Security for Continuous Cruisers

[Tony1]

I suspect this will be an issue for CCers more than those who live in marinas, but I'm interested in hearing of any issues/experiences regardless.

 

It struck me that when CCing, it's possible that sometimes you'll end up arriving late in an unfamiliar location (due to an unforeseen problem maybe), and you'll have to moor up somewhere that you might not feel totally secure- and so I wondered whether CCers felt security was a big issue for them?

 

Everyone talks about what a lovely environment the canals are, and of course they're right, but they do skirt or go through numerous towns and cities, and they can be very isolated, and in towns they are recognised hotspots for some types of crime- and I wondered what people felt about the risks from gangs of youths, thieves, or just drunks wandering home via the towpath, or whatever.

 

I wondered also what measures people have taken to address any concerns they might have. For example, I thought of getting steel doors on our boat (if it doesn't have them to start with), and if we go for a sailaway, to have porthole windows instead of the larger ones, so that entry is impossible via the windows.

 

But it's easy to get too paranoid about security, and from what little I've seen so far, there are few places where you will be really isolated- and even those are more rural anyway, and perhaps less risky.

I've not read a single story about a boat that has been broken into with people on board asleep, or of any violence against liveaboards following a break-in, so I suspect there might not be too much of a problem to worry about.

[carlt]

I never once thought about where I moored up, when continuous cruising and my boat was never troubled by anyone with ill intentions.

 

I often moored up in towns and always engaged with anyone who was about.

 

On the other hand after taking on a permanent mooring, my boat was torched by vandals on a rural mooring on the outskirts of a busy, popular canal village.

[Kiwipeter]

Having a dog on board helps - it doesn't need to be a Rottweiler just something that can bark and not sound too yappy.

[David Mack]

I suspect this will be an issue for CCers more than those who live in marinas, but I'm interested in hearing of any issues/experiences regardless.

 

But surely no more of an issue for CCers than for those of us non-liveaboards who take our boats out for a week or two at a time? If anything the CCers, with their more regular passage around the system, will have a better idea of dodgy areas than us less frequent boaters.

[the grinch]

only time i had a problem was at norton junction left the boat for 4 days returning to find that someone had broken in (only took alcohol that had been there for yonks!) probably a certain gentleman!

[Caprifool]

How do you spot a dodgy area? Through visual clues, jungle telegraph or gutt feeling?

[matty40s]

The burnt out cars, hoodies (sorry mikeboiler),shell suits and empty kebab trays.

How do you spot a dodgy area? Through visual clues, jungle telegraph or gutt feeling?

[Lady Muck]

I wondered also what measures people have taken to address any concerns they might have. For example, I thought of getting steel doors on our boat (if it doesn't have them to start with), and if we go for a sailaway, to have porthole windows instead of the larger ones, so that entry is impossible via the windows.

 

I'm not a ccer but we have portholes and steel doors with a built in lock (i.e not a padlock). We had an attempted break-in but they tried and failed to jemmy the steel doors open to get in as they fit very flush.

 

All I would say is that they obviously used the cratch cover to hide underneath whilst they tried to do this and they hit the marina/lock cottages on xmas eve when most people were away.

 

The other things we do are to:

 

Never leave things that we can't afford to lose onboard when we are away.

Never post on here or on any social networking sites that we're going to be away.

Keep a back-up of our precious computer data away from the boat - on a hard drive kept in a house - I also use dropbox to keep some files online -damage limitation.

I have some nice jewellery given to me by relatives but again, I don't keep it onboard.

Also from our experience of knowing quite a few ccers we noticed that more than once a boater might be befriended by a local or a boater that they don't really know. They then suffered a mysterious robbery a week or two after they've invited that person onboard. In other words don't trust anyone to invite them onboard until you're really sure that you know them. If you must then keep valuables hidden. I can appreciate that this sounds rotten and not at all neighbourly, but we've had dozens of burglaries up here where we suspect that the thief was known to the burglars as everyone realised after the event that they'd invited the same person on board. It's a recession and some people are desperate and will steal from people who are kind to them, unfortunately.

Edited October 1, 2012 by Lady Muck

[larkshall]

I'm not a ccer but we have portholes and steel doors with a built in lock (i.e not a padlock). We had an attempted break-in but they tried and failed to jemmy the steel doors open to get in as they fit very flush.

 

All I would say is that they obviously used the cratch cover to hide underneath whilst they tried to do this and they hit the marina/lock cottages on xmas eve when most people were away.

 

The other things we do are to:

 

Never leave things that we can't afford to lose onboard when we are away.

Never post on here or on any social networking sites that we're going to be away.

Keep a back-up of our precious computer data away from the boat - on a hard drive kept in a house - I also use dropbox to keep some files online -damage limitation.

