How often have you heard of a sea kayak being stolen off a vehicle?

SWriverstone

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Kayak security question here:

How often have you heard of (or experienced) a sea kayak being stolen off the roof of a car? I ask because, first, in literally thousands of days and nights with my car parked all over the place with kayaks on it, I've never had a boat stolen (but maybe I'm lucky?)

Second, I'm heading up to Portland to spend the weekend with my girlfriend and thinking I want to bring a boat with me and do some Portland-area paddling over the weekend. She lives in Northwest Portland, and I'd likely just park my car on the street by her house and leave the kayak on it.

My instinct tells me that a 17' sea kayak is a very poor target for theft: typically one untrained burglar could not get it off the car by themself (without making a huge racket in the process); further, most common thieves would not have a clue what to even do with a sea kayak. They wouldn't be able to paddle it themselves, and might even be terrified by the prospect of getting inside one.

It's possible an organized theft ring with equipment and a big truck could take one...but chances are, thieves like this would know that a sea kayak represents a very poor resale value for the effort of taking one.

Finally, it's probably more difficult to hide (or disguise) a sea kayak than just about anything else you could possibly steal (including a car). As mentioned above, a rather large box truck would be required, plus a warehouse protected by armed thugs. LOL

So in summary, it just seems like a REALLY BAD IDEA to steal a sea kayak off someone's car. Yet somehow, I feel certain somebody here will tell me it's happened! :laugh:
 
The question I ask myself is, "Can I afford to have it stolen"? Since I'm frugal the answer is, "No", and I lock my boat.

Sometimes locking up is a pain, but certainly less of a pain than finding and outfitting another boat.
 
Good point @dimit. Alas, anything you could use to lock your boat is probably easily bypassed with a pair of bolt cutters. I learned that when I lost a mountain bike locked to my roof rack with a pretty beefy steel cable...someone cut right through it. (But a mountain bike is a far superior theft target than a sea kayak!)
 
I’ve never heard of it happening but I recently invested in a couple Lasso Locks. I got the big beefy cable ones that loop over the bow and stern and lock in the middle. They’re the combination type with the lock so if I forgot the combination, I can still reset it with the key. Cheap insurance.
 
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It's a moderately regular occurrence here in the SF Bay Area. Happened most recently a couple of months ago. Car was parked on street in San Jose. Stratos, not locked. Has not been recovered. Parking on a busy street in a US city is a very bad idea.

Lasso cable locks will deter casual, opportunistic thieves, but are not a perfect remedy. However, they are very easy to install. We once (~10 years ago) chained boats to roof when traveling north at a time that several kayak thefts had been reported in Portland, OR, area. That was a real pain.
 
I sometimes leave things unlocked on my car parked in front of my house if I'm going paddling two consecutive days. It always makes me feel stressed.

A cable lock isn't a perfect solution, but I bet it would provide some peace of mind.
 
Early 2022 my Progression was stolen from the roof of my car. It was “locked on” a Thule aero rack installed on factory roof rails using a Lasso Lock that was wrapped around the boat, the glassed-in cheek plate, the aero bar and the roof rails separately. The car was parked in the driveway right outside of my bedroom window in the Shoreline neighborhood north of Seattle. The cable, straps and bow/stern lines were all cut. Tire tracks indicated that the boat was placed on a truck or van and taken away. The street was very brightly lit.

When replacing my boat and lock I did a lot of homework and found that Lasso Locks, indeed all cable locks, are a joke. They can all be cut with a wire cutter that will fit in your pocket or glove box.

Now, I use the Kryptonite New York Chain lock. Awkward and weighs a ton but I believe that it gives me the best chance of not losing another boat. As ELS says the Lasso Lock will deter the opportunist but that’s about it.
 
Occasionally, when returned from a trip, the kayak stays on top of the Jeep for a day or two. Living in High Desert country (not a lot of surf) is a feature and a bug. The bug is, it's a long drive to the ocean. The feature is, that people just see the kayak as an oversized river boat and no one is going to stand around, undoing the straps (all I use), and walk down the street with a 17 boat on their shoulders. And because the model is somewhat unique, it would be difficult to use locally or sell via an OnLine market.

However, I did have an electric scooter stolen from a crew that swept through the neighborhood with a pickup and a flatbed. They also snagged some larger toys belonging to others - ATV devices. They probably headed south, down Hwy 97, and were long-gone before the sun came up. Clearly the neighborhood was "surveyed" ahead of time - those strangers coming to your door to sell you something you don't want - but they get a good look an what you have outside.

Night lighting is a mixed bag. Some say it just makes it easier for thieves to see what they want. If it were pitch black out, flashlights waving around would be more obvious. Also, I think the statistics show - movie plots aside - most robberies happen during the day while home owners are at work. Just put on a utility jacket (gas company, landscaping business, etc.) and go to town.

I prefer no night lights so I can better see the stars at night, and it makes it more difficult for two-footed critters to creep around.

I have a cable that I might bring if I'm going to leave the kayak on the car when on a trip - out of town. But haven't used it. I'll admit I don't sleep as well in a motel with the boat on the car roof, and my paddling partners won't let me bring it in the room. I could use the cable. However, as someone said, if a person is planning on taking something that large, they will have transport and bolt cutters.
 
