Marina security ??

[moparlvr4406]

Well it finally happened..
Our marina is the target of thieves. So far over 600 gallons of fuel has disappeared off of our dock alone
300 out of 1 boat and 85+ off the port side of mine
it appears the thieves pulled into empty slips next to the boats and drained the tank on that side
The marina doesn't seem to care much (busier gas dock or them I guess) nor are they doing anything
to compensate the losses.
How would your marina handle this issue and what sort of personal system could one put in place ??
Locking fill caps for ALL deck fills will be here for me next week.
Is there any sort of wireless security cams you all us ??

 

[Boater420]

If your marina provides Wifi maybe a security monitoring system for your boat might help. You could leave a laptop running in the boat with the feeds from the night vision cameras. Not going to deter the thieves but you might get a shot of their faces for the police.

 

[Bt Doctur]

get a neon transformer some chicken wire, and wait in your cabin to plug it in.
When dead, tie 4 cinderblocks to their ankles and deposit them on the reef.
May get arrested for pollution though.

 

[PlayDate]

Yikes....stupid people do things like this. Rigging up a fuel pump for transfer.....having an empty tank to transfer it into...tying up next to another boat and running hoses to their gas tanks????? How do you get 300 gallons of gas transferred without being seen or heard? Imagine the blast if the rigged up fuel pump throws a spark.

These people are not Rhodes scholars....locking gas caps will make them look for another victim. I'm surprised your Marina doesn't have CCTV cameras....a lot of insurance companies that specialize in marinas require them for liability. For the price of 200 gallons for fuel, somebody could go to Costco and get a complete wired camera system with night vision for the entire marina.

I hope they catch these guys before they destroy a marina.

 

[moparlvr4406]

VERY GOOD POINT !!!
I may use that when I go scream at slip leasing tomorrow

 

[moparlvr4406]

in the on season they have 2 "security guards" that probably spend more time smoking dope and hitting on the bar waitresses than walking the docks
Off season we're lucky if the gate locks work

 

[PlayDate]

We use wired CCTV systems on all of our DC rental properties to monitor the front door, back door and parking spots. They feed to a small control box with a 1 TB drive that continually loops at each property. We have not had a single theft incident since the systems went live and we posted signs. Your marina should step up to this. It is cheaper than bad security guards and effective all year round.

 

[mwph]

No disrespect to anyone that uses cameras. When properly monitored and posted they are a great deterrent. That being said, In my opinion for the marina environment...

Security cameras are great for making stupid criminal YouTube videos but not much else. IF, and thats a huge IF, your camera by chance got the registration numbers off of the perps boat then the cops might be interested. The other outside chance you'd have is that if the thieves were actually slip renters that you could point out to the marina "security", you might have a prayer there.

Alarms, live video feeds and flashing lights are all cool, great & fun. But if nobody is there to act upon their warnings then its all for not.

We have "security" cameras and 3 year round live boards on my dock. Probably 20 in the whole marina. Even that didn't stop the thieves. If you are paying for advertised "Security Guards" I'd think you have a valid complaint. Complaints don't pay much these days, but at least you could be heard which might prompt improved services.

Good to see you posting Jim, just hate that its because of the subject matter.

 

[blaster]

Get the locks for the fuel fills. Then install a dummy fuel fill that goes into the blackwater tank.

If a video system isn't the answer, a trail cam might be an inexpensive alternative. Especially if you can keep it locked in a box.

 

[nickdcj7]

I've worried about this at my marina. There's no gates and no guards. What we do have is location. Being in the middle of the Pine Barrens of NJ, well let's just say Pineys don't call 911.

 

[Steve195]

get a neon transformer some chicken wire, and wait in your cabin to plug it in.
When dead, tie 4 cinderblocks to their ankles and deposit them on the reef.
May get arrested for pollution though.

That sounds like a very reasonable and responsible way to handle the problem. I LIKE IT!! :grin:

 

[moparlvr4406]

no reef required.. 50 feet of water and lots of catfish and turtles off the end of the finger dock :wink:

 

[sandydlc]

Have you considered installing an anti-siphon device? I found this one online: http://www.tissltd.com/tanksf.html I had installed a plastic one on my Chaparral after we lost almost 100 gallons one winter. I don't have time to look for it now but I can confirm that we never had missing fuel after that was installed. Might be easier to deal with than locking caps. At least on the Chaparral you couldn't just buy the locking cap, you had to buy a whole new setup for the fuel intake.

 

[Gofirstclass]

http://tanklock.com/
I have these on all my deck fills. They're not cheap but they do provide a good level of security.

 

[trflgrl]

There is none to speak of. Each dock has a locking gate, with a code that's universal across the marina (and readily shared to friends, visitors, mechanics, and so on), and folks on our dock as well as others have lost generators (at least one of which was a Honda portable chained to the pulpit--creeps brought tools to cut the chain), front anchors, toolboxes out of trucks, and all manner of other things. People talk about wanting cameras, but also not wanting to be on camera when just living dock life, and I can see both sides. I haven't heard of fuel theft, but now I'm wondering about some prevention of my own....

Sorry you got hit--that just sucks.

 

[sandydlc]

I know in our old Marina, the majority of theft happened from the water. People would sneak in at night in a small runabout and start pilfering through the boats starting at the end of the dock. If that's the case then is also easy for them to steal fuel. In our current marina there are no gates or locks and the marina is very active and therefore there is very little theft that goes on.

 

[Robski97]

Sadly my thoughts are marinas do the bare min for security so they don't get sued. If they have cameras and don't maintain and something happens someone will sue. If the cameras aren't there ,there is nothing to sue over.

same for guards etc.. sad very sad

Rob

 

[hillsideshortleg]

Pet Peeve of mine is the people that prop open the security gates. Do they really not realize they are opening the entire dock to a greater possibility of theft?

 

[Molson]

Note your current fuel caps, are they marked "gas"? If, so, buy one marked "premium fuel only", it will attract them. Replace your waste tank fill with the "premium" cap. Set up a camera and hope they use a manual siphon method.

 

[moparlvr4406]

Had a chat with slip leasing yesterday expressing my concerns and several peoples losses at my suggestion they cabled the unoccupied slips to prevent not only theft but the unauthorized transient docking when I asked why the gates were unlocked they had no good answer .. these are mag strip card locks. the entire latch assembly on our gate was missing ... this fact drew 2 very blank stares.. maybe the gate lock was stolen ?? probably removed for service was the best answer they could come up with. I am attempting to get a group buy rate on locking caps through 1 of my suppliers right now.