I have some nice jewellery given to me by relatives but again, I don't keep it onboard.

Also from our experience of knowing quite a few ccers we noticed that more than once a boater might be befriended by a local or a boater that they don't really know. They then suffered a mysterious robbery a week or two after they've invited that person onboard. OUCH what a horrid thought

 

In other words don't trust anyone to invite them onboard until you're really sure that you know them. If you must then keep valuables hidden. I can appreciate that this sounds rotten and not at all neighbourly, but we've had dozens of burglaries up here where we suspect that the thief was known to the burglars as everyone realised after the event that they'd invited the same person on board. It's a recession and some people are desperate and will steal from people who are kind to them, unfortunately.

[BruceinSanity]

I'm not a ccer but we have portholes and steel doors with a built in lock (i.e not a padlock). We had an attempted break-in but they tried and failed to jemmy the steel doors open to get in as they fit very flush.

 

All I would say is that they obviously used the cratch cover to hide underneath whilst they tried to do this and they hit the marina/lock cottages on xmas eve when most people were away.

 

The other things we do are to:

 

Never leave things that we can't afford to lose onboard when we are away.

Never post on here or on any social networking sites that we're going to be away.

Keep a back-up of our precious computer data away from the boat - on a hard drive kept in a house - I also use dropbox to keep some files online -damage limitation.

I have some nice jewellery given to me by relatives but again, I don't keep it onboard.

Also from our experience of knowing quite a few ccers we noticed that more than once a boater might be befriended by a local or a boater that they don't really know. They then suffered a mysterious robbery a week or two after they've invited that person onboard. In other words don't trust anyone to invite them onboard until you're really sure that you know them. If you must then keep valuables hidden. I can appreciate that this sounds rotten and not at all neighbourly, but we've had dozens of burglaries up here where we suspect that the thief was known to the burglars as everyone realised after the event that they'd invited the same person on board. It's a recession and some people are desperate and will steal from people who are kind to them, unfortunately.

 

Excellent advice. We don't have a house, but do have a hidden compartment in the boat where we keep a fire proof safe box with the valuables (such as we have) in.

 

If in doubt about the wisdom of mooring in any particular area, just ask on here and have six opinions from four posters within the hour…

 

 

When I first started cc'ing, I was worried about being assaulted by the hoards of sex starved young women known to frequent many popular mooring spots, but it hasn't happened.

 

Still, it's only been eight years, there's hope yet…

 

[Tony1]

I'm not a ccer but we have portholes and steel doors with a built in lock (i.e not a padlock). We had an attempted break-in but they tried and failed to jemmy the steel doors open to get in as they fit very flush.

 

All I would say is that they obviously used the cratch cover to hide underneath whilst they tried to do this and they hit the marina/lock cottages on xmas eve when most people were away.

 

The other things we do are to:

 

Never leave things that we can't afford to lose onboard when we are away.

Never post on here or on any social networking sites that we're going to be away.

Keep a back-up of our precious computer data away from the boat - on a hard drive kept in a house - I also use dropbox to keep some files online -damage limitation.

I have some nice jewellery given to me by relatives but again, I don't keep it onboard.

Also from our experience of knowing quite a few ccers we noticed that more than once a boater might be befriended by a local or a boater that they don't really know. They then suffered a mysterious robbery a week or two after they've invited that person onboard. In other words don't trust anyone to invite them onboard until you're really sure that you know them. If you must then keep valuables hidden. I can appreciate that this sounds rotten and not at all neighbourly, but we've had dozens of burglaries up here where we suspect that the thief was known to the burglars as everyone realised after the event that they'd invited the same person on board. It's a recession and some people are desperate and will steal from people who are kind to them, unfortunately.

 

Thanks your Ladyship, that all sounds like good advice to me.

I must admit, I hadn't expected 'the enemy within' (within the boating community, that is), but as you say, in very hard times some people will be driven to extremes, even at the cost of hurting others. Why should the canals be any different?

 

Can I ask- are your doors a special one-off design, or do boat doors fit very flush as standard? I like the sound of doors that can't easily be jemmied. Or is it jimmied? One never knows.

 

It seems that for a few extra quid (i.e. using portholes instead of windows, and flush steel doors) you can make your boat almost impossible for a regular thief to break into.

 

Also- I had assumed a top quality padlock was the best door security option when leaving the boat alone- did you use some sort of high-security lock? I presume you can get them from specialist security firms?

God, now I'm getting paranoid- I knew I shouldn't have started this thread! lol

[Lady Muck]

Well dont be, bear in mind most common thefts are external items - generators bikes and canoes that have not been properly secured.

[Athy]

Perhaps a padlock is a) an indication that no one is on board and being external, easier to break than an integral door lock? A padlock inside one of the boat's entry points might be a better idea - but remember than in an emergency you may need to get out through that door very quickly.

