Harbour ( I can't identify it as I used to be in BORG which upsets some thugs ).

Our ' police liaison member ' very wisely suggested all we owners hang back until the ' scene of crime ' plod arrived.

When they eventually turned up, the woman plod said to me " on you get then " -- ' what about fingerprints ? ' --- " Oh that's far too much trouble for this ".

She then asked me for my smashed alarm as a souvenir.

Still that's better than my Dad got when his boat was broken into on her mooring; expensive hatch smashed, they cooked and slept aboard so all sorts of evidence, a lot stolen and a lot inc all his tools thrown over the side.

Police did not even come.

A couple of years ago I was there when 4 young scum stole a dinghy from the slip; a friend called 101 and gave police a clear description, where they would land in 45 minutes time etc; despite it being handed to them on a plate the police didn't turn up.

In a recent incident at our club, we had a spate of minor break ins and thefts, all the same MO.

Then the Coastguard were called to a youngster stuck in the dangerous mud; the Daily Mail next day had a pic of him being rescued with a clear trail of footprints to a club boat !

He and his fellow scum were said to be too young for a meaningful prosecution, but we made sure to discreetly photograph them, now on file.
 
Last edited:

Miller12

New member
Joined
18 Mar 2014
Messages
5
Visit site
That's terrible. I haven't been cleaned out like that (knock on wood), but the poster who mentioned the council estates is right - be wary of those. It's not that they're necessarily dangerous (although many are), but they do have a lot of people who are thieving scum, desperate, or both.
An expensive lesson learned... Courage!
 

Jim@sea

Well-known member
Joined
12 Feb 2010
Messages
4,222
Location
Glasson Dock
Visit site
Although a few years ago after the first theft from my boat I had a small engraving machine and I engraved " everything" with my name and postcode. Which ended up after two thefts with both people being caught.
I now have a small suitcase and pack the most valuable items in it and bring them home.
 

rorysmith

New member
Joined
29 Jan 2015
Messages
5
Location
Dorset
Visit site
A bottle of cheap brandy heavily laced with senacot, in an obvious place in the galley, won't stop thefts but may give a certain feeling of satisfaction later.
 

Robin

Well-known member
Joined
30 May 2001
Messages
18,063
Location
high and dry on north island
Visit site
Although a few years ago after the first theft from my boat I had a small engraving machine and I engraved " everything" with my name and postcode. Which ended up after two thefts with both people being caught.
I now have a small suitcase and pack the most valuable items in it and bring them home.

To add to my earlier replies, the suitcase idea whilst sensible is not so easy for boats with lots of equipment that normally stays on board. In the case of the burglaries our YC marina experienced, the thieves were after stuff that was easy/quick to sell darn the pub to get some quick cash money for drugs or whatever and marine elewctronics etc were not stolen. They were stealing stuff like car radios ( harder to get from cars), 'designer' clothes, like smart waterproofs that might look trendy to a possible buyer. We lost 2 wet weather jackets, all our on board booze stock ( we used to do regular milk runs to France for wines etc so had a good stock) a pair ofcompass binoculars, and a Canon single sheet compact 12v printer for my laptop (not much use or expensive, but irreplaceable as no longer sold. Next door lost similar stuff plus a petrol generator on the first visit and it's replacement generator on their second visit. Others lost similar stuff and most had more break in damage to deal with than we had. After these events our YC started a voluntary marina boatwatch patrol scheme and later in conjunction with the police offered a 'smart water' marking system to members where items could be marked with a traceable code visible under special lighting. Incidentally the marina had security gates with swipe card entry, also video cameras but the scum arrived by water thus avoiding the entry gates and the video recordings only showed a member taking his dog for a walk early next morning and a couple of scrotes in full face covered hoodies, what a surprise::disgust:
 
Last edited:

Alfie168

Well-known member
Joined
28 May 2007
Messages
57,419
Visit site
My father was a dentist. Any break in at the surgery was potentially very expensive if they damaged equipment. The police suggested he always leave a bit of easy to find cash in a drawer. This meant the thieves had an easy time and left other stuff alone and departed more speedily. It also meant they were less inclined to vandalism.

It might be possible to exercise a similar psychological approach to petty boat thefts. It won't deter the outboard motor collection gangs though.

Oh, it worked by the way. He had three burglaries in 30 years and each time they just took the cash. No damage to other kit. I accept that dental kit is not exactly tradeable goods unlike boat stuff.
 
Last edited:
Top