i’m wondering just how secure my boats and bikes are with the security cables i use.
i have the high quality Lasso and Kryptonite cables. are these merely deterrents or are they actually difficult to cut through with a cable cutter??
deterrents
Depends what tool they got of course, would take a while to cut through it with a pocket knife. But all n all,just about everething out there is just a deterrent. i am speaking from a motorcyclist standpoint, we use much heavier duty stuff and people still find them where the bikes used to be.
to a point
If it’s locked to your car, at some point it will be easier for a theif to steal the car AND the kayak than just the kayak…
Most stuff is just a deterrant
– Last Updated: Jun-28-06 12:17 AM EST –
However, I would expect that true hard-surfaced materials wouldn't be worth the effort to cut through, even with a portable grinder unless the thief had a huge amount of time. Just out of curoiusity, I've tried cutting into auger flights which I've hard-surfaced using an arc welder and hard-surfacing electrodes, and even the best metal saw is hardly any more effective in that case than a serrated butter knife used to cut a glass bottle. It just doesn't work. A grinder might eventually do something, but I bet a whole lot more material would come off the grinder wheel than off the hard surfacing. Of course if I were a thief, I might know some tricks to get the job done.
More directly to the point though, a deterrent is a darned good thing. The average person never gets his/her car stolen in a lifetime of owning cars. If, however, you left your keys inside and the car unlocked all the time, it WOULD be stolen, and you probably woulddn't have to wait long for it to happen. I'd say lock your boat with as good a method as is practical, and that will be very good insurance.
the thicker the cable
the bigger/longer the cable cutters they have to carry around.
thanks for the replies
if i can find some aramid rope/webbing, i’ll go that route as well…
Even @ West Marine, the really big stuff
is not too expensive compared to losing the boat …
The cable inside is a good trick … walk up with bolt cutters and they will not work on kevlar line , get a knife, half way through, hit the cable … whoa … this is taking alot of time.
Any lock vs. no lock
It doesn’t need to be monstrous. Just enough to keep honest people honest. This demonstrates that you (the owner) are not reckless.
A broken lock or cut chain is great evidence when making a claim. Make certain it is noted in the police report.
Good Luck
Jay H.
1x19 SS wire…
…isn’t easy stuff to cut, as I know from my sailing days. If there are any rigging shops near you, you might be able to find some discarded stuff - swage eyes in at either end, with one small enough to pass thru your attachment point and the other eye - and get a good padlock. It’d sure take longer to chew thru that than the average thief likes to spend working at his trade…
There’s a lot to be said …
… for the sheer visual deterrence of beefy security. After all, only drunks and fools pick a fight with a burly bouncer.
I once had someone slice the bungees off my bike rack to swipe my two expensive mountain bikes, but when the would-be thief realized they were also attached with a double dose of Kryptonite’s heaviest cable and a $25 stainless steel padlock as big as your fist, they left the whole works dangling off my tailgate.
And as my dad used to say, a guy can’t steal what he doesn’t know you have; sometimes the best protection is simply a smarter parking spot. Before locking your boat to a tree at the landing, drag it a hundred feet into the woods and maybe throw a camo tarp over it.
I always use cables to secure my
canoes to my truck. I got some eight foot Brinks cables from a Wally’s World. It will stop a quick steal, but no matter how thick the cables are for a canoe at least, they can easily cut through what you loop the cable through on the canoe – or as was mentioned previously, they can steal the vehicle. With the cable and leaving you car in a busy area, your boat should be fairly safe for a reasonable time.
Doubly secure
I do tie a bike cable around my rack and a thwart (which could be cut with any saw, or removed with pliers - maybe five minutes). My main protection, I am hoping, is the 105lbs and 20’ length of my canoe. I figure it would be pretty conspicuous to be carring that thing far!
At least that is my hope.
Is this a big problem?
I live in Germany, so am not too worried about theft, but was thinking about buying some locks for our kayaks anyway - never hurts to be safe. We usually just day-trip, but there have been times we’ve gone away for a weekend an thought it would have been nice to bring the boats with us. Theft isn’t a big problem here, but I’m not a fool either.
Is this a big problem in the states? We’re probably moving back there in a year or so and was curious what to look forward to. We were thinking of buying these: http://www.campmor.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?productId=39163660&memberId=12500226 , but it sounds as if they may not be enough for stateside? We don’t have security bars, I had thought about adding an eye hook to each boat and running cable through those, but it would probably be easier to use a system like this.
Never had a Canoe Stolen
– Last Updated: Jul-10-06 10:46 AM EST –
The only bike I lost was in a HIGH crime neighberohood during college. And the thieves broke into the car to get it (and other stuff).
Usually a minor cable or chain will deter most people.
The US is worse than Germany. As a test on this exact topic. I once saw somebody leave a tw-thousand dollar Leica camera on a table, during a gallery opening (party). Then we walked out the door, going around the corner. After sitting outside for half-an-hour, we went back in. And somebody quickly came up and said "Excuse me sir, you left your camera here." In NYC, it would have been gone, without a single witness.
honesty goes a long way
I’ve had a waitress chase me out the door with like 35 cents because she made an error on our bill…honesty goes a long way here.
Theft does happen, but it’s rare, though I’m still hesitant to leave our kayaks on the car overnight without them being secured somehow. You never know…
I guess something like the cables I linked in my previous post will do OK here, but I’ll look harder for something more secure when I get back to the states.
Thanks.
My 2 cents
I use Lasso cables on our two tempests - always, even in my driveway. So far so good…
In a lighter vein: I remember reading about a person in Manhattan who was cleaning up after dogs and putting what he picked up in a bag. After a while he put the bag on the back seat of his car and left the door unlocked. In no time at all, the bag was stolen; the Manhattan police didn’t bother to look for the culprit.
Just to be on the safe side
I wrap my kayak in concertina razor wire and cover the whole thing with thin coat of super glue.
Have considered adding surveillance cameras and an electric perimeter, but that seems a bit over the top.
TieYak
I purchased one from www.tieyak.com for my canoe. I am happy with it. Since it loops over the bow and stern there is no boat hardware to which you have to wrap the cable.
TieYak
P.S. I had to get a custom length because of the width of my canoe vs a typical kayak. There was no extra charge and they were very helpful.