What we can do if a boat is reported stolen

[stripey]

IMO the point of this thread is do become aware of simple things that a boat owner can do to assist in the recovery of their boat, should it ever be stolen.

 

That's not the only reason why I started the thread! It's also about how those of us on this forum can best co-ordinate our efforts .

[Guest]

I have always wondered why there isn't a registration document with your boat. A lot of money with no document saying your the owner .

Because there is no mandatory central registration authority for boats as there is for motor vehicles.

 

Caravans come close to such with cris but its essentially a voluntary rather than mandatory scheme.

 

http://www.cris.co.uk/

Edited August 8, 2016 by MJG

[Jennifer McM]

Since Ive been a boater, there is only one boat I can think of that wasn't found - Que Sera Sera. She was rented out and went missing during a booking. On the various places I admin we get a report about once a month, we tend to take it with a pinch of salt as almost always the boat is not genuinely stolen, it's the subject of a dispute. Or they rented it out, don't know where it is, can't be bothered to look and want the internet to find it. Some of the disputes are bizarre!

Even with a crime number they are not always what they seem.

 

We had one on here where there was a crime number but the boat wasn't stolen - it was subject to a rent to buy agreement. There was no contract, just a handshake sort of thing. But the 'landlord' died and the family took the boat (as it was part of the estate, obviously). The tenant then declared it stolen.

 

There are so many situations like this. The only thing Id say, is, if you're not renting out or lending your boat in any way then theft is really not going to happen. Very unlikely anyway!

 

Thanks, that's reassuring!

 

Co ordinating efforts, to swing into action when something happens, must be a good thing.

[stripey]

 

Good thread. Perhaps volunteer 'lookouts' could 'own' a canal, or work in conjunction with others who are on the same canal, and perhaps 'owning' a stretch of it. Providing of course the volunteer has the time.

 

This needs the expertise of a 'Volunteer Admiral!

 

Great idea though, after all, our boats could be the next target.

 

I think this would be good to explore. One question, though, is how to keep info from the thieves. PMs?

[ditchcrawler]

I have always wondered why there isn't a registration document with your boat. A lot of money with no document saying your the owner .

I dont see how that would stop someone taking it.

[Guest]

I think this would be good to explore. One question, though, is how to keep info from the thieves. PMs?

How do you decide who should be entitled to recieve a PM?

[stripey]

How do you decide who should be entitled to receive a PM?

Let's say that we had a good idea of where fifty members were based, either at home or on the canal. It might be that somebody co-ordinated this by PM, to keep the info hidden from casual guest visitors to the forums, and then this info was held by a few members, to ensure that there would be a very good chance of someone being able to act quickly

 

Someone reports a stolen boat. We then get a report from someone else of a possible sighting, say, from a marina. Let's take Venetian, near Barbridge, as an example, as that's relevant to the last one.

 

If it's a recent sighting, and we have members on the northern SUC, southern SUC, Llangollen and the Middlewich branch (in case the boat has done a U-turn), then the co-ordinator PMs relevant members to suggest a search.

[Jennifer McM]

Perhaps a coordinator could collect mobile phone numbers of willing boaters, so when a boat goes missing, the coordinator sends out a red alert via text messages to those in the 'scheme'.

 

The message would link to a web page where details and photos of the missing boat can be viewed.

 

Can't remember the official name, but there is a similar scheme when a child is abducted, a message is relayed via coordinators, who quickly spread 'the alert'.

[Guest]

Sorry but I've just lost the will to live.

[Stormbringer]

Sorry but I've just lost the will to live.

 

This ^^^

 

 

People will do what needs to be done, when it needs doing.....

Part of the joy of canal life is NOT having a pre defined plan for anything ...

 

I think you need to relax a little

(not aimed at Martin BTW - - !)

Edited August 8, 2016 by Stormbringer

[Yank on the Cut]

Personally, I think the key is getting as much information out there to as many people as possible as quickly as possible. The most valuable information is good quality pictures, especially of unusual features of the boat. CWDF is ideal for reaching a great number of highly motivated people with direct knowledge of where the boat is likely to be going and how to tell one from another. The boaters will interrogate each other and the owners for more information.

Then it is up to the owners and other interested parties, including marinas, to do their bit, as Graham and Chris did so well, of keeping people up to date of their actions and actions of others in order to keep the hunt live. This is essential as a malaise creeps in after the initial enthusiasm fades. I think the thief was relying on that.

 

Finally, despite efforts, it proved very difficult to coordinate people into search parties. Ad hoc exploration seemed to work best. A search party may work if leads are good and fresh, but otherwise informal networks seem to work best, in my opinion. Then it is people like Junior to go the extra 20 miles that inspire others to do more.

 

I think it is best as a more informal and organic system but it needs feeding to stay alive.

Edited August 9, 2016 by Yank on the Cut

[alan_fincher]

I have always wondered why there isn't a registration document with your boat. A lot of money with no document saying your the owner .

 

Yes, but it would have made no difference in the case we have just had.

 

The person removing boat didn't need proof of ownership to remove it, and real owners I suggest have had no difficulty in proving the boat is theirs.

[MtB]

 

Yes, but it would have made no difference in the case we have just had.

 

The person removing boat didn't need proof of ownership to remove it, and real owners I suggest have had no difficulty in proving the boat is theirs.

 

 

But it might have been a discouragement to the thief in the first place, if in addition to repainting the boat he knew he would need to forge new documents and/or convince the mythical registration authority he owned it and to issue a new ID.

[Guest]

 

 

But it might have been a discouragement to the thief in the first place, if in addition to repainting the boat he knew he would need to forge new documents and/or convince the mythical registration authority he owned it and to issue a new ID.

