hidden Satellite GPS anti theft Tracker

AlexKT7

Member
Joined
2 Apr 2019
Messages
83
Visit site
Last edited:

Spanjaard

Active member
Joined
1 Jul 2021
Messages
159
Visit site
True story:

Someone steals a brand new pickup truck from our yard at work. The security cannot do anything to stop the van.
From the office we contact the GPS tracker company; they remain in communication with an office manager.
5 other managers started to hunt down the van that was driving erratically and in circles. Within 15 minutes the tracker stops.

All managers and the police arrive at the same location where the tracker says it is located the van. There is no van. The tracker has been throw in a road gulley and the van is gone.

Value of the van £30K.
 

Csfisher

Member
Joined
11 Oct 2021
Messages
61
Visit site
Thankfully on a boat there are an awful lot of places one could hide a tracker. That's the easy part, just be creative. Challenge would be hiding the wiring in such a way that it can't easily be traced, perhaps by splicing in to an existing piece of equipment that's usually left turned on on?
Although boats wiring can be so messy sometimes, not sure anyone would spare the time to start checking the wiring that intently for a tracker. On a car it's easier to spot what has been added on aftermarket such as a tracker.

Question would be, if your boat is stolen - who's going to be tracing it down for you? I'm not aware of the police having any (many) maritime patrol craft capable of going very far offshore and certainly not any that I would think they're able to spare to chase down an insured stolen yacht.

Of course I'm presuming a stolen yacht is going to be inediately sailed abroad somewhere, or simply stripped for parts such as your navigation suite etc.

I would be keen to find a tracker with a considerable battery life as any thief I should think would be smart enough to know of the possibility of a tracker or AIS transmitter etc and so would potentially disconnect the batteries upon stealing the boat. And I would think recovery of said boat may take more than a few days so you'd want to be able to track it for that entire time.

What a GPS tracker CAN certainly do for you though, is provided you with notification that your boat has moved from where you left it which means if you don't visit your boat regularly, at least you'd know immediately rather than several weeks later potentially that it's gone. Would also be useful if you keep your boat on a swinging mooring to notify you that it's broken free rather than await a marina or yacht club to notify you, even if it won't save the boat from Washing up somewhere you'd at least be able to attempt salvage straight away.

Soo good battery life, and one that can be configured to notify you by text or app that it's moved would be on my criteria.

Also - how does a no mobile signal tracker work?
Which by the way is another consideration, if your boat is taken offshore away from phone signal you wouldn't be able to track it anymore!
 

Csfisher

Member
Joined
11 Oct 2021
Messages
61
Visit site
Actually just read the description for that first product you listed, seems sort of ideal. Covers most my points and with that much Battery life you don't really need to wire or in, just remember to charge once a month or two. With no wiring to worry about you could get very creative with hiding it. Even something simple like hiding it inside a mattress or seat cushion would work. Anything that isn't likely to be removed from the boat. Or behind any one of the plethora of false panels on a sailboat, bottom of a hanging locker for example.

If you REALLY wanted to hide it, you could make a false compartment somewhere with some grp patch material and paint.
 

Csfisher

Member
Joined
11 Oct 2021
Messages
61
Visit site
Sorry, just read even more - it's movement activated and so you'd never get anywhere near the 4 month battery life if it's on a sailboat rocking at your berth I imagine.
 

jmnapier

Active member
Joined
29 Jun 2007
Messages
177
Visit site
My question would be…..
If the owner can track the device what is to stop a thief looking for and finding the device using some sort of scanner? Not understanding the technology(encryption maybe?) I don’t know if it’s possible, or if it can be stopped.
any ideas?
 

Alfie168

Well-known member
Joined
28 May 2007
Messages
57,423
Visit site
There are active trackers and passive ones that need switching on. Thieves have scanners and can easily locate active trackers and remove them. There are some you tube videos of a company who market a passive tracker ( it's only activated when needed so more difficult for thieves to know if there is one and where it is located) and go out themselves to locate and hopefully recover the vehicles. What amazed me in my naivety from watching the videos is how little interest there is from the police in recovering rich people's toys. Also the difficulty of entering private property without a warrant which gives thieves ample chances to conceal/ remove stuff and/ or escape. I recommend watching some of their you tube videos as they are done in real time as it were. The company is called Automatrics.

Automatrics
 
Last edited:

Wing Mark

Well-known member
Joined
29 Sep 2021
Messages
1,129
Visit site
Does anyone have a hidden Satellite GPS anti-theft Tracker installed? We are looking to get one thus looking for recommendations. Googled Satellite GPS Tracker (No Mobile Signal Needed) [Free Next Day Delivery] or https://www.amazon.co.uk/Wasserdicht-Echtzeit-Professional-Anti-verloren-Motorcycle/dp/B07DCQXPPC which seems to be fit for purpose. we need a long battery and ideally one-off cost (i.e. not a subscription)
thanks
That's basically a GPS and a 2G phone module. With a big LiIon battery.
So if you keep checking its location, you use up the battery quicker than their standby time.

