www.iFourWinns.com

We have just arrived home having put the boat back in the water after three weeks of work, only to find that the 2 leisure batteries are knackered, some scroat has stolen our mooring ropes, another scroat stole our shopping from the marina washrooms, but worst of all Manchester United got knocked out of the FA Cup

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Regards
Beyond the Blue

"If we improve with age I'm now excellent"


Ex 1998 238 Vista 5.0Gi SX DP
Lexus RX300

I had to look up "knackered" and "scroat" but either way, it sounds like you had a sh!tty day. I guess times are hard over the pond too for some scroat to steal your mooring lines. I might welcome that here, given my lines are in a poor state and it would save me from having to undo them.

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Current Boat: 2000 Four Winns 298 Vista
Previous Boat: 2000 Carver 406MY

I had a mooring line stolen once. It was a brand-new 15' West Marine double braided line, which had been tying my slipped boat. I'm not sure I've ever been so pi$$ed off in my life.

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Mike
2005 Four Winns 230/240
VP 5.7GXi/DP
1998 F-150 XLT
Boat Pic

I'm not sure which suprises me more.... Someone actually stealing mooring lines off of a boat, or 230 Mike's boat actually being in the water!!!

FYI, I washed and waxed my trailer last weekend.... First time since I bought the boat!

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Walt B
"Debt-Charged"
Black '07 H210SS
6.2L Bravo One turning a 21P HIFive
Wakeboard Tower with Perfect Pass Stargazer version
Missouri River; Kansas City, Mo.

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Mike
2005 Four Winns 230/240
VP 5.7GXi/DP
1998 F-150 XLT
Boat Pic

Guess we've been pretty lucky! We have "that one guy" who lives on his 16' skiff (being sarcastic) and is the dock "town watch." You can't fart down there without him coming down the dock to see what's going on. In some respects he's annoying, in others, he isn't so bad to have around. Every marina should come with its own Paul Blart!

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-Tony
2016 Robalo R200 w/Yahama 200!

Previous boats:
2003 Four Winns 248 Vista - sold
1994 Sunbird Corsair 200 - sold
1980 Checkmate Predictor - sold

Well, now I am getting worried. I'm not so worried about a line, but what advice does anyone have about protecting something like my shore power cord from disappearing while away from the boat. That was a lot more expensive than a line. I was thinking about using some simple like pipe hangars, for we all know that locks only keep out honest people, but no thief wants to spend too much time doing something devious.

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Gary & Diane
1996 Sundowner 245
Lake Winnipesaukee, NH

Either move to a better marina or look at whether the post has a lockable cover. Some do. Bear in mind the marina may have rules against locking things.

If you used hangers you'd want to get ones that are insulated. You don't want the cord insulation to get rubbed through on a rough edge.

One idea would be to run the power cable through the hasp of a lock and then to something secure. Like use a cable lock looped down under the pier supports and then use a small hasp lock around that cable and the shore power cord. The two running through the hasp would also make the opening far too small to thread out the plug end of the cord. I did this to keep a garden hose from disappearing at a college apartment. Found it unthreaded from the spigot twice but still there thanks to the lock.

I don't think it'd be a good idea to lock anything on the boat end. If something were to go wrong you'd want the boat easily moved (like a fire or severe weather).

As with most locking measures you want to make sure there's some degree of visibility to it. This to avoid the thief damaging a bunch of stuff before noticing the more secure stuff.

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-Bill Kearney, 2005 348 Vista

I actually route my shore power cable underneath the floating dock through the ribs. Someone would have to be pretty desperate to try and steal it, and draw all sorts of attention!

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Michael Bova


"Swept Aweigh"
2003 Four Winns 328 Vista

Previous Boat
2003 Crownline 230CCR

First of all don't get paranoid, what happened to me at the weekend was a very rare occurrence. We have left our mooring lines unused for weeks at a time with no problems. We also leave our roof hatch slightly open for ventilation again with no problems and someone could easily crawl through and help themselves to everything on the boat (and the boat itself if they really want to)

The thing that really p***ed me off was the fact that I thought that the boating community wouldn't stoop so low as to steal from there own kind. So I'm putting it down to outsiders who managed "somehow" to get on to the pontoons despite the security.

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Regards
Beyond the Blue

"If we improve with age I'm now excellent"


Ex 1998 238 Vista 5.0Gi SX DP
Lexus RX300

Unfortunately, there are a few members of the "boating community" who I would not want living next door to me, or even in my neighborhood. There's one in every crowd.

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Mike
2005 Four Winns 230/240
VP 5.7GXi/DP
1998 F-150 XLT
Boat Pic

I hear you about thefts......just last summer, some #$%@!&bag, stole my sons life jacket right off the same beach we've been pulling our boat up to for years, now!!.. In my 30 years of owning boats, this is the first time something was stolen! On my own beach! fer crissakes!

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"For My 50th"
1996 238 Vista
5.7VolvoGL DP
Previous boats; 91 Cobia 19' Cuddy, 87 Starcraft 16' BR,
67 Winner BR, 65 Arrow 14'

My buddy and his wife have a house on river with a private boat dock and had two 5 gallon gas cans stolen from it. First time anything has happened in 30 years. I told him to buy two new gas cans and put them back where the last ones were taken and "sweeten" the gas when he fills them. Also told him if they disappeared again it wouldn't be too tough to figure out who the thief was, it would be the one needing a tow back to the launch......

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2011 Four Winns H260 Frenzy $ea Note
VP 8.1GXi/DP EVC 420HP
2007 Silverado 1500 CrewCab 4x4
Previous:
2002 Four Winns H200
5.0GXI 270HP

I am in a great marina, but once a year they have a boat show and a couple slips on my dock are owned by boat dealers who tie the gates open so anyone can walk in and out for a couple days. Something always turns up missing if its out in the open, sucks but some guys leave their GPS/Radars, stereos etc in their boats and they turn up missing after that. I've never had anything swiped from the boat or slip but I hide everything on the boat, all my lines are tied to the cleats, shore power cord has 20 zip ties under the dock etc.

Sad thing is most of the things that usually get swiped are of no use to the people that take them, they are just sitting out in the open and people take them..