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Diesel Fuel Cap Security


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Evening all,

 

My boat has a pokey out fuel cap(technical term), it is currently only tightened with a wrench which obviously isn't very secure. I've been looking online for clever solutions and I can't find anything off-the-shelf that will work. I found a boat with the same design as mine as they have got a lock on it, any idea where I can find these? Or any better ideas? picture below for guidance

 

Many thanks,

Graham

IMG_1578.jpg

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We had a short length of chain welded to the top of the cap, drilled a hole in the raised lip and used a decent padlock.

Passed any subsequent BSS inspection.

 

Won't stop the "professional" but will the "opportunist."

Edited by Ray T
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12 minutes ago, Faraday Mike said:

I had my diesel nicked so fitted a Dipstop cap - see http://www.dipstop.co.uk/boat.html

Expensive but easy to fit and and use, and so far, no more problems, 

How big a problem is diesel theft?

 

I can't be sure about when I was hiring or sharing but in the seven years of owning my own boat (which has no fuel security) I have never had diesel stolen.

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19 minutes ago, frahkn said:

How big a problem is diesel theft?

 

I can't be sure about when I was hiring or sharing but in the seven years of owning my own boat (which has no fuel security) I have never had diesel stolen.

My son had his nicked opposite the Boat, top of the Stockton flight. 100 litres. 

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11 minutes ago, frahkn said:

How big a problem is diesel theft?

 

I can't be sure about when I was hiring or sharing but in the seven years of owning my own boat (which has no fuel security) I have never had diesel stolen.

It has happened to us twice.

 

The first time, maybe 10 years ago, the guy from the boat we had moored near siphoned about 20 litres from our tank during the night and then set off at dawn. Our dogs had heard him and barked but stupidly we just assumed it was a fox or similar and told them to go back to sleep. Apparently he had done the same thing many times before, and what made it more annoying was that we'd been chatting to him on the pub during the evening and even bought him a beer.

 

So we fitted a locking cap. Then a few years ago, when the boat was unattended on its mooring during the winter, somebody drained half the tank about 120 litres and left us with a severe case of diesel bug. We still can't work out how they did it; did they pick the lock (seems unlikely, it was still locked afterwards), they didn't unscrew the breather (the paint was undamaged), they didn't drill a small hole from the outside (yes that does happen), it looks as if perhaps they lifted the deck boards (it's a cruiser stern, the boards weren't locked then) and either unscrewed a pipe (though if so they put it back very carefully afterwards) or more likely used the tank's drain tap although if that was the case why did we get such a severe infestation of the bug? The really annoying feature was that the bug turned out to be an un-killable variety which eventually cost us £2500 to eliminate, it would have been cheaper for us to give them the diesel!

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1 hour ago, Alan de Enfield said:

This is our fuel-cap lock.

 

Can be cut off with a battery angle grinder but is sufficient to deter anyone not 'equipped'.

 

 

Fuel Cap Lock.jpg

I've got something very similar. It won't deter any serious attempt at theft but at least I will know. 

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11 hours ago, David Mack said:

That is probably bespoke. Any decent jobbing welder should be able to make up something similar.

Or you could stick one of these in the filler pipe.

v-fuelsafe_2.jpg

 

 

https://www.asap-supplies.com/vetus-fuel-safe-anti-siphon

Except there wont be a pipe

1 hour ago, frahkn said:

How big a problem is diesel theft?

 

I can't be sure about when I was hiring or sharing but in the seven years of owning my own boat (which has no fuel security) I have never had diesel stolen.

I have, during a stoppage period at Napton. I ran out going up Hatton

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1 hour ago, frahkn said:

How big a problem is diesel theft?

 

I can't be sure about when I was hiring or sharing but in the seven years of owning my own boat (which has no fuel security) I have never had diesel stolen.

 

It was rife about 10 years ago. Perhaps things have quietened down since then. But you only need a sharp spike in fuel prices and it will become a problem again. 

