The description of my stolen KAYAK is a Sand colored Wilderness Sytem Tarpon 160i. It has the rudder system and anchor trolley on the left side. The Hull ID is WEMPNH9WE606. It’s a year old and still in great shape. I never added any special stickers or modifications to it. I wish I would have thought of that. I think I have a picture in my PC at work. I’ll try to post it later when I find it.
The above Yak was stolen in St. Petersburg, FL. If you find info concerning it please contact me, or go to paddle-fishing.com & reply to post ‘stolen kayak’. Thanks
File a police report right away and
place an ad in your local paper about it. People really do get stolen items returned on occasion.
Pawn shops
Also start making a tour of the pawn shops.
Mine was recovered
File the police report and make sure that the hull ID is listed on the report. The pawn shop that had mine tried to claim I read the number on the hull and then reported that number to the police. They also tried to claim I put the number on the kayak while it was in their parking lot. They did not know that the person who found the kayak and was with me the whole time was the commander of the local SWAT unit (in plain clothes at the time). Their attitude changed a lot when he finally pulled out his badge.
Check with the local police to find out how long the pawn shops are required to hold an item before selling it. They usually will not even tell you (much less show you) any item that is still in that hold period. Mine did not show up at the pawn shop for over 3 months (90 day holding limit in my area). The guy who pawned it had been back in prison on parole violation for 6 weeks by the time it turned up.
If you want more info on my recover e-mail me privately.
Mark
this is why I keep my kayak locked up
in the garage. both the large car door and regular door are locked and checked by me 4 times a day to ensure ultimate sercurity. I was also considering printing out the Brinks logo then laminating it and putting on our garage door.
Start
searching Ebay as well. Plenty of people sell boats on Ebay, while it is a good way to get caught because you have to provide so much PID to get an account. But thieves are often stupid. If you find a boat like yours posted on Ebay send the seller an email requesting the HID.
Good luck, I hope that you recover it easily.
That sucks
I’ll keep my eye out if they try to resell it locally. Mind saying specifically where it was stolen from? As a St Pete paddler I’d like to know where I may be more at risk.
Good luck and if I find the theif I’ll make sure no one finds the body…
3hrTour
stolen
Very sorry to hear this. I would hope you have home or renters insurance that will cover the cost of replacement for you.
Good luck
Dennis
Ebay and Craigslist
Start searching both.
Stolen boat Forum…
I’ve read more than one posting on stolen boats…anyone have an “in” at paddling.net to start a stolen boat listing??? Would be more useful than bickering about useless B.S.!
Boat theft
99% of boats stolen are a result of leaving an open door to the perpetrator. A simple deterent is in most cases all that is needed to sway someone to pick on someone who has taken NO steps to secure their boat.
Hardly anyone would leave a $200 bike unlocked, yet paddlers in general believe the rest of the world is as honest as we are. Nonsense.
Sure a cable can be cut. But something to deter is better than the obvious easy route, using nothing.
See the links to stolen boat forums on KayakLock.com. Lower section of page.