Knapps Narrows/Tilghman Island Thief

Jack380AC

Member
Jan 28, 2008
877
West Chester, PA / North East, MD
Boat Info
2000 380 Aft Cabin
Engines
Twin 454 Mag MPI Horizon MerCruiser
In over 20 years of boating, we have never had a single malicious event. Can't say that any more.

Arrived late afternoon at Knapps Narrows Marina, docked at the east end of the floating dock. Great view. Swam, had a few munchies and beer and then went to dinner. Came back before dark, had a few munchies and sweets before my family and guests went to bed.

Woke up in the morning to find that someone had stolen our dinghy outboard motor and external gas tank right of the dinghy which was on the swim platform.

So if anyone sees a used 5HP Mercury outboard for sale on Craig's list or eBay, let me or the MD State Police know.

Not sure we will be going back to Knapps any time soon (or ever).
 
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That Sucks, it's happening all over! Probably a good thing you didn't have the OB locked to the Dink or the would have stolen that too. Our dock was hit about a month ago, some Fenders, water hoses, and a couple of fishing rods!! It's the Economy!!
 
That sucks for sure. I was just a Knapps myself two weeks ago. We go there at least 5 or 6 times a year Sorry to hear about your thief.
 

Thanks for this tip. When I get a job and buy a new motor, I'm going to invest in some "prevention."

Unfortunately, this changes my mind set about my family's security on the water. I beleived (and wanted to) that things were different on the Eastern Shore. We're at St Michael's today and some around the doch have said that they are not surprised this happened on Tilghman. Felloe boaters beware.
 
I've never been the victim of a theft from the boat, but I never take my family's security for granted when I'm on the water. Several years ago I was on the hook for the night and was awakened by the sound of a small outboard motor near our boat. It seemed to be circling our boat so I got up and peeked out. There was about a 16' aluminum boat with a small motor and two men inside that was idling around the boat, about 50' away. They circled a couple more times then went about 50 yards away and shut off the motor. I could hear them talking but couldn't hear what they were saying. They stayed there for about 10 minutes then started the motor and idled away. I couldn't see any fishing gear in the boat so it made me wonder what they were doing out there in the middle of the night.

I never carried a pistol on board before that night but now I do. I refuse to be a victim to someone who wants to hurt me or my family.

Just saying..........
 
Update:
I'm very pleased to report that the owner of Knapp's Narrows Marina and the surrounding community of Tilghman Island, are not taking this matter lightly. The marina has issued a reward for information leading to the thief. They have also coordinated a network of local citizens, business owners and watermen to see if they can find out who might have done this. The marina is coordinating information between State Police, local Sheriff's Office and Dept of Natural Resources Marine Police. I am impressed by the reaction they are taking and believe they are intent on not allowing this to get out of hand in their boating community. It make sense as I suspect they get a lot of their local income from the boating public.:smt038

ALSO, the marina has offered to give me a used motor to replace the one stolen!!

I think all of this says very good things about the folks at Knapp's Narrows Marina. I'll be back (with a lock on the motor of course).
 
Several Marina's in the area got hit this past winter/spring and with the economy I would suspect more will get hit as people look for easy targets. Boats are generally easy targets as they don't always have a lot of people around in off season and or week nights.

I purchased and installed a First Alert Motion operated wireless camera system I purchased on line with (2) cameras and on the first Tuesday night at 2:03AM we had an individual come on the dock where there were no lights on. The cameras are infrared and need no light and other than a small red led light on the front of the camera lens are well concealed & hidden. One camera shoots the dock area at the rear of the boat which is your on/off access point and the other shoots back on the dock to see who/what is activating the motion detected operation.

The wireless receiver is well hidden and there are many places around our docks which are covered to conceal the recording device. I check the camera each week when I'm down and have already taken to the local Sheriffs office the (3) clips for their use.

The individual referenced above came on the dock at 2:03AM and stopped just inside the building doorway. You see him looking left the right and then reaching up to his ball cap and suddenly he turns on a light which is mounted on his brim. This certainly was a dead giveaway creating a very suspicious situation. Once he turned his head lights on and looked around he saw one of the cameras because of the red led light on the camera lens. He looked straight into the camera (Thank you very much) then slowly backed out the door and left.