[Lady Muck]

And the reason for an integral door lock being it does not advertise whether you are onboard or not.

[Lady Muck]

Perhaps a padlock is a) an indication that no one is on board and being external, easier to break than an integral door lock? A padlock inside one of the boat's entry points might be a better idea - but remember than in an emergency you may need to get out through that door very quickly.

 

Good point, don't make your boat such a fortress that you could get trapped in the event of a fire. I have seen some boats locked from the outside at one end when the owner is onboard. You life is more precious than any of your stuff.

 

It struck me that when CCing, it's possible that sometimes you'll end up arriving late in an unfamiliar location (due to an unforeseen problem maybe), and you'll have to moor up somewhere that you might not feel totally secure- and so I wondered whether CCers felt security was a big issue for them?

 

Everyone talks about what a lovely environment the canals are, and of course they're right, but they do skirt or go through numerous towns and cities, and they can be very isolated, and in towns they are recognised hotspots for some types of crime- and I wondered what people felt about the risks from gangs of youths, thieves, or just drunks wandering home via the towpath, or whatever.

In my experience, risk from boating into a rough area at night and encountering trouble is rare. More than once we've done this - we often cruise for months in the summer - and after the event we've discovered we've moored in a so-called no-go area. Or (as was once the case) moored right next to a bench in Portland Basin that was popular with street drinkers (they were very loud but caused us no trouble).

Most of the trouble I've seen or heard about seems to happen on boats which are moored in the same place for weeks on end (as opposed to just one night), in inner city areas, especially if there is no one onboard. People walk past every day, if they don't know the boat and it's a bit scruffy on the outside, they might assume the boat is abandoned and have a go at getting in.

Edited October 1, 2012 by Lady Muck

[Pykebird]

I am not concerned about safety,in fact most people tend to give me and the "kids" a wide berth till they know us well! Maybe its the way the boat rocks as all hell lets loose when they walk past!

[JerryP]

I find leaving the chainsaw on tickover works well

[sueb]

Excellent advice. We don't have a house, but do have a hidden compartment in the boat where we keep a fire proof safe box with the valuables (such as we have) in.

 

If in doubt about the wisdom of mooring in any particular area, just ask on here and have six opinions from four posters within the hour…

 

 

When I first started cc'ing, I was worried about being assaulted by the hoards of sex starved young women known to frequent many popular mooring spots, but it hasn't happened.

 

Still, it's only been eight years, there's hope yet…

 

Maybe your wife has something to do with keeping the sex starved women at bay

[Peter-Bullfinch]

With LED lights using so little power we tend to leave one on in the evening if we have left the boat and gone to the pub.

[blackrose]

And the reason for an integral door lock being it does not advertise whether you are onboard or not.

 

I've never really believed that this "advertisement" makes any difference at all unless the padlock or hasp looks easy to break. Conversely if the padlock is beefy it could just as easily advertise that this is a boat that could be difficult to break into. Let's face it, if a thief wants to find out whether anyone is onboard all they need to do is knock on the boat with some excuse.

[jelunga]

I had a week old bike stolen from my berth in a marina. It was securely cabled to a fixed object and under a cover. I have often suspected it was an inside job since only our neighbours here had seen it and other bikes were not touched. Now after reading posts above, even more convinced a neighbour arranged its theft!

[Leonie]

But surely no more of an issue for CCers than for those of us non-liveaboards who take our boats out for a week or two at a time? If anything the CCers, with their more regular passage around the system, will have a better idea of dodgy areas than us less frequent boaters.

 

I think that's true to an extent. I know I become aware of how areas become 'hot spots' for a crime spree more so than the casual or leisure boater would.

 

I guess the only way it be more of an issue for CCrs is in the liveaboard sense of having all your worldly possessions with you rather than in the holiday sense of having some of your worldly possess with you.

 

How do you spot a dodgy area? Through visual clues, jungle telegraph or gutt feeling?

 

Personally I don't think you can. I've innocently left my boat for a couple of weeks in areas that had I known what I know now, I wouldn't even moor in if I was staying on board. Security on the canal to me is more luck (and possibly a vague sense of what looks/feels right) for you. I've seen break ins and windows kicked in at popular 'safe' areas such as Little Venice in London.

[Lady Muck]

And if you use a safe, make sure it's hidden and properly secured - perhaps welded inplace. We just heard of a break in in London where the thieves simply removed the safe.

[Grace and Favour]

And if you use a safe, make sure it's hidden and properly secured - perhaps welded inplace. We just heard of a break in in London where the thieves simply removed the safe.

 

I wonder if the thieves have put it in a safe place now?

[Laurie Booth]

Having a dog on board helps - it doesn't need to be a Rottweiler just something that can bark and not sound too yappy.

That rules my wife out.