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Vandalism


Fly Navy

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Outside the marinas (because I am assuming they are safe), how frequent is vandalism when you moor up away from the madding crowd, please?

 

Is there something to be wary of?

 

Diesel stolen / windows smashed / attempted break-ins / graffiti / releasing the mooring ropes and allowing the boat to drift / etc etc

 

WRT the releasing of ropes - how on earth does one prevent ones boat from being set adrift???

 

Thanks in advance

 

FN

Edited by Fly Navy
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Every member will give you a different answer based on their own experience. many of us have (touch wood) heard of such vandalism but not experienced it personally - so, for every person who says "It's not safe to moor in East London/ Brum/ Wigan", there will be another who replies "Yes, I heard that, but we moored there for two days and had no trouble".

   My reply would be that some boats do get wilfully damaged but that such occurrences are uncommon on most of the system. Petty theft (e.g. removal of that nice water can/ windlass/ mobile telephone which you left out while the boat was unattended)  is probably more common, but far from rife.

Edited by Athy
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Opportunistic theft (of unattached items on the roof or otherwise in the open) is more a feature of urban areas - often the item is thrown in the canal within 100 yards.

Planned theft is very  rare and can be reduced by reasonable security. When on the boat I worry more about theft at my empty house.

Vandalism is usually by kids and is thus time/area specific to a large extent. I would moor anywhere but I wouldn't leave the boat unattended if it was alone (no other boats) in an area - high graffiti etc - with which I was uncomfortable.

Casting off isn't really worth worrying about - what's the worst that can happen?  You can use a short length of chain if really worried. Or drop an anchor over the side away from the bank, if moored on a river.

 

This is all IMHO of course but I have been boating for 43 years (including mooring in Birmingham, Leicester and London) and had nothing serious occur.

Edited by frahkn
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It happens but is rare as others have said. Certainly more chance of your house being burgled whilst you are away than you boat being broken into when you are not on it. We have been stoned three times in thirty years but apart from that only the usual rope untying, last time that happened was Banbury, its a pain in the bum but no big deal when you look on life in general.

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9 minutes ago, mrsmelly said:

It happens but is rare as others have said. Certainly more chance of your house being burgled whilst you are away than you boat being broken into when you are not on it. We have been stoned three times in thirty years but apart from that only the usual rope untying, last time that happened was Banbury, its a pain in the bum but no big deal when you look on life in general.

Being let loose in Banbury happened to us.  6 boats on the museum side, drunken idiots from the working men's club.

Did wonder why the boat in front had used goat chains around the bollards, and tight ropes.

 

Bod

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The likelihood of being affected goes up with:

1. The distance you are away from other human activity.

2. The length of time your boat is apparently unvisited.  This happens with cars as well.

3. The degree of "deprivation" of the neighbourhood.

4. The attractiveness of your boat, whether it be high-value goods on show, a place to sleep, etc.

The type of unwelcome activity is also significant.

1. Vandalism - where the activity is entertainment.

2. Casual Theft - in passing.

3. Theft with tools - planned & deliberate.

3. A place to live, briefly.

 

I have had several unsuccessful attempts made on my hatch with something like a screwdriver but nothing serious. 

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Just now, Bod said:

Being let loose in Banbury happened to us.  6 boats on the museum side, drunken idiots from the working men's club.

Did wonder why the boat in front had used goat chains around the bollards, and tight ropes.

 

Bod

Yeah, it happens frequently enough along there but rarely any real problems or vandalism. You mean General foods club I imagine? a good and cheap place but some evenings etc they have functions and the inevitable happens.

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Thirty odd years boating, ropes cut once (five years ago in Stoke, i was on board and asleep ). Had a barley sugar thrown at me in Chester ten years ago (I ate it). I tend to moor up in the middle of nowhere whenever possible. 

Almost everyone isn't a vandal or a thief. Where there are drunks in quantity you find more idiots. Generally, it's not worth worrying about any more than expecting your house to get burgled or your car to be broken into when you park in town. 

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As has been said... my ropes were untied outside the Navigation pub in Islington.   

 

Must have really upset the perpetrator as I barely noticed the next morning...being in exactly the same place... !

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Cast adrift twice in Brum, once at Salvage Turn and once on the Main Line, short of Sheepcote Lane Bridge.

A third time was interrupted when I was half asleep and felt the boat rock as the scrote stepped onto the back. I roared, and the sight of a large, naked and angry man emerging sent him scarpering along the towpath!

 

As a precaution, if being set adrift is a worry, tie your ropes off on the boat and/or put a cable tie over the rope around the bollard and/or dolly.

It makes casting off a bit of a faff but will give you peace of mind.