I am sure that night the system prevented him from going any further at least that night so far. Can't guarantee he want be back but now he has to look out for all (4) cameras as I have since added (2) more to the set up. We record every car that comes into the marina area which with description, color and license number certainly will help in the future if/when needed. I don't think he will spend the time to search 10 boats, dock boxes and the like to see if he can find the recording device. It's not bullet proof but certainly makes me feel safer when I'm not there. Yes the stray cats that walk the doc at night can be a little annoying but then again sometimes it can be amusing. Also everyone is a little more careful where they pee of the dock now.
 
Update:
I'm very pleased to report that the owner of Knapp's Narrows Marina and the surrounding community of Tilghman Island, are not taking this matter lightly. The marina has issued a reward for information leading to the thief. They have also coordinated a network of local citizens, business owners and watermen to see if they can find out who might have done this. The marina is coordinating information between State Police, local Sheriff's Office and Dept of Natural Resources Marine Police. I am impressed by the reaction they are taking and believe they are intent on not allowing this to get out of hand in their boating community. It make sense as I suspect they get a lot of their local income from the boating public.:smt038

ALSO, the marina has offered to give me a used motor to replace the one stolen!!

I think all of this says very good things about the folks at Knapp's Narrows Marina. I'll be back (with a lock on the motor of course).

Whew. My faith in humanity is somewhat restored.

I can't tell you how lax my security is when I am on the water or down at the shore.

I usually do remember to lock the front door to the house -> if I actually close it. Been driving a convertable for years. Thanks to a car cover and a garage, I have been known to have the top down for WEEKS at a time. Never a problem (knock wood)
 
The individual referenced above came on the dock at 2:03AM and stopped just inside the building doorway. You see him looking left the right and then reaching up to his ball cap and suddenly he turns on a light which is mounted on his brim. This certainly was a dead giveaway creating a very suspicious situation. Once he turned his head lights on and looked around he saw one of the cameras because of the red led light on the camera lens. He looked straight into the camera (Thank you very much) then slowly backed out the door and left.

One thing you might consider... when using a covert camera you often don't want anyone to know it's even there. Hide it well and also use a patch of electrical tape over the red light. There are times where you might want the red light visible as a deterrent but most often it's better just being the "silent witness".
 
One thing you might consider... when using a covert camera you often don't want anyone to know it's even there. Hide it well and also use a patch of electrical tape over the red light. There are times where you might want the red light visible as a deterrent but most often it's better just being the "silent witness".

Covering up the red LEDs will render the camera useless at night... probably not the effect he's looking for.
 
Covering up the red LEDs will render the camera useless at night... probably not the effect he's looking for.

The LED is just a visible "camera on" lamp. The actual infrared, which does the night time illumination, is just below the human visible spectrum. Our soldiers would be easy targets if the infrared was a visible type of beam. His camera may be different than all the ones I've used but typically there is your basic red LED "on" indicator for almost every surveillance camera made. Some are red, some are green, most now allow you to turn them off via software.
 
The LED is just a visible "camera on" lamp. The actual infrared, which does the night time illumination, is just below the human visible spectrum. Our soldiers would be easy targets if the infrared was a visible type of beam. His camera may be different than all the ones I've used but typically there is your basic red LED "on" indicator for almost every surveillance camera made. Some are red, some are green, most now allow you to turn them off via software.

The infrared cameras I have outside don't have a power-on LED... and the IR LEDs have a distinct red glow to them... The ones on my house look like evil red eyes glowing at night. That's what I thought you were talking about.
 
The infrared cameras I have outside don't have a power-on LED... and the IR LEDs have a distinct red glow to them... The ones on my house look like evil red eyes glowing at night. That's what I thought you were talking about.

Ahh, I do understand your point then. I was trying to be helpful in an area I'm familiar with but I should have asked the OP more details before jumping in. Carry on...
 
glad the marina stepped up to help.
Marina security is an issue here certain times of the year
especially on the bouy boats. guys slip up in the wee hours in a jon boat with a trolling motor and take anything that isn't locked down that they can get quietly.

thieves suck.
 

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