 

The only way it would act as a deterrent would be if it was a mandatory scheme exactly the same as that operated by the DVLA.

 

As I posted above CRIS operates for caravans (the document even looks like the old DVLA registration document) but because it's entirely voluntary hundreds of caravans still get stolen each and every year.

[alan_fincher]

 

 

But it might have been a discouragement to the thief in the first place, if in addition to repainting the boat he knew he would need to forge new documents and/or convince the mythical registration authority he owned it and to issue a new ID.

 

Actually one of the bits in this latest saga that I realise I don't know the answer to, is what happens if someone does try and license a stolen boat with CRT.

 

Clearly they would have to provide a host of details, including dimensions, probably a builder, and either a home mooring or a "no home mooring" declaration, but would CRT just then issue a brand new index number from the 2016 number range, provide "plates" if requested, and issue a licence with no further question?

 

Has anybody on here had experience of just putting a currently unlicensed, but not new, boat on CRTs waters, and what happened when you did?

 

I'm assuming it never got to this stage with this particular boat, but if it did, and CRT issued a licence without great difficulty, then that would seem to put a very searchable piece of data into their licensing system that would have been a considerable aid in finding the boat, had it not been found already.

 

How many 50 foot long boats for which an index number is not already available get licencsed by CRT in any given month - very few, I would imagine.

[Lysander]

I am speaking from ignorance but surely any boat which has been on non-C&RT waters can be issued with a new licence and new registration number. Some of the details appearing in the listing are extremely vague - the most recent stolen boat being registered as 'No name' and with an unknown builder - I can't remember if C&RT will hold anything any more detailed.

[MtB]

 

Actually one of the bits in this latest saga that I realise I don't know the answer to, is what happens if someone does try and license a stolen boat with CRT.

 

Clearly they would have to provide a host of details, including dimensions, probably a builder, and either a home mooring or a "no home mooring" declaration, but would CRT just then issue a brand new index number from the 2016 number range, provide "plates" if requested, and issue a licence with no further question?

 

Has anybody on here had experience of just putting a currently unlicensed, but not new, boat on CRTs waters, and what happened when you did?

 

 

Nearest I have is waking up an old CRT registration after the boat being Thames licenced for a few years. I first did this by applying for a Gold licence and I don't remember being asked for proof of any of the information I provided. The BSS stifficate was about all IIRC.

[Alan de Enfield]

 

Actually one of the bits in this latest saga that I realise I don't know the answer to, is what happens if someone does try and license a stolen boat with CRT.

 

Clearly they would have to provide a host of details, including dimensions, probably a builder, and either a home mooring or a "no home mooring" declaration, but would CRT just then issue a brand new index number from the 2016 number range, provide "plates" if requested, and issue a licence with no further question?

 

Has anybody on here had experience of just putting a currently unlicensed, but not new, boat on CRTs waters, and what happened when you did?

 

I'm assuming it never got to this stage with this particular boat, but if it did, and CRT issued a licence without great difficulty, then that would seem to put a very searchable piece of data into their licensing system that would have been a considerable aid in finding the boat, had it not been found already.

 

How many 50 foot long boats for which an index number is not already available get licencsed by CRT in any given month - very few, I would imagine.

 

To register a 'new' boat onto C&RT waters is very simple.

There no need to give any details about 'home mooring' or CCing as the licence is a totally separate application - remember that a boat does not always need a C&RT licence (in an exempt marina, outside of the main navigable channel, on 'the hard' etc etc)

 

From memory (when we did ours) the registration can be completed with :

Length

Width

Colour

'material'

 

and For the HIN / CIN just put 'unknown'.

 

Plates issued within about a week.

 

The potential problem (if you were the 'baddy') would be having the plates delivered to your home, however once you know the Registration Number you can easily make up a self adhesive registration plate either from 'car number plate letters', or at a local Vinyl cutting shop.

 

I had (for example) my SSR Number 'plate' made up by a company on ebay - Cost about £3 inc. P+P

[ditchcrawler]

I know, why don't you post all the details on here including photos, every one will look out for it and hopefully someone will see it and let you know. At the same time post it on Face Book on the boating groups and probably within a week someone will see it and let you know

[Lady Muck]

 

Has anybody on here had experience of just putting a currently unlicensed, but not new, boat on CRTs waters, and what happened when you did?

Maffi told me about a brand new college cruisers boat that got craned in and got a patrol notice (I think on the same day it went in) !

[sharpness]

Chris & Graham contacted a lot of marinas & moorings in the search. Coincidentally Septembers WW magazine includes a booklet

"Moorings & Marinas Guide", listed by waterway, gives phone number & website. Very useful source of quickly available info if you wanted to spread the word quickly I would have thought. Just don't leave it on the boat!!

[stripey]

Chris & Graham contacted a lot of marinas & moorings in the search. Coincidentally Septembers WW magazine includes a booklet

"Moorings & Marinas Guide", listed by waterway, gives phone number & website. Very useful source of quickly available info if you wanted to spread the word quickly I would have thought. Just don't leave it on the boat!!

Marinas and moorings - it's a good idea, and it wouldn't take long to generate a list of email addresses from those; that could simply be copied and pasted.

Another one, if it can be activated by CRT, would be lockkeepers, including vollockies.

[Jennifer McM]

We've somehow got ourselves on an email mailing list for 'Canal Boat' magazine - the email featured an article about the boat theft. Mailout was from specialistmags@archant.co.uk and was received yesterday. Though it stated the boat was still missing.

 

This mailout could probably large