Do you lock your boat to the pontoon?

Dave_Snelson

Dave_Snelson

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Following my post on being cast adrift (of which I have no further news yet) I have shackled my boat to the pontoon. This has been done with a 10mm SS hawser with "eye" ends and a large padlock. The SS hawser is covered in a palstic tube to stop any chafing and is adequately long and shackled through one of CI's cleats and a pontoon cleat.

Does anyone else have to take these measures? Just wondering?

Our security gate has yet to arrive.....
 
I can see where you are coming from - particularly if you have no security or gates. In fairness all the UK Marinas I used like Port Dinorwic or Holyhead all have some form of security gate, so I only ever ropes with no locks. What happened?
 
I have done almost exactly this (only 8mm chain though) ever sincce there was an attempt to steal the boat some years ago (they removed the ignition lock bolt and tried to short it with a length of wire cut from the transducer cable (discarding plug). They didn't get far because the battery switches were off and keyed - basically they were applying car tactics to a boat and hadn't exactly gone tooled up for the theft.

Last year the boat next to me was stolen at 0200h but someone (rarely) was on their boat next to it and alerted the marine police (they arrived in 6 minutes in a RIB!). They didn't catch them but the boat was abandoned (the other side of a low bridge that the police rib couldn't get under to be recovered the next morning.)
 
I understand your concern,but if there was aboat on fire,close to yours,the marina staff would be unble to move yours to safety.
I always think that if they want your boat,they will take it.Admittedly,if it was a spontaneous thing,then your locked boat would be safer.
I even leave the ignition keys in my boat,to save further damage!
 
When i was on the River Ouse in Cambridgshire it was quite popular for people to lock up when moored in Ely. The drunks found it good fun to untie you and push you into the river.
not as serious as your situation as there is little flow and you wouldnt go too far.
 
Not having had your unfortunate experience I've never felt the need. Swansea has locked gate access to the pontoons and you can only take a boat out through the lock which although not a total deterrent should be enough to put off the chancers.

The other extreme I noticed over the week end was to see the keys left in the ignition of one of the boats for sale on the pontoon.

How was Smir, Dave. Everything you hoped for?
 
If you are on board, get a rape alarm and tie one end to the mooring, so if some poppy unties you, at least you know pretty soon. Or drop anchor??
 
Crikey! just read the post, thanks for that. Spooky where you ended up , sure it was the mussel man and not your old mate winding you up From Above! /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Seriuos really though, could have been damage and risk to life and limb.
When the gate arrives don,t suppose you,l have a prob but untill then best "locked" somehow.

Don,t "lock" in PD only when we,re locking! tee hee. /forums/images/graemlins/smirk.gif Martynk spent some time with us last Summer boat left unlocked with bits and pieces on view, mines left with little security open zips and your in, so far so good probably get robbed now i,ve said that! As others have posted even in a "secure" enviroment best to leave the boat relatively accesible for Marina Staff to move adjust whatever and less damage if the [--word removed--] do want to nick stuff etc.

Bloody hell I,d love to have seen the expression on your face when you popped your head out that morning, bet you wondered what you,d been supping! hope you catch him before Plod do , bend him over a bollard and inject a few mussels up is rectum then a good keelhauling for good measure if he is so fond of shellfish!

What,s a crustacian? A Paki run over by a bus (Probably get moderated that one!) /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif
 
[ QUOTE ]
.... The drunks found it good fun to untie you and push you into the river.....

[/ QUOTE ]

Good arguement for always taking your lines through the cleat and making off back on board - won't stop them if they really want to but makes it harder. The average drunk also tends to fall in if they reach out too far /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif
 
excellent theory Mark

trouble is with the knife culture these days /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif

and YES it has happened.
 
We use a couple of pushbike thingies with combo locks in figure of 8 which give enough length and are easy to use and are cheap approx 12 squids each

pontoon next to our mooring was set adrift recently but not us so would say 48 squids well worth it yep fore and aft
 
Yes, it was odd - my boat rafted itself up against Julie Ann, and there it nestled without damage until I woke up - and yes, you should have seen the look on my face!!. 4 hours later the owner of Julie Ann (my good friend John) had died of a heart attack. There has been a long affinity of quirky incidents between CI and Julie-Ann stretching back over 3 years and the more I think about it the more spooky it seems.
 
When we were looking at boats in the med, every boat we went on, they keys were pretty much in the same place in a locker by the door. We are also encouraged to do the same, and I also keep my engine keys on board (sshhh), but hidden. I have recently got some new keys cut, and given the posts here, I think we will just leave one set with a trusted source, but off the boat. The engine keys I guess stay on board, as we get the engine and air con run up a couple of times a month to check everything out, but again I will get these taken off and left with someone.

Given what I have seen around our Marina, if you had the brass, you could probably find all the keys you needed quite easily to 'borrow' a boat, and judging by the news there seem to be a lot more boats stolen from the Med, and sold on to some of the less fussy countries.
 
I'm not sure I would want to leave the keys so the marina owners could move the boat... I always leave the engine seacocks switched off, and one of them is hidden behiend the gene seacock, the engine isolator switches are in a non-obvoius place and the engines should always be stopped using the stop buttons not the keys or it could aparently damage the electrics..

I can just imagine someone trying to move the boat and knackering the impellors or electrics...

Steve
 
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