Burglary Prevention

[Deleted member 478]

Just had a few beers with a mate that has nipped back to Durban for a week. He is currently cruising in Mozambique and had his dinghy and a few other things stolen. Fortunately, the cops were able to track down the culprits and get everything back.

The discussion that followed involved the electrified fencing that farmers use to teach their cattle a lesson or two, rigged with insulators on the stanchions and a simple on/off switch. Those electric cattle prods were also mentioned as a better defence weapon than a gun.

I am not clever with electrickery, but am told the fence type thing is DC and will run off 12volts, will consume very few amps and will ensure the potential thieves know who is the boss.

What does the panel think?

 

[Kilter]

will also teach you not to come back from the pub pissed and forgetful! /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif Might help to sober you up though!

 

[landyhubbard]

Scrote gets hold of fence, jumps backwards with shock, falls out of dinghy hitting his head on the way, scrote drowns. You get banged up for manslaughter, or sued at best. You have a duty of care to burglars. In the States they are allowed to shoot them- that's why they have a domestic burglary rate half of the UK's. Bu**er, I'm turning into Toryboy.

 

[Deleted member 478]

I think the reality is slightly different:

Scrote gets hold of fence, jumps backwards with shock, falls out of dinghy hitting his head on the way, scrote drowns. Scrote drifts off with the current and within a day in converted into shark poo. You and the rest of the world wake up in the morning none the wiser.

 

[Deleted member 478]

You know me so well.

 

[rich]

After having Hermees broken into last year,on the outside mooring, I put 2 solar garden lights in the wheelhouse but peps keep phoning me to tell me I have left the lights on /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

 

[KellysEye]

Had 12v fences on my uncle's farm when we were kids. Don't give much of a shock, we used to hang on to them for a laugh.

 

[Sixpence]

we use a 12 volt fence around our pigs and I can assure you that if you're not insulated from ground when you touch the fence , it bloody hurts

 

[Sixpence]

the problem on a boat is that you need a common earth so you'd have to lay a sheet of metal on deck for it to work

 

[Deleted member 478]

Could dangling a piece of wire into the sea not act as the earth or am I showing how little I know about electrickery?

 

[Sixpence]

You need to earth the deck electrically , so it can conduct electricity in the first place . Even a thin layer of open stranded wire would do it , just so that when they touch the wire with hands , they make a circuit and screach , you should hear pigs when they touch it

 

[BrendanS]

surely your feet and hands need to be earthed to same point, other wise bit like birds sitting on high tension cables with no effect

 

[Deleted member 478]

So what you're saying is that I need to buy a steel catamaran?

 

[Sixpence]

if both hands and feet are at the same earth point , no shock

 

[Sixpence]

Yep , but then you need to seperate the wire

 

[BrendanS]

uhmm, yeah understand. What I was thinking about was in a field, earth point is via metal stake into field, yet your feet are using field as earth too. But there is resistance or something in soil because of distance of your field from earthing stake.

If people are standing on dry pontoon or in dry rib and grasp with hands, surely no effect, as they are not earthed to water?

 

[Kingston]

After having Amadis robbed in the Caribbean, to calm our nerves, I rigged up some screws in a jam jar, tied in between the gate to the stancions.

I think it would have worked as well, but skipper said she didnt want her best stainless screws deep-sixing it into the blue should it all some apart.

My own system when I get my boat, will involve a rape alarm tied either across the hatch opening or the stancions, can't be seen at night, they'll walk into it, setting off the most hideous noise and hopefully fall off, leaving they boat they got out to the anchorage on, alongside mine as a spare tender.*

A cunning (or possibly daft plan) m'lord

*Patent Pending!

 

[Sixpence]

do you know any marina where everything is totally dry and non conducting . If you apply a megger to a pontoon you'll find that it'll conduct a pulse

 

[FullCircle]

Stingo, I have seen some TV programmes made in SA that showed shotgun cartridges coming up through seats, or mounted in the door panels. One that had an explosive device in the floor to deny the robber a getaway with his prized ex car.
Wouldn't be difficult to be a bit inventive in the maiming stakes on your boat. Just depends how much of it you want left after the scrotes have had a goat your locks and windows.
I am quite keen on something that finely sprays them with sulphuric acid through stanchion mounted nozzles.

 

[BrendanS]

Just learning, I know bugger all about electrickery, which is why I leave it to others!