Boat stolen and stripped

[jmarines]

Well the worst thing that could happen to our boat happened. I blame myself for this because if I would have remembered to pack the tire tool this wouldn't have happened. We were on our way to lake Travis Saturday morning when we had a blow out on the trailer about an hour into our drive. That's when I realized that I forgot the tire tool to remove the lug nuts. We decided to unhook the trailer and lock.it up while we run to the gas station to purchase one. Well the gas station didn't carry it so we ended up running to a local walmart to get it. By the time we got back the boat was gone from the feeder road and nowhere to be seen. About an hour later we get a call from the local sherrifs office that they located the boat. When we arrived at the location.. which was about a 1/4 mile away from where it was taken. We could tell that parts were missing. They took the outdrive... dash panel with gauges... all the cushion seats... the engine cover.... the carburetor... all our sking..tubing and wake boarding equipment along with the fish finder and life jackets... they even took the damn fire extinguisher!

 

[lineman09]

Thats horrible!!!! I hope u have boat insurance.. had that happen to a friend about 15 years ago but he never recovered anything .. the speed that they did that in tells me this is something they do a lot .. hopefully they catch the guys responsible for it !! if not don't beat yourself up over it !!! anyways good luck and I hope you get back in the water soon !!

 

[Ned L]

So sorry. Sometimes I just can't believe what some people will do and how low they will go.
I also lost a tire about 5 years ago and had to leave my boat on the side of a highway for about an hour. I guess I was luckier than I realize, nothing was touched.

 

[Patfromny]

Check craigslist for the items. Should be a quick arrest. Sorry to hear about your misfortune. I hope they get caught.

 

[jmarines]

They took fingerprints but I'm not holding my breath.. they said they could only get a couple of partial prints.. and there is no way for them to know if those partials are of the thieves.. could be someone in our family from last weekend at lake . I just hate thieves. I will defiantly keep.an eye out on Craigslist.. thanks for the tip.

 

[jmarines]

As far as insurance goes.. we do have it .. just waiting on someone to get to me to know exactly what coverages we have.

 

[scoutabout]

Beating the scum silly with said tire iron would feel good. Alas - real life ain't a Jason Statham movie.

Sorry for this experience. Hope you get back on the water quick. The craigslist lookout is a good idea.

 

[rcmpvet]

They took fingerprints but I'm not holding my breath.. they said they could only get a couple of partial prints.. and there is no way for them to know if those partials are of the thieves.. could be someone in our family from last weekend at lake . I just hate thieves. I will defiantly keep.an eye out on Craigslist.. thanks for the tip.

Get your family members to submit their prints to the police for elimination purposes. It will save the police some time, especially if the partials are still suitable for identification against known prints.

 

[gm280]

When you see the effort involved to steal things, if the thieves put that much effort in working, they wouldn't need to steal for a living. How I would love to catch them at it. Did I tell you I carry concealed?

 

[shrew]

Did I tell you I carry concealed?

As do I, however i fail to see how that is relevant as there are no lives at risk.

 

[gm280]

As do I, however i fail to see how that is relevant as there are no lives at risk.

Well you can easily hold them 'til law enforcement arrives.

 

[R055]

That sucks, but a good heads up for everyone else to either bring the tire tool or leave someone with the boat.

Also a reminder for me that I need a spare tire

 

[Newbie@boats]

Was the boat dragged where ever they took it with the tire still flat? I can deal with a lot of stupidity, but stealing drives me CRAZY!

Unreal how quick they can pull it apart, definitely keep an eye out for that outdrive on craigslist

 

[Oshkosh1]

They can also part it out on Flea-Bay. Check new listings there as well...

 

[H20Rat]

Get your family members to submit their prints to the police for elimination purposes. It will save the police some time, especially if the partials are still suitable for identification against known prints.

Nobody does manual prints any more. With the electronic systems, it won't help or make a difference... Any prints they get are run through automated systems (AFIS) looking for any known matches that are already in the db. Having your family submit prints just means the prints will come up as known to that person instead of unknown, which does nothing to catch the guy.

(also, the fewer databases your name (and fingerprints) are in, the better! False positives happen all the time to innocent people, not having your name/prints in the db means zero chance of a false positive.)


OP, I'd be more curious about the path that the boat took from where you left it to where it was found. Did it go past any banks/cstores? Any other place that would have outdoor surveillance cams?

 

[jmarines]

No Title

Was the boat dragged where ever they took it with the tire still flat? I can deal with a lot of stupidity, but stealing drives me CRAZY!

Unreal how quick they can pull it apart, definitely keep an eye out for that outdrive on craigslist

The red is where it was taken to strip.. the blue is where it was parked with the flat tire.

 

[jmarines]

Nobody does manual prints any more. With the electronic systems, it won't help or make a difference... Any prints they get are run through automated systems (AFIS) looking for any known matches that are already in the db. Having your family submit prints just means the prints will come up as known to that person instead of unknown, which does nothing to catch the guy.

(also, the fewer databases your name (and fingerprints) are in, the better! False positives happen all the time to innocent people, not having your name/prints in the db means zero chance of a false positive.)


OP, I'd be more curious about the path that the boat took from where you left it to where it was found. Did it go past any banks/cstores? Any other place that would have outdoor surveillance cams?

Nothing is around except weeds. . No stores what so ever.

 

[Fun Times]

Sorry to read of your loss.. Looking at the map and knowing where they found the boat would sure make one wish you could have known to head in that direction first to try and find it sooner.

Looking at the photo of the inside of the boat: Since they didn't appear to put the shifter into forward gear before removing the alpha drive, there is a chance that they could have bent/damaged the shifting hardware on the bell housing assembly so be sure to have that noted in the insurance claim/service repair order for inspection or repair.

Below are the example images for you,
http://www.mercruiserparts.com/bam/subassembly/30872/2203/60
http://www.mercruiserparts.com/bam/subassembly/30872/2203/20

 

[ricohman]

Nobody does manual prints any more. With the electronic systems, it won't help or make a difference... Any prints they get are run through automated systems (AFIS) looking for any known matches that are already in the db. Having your family submit prints just means the prints will come up as known to that person instead of unknown, which does nothing to catch the guy.

(also, the fewer databases your name (and fingerprints) are in, the better! False positives happen all the time to innocent people, not having your name/prints in the db means zero chance of a false positive.)


OP, I'd be more curious about the path that the boat took from where you left it to where it was found. Did it go past any banks/cstores? Any other place that would have outdoor surveillance cams?

Actually, we do elimination prints whenever possible. These are verified by us before submitting an unknown onto AFIS or CAFIS.
Elimination prints actually keep your prints off of the system.

 

[jmarines]

Sorry to read of your loss.. Looking at the map and knowing where they found the boat would sure make one wish you could have known to head in that direction first to try and find it sooner.

Looking at the photo of the inside of the boat: Since they didn't appear to put the shifter into forward gear before removing the alpha drive, there is a chance that they could have bent/damaged the shifting hardware on the bell housing assembly so be sure to have that noted in the insurance claim/service repair order for inspection or repair.

Below are the example images for you,
http://www.mercruiserparts.com/bam/subassembly/30872/2203/60
http://www.mercruiserparts.com/bam/subassembly/30872/2203/20

That didn't even cross my mind.. I'm now curious to know if they knew what they were doing and just didn't have time to put it into gear or they didn't know at all they needed to put it into gear. Would the outdrive recieve damage by them not putting it into gear before removal?