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

[Gary Jacek]

A few years back, Helen Wilson and Mark Tozer joined us at the Pacific Paddling Symposium here in Victoria, BC.
Her ride was a black&white Tahe Greenland with OC cockpit. At the time I owned the Tahe Greenland T in black&white.
Returning to the USA Helen and Mark were rebuffed at the US border near Vancouver, so they had to spend another night in Canada.
Both kayaks, proudly labelled with the company name were stolen overnight. Cable locks and tie downs snipped.
There were a lot of kayakers keeping an eye out for those boats. No sign of them.
I was questions by other paddlers many times…”so where did you get your kayak?”
I guess there must be a thriving business sending stolen kayaks offshore.

I do like the idea of a vibration alarm.

 

[Jurfie]

I do like the idea of a vibration alarm.

I was actually just looking at these. Not cheap, but neither is my kayak. Still won’t be a foolproof solution, but it might be a good “suspenders” to add to my belt. Apparently the alarm will also sound if the cable is cut.

 

[cougarmeat]

The alarms I was thinking of can be found on Amazon by searching for Personal Alarm. They sell for $10 - $20. I didn't see the exact corded one I had, but they have a "pull this out" mechanism that triggers the alarm.

 

[dermot]

t needs to be locked in a garage or be on a separate floater or policy.

seperate floater, and well worth it to us

 

[KWK]

Here’s another idea, you can get 12 volt motion detectors with or without lights. You could have a couple pointing towards your side windows to turn on a floodlight, horn or siren mounted on or in your vehicle when someone is very close. Having insurance on your boat is great, but lots of boats are not easily replaced, maybe you searched high and low on the used market to find your model based on make, model, size or colour. That’s probably going to unlikely to duplicate in the event of it being stolen.

Amazon.ca

 

[cougarmeat]

Tiger Shark, though, in this case, we just need to click on that URL to go the the. product page, note that you could also use:

Amazon.ca

**** I posted this as a normal https:// .... link address, but this webpage resolved it to the descriptive link (amazon.ca) you see above.

At the tinyurl.com website, you paste in the long URL link, and it hands you back a shorter one - like the example above.

Tinyurl.com is pretty handy. There may be competitive sites also also offer URL size reduction, but tinyurl.com is well established.

 

[alexsidles]

I’m wondering how many people actually have their boat insured for when it’s away from their primary dwelling? Because I think even on your own front street is classified as away from your dwelling. It needs to be locked in a garage or be on a separate floater or policy.

I’m not sure of the insurance rules in BC, and of course anyone’s particular policy may be different from mine, but here in Washington my homeowner’s insurance has covered camping gear stolen from me while I was asleep in a public park in Colorado, as well as kayaking gear I lost at sea during a capsize in Washington. It would have covered the kayak, too, except the coast guard recovered the kayak at sea two days later. Your homeowner’s coverage might be better than you think, although of course it is wise to check before you need it.

Alex

 

[chodups]

I’m not sure of the insurance rules in BC, and of course anyone’s particular policy may be different from mine, but here in Washington my homeowner’s insurance has covered camping gear stolen from me while I was asleep in a public park in Colorado, as well as kayaking gear I lost at sea during a capsize in Washington. It would have covered the kayak, too, except the coast guard recovered the kayak at sea two days later. Your homeowner’s coverage might be better than you think, although of course it is wise to check before you need it.

Alex

My homeowners covered full replacement value for my boat, lock, rack straps and lines, gloves, helmet liner, paddle britches, pump and paddle float with a $250 deductable.

 

[Dennis Leybold]

Northwest Portland is high risk. I had two kayaks taken off a rooftop in a Portland bedroom community this year. I was lazy and had them on the cars overnight tonight rather than take them down and put them up again for a second day of Paddling. That allowed the thieves to identify the target and return. Several reports through OOPS and other networks of kayaks stolen in Northwest Portland in the last few years. A photo of the vehicle used in a couple of heists was published. I don’t know if anyone was caught.

 

[Twempie]

To some degree, this post from my local news source does answer the original question. Two carbon boats stolen - cars parked on a busy arterial (a few hundred yards from a Washington State Ferry dock), next to Lincoln Park. There are the obligatory signs in the park about not leaving valuables in your vehicles - unfortunately this theft does not surprise me, as prowlers don't read signs... in or out of parks.

WEST SEATTLE CRIME WATCH: Stolen kayaks

12:54 PM: Sent by Barb: I am writing to report a pair of high-end, carbon-fiber kayaks were stolen from across the street from Lincoln Park two weeks ago. I have attached photos of them. They are worth, used, about 2k apiece. They are in good condition and there is a reward being offered for...

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