 

(How did we ever manage before cable ties were invented? I first came across them at the pit, where their intended use was, oddly enough, tying up cables!)

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I've moored all over the country, in the some of the perceived "worst" areas, yet the only place anything bad happened was at one of the last you would expect: the Lancaster Canal (knackered old bike, centre rope and wash brush stolen off the roof). It just goes to show that incidents can happen anywhere but are thankfully rare.

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Ropes cut once in Chester.

 

Got stoned by Yobo's twice whilst transiting Stoke on Trent (horrid place - go thru and don't stop !!)

 

Told by the Tunnel staff not to moor near the Portal at Harecastle as 'yoofs' were taking the capping stones of the adjacent bridge and hurling them down onto passing boats. As we passed the bridge you could see where the 'missiles' had been removed.

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Our old boat was broken into while on its gated home mooring in Shipley shortly after we bought it (seven years ago, ish) - no real harm done. Then it was well and truly trashed when left just above Poolstock locks in Wigan a couple of years later. Then our current boat had its ropes cut and a window smashed while moored above the locks at Apperley Bridge in 2017. So yeah, it happens - but I suspect our experience reflects plain bad luck and a little naivete rather than saying very much about the general state of affairs. We try to take care about where we moor the boat, especially unattended, but we don't live in fear of further incidents.

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Reassuring - thanks.

 

Had visions of coming back with friends from a cosy pub, to find the boat had been cast adrift and was on the other side of the damn canal!!

I think I'll invest in a length of chain and a padlock.  (As a failsafe).

 

Thanks again.

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2 hours ago, Victor Vectis said:

As a precaution, if being set adrift is a worry, tie your ropes off on the boat and/or put a cable tie over the rope around the bollard and/or dolly.

It makes casting off a bit of a faff but will give you peace of mind.

(How did we ever manage before cable ties were invented? I first came across them at the pit, where their intended use was, oddly enough, tying up cables!)

It took us aaaaaggeesss to prise loose the cable tied Bearwood Bosters lines in Brum centre and move her one bollard up so we could squeeze on the end before the 2015 BCN challenge.:P

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In fifteen years on this boat, we were burgled in Braunston, fishing tackle stolen in Shipton on Cherwell, and bird feeders and stand stolen at Great Haywood.

We've moored in London, Birmingham, Manchester, Wigan, Leeds and many other urban areas without incident.

Stuff can happen if you're in the wrong place at the wrong time.

But there's no list of what constitutes that.

Just relax and forget it.

A simple rule is, if you don't feel comfortable, don't stop.

Rog

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2 minutes ago, dogless said:

In fifteen years on this boat, we were burgled in Braunston, fishing tackle stolen in Shipton on Cherwell, and bird feeders and stand stolen at Great Haywood.

We've moored in London, Birmingham, Manchester, Wigan, Leeds and many other urban areas without incident.

Stuff can happen if you're in the wrong place at the wrong time.

But there's no list of what constitutes that.

Just relax and forget it.

A simple rule is, if you don't feel comfortable, don't stop.

Rog

Yep. In thirty years we have been stoned three times. Two of those incidents were on the Oxford canal at Thrupp a supposed nice area. Never got stoned or anything in such places as Sale, Manchester, Wigan etc etc.

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While we stopped at Hawkesbury Services this morning, a man approached us saying he'd seen us at Hartshill on Wednesday and did we see 'two guys', one white, one black (we hadn't).  

 

The man said the 'two men' had broken into his boat, and he'd managed to see them off by hitting one of them with (I think) an empty gas bottle. Believe the incident happened outside the Anchor pub on Wednesday lunchtime, the Landlord I understand has been informed.  The man had previously spoken with the two intruders, one of them asked him for a cigarette. He thought they were casing the boat.

 

We asked if he'd reported the incident to the police, he said he had called the police, and a policeman said that he should keep a low profile as the intruder could sue him for assault  

 

Didn't know whether to mention this on here, but seeing this thread, thought I'd just say......  

 

Apart from us being bombarded with snowballs by school kids... I can't remember any incident after CC'ing for nearly 3 years.

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5 hours ago, Athy said:

 Petty theft (e.g. removal of that nice water can/ windlass/ mobile telephone which you left out while the boat was unattended)  is probably more common, but far from rife.

 We've lost things off the roof at various times over the 30+ years, including the plank and poles when we were mooring in Upton Marina.

 

We've also moored in many places that people would say were "dangerous" and had no problems, and also had problems in places that people have said were "safe".
 

 

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2 hours ago, zenataomm said:

The last time I took a tape measure to a piece of string I found the length was indeterminate. 

You must hav ebeen moored in a safe location, as no one had half-inched the tape measure.

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