Do you leave a key on board?

Vince, in my many years as a cop I found there are darn few locks that will stop a determined thief. If he really wants to get past a lock and into your boat, he'll do it. That's what we carry insurance on things we own.

The main idea behind locks is to make your boat/truck/car/house a hard target so the thief will hit the one next to you that doesn't have things locked up. It's called "target hardening".

That makes sense to me...."Target Hardening". Just like we had a group of punks going through our neighborhood checking for open car doors last month. When they hit a locked car, they moved on down the road to the next one. I see your point, thanks. Also appreciate your input JVM.

V
 
Easily defeatable, but with damage to the door itself. Some that I know don’t lock their cabin because they feel the locks are so easily broken and they don’t want to risk the damage to the door/boat.
They’d rather let the thief’s get in and walk away with some items in the cabin.
My feelings are that I’d rather keep the cabin door locked to eliminate kids looking to hang out and drink my booze or go through my stuff, and let the insurance company worry about having the cabin door fixed if someone more determined breaks in.

There's the rub, right? On a sedan bridge, replacing the damage to the sliding door and/or screen is a big (costly) job. I, too, know people that simply leave theirs unlocked, because the cost of repairing damage to those doors is way more than the cost of buying a new flat panel TV...

But even if you believe in the locks, it's not secure. I have two boating friends that each own 400 DB's. Their keys will open and start each other's boats. So even if you secure everything, you're not that secure. I've heard there are only about 8 different key styles for my 320DA cabin door. I don't know if it that's true, but I do know the number is quite small. So you're always at the mercy of a fellow Sea Ray owner. Good thing we are all such upstanding folks!
 
There's the rub, right? On a sedan bridge, replacing the damage to the sliding door and/or screen is a big (costly) job. I, too, know people that simply leave theirs unlocked, because the cost of repairing damage to those doors is way more than the cost of buying a new flat panel TV...

But even if you believe in the locks, it's not secure. I have two boating friends that each own 400 DB's. Their keys will open and start each other's boats. So even if you secure everything, you're not that secure. I've heard there are only about 8 different key styles for my 320DA cabin door. I don't know if it that's true, but I do know the number is quite small. So you're always at the mercy of a fellow Sea Ray owner. Good thing we are all such upstanding folks!

Very true, i was surprised when i bought a set of extra keys from FP and they worked perfectly!
 
Lucky for me, the marina service provider has a set of keys on hand for me. Saved my arse a few times. :)

Likewise. The marina service department has a set of my keys. Comes in very handy because I can call them and ask for them to do service while I am away and if I forget my keys, I can "borrow" their set.
 
Very true, i was surprised when i bought a set of extra keys from FP and they worked perfectly!

But that only gets you in the cabin. At least the ignition keys themselves are more proper keys. At least on my boat where the two ignitions key switches are in the power panel in the cabin and I take those away with me. So someone with another Sea Ray key can maybe get in, but cant take the boat itself without a bit more work.
 
The keys have never been removed from the breaker panel in the seven years I've owned the boat. Door leading to salon is always unlocked. Call me niave I guess...
 
My feeling has always been "the door is the most expensive thing I'll have to replace other than the whole boat." My electronics are in the cockpit, and it doesn't take a key to get to them. Also, I don't know where the key to the salon door is?
 
The keys have never been removed from the breaker panel in the seven years I've owned the boat. Door leading to salon is always unlocked. Call me niave I guess...
Same here
 
Sheesh...and here I was only worried about them taking my beer :)

True story: Two or three years ago my wife and I were sitting on the back of our boat enjoying a cocktail one weeknight just before dusk. In our marina it's typically very quiet Monday-Thursday. As we sat there we watched a group of four kids, high school aged, walking from boat to boat hopping on, checking for something, and then getting back off. Two girls, two boys, dressed quite nicely. Looked like they were on a double date of sorts. Dressed far too nicely for what looked like increasingly bad decision making. I mentioned it to the security guard when he passes a few minutes later and thought nothing more of it.

Well we later came to find out that these guys/girls were just looking for free booze! I guess they'd hop on the boat, look for cockpit fridges fully stocked (or cabin if unlocked) and drink with their gal pals! Ballzy....but impressive creativity. If nothing else this supports to idea of having a cockpit ice maker. The freeloading teens probably won't steal much of the ice :)
 
Sheesh...and here I was only worried about them taking my beer :)

True story: Two or three years ago my wife and I were sitting on the back of our boat enjoying a cocktail one weeknight just before dusk. In our marina it's typically very quiet Monday-Thursday. As we sat there we watched a group of four kids, high school aged, walking from boat to boat hopping on, checking for something, and then getting back off. Two girls, two boys, dressed quite nicely. Looked like they were on a double date of sorts. Dressed far too nicely for what looked like increasingly bad decision making. I mentioned it to the security guard when he passes a few minutes later and thought nothing more of it.

Well we later came to find out that these guys/girls were just looking for free booze! I guess they'd hop on the boat, look for cockpit fridges fully stocked (or cabin if unlocked) and drink with their gal pals! Ballzy....but impressive creativity. If nothing else this supports to idea of having a cockpit ice maker. The freeloading teens probably won't steal much of the ice :)

Not sure I am impressed with anything about stealing from someone. Dipping into your parents booze I might say is a forgivable thing, but entering someones private property and stealing ANYTHING is a crime.
 
we had a partial bottle of Jack Daniels stolen from the cockpit galley while we were sleeping in the cabin....we usually put away the bottles before we go down to sleep but just forgot to this time....it was latter discovered it was a couple teenage boys...they got caught on another boat stealing beer....the scary thing is we usually do not lock the cabin door while we sleep....maybe we need to rethink this....if someone wanted to do harm to us or our boat while we are asleep in the cabin we could at least slow them down with a locked cabin door....maybe enough time to call for help....or pull out a gun for protection....lots of crazy people in this world....

cliff
 
Not sure I am impressed with anything about stealing from someone. Dipping into your parents booze I might say is a forgivable thing, but entering someones private property and stealing ANYTHING is a crime.