Some thieves will have the equipment to find this kind of device. If you're in the business of nicking S-class Mercs etc that ight be a tool of the trade.
I know of people who had a new lorry nicked, the thieves knew where to look for the tracker and left it behind.
Actually on a lorry, there are not that many places to hide something and still get GPS and GSM reception.

Could be a good idea for some boats, like RIBs.
Most yachts, people should be more concerned about bilge water, battery volts and lines chafing?
 

prv

Well-known member
Joined
29 Nov 2009
Messages
37,363
Location
Southampton
Visit site
Ten years or so ago my then lodger had his motorbike stolen, and then recovered using one of these trackers, so they do work.

I'm a bit sceptical of the usefulness on a yacht, though - does anyone here know of any yachts being stolen, because I don't think I've heard of any. Yachts broken into and gear stolen, yes, but not the whole vessel.

Pete
 

mattonthesea

Well-known member
Joined
28 Nov 2009
Messages
1,301
Location
Bristol
ayearatsea.co.uk
How many yachts are stolen per year in Uk, Europe, world?
It's not like cars where there is an active market for stolen vehicles or parts.
I watched a TV programme about boat theft 30 of years ago. The stolen, from Solent area, yacht was found by an insurance employee - in southern Spain. A retired couple had bought it in good faith. Good,TV??

I heard of a French guy who stole yachts to see how far he could get.

And my previous boat was stolen from the previous owner in Poole. It was recovered in Devon.

So not many really, for obvious reasons ?
 

CM74

Member
Joined
14 Oct 2021
Messages
99
Visit site
As a cheap and cheerful solution (which I used for a motorbike) I had an old android mobile phone, with a cheapo SIM with £5 or so credit on it.
There was a very simple app on there where if you sent a text to it's number it would switch the GPS on, then text the position back. The advantage being that it didn't need a data connection so was effectively free apart from the cost of a few texts.
The inbuilt battery lasted a few days as nothing else was running on it, and it got charged up whenever the ignition was switched on.

I never had to use it in anger but I tested it every few weeks and it never failed. The good thing about using texts is they "wait" in the network if it's out of signal for a while.

Assuming the boat is fibreglass then anywhere hidden will work, the higher up the better!
Under the cockpit coaming perhaps? Tucked under headlining?
Up the mast would give the best reception but isn't very practical!

Though I'd be more concerned about stuff being stolen from the boat, and the damage caused in the process - unless it's a small speedboat or RIB on a trailer, in which case a tracker of some sort is probably very worthwhile
 

prv

Well-known member
Joined
29 Nov 2009
Messages
37,363
Location
Southampton
Visit site
unless it's a small speedboat or RIB on a trailer, in which case a tracker of some sort is probably very worthwhile

Agree, and initially I wondered if that’s what the OP has, but his other posts have been about a Southerly 32.

Pete
 

Pasarell

Well-known member
Joined
18 Jan 2007
Messages
1,322
Location
Greece
Visit site
Ten years or so ago my then lodger had his motorbike stolen, and then recovered using one of these trackers, so they do work.

I'm a bit sceptical of the usefulness on a yacht, though - does anyone here know of any yachts being stolen, because I don't think I've heard of any. Yachts broken into and gear stolen, yes, but not the whole vessel.

Pete
In Greece, where I keep my boat, there have been quite a few boats stolen in the last couple of years.
Most are stolen to take refugees from mother ships offshore to an EU country. All the ones I know of have been taken to Italy. Usually bigger boats (45ft +) they are taken from everyday locations, motored offshore to meet a mother ship that crams them with refugees, then they are motored into Italian waters and a RIB takes the skipper off and back to the mother ship. The yacht is left to drift until either the coastguard finds it and takes the people off or it runs aground. Safety of the refugees is not important as they have already paid all the money they had. Coastguard do not tow the boats into harbour as that is just another lot of paperwork to deal with so they are left to drift usually onto the rocks.
Friend of mine had his Bavaria 54 stolen in October last year. 5 days later it was found wrecked in an Italian rocky cove. He had left it on a busy pontoon to go out to dinner. Nobody saw anything.
Another acquaintance had his stolen a few years ago from a busy harbour. No sign of it for 6 weeks until it was towed into a harbour because it had become a hazard to shipping. Turns out the Coastguard had taken 58 refugees off it (42ft) a few days after it disappeared, then left it to drift. It had been totally stripped of everything that could be moved, presumably by fishermen. Interior showed the signs of 53 non sailors having been crammed down below for several days.
8 weeks ago a trimaran (Dragonfly?) was stolen from anchor in a busy bay while owners were ashore. Found 3 weeks later in Libya. Still in a usable condition I believe.
Boats do get stolen and it could happen in the UK just as easily if the gangs get organised!
 

Spyro

Well-known member
Joined
18 Jan 2003
Messages
7,591
Location
Clyde
Visit site
Have a look at the TKstar 905. Long battery life, uses next to nothing on the sim if you set it to go to sleep and it only wakes up with movement or a phone call/text to it. Comes with an App for mobile which allows you to set geofencing, vibration or movement alarms. You could probably even use it as an anchor drag alarm. get a giffgaff payg sim.
 
Top