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Old 03-19-2019, 03:58 PM   #21
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You can make a do-it-yourself alarm system by adding micro switches to your screen and other doors. Put lights on your motion sensors on deck. That's usually enough to scare opportunists off. It also keeps birds off. They don't like to roost where it's suddenly lighted. It seems to keep sea lions off the swim platform, too. I'm a vet and have a couple trip wires where my dog can't set them off, wired to blank 12ga shells.

I've spent hundreds of nights on the hook. As a commercial fisherman and retired 15 years. Mostly in remote anchorages with few if any other boats. Now mainly solo and I only burn an anchor light. In the summer I wander from one spot to another, spending a few days to weeks. In all that time I've had a few animals and a couple men. I'd bet they're in a new line of work now.
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Old 03-19-2019, 04:19 PM   #22
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that's the dichotomy of cruising in Exumas and related places. You want privacy, but you want security.
My security buddy calls home doors, 10 second doors. From most rec boats I see, they might be "5 second doors". That's when locked.

If two even semi-coherent able bodies want the big boat, it will be theirs. Few of us can post sentries on board or have reliable automation that will keep a vacation relaxing. My advice is to take a pill and play the entirely favorable odds.
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Old 03-19-2019, 05:49 PM   #23
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In hundreds of nights at anchor in both populated and very unpopulated places, that fear never occurred to us. Only you can counter your personal degree of paranoia with the proper personalized antidote.
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Old 03-19-2019, 06:22 PM   #24
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Is it really that much of a problem in the land of the free and the home of the brave? (-;

Seems a bit extreme to be locking yourself in with laser beams, panic buttons, tacks on the deck, electric fences and shotguns at the ready.
I thought the whole idea of getting away was to leave your worries behind, not add to them.
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Old 03-19-2019, 06:43 PM   #25
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I cruise 90+% of the time solo. As such, most all of my nights away from the dock are by myself. I don't leave exterior doors open or unlocked at night. It's pretty simple to have something that makes a lot of noise (mechanical) when the door opens. Ditto the stateroom door. Although the racking of the shotgun will probably discourage them from opening that door. Don't want a shotgun onboard, a shot from 20 pound CO2 fire extinguisher will bring an intruder to his knees.

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Old 03-19-2019, 07:14 PM   #26
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Security while at anchor

TBH, we aren’t worried about being in the Bahamas, it’s America (specifically FL) I am most concerned with.
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Old 03-19-2019, 08:17 PM   #27
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For those who suggest paranoia, I see it differently. I spent 30 years as a fireman working in some really bad areas. I have seen things that you could only imagine. I spent my career planning for the worst and dealing with much of it.

While thankfully you may not have had any issues, there are plenty of people who have. Sitting on the anchor in the Exumas now and everyone pulls their inflatable out of the water at night because they get stolen on a regular basis. Using a cable and a padlock isn’t good enough because they use bolt cutters.

Nassau (just spent a week there) was just listed by the state department as being very dangerous to Tourists. I am far from being paranoid. I look at as being streetwise, or maybe boat wise.
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Old 03-19-2019, 08:39 PM   #28
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Yes, Nassau gets a high crime rate since the resident population is fairly small, and there are tons of drunken idiots who visit and get into trouble. And, there is a gun problem in Nassau. Exuma, although "close", is not even related to the capital crime issue.

My uncle was on the first paramedic team in Miami, in the early '70's. He was full of these stories. Waiting for cops to show up before they could put hoses on a house fire. AND, the cops didn't really want to show up.
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Old 03-19-2019, 08:55 PM   #29
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For us, it's locked doors at night. At least they slow anyone down and lead to noise. More importantly though is security cameras and lights. If you pull up to the side (or front or back) of our boat, the lights will shine and alarms will go off. You board and definitely will set it all off. We've never had problems with false positives. Much of it is sensitivity and anti-dither and other settings. Birds were mentioned earlier. On a properly set up system, a bird flying through won't be in the field long enough to set it off and a bird sitting won't be large enough.

There are also anchorages in certain areas, I just wouldn't consider for overnight. Check noonsite and the Caribbean Security in these areas.

All that said, I still lack comfort in anchoring with no one on watch in some areas and just can't sleep well doing it.
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Old 03-19-2019, 09:34 PM   #30
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I lock my doors at home and I live in a gated neighborhood in a nice area.

Likewise, I almost always lock the boat doors at night. The exception would be if I have a full boat (guys trip, maybe) and a warm night. If its my wife and I or 2 couples, we lock the doors before going to sleep. We have recessed lighting around the perimeter walkways that will hopefully encourage the bad guys to go somewhere darker and not bother us. I leave windows open on warm nights if I don’t run the air, but I turn on the air if I can’t keep cool without the doors open while I sleep.

We cruised the exumas over the past 3 months and I didn’t see or hear of any crimes. I think the numbers of boats in most anchorages there make the bad guys think twice about working there. That being said, there have been enough tenders and engines stolen there that I pulled our tender from the water most nights.

Without a doubt, Nassau is a different animal and crime is a significant problem. The Exumas are much less so, but not crime free. I find it easy to lock up and make myself a less attractive target so that’s what we do. Locks, lighting and dogs make it unlikely that the bad guy chooses you. Any combination of those deterrents helps.
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Old 03-19-2019, 10:14 PM   #31
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We've been all over the Bahamas in the last few years, there's nowhere that I'd be concerned about security- except for Nassau and Freeport.

Petty theft is a minor concern- don't be the easiest target. If we leave our RIB down and tied to the boat for the night I use a cable and padlock. It's far from burgler-proof but I just need to be a harder target than the next boat.