Agreed...agreed. But there are worse things I guess. I'm not much of a "zero tolerance" kind of guy. Had I walked up on this particular group of youths on my boat enjoying my booze with their dates I probably would have had a chat with them about their decision making, made sure they were not wasted and sent them on their way. Assuming they were apologetic and respectful, of course...
 
Agreed...agreed. But there are worse things I guess. I'm not much of a "zero tolerance" kind of guy. Had I walked up on this particular group of youths on my boat enjoying my booze with their dates I probably would have had a chat with them about their decision making, made sure they were not wasted and sent them on their way. Assuming they were apologetic and respectful, of course...

sorry, but i disagree with that method....to me this type reaction just enforces the bad behavior because they know there are no real consequences for their actions....if all they get is a 'stern talking to' that is likely not enough to prevent the same type behavior in the future....i'm not saying they need to be beat silly within an inch of their lives, but they need to be processed by the law to put some fear into their youthful brains....

cliff
 
sorry, but i disagree with that method....to me this type reaction just enforces the bad behavior because they know there are no real consequences for their actions....if all they get is a 'stern talking to' that is likely not enough to prevent the same type behavior in the future....i'm not saying they need to be beat silly within an inch of their lives, but they need to be processed by the law to put some fear into their youthful brains....

cliff

This would be an example of (in my opinion) one troubling difference between today's methods of raising kids vs. 50+ years ago. I'm of the opinion that a calm, rational discussion with a level headed adult can many times be more impactful on a young persons development and future decision making than the "fear of the law".

Similar to educators, I don't feel it's the police officers job to raise our kids. They've got better things to be doing than addressing the $3.85 of Bud Select those kids stole from that boat.

Though I can absolutely see your point, Cliff. I simply have a different outlook.
 
This would be an example of (in my opinion) one troubling difference between today's methods of raising kids vs. 50+ years ago. I'm of the opinion that a calm, rational discussion with a level headed adult can many times be more impactful on a young persons development and future decision making than the "fear of the law".

Similar to educators, I don't feel it's the police officers job to raise our kids. They've got better things to be doing than addressing the $3.85 of Bud Select those kids stole from that boat.

Though I can absolutely see your point, Cliff. I simply have a different outlook.


we can agree to disagree!.......:)......i'm am definitely old school on things like this....i suppose it is because i am a stern disciplinarian...not sure where that came from, it just comes natural....i was not beaten (too hard :rolleyes:) as a child but did get a few lashes of a belt on my legs from pops when i deserved it.....

cliff
 
we can agree to disagree!.......:)......i'm am definitely old school on things like this....i suppose it is because i am a stern disciplinarian...not sure where that came from, it just comes natural....i was not beaten (too hard :rolleyes:) as a child but did get a few lashes of a belt on my legs from pops when i deserved it.....

cliff

I was raised by a state trooper and a teacher. I don't know how I became such a softie!!!! :)
 
To follow up to "Stee's" post, I guess I will share my story of catching teenagers in the act. It was 4th of July night well after the fireworks and we were tied up at our home Yacht club on Clearwater Beach. Myself, my wife and two young daughters were downstairs for the night. The girls were watching a movie and I was in the mid cabin of our 290DA dozing off. Our labrador preferred to sleep in the cockpit of the boat.

It's about 10:30 and I hear some noise above me. There are a couple small windows above me in the mid cabin that look out over the cockpit floor. I look out and see two pair of feet... one pair pointing up and one pair pointing down on a blanket. It took me a moment to let this sink in of exactly what was going on here and I was shocked.

I got up, opened the cabin door and sure enough, there was boyfriend and girlfriend in the position you might imagine, on the deck on my boat. My presence scared the life out of them as they struggled to get their stuff together and get up on the dock. All the while, my watch-dog is sitting there wagging her tail.

It was amazing that the couple did not know people were on the boat as I had the generator running (shore power was out), we had the TV on downstairs and one cabin light on.

If this is inappropriate content, please LMK and I will delete it, or have a moderator delete it.

Vince
 
I was raised by a state trooper and a teacher. I don't know how I became such a softie!!!! :)

luckily the Admiral is a lot more forgiving and forward thinking on things like this so she keeps me in check....sort of...

cliff
 
we had a partial bottle of Jack Daniels stolen from the cockpit galley while we were sleeping in the cabin....we usually put away the bottles before we go down to sleep but just forgot to this time....it was latter discovered it was a couple teenage boys...they got caught on another boat stealing beer....the scary thing is we usually do not lock the cabin door while we sleep....maybe we need to rethink this....if someone wanted to do harm to us or our boat while we are asleep in the cabin we could at least slow them down with a locked cabin door....maybe enough time to call for help....or pull out a gun for protection....lots of crazy people in this world....

cliff

Cliff,

Do you have locked gates on your docks? Not that any determined criminal could not get around our gates but they do keep out the occasional thief.

When the day comes that I need to lock myself in my boat at night I will sell it.

Our dock has changed a lot in the past 3 years. Used to be on a summer night the only problem was the noise from the several parties that lasted well into the night. Now its crickets. The cruisers are being sold off and replaced with deck boats on lifts. I hate the change. 5 years ago we have about fifteen 320DA's lined up. Now its down to three. The kids are moving out and many of our friends are getting out of boating.
 

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