How do you make it impregnable

Caer Urfa

Caer Urfa

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Any security experts out there??

Hi All

Our local sailing club keeps its safety boat complete with outboard in a steel shipping container with heavy approved security locks

Unfortunately we have been broken into and the outboard stolen and other equipment stolen from the Sail-Ability Club container next to us with similar security to their container so even all the good work they do for those with the physical disabilities they has now had to temporarily stop.

We are a small club and have no mains power and of course we are now looking at further improving security and I would be interested to hear any constructive
ideas as to how to improve security especially the container doors or what others have done 'as we cannot be the first with this problem'.[/I]
 
The normal way is to weld a thick steel box so that it covers the padlock and it is only accessible from below.
If welding on is not possible then it could be made to be attached with coachbolts so that the heads are covered by the box.
 
How did they get in, an angle grinder on the lock? A box welded around the padlock is a good start and slows them down. Do a google search on "container lock box"
 
Mister E said:
The normal way is to weld a thick steel box so that it covers the padlock and it is only accessible from below.
If welding on is not possible then it could be made to be attached with coachbolts so that the heads are covered by the box.
Click to expand...

Idea sounds good and portable welding can be done, however how do you re lock a padlock enclosed in a box with only the bottom accessible ??
 
The answer is 'you cant'! You only need to make a reasonable effort at security because a concerted criminal will get through any fortifications. Your security is only to put off opportunists. So, for the criminal you have in mind you can not keep him out so you need to consider your options. CCTV is unlikely to put them off and a picture of an average size bloke in a hood is not that useful. I would suggest your best bet is an alarm that contacts someone close by who can intervene (perhaps linked to a camera so they can check remotely) and/or a locator device in the important bits of kit like an engine. That way you make that recover it. Other than that stick a sign up to say motors not stored on site, splash everything valuable with a mixture of bright paints to make it harder to resell and easier to identify.
 
It is a general principle that all you can do is delay a determined thief.
My local allotment society had a couple of nice containers with good padlocks in lock boxes as Hadenough linked to. It took the herberts about 8 nights to get into both using bolt croppers, just gnawing at the lock boxes until finally enough damage had been done to get through. They got goods to the value of about a hundred pounds so not the best return on invested time. We knew it was happening but couldn't do anything about it.
Fitting solar panels on the roof to run an alarm linked by mobile phone technology could let someone know that intruders were about, then someone has to go and stop them. Best of luck
 
HI

+1 on the lock box

plus -

Fit a solar powered security light (they dont like to be lit up while "working"
Fit a dummy alarm bell and mark it so that it is seen
Put extra bolts on the engine and hide the heads (i.e. under a block of wood) to make it difficult and time consuming for them to remove the engine.
Take off the engine cover and store it elsewhere (they don't like incomplete goods)

Good luck
 
For my lock up, I had a GSM alarm camera.
Any motion it took a picture and could be set to send a text or a picture message.
 
If you decide to go for security lighting. Consider a solar panel on the container roof a cheap solar controller with light output control Turns on at dusk and off at sunrise or if voltage of battery drops. A battery of course and an LED flood light.
All except battery are cheap from Ebay/China. Try an old car battery or buy a decent deep cycle battery. This can also operate an alarm. Solar panel size should be commensurate with lighting size but a 20w panel should feed a few watts of lights.
olewill
 
Containers are great for storage our business has had one for the last 10 years. First thing we did was weld on a lock box for the main door, block lock in that and 2 extra locks (exposed) on the opening door. All you can do is slow them down. As has already been said slap gaudy paint all over the engine and cover you can also install small trackers i believe though how they will stand up in the marine environment etc etc. Lighting is a big deterrent, bit of a challenge when there is no electric on site.

The other thing that should be bourne in mind is that containers are made to be moved very quickly if a lorry with a HIAB can get next to it, so you can only really hope to keep out the opportunist and local oiks
 
Containers are not secure if locked via a padlock on the handles (where a seal would go in transit). A quick search on you tube will throw up numerous demonstrations of how to ​open one in seconds without touching the lock.

One solutions I've used in the past when we had numerous container thefts in Barcelona is a commercially available lock which hooks over the vertical lock rods on the doors, like http://www.saundersonsecurity.co.uk/acatalog/Bulldog_Container_Lock_CT330.html. there are much cheaper versions on eBay. But i suspect you get what you pay for.

Of course a determined thief can always take the hinges off but you really just want to persuade them it's not worth the effort so they go else where.
 
My brother in law has the same problem on his land. His container lock box was fabricated for him from 6mm steel. It's so far defeated the local scrots who have bent a 6' wrecking bar and blunted a number of hacksaw blades without doing more than scratch the surface of the box.

They did break into his "garage" which has an aluminium up and over door, but were disappointed to discover it full of chicken and pig food and plastic sacks so nothing was stolen.

I guess word got round as he's had no repeat visits for over three years.
 
They'll wait a bit for a replacement engine and be back. Battery powered security lights will help but they may just smash those. At the end of the day, a shipping container in a remote location with no power etc is like a light attracting moths, they'll come back repeatedly, especially as the word will have got round the local thieves that it has stuff worth nicking in it. Local plod are very stretched but have you had them down to advise on security? Are the local media all over the theft of the equipment for the disabled? There is a curious "honour" among some criminal cultures where a theft like that would be frowned on and it may be a way of getting it back. Maybe not.
 
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