How do you lock your trailers?

[reelfishin]

Re: How do you lock your trailers?

I was out fishing about 10 years or so ago at a remote pond, when we came back in there was some guy standing there staring at his truck with a huge piece of his step bumper missing, a boat still in the water and no trailer.
He had locked the trailer to the truck and welded the ball to the bumper. Someone had taken a torch and cut away the center section of the bumper and made off with his trailer.

Myself, I lock the hitch to the truck, lock the trailer to the ball, and lock the wheels to the trailer. If they want it that bad, then go for it, but don't let me catch them.

I have actually seen more vehicle break-ins than trailer thefts. It's far more common to come back from a day out on the water and find your truck window broken or tool box pried open.
I will usually avoid launching from any areas that tend to be a problem. I normally stick to private marinas. If I have to worry about my truck or trailer being there when I return, it's not worth going. At home, the boat either stays indoors in an alarmed building, or chained to a tree.
Besides, anyone messing around my yard would have to do so at their own risk. I rarely miss.

 

[oops!]

Re: How do you lock your trailers?

i own lots of different trailers. sled, boat, car haulers to cargo to 53 foot dry van,

THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS AN ANTI -THEFT DEVICE. only theft deturrents
you sitting on the trailer with an uzi is a good one.
but...
if they want it they will get it.

so... if you are leaving your trailer for a short time. a pin lock (the red thingy posted earlyer) will work just fine.

leaving it a while.... pin lock AND a wheel lock.

storage...... behind a locked fenced secure area. with a pin and wheel lock.

if its in your back yard.. fence it and put a car or somthing in front of the gate.

the little @#$^%&* 's are cunning.

they robbed my big ticket store one night. smashed a window to get in. found my cube van keys. drove it around behind the store by crashing thru a locked barbed wire gate. loaded the van (the one with huge reflective letters bearing my stores name) and drove off! they got a total of 8 dollars in cash. but 20,000 in stock!

cops didnt even look for them. i was the one that found my cube van. they didnt even take finger prints.
im currently looking for a device (gps locator), that i can fiberglass into the hull of my boat. that way if they steal it i can locate it.

hope they dont take a fancy to your stuff!

oops

 

[cbear34]

Re: How do you lock your trailers?

I have a tongue lock but mostly park the boat in my garage. How about a Lojack system for the gps locator. Just about any car dealer installs them. They install them on construction equipment.

 

[Fish n Geer]

Re: How do you lock your trailers?

I have a jack russel that can hear a mouse fart! A Lab shepard mix that dont take kindly to anything in her backyard that aint supposed to be there.Never had any problems around here yet.Like stated above if they want something bad enough they will get it.Damn shame gotta worry about it in the first place.Wasnt all that long ago here didnt really lock anything left car doors unlocked house etc.Now got a damn alarm on everything vehicles,house talks when you come and go.Well guess i spent my two cents.

 

[j442w30]

Re: How do you lock your trailers?

I just put a padlock through the coupler, more for insurance that its not going to come open when I'm going down the road. I park my trailer in the backyard of a friend, I usually don't even have it locked when its parked. Come next year I would like to find a storage garage somewhere close to me.

Has anyone ever had a boat trailer stolen from them?

 

[reelfishin]

Re: How do you lock your trailers?

When locking a trailer, keep in mind that a thief doesn't need a ball or hitch to steal a boat or trailer. A trailer can be successfully towed buy nothing more than a chain wrapped around the tongue secured through anything that will hold it, or simply a bolt through a bumper. I watched a guy repo a boat that was locked every which way, it took him less than a 30 seconds to attach the trailer and go. He simply double wrapped and hooked the safety chains to the pintle hitch ring and off he went. The guy had one of those fancy tongue locks like shown above, a cable through one or more wheels, which the drive made short work of with a pair of super sized cable shears, and it was parked tongue facing a 1 ton pickup. (Even a larger boat is fairly easy to man handle into position on pavement).

There is nothing to stop someone who is prepared and determined to take a boat or trailer. Your best bet is to be there at all times, if it's out of sight, you more than double the chances of it being taken. Once it's gone, the chances of recovery are slim.

 

[kenmyfam]

Re: How do you lock your trailers?

You will slow them down but you will not stop them. Hitch lock and an insurance policy is all I use.

 

[kmk_7110]

Re: How do you lock your trailers?

The only time I lock my trailer is when its in tow or when it gets put away for the winter, btw that reminds me i should lock it now that its put away. Some of the time I don't even lock the trailer, just put a thing thru it to make sure the coupler doesn't open. Reasons are the main place I launch is our family friends campground with private landing, so everyone is friends with everyone else. The other launch that I use is right behind my house. I get the benefits of lake frontage without the extra costs.

When I put it away for the winter it goes next to the shed and there is a row of trees on the opposite side and then the RV is parked in front of it so that noone can get the boat if they wanted it. I suppose they could push it backwards but then they would have to have someone to stop if from rolling down the hill.

But the only thing I use are the Fulton Coupler Locks, I suppose that if I lived in a higher theft area I would probably get something better but until then I'll stay with these.

 

[achris]

Re: How do you lock your trailers?

Like this.....

http://www.myfishingpictures.com/watermark.php?file=134740

 

[achris]

Re: How do you lock your trailers?

Take 2!!!

 

[tjl76evinrude]

Re: How do you lock your trailers?

i learned the embarrassing way that crime isnt so bad at the ramps where im at. i was out all day and when coming back i went to get the single key out of my dry box. couldnt find it so i grabbed the normal big clumsy key chain. got to my truck and found the key in the friggin door. i was embarrassed as anything but was kinda relieved.

i use a normal masterlock. its enough to keep the honest people honest.
at home it stays locked in the back yard even though i know that nobody would mess with it. i lock it since i would sure feel like a turd if someone just grabbed it and went since i had no security measures.
like said above, if someone wants it they will take it. plus like the ugly stuff goes, mines not the prettiest. its no uggo, but its also not a slick aluminum rig with shiny wheels like the Gamblers normally have.

also as far as unbolting the coupler, a few quick zaps from the welder will take care of that.

 

[reelfishin]

Re: How do you lock your trailers?

I just thought I'd mention that I answered an ad for a free boat today, when I got there I found it had one of those ball socket style locks similar to what was shown in a former post here, and an Alpha wheel locking device, (http://motorcycletrailer.com/Alpha1/) .

The guy had the title for both the trailer and the boat, but had lost the keys for both locks. It looked like it had been sitting for some time.
Since I didn't feel like messing with the locks then and there and was a bit pressed for time, I simply took the two safety chains and bolted them both tightly around a pintle ring. The I swapped the wheel out with the Alpha lock for the spare which was mounted on the tongue. The spare was locked with a bicycle cable, that took all of about 20 seconds to remove with pair of cable cutters.
The boat isn't anything to write home about, but it does have a good Evinrude 110 Hp on it and some fairly new electronics. The trailer is decent too.

I have seen a few better wheel lock fixtures, anything that locks the wheel to the frame and lug nuts and also prevents removal of the hub or bearings would have been a harder lock to defeat. There's little to nothing that will prevent someone from hooking the tongue to a truck, what I did today just goes to show that no matter how you lock the tongue, it's still towable.

When I got home with it, I simply took an exhaust cutter and cut the over loop or bar on top of the tongue lock and it dropped right off, and an acetylene torch made easy work of getting rid of the wheel lock.
The steel on the wheel lock and tongue lock were both hardened to the point where a sawzall wouldn't cut it but a 3' abrasive wheel went right through it. I opted for the torch simply because I didn't feel like spending 20 minutes grinding through a big piece of steel.