I've unlocked my cabin door for good......should you?

A little late to this party but back in 2012 my 290 Sundancer was broken into when I had it in my driveway. They did it while I was asleep which made me even angrier. But, yes, I had to file an insurance claim because they did thousands of dollars of damage prying my cabin door open only to get a 5 year old play station! I had to get new cab door parts. And have my walk through window fixed. I never lock my cabin door anymore. I just don't keep anything of value in it.
 
Stee6043 said:
Do you guys that leave your doors unlocked also remove your keys from the ignition? Most of the folks I boat with have keys that never move from the panel. Turn 'em on and off, but never taken out.

I agree with the value of contents vs value of door argument but I suppose that assumes they don't take the whole damn boat. ha.
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I never leave keys in the ignition. I have a secret spot for keys near the helm, out of sight when I am gone.
 
Our boat is always locked. My wife and I and the guys from the boat yard that takes care of it are the only ones who know where the key is.
 
Quint4 said:
I never leave keys in the ignition. I have a secret spot for keys near the helm, out of sight when I am gone.
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+1

Gofirstclass said:
Our boat is always locked. My wife and I and the guys from the boat yard that takes care of it are the only ones who know where the key is.
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+1

We always lock the boat when we aren't there for extended periods of time.
 
I leave the keys in the panel, turned on, and the door unlocked... If someone wants to steal her, I get a new boat... We live in an area of NJ with no unorganized crime, which makes my neighborhood very safe... As most have said, we don't have anything on the boat that is irreplaceable....
 
Depending on where the boat is and whether or not I'm 'at it', I do both. My buddy Gus used to do part time boat security but he passed away a couple years ago. Gus.JPG
 
Remember when squatters broke into GW's 480DB and lived there for awhile one winter.....the good ol' days of CSR....
 
It is expensive to fix the cabin door, a 310DA I'm buying has a quote of nearly $1100 to fix a cabin door that's extremely hard to open/close. I don't know what caused it, but apparently it requires a significant amount of disassembly to get at the track/mechanism to even repair them.

I can see the arguments for/against locking the door vs. having the door broken, and I guess personally I would lean towards locking if only to keep the casual thieves at bay -- move on to an easier target, and I bet most thieves are looking just for stuff that's quick and easy or aren't even really thieves, just kids looking for booze. The odds in most places seem to favor crimes of opportunity, not determined thieves.

I do think Sea Ray could reconsider cabin door design and construction with an eye towards improved security -- and easier door repair, like maybe making the track mechanism accessible from the interior.
 
I have always left the cabin door unlocked. In the slip or on land. A few years ago we had teens break into a few boats in early spring, so no shrink wrap but top sets were installed. Well the dumbasses cut the canvas backdrops to get into the boat. They were caught, and asked why they cut the canvas... the response was the zippers would have made too much noise...

2 years ago we were hit again, early spring so no shrink wrap. My boat was hit, stole the VHF and the several buffers that I use. Cabin door was open but they never went in. They could have grabbed all the tools I had out also. They also hit several other boats. They were caught also... because... they were DUMB enough to come into the boat yard the following weekend with a van trying to sell the items they stole!

It's comforting to know that they aren't very smart.

There was a video I believe on here or FB of a pair that lifted a big Yamaha outboard and the kicker from a boat on dry dock. It took several days to accomplish. And they were operating within 20' of a security camera. Positive IDs and vehicle plates.


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H2ONUT said:
I have always left the cabin door unlocked. In the slip or on land. A few years ago we had teens break into a few boats in early spring, so no shrink wrap but top sets were installed. Well the dumbasses cut the canvas backdrops to get into the boat. They were caught, and asked why they cut the canvas... the response was the zippers would have made too much noise...

2 years ago we were hit again, early spring so no shrink wrap. My boat was hit, stole the VHF and the several buffers that I use. Cabin door was open but they never went in. They could have grabbed all the tools I had out also. They also hit several other boats. They were caught also... because... they were DUMB enough to come into the boat yard the following weekend with a van trying to sell the items they stole!

It's comforting to know that they aren't very smart.

There was a video I believe on here or FB of a pair that lifted a big Yamaha outboard and the kicker from a boat on dry dock. It took several days to accomplish. And they were operating within 20' of a security camera. Positive IDs and vehicle plates.


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Recently a young thief in our area was caught. When asked why he did it he assured the court he wasn't really that kind of a guy, he was just fighting an addiction....to money. After his first 'mistake' he became addicted to money, he couldn't not steal.

I know it isn't funny...but you can't help but laugh. Are these guys capable of even pushing a broom without screwing up?
 
Woody said:
Recently a young thief in our area was caught. When asked why he did it he assured the court he wasn't really that kind of a guy, he was just fighting an addiction....to money. After his first 'mistake' he became addicted to money, he couldn't not steal.

I know it isn't funny...but you can't help but laugh. Are these guys capable of even pushing a broom without screwing up?
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No! That's why they steal! LOL


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We lock the cabin door but the bridge is wide open there's no way to lock it. That's where the electronics are there's really nothing inside the boat that's worth stealing. I have cameras on 24/7 just to anger myself when I watch them leave with my chartplotters.
 
Unlocked... But now with SimpliSafe security system. My insurance settled last week @ $22.5k.
 
I'm glad I ordered the Samurai edition of the trunk monkey. Now I can rest easy knowing my boat is unlocked.
 
I lock my boat and my 410 has a swing door with a more robust locking mechanism made by Trioving. They can cot it open but I also removed the interior "key" so they would damage things quite a lot to get it. Easier to go through the hatch but still have to find the interior key to get out! My marina is a secure island and the harbor master lives there and will shoot anyone he catches trying to break in.
 
A bit off topic, but recently a summer beach home near me was broken into by teens. They had a party, drank the owner's booze and ordered pizza from Domino's. Left the pizza boxes, complete with receipt attached, including name and phone number. They walk among us.
 
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