Natty Cordon
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PROTECTING  YOUR  LOVED  ONES

19/5/2014

5 Comments

 
As paddlers we often rely on the hope that non-kayaking folk won't realise the value of our prized possessions and will therefore keep their hands to themselves. 

Unfortunately  we seem to be hearing more and more stories of specialised boat thieves slashing roof rack straps, getting out the bolt cutters and making off with your loved ones. The sad truth is that someone who really wants to steal your kayaks is probably going to succeed, but there are things we can do to make these people's lives as difficult as possible. 

Here's a review of the dual-pronged approach that I go for…
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A  LOCK  TO  DETER  THEIVES

This is the first and most important prong. It helps you sleep easy at night, or go for a more leisurely toilet break at the service station, safe in the knowledge that you've done all you can to protect your loved ones.
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At £13.25 (at the time of writing), with free UK postage, I really cannot fault the Oxford OF178 GP motorcycle chain lock. The chain itself is made from 8mm hardened steel square chain links and is 1.5m in length. This makes it much more resistant to bolt cutters than a standard cable lock, and means that it is plenty long enough to pass through a  grab handle and lock to a roof rack. The chain also has a built-in cover to protect your car and comes with four keys which you can scatter far and wide!

The end of the lock is approximately 3cm in diameter. This fits under all of my grab handles with room to spare but won't fit under all rescue points. Fortunately, if you buy the lock from Amazon you can send it back easily and for no extra charge.
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A  Lock  To  Satisfy  The  Insurers

The second prong does little to actually protect your loved ones from theft, but is much more likely to satisfy the insurance companies. The details of each insurance policy will differ, but most policies, including the BCU Towergate insurance, will specify that your equipment is only covered if securely locked to the roof of a motor vehicle. 

The Rackguard Lockwire costs about £20 and satisfies this condition.
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One end of the wire has a ball on it, whilst the other end has a loop. If you pass the ball under a grab handle, through the loop and then shut the boot on it, your boat will be locked to the car, rather than just the roof rack.

If people really want to steal our kayaks, they are probably going to manage it sooner or later. The main idea is to make your own kayaks harder to steal than anyone else's ;-) By using both of these methods together, I am comfortable that my loved ones are both secured and insured. Happy days.

Thanks so much to Wave Sport for all of their support.
5 Comments
Jason Cole
19/5/2014 06:20:24 am

Is there any kind of register of "security rating" amongst commercial locks? For example in Halfords, a thinner chain has a higher rating than one with a thicker chain from a different manufacturer - presumably the rating only applies to their own models?

I opted for the Halfords Bikehut 90cm Chain & Padlock - item code 124415. Seems to work quite well.

Reply
Jason Cole
19/5/2014 06:22:05 am

Also the Rackguard is a reasonable back-up in case a cam strap loosens or fails....

Reply
Natty Cordon
19/5/2014 06:48:47 am

Thanks for this Jason :-) I looked for a rating but think this is something that individual retailers use to rate their products so couldn't really find anything. If they gave me a free one I could do some testing myself ;-)

Reply
David Woolsey
19/5/2014 07:34:29 am

The best system Ive found is to use a long (rated so the the insurance is happy) cable lock of 3-5m and lock the boats to a secure part of the car. In my case the towing loop at the rear of the car which is part of the chassis.

This way its a visual deterrent, makes the insurance happy and is actually very difficult to remove without damaging the boats or needing specialist tools.

A lot of modern cars no longer have fixed tow loops but it shouldn't be too hard to find something which you can loop the lock around.

I personally dont like locking boats to the roof bars as even bars with locks are woefully easy to remove and the cable and ball locks are a joke; you can cut most of them with a good pair of pliers and the ball idea only works on hatchback/estate car boots, if you put it in any other door a thief would just bend the top of the door frame out.

Reply
Natty Cordon
19/5/2014 08:33:08 am

Thanks for the feedback David. I guess different systems work for different people. The reason I don't use cable locks is that bolt cutters seem to be popular for a quick job where's my roof rack takes a longtime to get off and they'd have to smash all my windows to do it. All of it depends on individual circumstances I guess :-)

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