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So some ideas,
  • One of the approaches I 'use' is to have beaters - kayaks that are obviously heavily abused that no-one in their right mind would want to steal.
  • A corollary I haven't used is 'make-up' ie emphasizing those tiny scratches with long black swipes of water soluble paint or wax crayons maybe.
  • A corollary I do use is to stick on a big patch of duct-tape to simulate a stop-gap repair after a major impact.
  • Another, maybe more effective approach, is to simply mask off a section of the hull and lay up some random semi-'broken' glass layers to literally simulate major impact breakage. Done even half well: no one would know.
  • And another approach, say on a kayak with no damage, is to dress part of it down with water based paint or whatever is easily removed when back home.
anyway, think theatre.
 
 
About 70 years ago, my grandmother told me: "The only reason to lock the door is to keep honest people from yielding to temptation".
Thieves armed with battery-powered angle grinders with cutoff wheels are stealing catalytic converters from vehicles. A roof rack cross bar, chain. or eyebolt through the car roof wouldn't slow them down very much.
 
About 70 years ago, my grandmother told me: "The only reason to lock the door is to keep honest people from yielding to temptation".
Thieves armed with battery-powered angle grinders with cutoff wheels are stealing catalytic converters from vehicles. A roof rack cross bar, chain. or eyebolt through the car roof wouldn't slow them down very much.
Yeah but the sound of an angle grinder 30 feet from my head would wake me up:D
 
Early 2022 my Progression was stolen from the roof of my car. It was “locked on” a Thule aero rack installed on factory roof rails using a Lasso Lock that was wrapped around the boat, the glassed-in cheek plate, the aero bar and the roof rails separately. The car was parked in the driveway right outside of my bedroom window in the Shoreline neighborhood north of Seattle. The cable, straps and bow/stern lines were all cut. Tire tracks indicated that the boat was placed on a truck or van and taken away. The street was very brightly lit.

When replacing my boat and lock I did a lot of homework and found that Lasso Locks, indeed all cable locks, are a joke. They can all be cut with a wire cutter that will fit in your pocket or glove box.

Now, I use the Kryptonite New York Chain lock. Awkward and weighs a ton but I believe that it gives me the best chance of not losing another boat. As ELS says the Lasso Lock will deter the opportunist but that’s about it.
I have heard this same story that happened from a busy Vancouver neighborhood. Locked to the vehicle as well. This was about 15yrs ago.
 
Now, I use the Kryptonite New York Chain lock.
Would appreciate it if you could post a photo of it in use on your rack next time you’re using it!

I‘ve been wanting to take my boat to Tofino and Ukee the next time we go. The cabins we stay at are too small to bring it in, and though a few people have said it will be safe left on my roof rack overnight, it doesn’t give me warm fuzzies. I know it won’t eliminate the possibility, but at least discourage the honest (and lazy) thieves.
 
Would appreciate it if you could post a photo of it in use on your rack next time you’re using it!

I‘ve been wanting to take my boat to Tofino and Ukee the next time we go. The cabins we stay at are too small to bring it in, and though a few people have said it will be safe left on my roof rack overnight, it doesn’t give me warm fuzzies. I know it won’t eliminate the possibility, but at least discourage the honest (and lazy) thieves.
Will do.
 
Don’t ever listen to others about your gear safety, I remember a climbing trip once when I was very young and foolish, the guides said it was safe to leave food in your packs overnight. Next morning several packs and contents were torn to pieces by the night critters.
Those ratchet cutters are super cheap on Amazon, as low as $30. Not like buying a Greenlee for almost $400 for trade use. You could also get some heavy gauge chain, sleeve some bicycle inner tube over it and wrap it around your boat and rack with a big hardened lock. Though it may not be bomb proof, you’ve now made it at least more difficult and perhaps the thief go elsewhere or will end up making more noise in the process. With a little electrical knowledge you could wrap a wire around the boat and rack, that when cut would sound an alarm. It too can be defeated as well, but would take time as well. Most thieves are probably looking for a quick grab in the dark. The harder you can make it for them steal, the better the deterrent. With ratchet cutters and battery grinders, nothing can be considered safe, unless you want to sleep under your car with your 9 mm. I even removed the hand adjustment knobs off my Thule cradles and replaced them with nuts, so any thief will need to bring a wrench to steal them, plus remove the rack after every use, it’s a track mount quick release. Once you’ve been robbed once, you’ll become paranoid about it. Security is like safety, you can never have too much.
 
Yeah but the sound of an angle grinder 30 feet from my head would wake me up:D
Maybe so, but by the time you wake up, call the police, and they get there, the thieves are gone. That's what happened to me when thieves stole my neighbors' catalytic converter outside our front window. We've been trained not to confront them because they carry and will fire if you catch them in the act.
 
I still can't for the life of me understand what the heck someone is going to do with a stolen sea kayak??? Selling it on Craigslist or FB Marketplace is pretty stupid unless they drive it across the country before trying to sell it.
 
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