Self Defence

[Tony1]

8 minutes ago, noddyboater said:

Thankfully I've never had a physical attack from an intruder on my boat, but I have had the very unnerving experience of waking up to find someone sat a few feet away. 

Completely my fault you could say, I sleep in the back cabin and never lock the doors. I awoke in the early hours to find a bloke sat warming his hands on the range,  I don't think he even knew I was there in the bed hole! 

After a brief but strange chat I persuaded him to leave,  which he did,  but it could easily have ended up a different story. 

 

 

Do you mind me asking- was this in London?

I remember when I was coming up the Nene in the Autumn of 2020 I buddied up for a week or two with a young lad of about 20 who didnt even have a lock on his stern doors- they literally swung free. 

To be fair, he did have a female staffy aboard, so there would have been very little chance of a homeless guy coming aboard 'unannounced', so to speak. 

I recall he was very lax about security, saying that theft on the waterways was almost unheard of, although he had had an old kayak nicked from his roof 6 months before (and surprisingly, they left his more valuable genny untouched). 

I can only hope he got a bit more realistic about security before he reached London, which I remember was his next destination. 

 

 

[noddyboater]

Nowhere near London.  Small town up north where as they say, the good folks were "strong in't arm and thick in't head". 

I can lock my doors from the inside with those piddly little brass bolts but very rarely do, even after that incident.  What I'd consider a far more dangerous way to sleep is with the padlock on the outside,  which unbelievably I see often. 

[magnetman]

Advertise nobody there and at the same time close off a vital escape route from the cabin. 

 

Crazy! 

 

As you say it is quite common though. 

 

It could have the effect of inviting burglars onto the boat assuming nobody is aboard, which in itself is a dodgy thing to be doing. Never mind the fire escape risk !

 

 

 

 

Edited February 6, 2022 by magnetman

[noddyboater]

I'm always amazed when I see people do it as part of their nightly routine,  but many still do.

To be fair a lot of them couldn't escape through the rear doors in a hurry anyway due to the amount of crap on the stern deck. 

[MV Happy Day]

Hang a few COVID masks with some blood effect stains on them near the main entrance.