Its never where you expect

[Hudds Lad]

Just heard from one of our syndicate that whilst moored at Ellesmere he forgot to take the tiller bar off whilst nipping to the shops, on return he found some light-fingered scrote has had it away with the tiller pin

 

I'm quite surprised as there's a lot of foot traffic on that towpath, but then again you never know if someone is an owner or a tealeaf as they step on the back of a boat you don't know.

[Boater Sam]

Drill the pin and put a tiny lock through it.

[David Mack]

Belfast's tiller bar is such a tight fit on the swan's neck that it's all I can do to get it off at all!

 

So any thief would have to be very "heavy fingered".  But as it is steel with nearly as much rust as paint, I don't suppose it is that attractive to scrotes.

 

[mrsmelly]

Use a cheap screwdriver.

[Cheese]

17 minutes ago, Hudds Lad said:

... but then again you never know if someone is an owner or a tealeaf as they step on the back of a boat you don't know.

Unfortunately perhaps more likely to be an issue with a share-boat, particularly if it has many owners.  Even locals to it's usual mooring, who 'know' the boat, may get so used to seeing many different people on board that they don't think twice about someone they haven't seen before.

[philjw]

Did they take just the pin or the tiller bar as well?  A nice brass tiller would be more attractive as scrap to the average scrote than the pin which is really only of interest to another boater.

If it was just the pin then you would still be able to steer the boat.

[Hudds Lad]

54 minutes ago, philjw said:

Did they take just the pin or the tiller bar as well?  A nice brass tiller would be more attractive as scrap to the average scrote than the pin which is really only of interest to another boater.

If it was just the pin then you would still be able to steer the boat.

just the pin, quite a plain one but brass on the top, bar left behind which is also brass but I guess a bit harder to conceal.

 

he got back ok as we have an unattractive spare on board