Let's share thougths on ways to discourage theft, or joy riding, from a beach cat pulled up on the beach & left unattended. Contribute what works for you, or simply what youve thought of or heard of.

Methods I have used & heard off:
Drop the sails and trust
Detatch dagger boards and rudders (possibly take rudder along, or hide in bush)
Leave a note - Please don't steal my boat
Pay a local kid to sit on the boat
Take sails off
Chain to a tree

Have any of these worked well for you?

I use a cable w/ combo lock, and if they want to fool with it, they havta get wet....I lock it to my cat-rack's. I made these for my 14T. 17 & 18... The best thing i'v done for the cats..... <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" /> (see attach.)

regardless of what you do, always pull the plugs out.

I had a cat that we left on the beach in a permanent spot and I dug a four foot hole, dropped in two cinder blocks with a cable/chain, filled the hole, parked the boat over top, and locked the chain around the dolphin striker. I left rudders on but removed boards, sails, and boom. Never had a problem.

Jake

The major disadvantage of using a lock is that nobody except yourself can rescue your boat when it is necessary. Our beach was flooded during a heavy storm last summer and some club-members tried to get all boats off the beach but obviously couldn't move the boats which were locked.

I used to have a place where I could leave the boat mast-up on the trailer. It was an extremely old H16. I took the sails and main blocks (Seaways) home each time, and left everything else there.

Some pinhead actually stole my old, tattered jib sheet once...

Mike

fill the boat with sand.... hahaha just kidding.... i use a cable lock to lock the boat and beach wheels down 5 feet in the sand to an old tire...and i give a key to about 5 friends... so they can use the wheels whenever...

Fill it with sand... now why didn't I think of that? May have been lighter than all the water it sucked in... ;0)

Mike

Great thread - the lock to burried item will not help to much when landing on a random beach though, which is my main concern

Taking plugs out will keep the boat from going too far, but then I get a sunk boat off of some remote beach in the south pacific <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

I guess taking the main & jib sheets would work pretty well, though a determined theif would just tow th boat

Are stolen cats common?

Carry a small anchor with you. When you get to the beach, chain the anchor to the hull throuh the dagger board well.

Just an idea.

sm

I have a great anti-theft system... my ask my friend to watch my boat. Look at what happened to the last person who touched my cat (in his mouth).

Hire Chuck Norris.

yeah cause trey is the only college kid who can afford chuck hahaha

If you have cat trax, with the trax in place, run a cable around the trax axle and the dolphin striker or over the main beam and lock. It will present much difficulty to sail, cat trax are secure. The two cannot be seperated.

It's pretty easy to cut a cable, isn't it?

With the proper tools you can cut anything. Most security measures are deterrents, if somebody truly wants your stuff, they will devise an EVIL plan and succeed.

How about that alligator with "laser beam eyes".

i leave my cat on the beach all the time and am able to keep; sails, daggers and main sheet and block in a lockup just over the road with wetsuit and pdf

not relevant where i am but if i was worried about joyriding if i was pulled up at another beach, and away from the boat at a restaurant or something, i would think just taking the main sheet and block would be enough.
small enough to put in a back pack, boat can't be sailed without it being as it's the smallest most expensive thing probably the most attractive to a walk by thief

DRAT!!! wouldnt you know it... i upload a picture from my site, and my host (an old friend i used to work with) server crashes... here it is again!



I have a great anti-theft system... my ask my friend to watch my boat. Look at what happened to the last person who touched my cat (in his mouth).