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14 hours ago, Artful Dronald said:

Evening all,

 

My boat has a pokey out fuel cap(technical term), it is currently only tightened with a wrench which obviously isn't very secure. I've been looking online for clever solutions and I can't find anything off-the-shelf that will work. I found a boat with the same design as mine as they have got a lock on it, any idea where I can find these? Or any better ideas? picture below for guidance

 

Many thanks,

Graham

IMG_1578.jpg

The easiest and cheapest way is to drill a hole through the cap and threaded upstand and then fit a padlock with a long shank.through the hole you have drilled. I done that on my boat . One thing to remember is place a magnet near where you are drilling to collect the swarf.  A small amount is bound to  get in the diesel tank but will sink to the bottom and in the unlikely event of being picked up will be caught in the fuel filter.  Obviously a really determined thief with a cordless grinder will soon cut the lock off . Screwfix or Ebay  should be able to provide a suitable padlock .

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I made something very similar.

The hasp is fixed to the raised lip which diverts diesel spillage over the edge using a couple of m8 bolts and shear nuts.  Not impossible to undo, but as they are under the hasp difficult to get at.

The cap is drilled and tapped and fitted with an m8 bolt from underneath with a bit of epoxy to make it gas tight and to stop it from undoing.  Onto this a screwed an m8 eye, sized to fit the hasp. The bolt protrudes through a bit which I bashed with a hammer and chisel to to prevent the eye unscrewing.

 

The eye can rotate about one turn, which means that when the hasp comes over the eye can rotate to line up with the slot, so no worry about alignment.  The eye itself will not rotate when the hasp is in place, and rotating the cap tightens the eye onto the cap, so reasonably secure against simple tool and brute force opportunist attack.


I also used a new stainless cap, as the mild steel cap used to get a bit rusty inside and would bind to the inlet pipe.

 

So far (10 years) I have not had any diesel theft.

Edited by Chewbacka
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There are some very helpful and constructive posts here.

But the timing is unusual: at the moment, few people apart from commercial road drivers (whose firms pay for it) are using any diesel, so the demand for it, be it nicked or bought, must be at almost an all-time low.

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1 minute ago, Athy said:

There are some very helpful and constructive posts here.

But the timing is unusual: at the moment, few people apart from commercial road drivers (whose firms pay for it) are using any diesel, so the demand for it, be it nicked or bought, must be at almost an all-time low.

True, but I assume that boat diesel tends to be stolen by other boaters rather than those walking along towpaths due to them being unable to carry 50+ litres any distance to their vehicle.

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1 minute ago, Chewbacka said:

True, but I assume that boat diesel tends to be stolen by other boaters rather than those walking along towpaths due to them being unable to carry 50+ litres any distance to their vehicle.

Easy enough, pull alongside, unscrew the 'target boats' tank vent*, drop down a hose, use a 'Lidl' pump (as recommended by @LadyG) put 'tother end in your tank, switch on and "job done".

 

* Not locked and no anti-syphon device.

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6 minutes ago, Chewbacka said:

True, but I assume that boat diesel tends to be stolen by other boaters rather than those walking along towpaths due to them being unable to carry 50+ litres any distance to their vehicle.

Er yes, that's exactly what I said. To put it another, simpler, way: almost no one, with the exception of a few liveaboards, is boating at the moment, so almost no one on a boat has any reason to steal diesel because they aren't using any diesel.

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42 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:

Easy enough, pull alongside, unscrew the 'target boats' tank vent*, drop down a hose, use a 'Lidl' pump (as recommended by @LadyG) put 'tother end in your tank, switch on and "job done".

Not that you're suggesting @LadyG steals diesel from boats...

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2 hours ago, Athy said:

There are some very helpful and constructive posts here.

But the timing is unusual: at the moment, few people apart from commercial road drivers (whose firms pay for it) are using any diesel, so the demand for it, be it nicked or bought, must be at almost an all-time low.

As I said mine got nicked during the stoppages 

1 hour ago, Alan de Enfield said:

Not at all - she just happened to buy a pump for transferring diesel.

And broke it

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