Yacht security - marina berth

CCTV is difficult to monitor with say 9 screens and for extended periods. Need IR warning to wake up guard in my experience. Scrots always wear hoodies and approach head down.

I have examined about 20 CCTV recordings of attempted or successful break ins when I was responsible for security
 
I think if I was a club with these sort of issues I would go for a CCTV/ Web Cam with recording, if the club had a reasonable membership base I think that members would check in from time to time as a criminal knowing you might be watched live is never a good thing.
 
My experience is so far so good- including public drying moorings.

Only thing I've lost was from the YC workshop. A yottie must have thought.. 'its been there a while, the owner won't mind me having it..' A full assembled roller reefing inc. foil and forestay!

"Years ago I heard of a boat at a local marina whose owner had listed the inventory at the chart table; when the b****ds broke in they ticked off each item as they removed it !"

My version of this apocryphal tale is, as a community centre manager, a colleague after repeated breakins posted a notice saying 'nothing left.. it's all been stolen' to find the next morning another break in had left a hand written note saying.. 'just checking'.. :D
 
Mike Peyton did a good cartoon / diagram of a pressure sensitive footpad at the bottom of the companionway activating a crossbow sited directly opposite !

We've all had notions of putting 4,000 volts through the guardrails, while the perfectly believable Tristan Jones had the idea of leaving out a bottle of Scotch laced with poison; I can imagine how that would work out on a party evening...
 
Seajet said:
Mike Peyton did a good cartoon / diagram of a pressure sensitive footpad at the bottom of the companionway activating a crossbow sited directly opposite !

We've all had notions of putting 4,000 volts through the guardrails, while the perfectly believable Tristan Jones had the idea of leaving out a bottle of Scotch laced with poison; I can imagine how that would work out on a party evening...
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I made a flippant remark to Poole plod about leaving a bit of fishing line with hooks on wound around the companionway step handrail and received a ten minute lecture on how that would get me into serious trouble with the law and most probably resulting in me getting arrested whatever the provocation I felt. Welcome to the world of human rights law where victims apparently have no rights but evil doers do.:disgust:.
 
Robin said:
I made a flippant remark to Poole plod about leaving a bit of fishing line with hooks on wound around the companionway step handrail and received a ten minute lecture on how that would get me into serious trouble with the law and most probably resulting in me getting arrested whatever the provocation I felt. Welcome to the world of human rights law where victims apparently have no rights but evil doers do.:disgust:.
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It is only sensible, you can't have people leaving man-traps everywhere or people would get seriously hurt. After all, it is only property and insurance covers most of it.

I was looking at the arduino/raspberry pi as a potential for an alarm system simply because I will already be using them for other systems such as wifi zone and instument monitors. The good thing is that it will be online so you can check on your boat and it can let you know if there is water in the bilges, a gas leak, drifting, etc etc. It would not be hard to rig it to an alarm and a camera. Also in the event the boat was nicked it could relay the position.

As others have said, however, the best security is to reduce the liklihood that someone will even try to break in. Have it clear that there is an alarm, remove or hide valuables etc. There really is not much point in heavy duty locks etc as in the vast majority of cases a simple jimmy with a crow bar and even the toughest lock rips out of the substrate. I often wonder if it is not wiser in a house simply to leave the door unlocked (but then I am in the middle of nowhere so don't get opportunists trying their luck so much). It would be possible to make hatches very difficult to break into by simply laminating in a metal mesh and having a metal frame but the damage from an attempted burglary could be hugely more expensive.

so really the main things are:

Deterence; put them off with visible security and invisible expensive items.
Prevention; Secure locks and alarms
Detection; Alarms/cctv with text messaging alerts
Reparation; Insurance
 
We have one of these.http://ospreymarine.co.uk/

A very well engineered piece of kit.

For peace of mind an electronic system with hatch, bilge, & temperature sensors,battery level monitoring, gps data availability, geo fence, seems a good idea. An immediate text is sent if any of the main parameters are exceeded. Thus if an unauthorised entry is detected in theory you can telephone the marina and get the villains apprehended:)

Michael.
 
I would always think that a sticker saying "Alarm Installed" is a sticker saying "call my bluff - I have loads of expensive gear aboard and probably not an alarm".

I would prefer to say nothing and have hidden traps. The crossbow is a nice, if impracticable in the modern human rights for criminals, idea. I firmly believe there is a point beyond which a person is trespassing (on my boat that point would be inside of the cabin beyond the locked washboard).
 
Robin said:
I made a flippant remark to Poole plod about leaving a bit of fishing line with hooks on wound around the companionway step handrail and received a ten minute lecture on how that would get me into serious trouble with the law and most probably resulting in me getting arrested whatever the provocation I felt. Welcome to the world of human rights law where victims apparently have no rights but evil doers do.:disgust:.
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Before I met her, my girlfriend was nursing her late husband after a stroke, when 3 evil lowlives saw the wheelchair by the back door of her secluded place in the country, thought ' easy target ' and tried to break in; Anne, all of 8 stone but not given the nickname ' Spitfire ' for nothing, kept them at bay with an antique sword.

A friend of mine had his life made hell by a certain well known criminal fraternity, he knew the local ' huntin, shootin ' set so was supplied with ' land mines ' consisting of a pressure pad and a shotgun cartridge.

They didn't help Peter, he was found dead from a heart attack after another break-in, with the phone dialled ' 999 ' in his hand; this was a matter of conjecture, but the fact is he didn't get help.

I have since decided on my own protective measures afloat and at home - for my relatives not the kit, and if some burglar wants to try suing me for a bit of a small injury, I'll take my chances; but police are no real help and family comes first !
 
RichardTaylor said:
I would always think that a sticker saying "Alarm Installed" is a sticker saying "call my bluff - I have loads of expensive gear aboard and probably not an alarm".

I would prefer to say nothing and have hidden traps. The crossbow is a nice, if impracticable in the modern human rights for criminals, idea. I firmly believe there is a point beyond which a person is trespassing (on my boat that point would be inside of the cabin beyond the locked washboard).
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This is fine until the harbourmaster gets killed trying to save your boat when it breaks free in a storm etc etc. In this country life is valued above stuff, rightly so IMO.
 
pmagowan said:
As others have said, however, the best security is to reduce the liklihood that someone will even try to break in.
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That's why I like having a mooring next to much bigger, much newer boats with many more aerials. I don't have to deter the baddies, I just have to be less attractive than the alternatives. See also: wolf packs,
 
Having had an attempted break in, the experience has taught me that the alarm is not enough. You need a large visible sign to say that the boat has an alarm and something like a pressure mat or trip wire in the cockpit to set off the alarm BEFORE they start attacking the door and causing damage that costs less than your excess to repair :(
 
JumbleDuck said:
That's why I like having a mooring next to much bigger, much newer boats with many more aerials. I don't have to deter the baddies, I just have to be less attractive than the alternatives. See also: wolf packs,
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I was of that way of thinking back in the early 1970s while a student in Edinburgh. I always chained my (pretty cheapo) bike up next to a much fancier one. But one night it disappeared... (And spending most of the following day looking for it was in vain.)
 
pmagowan said:
This is fine until the harbourmaster gets killed trying to save your boat when it breaks free in a storm etc etc. In this country life is valued above stuff, rightly so IMO.
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I might have said I like the idea of the crossbow however I did say it was IMPRACTICAL!!

And anyway, why does the harbour master need to enter the cabin?

Every time the local boatyard move my boat they simply untie it and move it using their boat.
 
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