How should I go about securing my kayak when camping out at night? I was thinking of using a bike cable. I also don't know what part of the kayak to connect it to (I have a Liquid Logic XP10).
Darwin
daroos@indiana.edu
Lasso Security Cables
I use a Lasso security cable to secure my boats to my roof rack.
I consider and recommend it as a quality product.
www.LassoSecurityCables.com, tel. no. (707) 444-8814
For car camping: Lasso Lock
Secure it to the most hard-to-remove part of your roof rack, or to the vehicle itself. Maybe UNDER the vehicle if it’s high-clearance, and locked to the frame or axle.
For kayak-camping, put the boat on the ground next to your tent. Wrap some tough line around the boat in such a way that boat movement will make the tent deform or move. Maybe use the kayak as one of the tent stakes. You can also take a tip I heard Leon Somme give about preventing hatch invasion by raccoons: balance the kayak on something like washed-up logs, then place a stack of rocks on each hatch cover. Might not be doable if it’s windy, though.
various options
First, depends on where you are camping. When camping, I rarely lock it. Usually I am away from people, so have limited worries of someone even seeing it. But also I am usually near the kayak.
Lasso is an option. I use them when on my car.
Many kayaks have a lock loop attachment point. I looked at a picture of the LL, but couldn’t tell if it had one (there seems to be something that could be a loop just behind the cockpit on the right). If you have a lock loop (or your carry loops are secure), you can attach a lock right there to a cable that goes around a tree. Much cheaper and easier and lighter/smaller (important for camping) than the Lasso.
Out of sight…
…out of mind…get a piece of camoflauge material commonly used as hunting blinds…get the boat out of the water and cover it…people don’t just go searching the banks for boats…they spot one and for some, that makes a boat a target of opportunity.
XP10
doesnt that have the security bar on the bow?
Use that and a 14 foot truckers chain locked to a tree.
There was a PC anti-theft
device some years ago; I had one but threw it out since didn’t have much use for it. The name I think was Blue Venom. It locks in the floppy drive (I told you it’s old gizmo), so when you remove the key it stays in the drive, and horribly loud siren goes off when somebody tries moving the PC. First a loud hissing when it’s just shaking (could be an incident), and then a siren when it moves. Terribly loud. If you leave it in the kayak and somebody will try moving it - you’ll wake up before they find and kill the device. Most likely they will run at the first sounds. Works on 9V battery.
About those Lasso cables… Prepared thief comes with a bolt-cutter, and most cables or chains won’t stop him. OTH, a thief of opportunity has no tools and any el-cheapo cable or chain with padlock will do.
2 ways…
1) loop a cable under the seat (between seat and hull) then around a tree and lock.
2) lay it next to the nicest kayak you can find. The thief will steal the nice boat and elave yours alone.