Holland trip - boat security

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tmtracey

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Hi. We are planning a trip to Holland this year from our home on the Deben. Our boat is a Sadler 29.

We'd like to spend time walking around the towns (day and night), and wondering what people do about security. We just have the key latch on the top washboard under a sliding hatch at the moment and I'm not a huge fan of hasps and padlocks. What do people recommend?

And any suggestions of the best time of year to go?
Thanks
Toby
 
tmtracey said:
Hi. We are planning a trip to Holland this year from our home on the Deben. Our boat is a Sadler 29.

We'd like to spend time walking around the towns (day and night), and wondering what people do about security. We just have the key latch on the top washboard under a sliding hatch at the moment and I'm not a huge fan of hasps and padlocks. What do people recommend?

And any suggestions of the best time of year to go?
Thanks
Toby
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We kept our Frances 26 at Hellevoetsluis for 18 months on the Haringvliet before returning to Woodbridge.

Lovely spot for excursions to Vere, Dordrecht etc.

There are 3 sailing sports clubs ' cheek by jowle' together, or go into the commercial marina 'Arie de Boom'

No security problems, experienced or sensed.

Good luck.
 
We seldom bother to lock up in Holland. Worth saying hello to nearby boats as an informal type of neighbourhood watch.
Some popular places can get crowded during Dutch and UK school holidays but there is usually an alternative spot nearby.
Don't fret too much, you'll love it.
 
I'm not a believer in too much security on a boat. A determined thief will get in no matter what so, if you've done more than the minimum to keep out a casual thief, the determined one will only do more damage to get in, quite possibly at more cost than anything taken.
 
We do lock up, because we are usually away for three months and have much of our worldly goods on board, and we would feel silly telling the insurance company that we didn't. However, I don't normally have any concerns, especially in yacht harbours or out in the wilds.

I have met a couple of exceptions. When we were in Gouda two years ago a Dutchman advised us not to moor in the town since there was a yob element around. I have stayed in the town in the past, in an ethnic area and felt quite safe, so I think the caution may have been a bit excessive, but although the Netherlands is as civilised a country as you would wish, it does have a rough side in places. On another occasion we were staying in Breskens marina in company with a friend. There w some kind of festival on and during the night someone boarded our friend's boat. He woke when he heard a noise and disturbed them but they made off with his ensign staff, an expensive s/s one. Basically yob behaviour rather than pre-planned crime. I think this is the only instance I have heard of in nearly forty years of visits.
 
We live in the Netherlands and it is generally safe and we have had no problems, but crime does exist (even if the Dutch have had to close prisons due to a lack of inmates) - a Dutch friend of ours recently had his yacht broken in to when on the hard - one of many that were broken in to the same night. I would agree that the Netherlands feels, and probably is, safer than the U.K., but don't be too complacent.
 
tmtracey said:
Hi. We are planning a trip to Holland this year from our home on the Deben. Our boat is a Sadler 29.

We'd like to spend time walking around the towns (day and night), and wondering what people do about security. We just have the key latch on the top washboard under a sliding hatch at the moment and I'm not a huge fan of hasps and padlocks. What do people recommend?

And any suggestions of the best time of year to go?
Thanks
Toby
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we have the same as you, the Dutch are a civilised country . Dont get too far under the bonnet,chill out enjoy the experience, soak up the atmos.

PS the more secure you make the hatch lock the more damage will occur IF somebody tries. The place in Hatton Garden got broken into so your boat is a doddle
 
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There has been a rash of burglaries on boats this winter. Primarily outboards and instruments. It’s a problem because this is relatively new and most marinas don’t have extensive security measures in place.
 
As a regional editor for the Cruising Almanac with numerous years of cruising Dutch waters you should use the normal precautions when leaving your boat. But Holland is one of the least threatening places anyone could visit. In town marinas it pays to be a little more cautious, and lock up to dissuade opportunistic miscreants, but perimeter security is pretty good in these situations. Dutch sailors themselves present no risk. I have never suffered loss in Holland.
Likewise for walking shoreside.

May to early July and September onwards are best for easy travelling without encountering heavy on water traffic. But the summer weeks are busy in the Frisians!

Get the Cruising Almanac and get genned up!

PWG
 
peter gibbs said:
May to early July and September onwards are best for easy travelling without encountering heavy on water traffic. But the summer weeks are busy in the Frisians!
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Mainly at weekends. Just like Yarmouth, they are popular getaways at weekends. One problem is the locks into the Ijselmeer. They tend to get blocked by charter-boats. Not your average Bav/Ben but great big barges, and they get priority. The only other weekend difficulty is the tendency for long midday closures on Sundays at bridges in much of the country.
 
EdWingfield said:
I had an unlocked bike stolen from within a marina.
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Stealing bikes was invented in the Netherlands. ?
Seriously though, in most marinas pontoons are not locked because there is no need. Sixhaven in Amsterdam has long been a notable exception and there are a few others.
 
Aledgedly if you want a bike in the Netherlands you just approach a group of people with bikes and shout 'hey, that's my bike' and at least one of them will run away leaving you a bike........
 
neil1967 said:
Aledgedly if you want a bike in the Netherlands you just approach a group of people with bikes and shout 'hey, that's my bike' and at least one of them will run away leaving you a bike........
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Probably not that far from the truth. I did a tour of Europe in 2007 by motorhome, bike on a rack at the back of it, so used the bike for day to day stuff. No problems until I got to Rotterdam, where it promptly got knicked while chained to a bollard. Wasn't even a good bike!
 
stevie69p said:
Probably not that far from the truth. I did a tour of Europe in 2007 by motorhome, bike on a rack at the back of it, so used the bike for day to day stuff. No problems until I got to Rotterdam, where it promptly got knicked while chained to a bollard. Wasn't even a good bike!
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When I posted earlier I forgot that we had clapped-out folding bikes stolen from outside the brilliant Tropenmuseum in Amsterdam. We went to a nearby police station and were told that we had to make an appointment for a time that evening. They were pleasant but didn't send out the flying squad.

I have been in secure compounds also in the Aeolus Amsterdam and the YC in Gouda and possibly Goes, which I haven't visited for some years. A lot of moorings are in town harbours or in town canals, so fencing off is not possible. I tend to think that the number of people nearby adds to security, as well as reducing the division between town and sailors.
 
Thanks for all the responses. I was mainly worried about those moorings against the town quays but it sounds like being so public actually makes them more secure. Sounds like the hatch lock should be fine.
 
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