Do you leave a key on board?

Carpediem44DB

Carpediem44DB

Well-Known Member
Aug 18, 2015
3,230
Sanfransico Bay area
Boat Info
2000 Carver 506
2006 44 DB Sedan Bridge
Engines
Volvo TAMD 74 P
817027B8-1A2E-4661-A1C7-CC4547D485D7.jpeg
I posted recently about my friend's woes after a homeless couple took up residency on his 420SB for an overnight rave. They trashed the boat, drank his booze apparently engaged in coitus on his bed and then stole his Tvs and of all things his articulating Dinette table. The grand total of damage has just topped $10,000. His table has to be custom built and the estimate for just the base is $4800.
Harold, like many of us hid a key in a cockpit locker to avoid the inevitable event of showing up at the boat without the boat keys. Been doing the same thing for 20 plus years with out a problem. It only takes one time though to say to your self 'WHAT WAS I THINKING!'
I recently hid my keys on the boat so well that I have not been able to find them since NYE! I built a secondary lock for the slider but will be installing a lock box in an aft locker for the keys to it. Something to think about. Sorry the pic fell on its side, I haven’t figured out the easy way to upload then upright. I assume it has to do with image size?
Carpe Diem
 
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If your taking pics with your phone, try turning it sideways instead of vertical.
 
Third Edition said:
Not sure that's something to admit on a public forum.
Click to expand...
Good point, the post was mainly just food for thought, not expecting skippers to reply in the affirmative with specifics. We tend to get lulled into a false sense of security with our habits of convenience. I rarely lock our cars or house even when gone for the weekend. I imagine one day that may bite me in the A==!
Carpe Diem
 
Carpediem44DB said:
View attachment 65247 I posted recently about my friend's woes after a homeless couple took up residency on his 420SB for an overnight rave. They trashed the boat, drank his booze apparently engaged in coitus on his bed and then stole his Tvs and of all things his articulating Dinette table. The grand total of damage has just topped $10,000. His table has to be custom built and the estimate for just the base is $4800.
Harold, like many of us hid a key in a cockpit locker to avoid the inevitable event of showing up at the boat without the boat keys. Been doing the same thing for 20 plus years with out a problem. It only takes one time though to say to your self 'WHAT WAS I THINKING!'
I recently hid my keys on the boat so well that I have not been able to find them since NYE! I built a secondary lock for the slider but will be installing a lock box in an aft locker for the keys to it. Something to think about. Sorry the pic fell on its side, I haven’t figured out the easy way to upload then upright. I assume it has to do with image size?
Carpe Diem
Click to expand...

Re: pics not being straight up. All you need to do is "crop" ever so slightly before uploading, and the problem goes away.

-Tom
 
I have cameras on the boat. If someone decides to go in I’ll be happy to send the police to say hello to them
 
I hide a cabin key on the boat but not an ignition key. I keep a set of ignition keys in each vehicle so no matter what we drive to the marina we won't have to worry about forgetting keys. The only reason we keep a cabin key hidden is if the kids want to stop down (which they rarely ever do). I have seen other boats in our marina with the keys in the ignition but didn't pay attention to how long it sat like that or if the keys are always in those boats. Not that it matters to alot of thieves but the police department shares the parking lot with the marina and the police boat and the conservation officer boats are both kept in our marina. Part of my theory is there are much nicer boats in our marina that a thief would target before ours...lol. Kinda like not having to outswim the shark, just outswim the other guy. There really isn't anything very valuable on the boat either. A $100 TV and life jackets is about it.

But we always lock our house and vehicles. I usually even have the house locked when we are home. We had a guy try to break into our house about 10 years ago while we were home. I was still in law enforcement at the time and it didn't work out well for him but that's a different story.
 
I couldn't imagine... If that happened to us that would be it for my wife...she wouldn't step foot on it and I would be getting a new boat... I need to find these homeless guys :)

I have cameras but I think if people want to get in they will cause more damage breaking in plus the damage they were going to do anyway.
 
No…..

My wife and I both have cabin door keys and the alarm control and ignition keys are in a locked key box inside the aft compartment closet.

The service manager also has the cabin door key and the combination to the key/alarm control box and there is a full set of keys on the locked key board in the marina parts department for the mechanics if they need them when we are out of town.

We leave the refrigerator, freezer and ice maker off and the doors open, and no fishing tackle, no food or drinks, other than a few bottles of water on the boat when we are gone. My boat isn't going to be a high return target for a thief.
 
I have a lockbox in a compartment in the cockpit. They would have to cut the lockbox out if the compartment to get the keys which is not that hard but would create quite a lot of noise in the process.
I also have an alarm that triggers when the cabin or bridge doors are opened that sets off a siren that is deafening. It alerts my phone with a text and email as well.
 
I've kept a salon key hidden on my boats for many years. The main reason is so the guy who takes care of my boat can get inside to do any work he needs to do without me having to be there. He's the only one who knows where the engine keys are hidden so I know nobody is going to steal the boat.

An example of how well this works: I called him from AZ because the marina basin had frozen over. He went down to the boat and installed the Kasco deicer for me.

I went down yesterday to settle up with him for his "home visit" to the boat and he just said "Aw, there's no charge. It only took me about an hour away from the shop."

That's the kind of relationship I enjoy. He and his wife are more friends than just business acquaintances and that works well for both of us.
 
I'm interested to see what alarms people are using. I've been researching and the prices are pretty hefty. I don't think I need a system monitored by a central station, but it must have a phone app. West Marine has one or two and I've seen a couple on line. Any suggestions?
 
Carpediem44DB said:
Good point, the post was mainly just food for thought, not expecting skippers to reply in the affirmative with specifics. We tend to get lulled into a false sense of security with our habits of convenience. I rarely lock our cars or house even when gone for the weekend. I imagine one day that may bite me in the A==!
Carpe Diem
Click to expand...
I leave a full set of keys hidden in the cockpit. We live 2.5hrs away so a couple marina friends know where they are should something happen and the boat need to be moved.

At home we do the same. The only change has come since our dog died. My wife wants the doors locked at night and she's not comfortable alone at night when I'm gone.
 
searay495 said:
I'm interested to see what alarms people are using. I've been researching and the prices are pretty hefty. I don't think I need a system monitored by a central station, but it must have a phone app. West Marine has one or two and I've seen a couple on line. Any suggestions?
Click to expand...

I use Siren Marine. I added sensors for the doors and wired in a Siren. It was about $800 worth of hardware, took me 6hrs to install and is about $200 for monitoring. That lets me remotly monitor all bilge pumps, entry doors, batteries, and shore power. You can add more sensors such as motion and snap sensors.
 
Lucky for me, the marina service provider has a set of keys on hand for me. Saved my arse a few times. :)
 
"Safe" is relative. Our boat is in a historically no-crime marina and we leave the boat unlocked. My thinking is that somebody breaking in would do more damage (destroying unique cabin door) than the value of what is on the boat. I'd be crushed if my Steiner's were stolen, but other than that, the value we leave on the boat is a couple hundred bucks of booze, and a handheld.

Obviously, if peeps break in just to trash it, then all bets are off.
 
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