I’m looking for ideas on how to lock up my boat outdoors. Its a 14.5’ poly tandem. I have a tree that I can loop a cable around but not sure how I could attatch it to the boat.
Good question.
I’m about to tackle that dilemma myself. I pick up my new Pungo 140 in two weeks . I’ve already designed a “bed” for my new toy and I’m also looking for ways to secure it.
Securing
– Last Updated: Jul-15-05 7:48 PM EST –
My boats all have enough space next to, or under, the seat to slip a cable through. A thief would have to remove the seat to steal the boat.
Someone once suggested manufacturing a "Kayak Klub". This would involve 2 pcs. of heavy pipe, one would slide inside the other. You put the telescoping pipes inside the cockpit, extend them so the pipe assembly is too long to remove from the cockpit. Drill a hole through the 2 sections and insert a lock. You can now wrap the cable around this pipe assembly and the tree.
My suggestion is: Throw the cable over a very high branch, tie the kayak to the end and hoist it up. Now wrap the cable around the tree trunk and lock it. This will prevent bears (as well as people) from stealing your boat.
I was thinking
about creating two bars along the edges of the boat that sort of clip on, then running them to a battery in a secured housing unit. Creating a current through the bars and into an alarm. Touch the bars and zap clip the wires, and screeeeeeeee
I’m sure theres something I havent considered though.
If it has removable day hatch like
Pungo Classic you can run cable lock in the hatch hole and out cockpit opening like I do.
Doberman
Get something like a Doberman, Pitbull, or German Sheapard type dog and stake it out near the boat. Fullproof protection! Caution… some larger dogs could use your boat as a chew toy…
Seriously, in additon to locking up the boat, also suggest you cover it with a tarp… out of sight out of mind.
"Kayak Klub"
Though I store my kayaks in a locked garage (actually, it’s my kayak building workshop; the car has to stay outside!), I do sometimes feel better if I can lock a boat on the car rack if I’m away from the car and boat for a while.
Both my boats have “hip plates” that are part of the boat’s structure. These create a separation between the coaming space fore and aft of these hip plates. And so, I fit a “car club” across the cockpit, aft of the hip plates. Then, with a very heavy duty bike cable lock, I run it around the club and the rack crossbar (the rack is locked to the car as well).
I’m not sure if anything can be the absolute perfect solution to stop the most determined and well equipped thief, who might also have plenty of time and privacy to do their work, but there are two reasons why I feel even something as simple as my solution seems to work (and could be adapted to a home storage situation as well)…
- In general, I think thieves must want their work to be as fast and easy as possible.
- If the idea of the thief is to either sell the boat or use it themselves (can’t entirely imagine the latter, as I’d rather think better of my fellow paddlers), so they’d probably rather not damage the boat in the process.
Cutting through the club and/or the thick cable, even if the thief has the right tools, can be too time comsuming for an ease and efficiency minded thief.
The only alternative to cutting the club would be to cut the hip plates in order to remove the club; thereby damaging the boat.
Finally (and I wish this weren’t the case; or even had to be the case), many people simply don’t secure their boats in any way. So, given the choice between working to liberate a more secured boat rather than one that is not secured in any way, I’m sure the thief would be looking for the easier target.
Another alternative I’ve seen…
I’ve seen cable arrangements where two longer cables with big loops on one end of each are fitted over the boat at bow and stern, then the cables are locked together (short enough so that the loops can’t be slipped back out over either bow or stern), then the joined cable is secured to either locked cartop racks or to a home storage rack. The cable systems (cables themselves) I’ve seen like this weren’t as heavy duty as the thick, short bike cable I use with my club, so they might be easier to cut; given the right cutting tool.
At the end of the day, I think anything that can reasonably discourage a “casual thief” is a good thing, but I wouldn’t put it past a very dedicated thief with heavy duty tools to take whatever they want.
Melissa
Pungo 140
Do you know if the if the Pungo 140 has removable day hatch?
I use this cable lock
This is a PYTHON cable lock from Masterlock. I got mine from ACO hardware.
http://www.masterlock.com/promos/python/8413python_lock.shtml
My kayak has a 3/8 hole for an optional rudder. The PYTHON lock uses a 3/8 cable. What is nice about it is that the cable remains 3/8 all the way to the end. So, I am able to slip it through the rudder hole and around the rear door hinge on my minivan. There is enough [just] room for the door to close on the cable.
Of course, it is easy to secure the kayak to a tree, etc.
The cable is rubber coated to prevent scratching your boat, car, etc.
CABLING THRU THE SCUPPERS OF THE SOTS, &
double-ended loops on the noses & prows of the SINKs and the Isthmus -they’re tautly locked together, and the loops can’t be slipped off either end. All these are locked individually, then intertwined by another cable that’s attached to the crossbar and vertical of a chain link fence behind the palms.
See the arrangment (and the Yak rack they’re held by) at
http://www.topkayaker.net/CGI-BIN/yakalbum/cgi-bin/album.pl?photo=Misc.%20Member%20Photos/DigiPix2005_0123_115759AAS2.JPG;photo_height=-1;photo_width=-1
and
http://www.topkayaker.net/CGI-BIN/yakalbum/cgi-bin/album.pl?photo=Misc.%20Member%20Photos/Long_View_Rack_at_Nite3.JPG;photo_width=-1;photo_height=-1
and
http://www.topkayaker.net/CGI-BIN/yakalbum/cgi-bin/album.pl?photo=Misc.%20Member%20Photos/DigiPix2005_0123_123849AAS.JPG;photo_width=-1;photo_height=-1
The palms pretty well shade the boats from even our hot Sunny South Florida sun, and I 303 them after paddling.
All in all, a nice, good arrangment to pretty well hold the fleet secure and neat in between the times we
PADDLE ON!
-Frank in Miami
locking/securing kayak
There wasn’t any place I could place a cable through my kayak, so I went to my local hardware store, purchased a U-Bolt which came with washers, and then I drilled through the kayak’s stern and screwed the U-bolt on. Now when it’s on my car roof, I can run a cable through the U-bolt onto the roof rack, or do the same thing when the boat is anywhere else. I suggest you look for a stainless steel U-Bolt to prevent rust. Hope this works for you - it only cost me a couple of dollars.
Arline
Use a Club
made for a car. Put it on the cockpit rim instead of the steering wheel. They’d either have to cut the Club or do some real damage to the cockpit rim to get the cable off.
Lasso Security Cables
Look no further. These are excellent!!
WELL, I LASSOED 3 OF OURS FOR
about the cost of 1 lasso.
Now they ain’t as pretty, that I’ll admit.
But they DO the same job in the same way, and they’ll keep all but a dedicated & determined theif to make off with our boats. I’m pretty sure our system will work just as well, and well have our boats around to
PADDLE ON!
-Frank in Miami
Locking a Pungo
I looked at a Pungo 140 at the store and don’t recall a removable day hatch. We have a couple of Pungo 100’s and have no problem locking them with a cable. There is space between the seat and the side of the boat, so we just loop the cables around there and then around a tree.
I have put at least 2 security loops
on kayaks. They are made of cable which is bolted through a base in the boat with locking nuts.You have to drill 2 holes in the boat. I got them at my outfitter.