Boaters' Tips - Security

These are tips and ideas from boaters on safety and security on the water:

If you do have something stolen, set up Ebay and Gumtree alerts for them. Valuable items like bikes and generators sometimes come up for sale.

Try to take a picture of suspected burglers. Not only does this help identification, sometimes even just pretending to take a photograph can frighten them off.

Be secure, but don’t make a fortress you can’t escape from in a fire.

Don’t be daft (e.g. using your MacBook Pro with the curtains open, in Hackney, at midnight).

Christmas holidays are the worst time. If you’re going away for a while, take your valuables with you and don’t advertise that you are away on social media.

Glass is the best thing to pick up fingerprints from, e.g. glass jars, windows etc, but not (surprisingly!) brass handles. Apparently a lot of burglers help themselves to food, so if you see jars adjusted, they could be useful.

If you can’t get to your whistle, give them a long blast of the horn!

Don’t get trapped on board with an attacker – make sure you can get out of the boat if trouble flares.

Try to make sure there is always some charge on your phone in case you need to call the police.

If you have any tips or ideas on this topic, please comment below!