I keep a couple of machetes stashed onboard in case anyone gets a crazy idea to break in. Perfectly legal, and in close quarters a large blade is more dangerous than a handgun.

Near Nassau our German Shepherd sleeps on deck- we've never had an issue. A dog adds a lot of inconvenience to a cruising boat, I wouldn't recommend one for a security system. But we had the dog before the boat, so since im dealing with the inconvenience I'm quite content to let him do his job.
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Old 03-19-2019, 10:52 PM   #32
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Without using a/c I want airflow,that requires some form of ventilation both ends, in our case leaving the cockpit door partly open. Never bothered me, until I saw this thread.
But I have thought about the easy target: dinghy and outboard, left in the water overnight. So easy to row up,uncleat or cut the line, and row away with it in tow to a safe motor starting distance.
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Old 03-19-2019, 11:32 PM   #33
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Originally Posted by Simi 60 View Post
Is it really that much of a problem in the land of the free and the home of the brave? (-;
.
The OP is asking about the Bahamas.
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Old 03-19-2019, 11:37 PM   #34
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Is it really that much of a problem in the land of the free and the home of the brave? (-;

Seems a bit extreme to be locking yourself in with laser beams, panic buttons, tacks on the deck, electric fences and shotguns at the ready.
I thought the whole idea of getting away was to leave your worries behind, not add to them.

On the West Coast of the US I don't lock down the boat overnight when anchored out.. never felt the need. That being said I do also have other deterrents available if necessary.

Out of the US I often feel the need to keep the boat closed up so it makes it harder to get in from the outside when all are asleep. This includes everything from the West Coast of Mexico to Florida where we are not allowed to have additional deterrents. In these areas we always lift the dinghy at night.. this appears to others your conscious of your security.


When we cruised the So. Pacific there was a fair amount of theft that occurred in the cruising community, So it happens even in paradise, I didn't know anybody that had boats " broken into" if they were locked down.
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Old 03-19-2019, 11:59 PM   #35
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Personally I like the idea of a silenced 9mm for restricting damage limitation to the intruder without collateral to the boat.
If anyone's considering a dog then do a little research for a Belgian breed called a 'Schipperke' (Shipperkay).
These dogs are bred specifically as barge security dogs and are extremely good at defending their territory whilst making good family pets.
We always lock the doors and only leave windows open with screens on, I have a tazer by the bed and a very good baton. Only had to use the baton once, broke a left collarbone, right thigh, then 'helped' the intruder over board and we've never had trouble since.
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Old 03-20-2019, 12:17 AM   #36
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The OP is asking about the Bahamas.
Absolutely he is. However, good practices are good practices and bad ones are bad. Pick the worst place you might be and design for that, then you'll be fine everywhere. If you can't design comfortably for a location then don't anchor there overnight.

Nassau and Freeport to have high crime rates, like any city that has many times more people there daily than they have residents. Simple math. However, most marinas are secure and many anchorages are. The crime that happens with a purse snatcher in the old town area is different.

There are places in the Caribbean that are worse, but if you read through all the security reports you seen 90% of the water crime with a common pattern. It is outboards on boats left in the water. It is dinghies left in the water. It is entry when the boat is anchored but no one on board and the doors are unlocked.

One also must condition oneself to what is important and "things" are not, compared to "lives and health." Most of the crime is petty theft of possessions, not theft of boats and not piracy and kidnapping. I'd suggest to all to go to noonsite and then to the Caribbean Security and read the details of all the crimes reported. Then think of how that one could have been prevented.

I just went to safetyandsecuritynet.org and read the most recent five reports.
1-Martinique-Unsecured dinghy stolen overnight.
2-Grenada-Unsecured dinghy stolen overnight (dinghy found sunk in Mangroves the next day and motor gone.
3-Same as #2
4-Antigua-Unlocked dinghy stolen from restaurant dock
5-Sint Maarten-Sailing school dinghy stolen from dock around 8 pm.

Here is the link for reported crimes and in 2018, there were 7 violent crimes, 3 of which were in Honduras.

https://safetyandsecuritynet.org/css...ime-caribbean/

Here are noonsite's reports of piracy.

https://www.noonsite.com/General/Pir...y-reports-2018

And here is 2019 so far:

https://www.noonsite.com/General/Pir...eports-2018-1/

There were 13 reports in February and I'm sure many more not reported, but here's a bit of info on them.

8 were dinghy and or outboard.
2 boats burgled while all ashore during the day.
1 boat burgled while ashore at night.
1 suspicious activity
1 theft of a dinghy hoist and a grill

Now, I'm not suggesting to feel there is no risk, but the number of boats invaded with persons sleeping aboard just is very low.

In January, in the Portobello area of Panama, several boats were either attempted or boarded by armed men in a panga. In one case the thieves kept yelling "Cocaine" but the owners claimed they found none. They stole computers, etc. but didn't take the jewelry. In another case, a large dog deterred the criminals. In another they did pistol whip and rob.

Just use your best judgement. Look for patterns. For instance Rodney Bay in St. Lucia has had dinghies stolen every year I've followed this. Seems common sense not to leave them accessible there.

I would personally not leave my boat as the only one in an anchorage and go to town anywhere, but definitely not in areas we're discussing. However, as someone mentioned above, I live in a community with 325 houses and security and no robberies in the 6+ years we've been there. I still have gates and my home is still alarmed.
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Old 03-20-2019, 12:25 AM   #37
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...We always lock the doors and only leave windows open with screens on, I have a taser by the bed and a very good baton. Only had to use the baton once, broke a left collarbone, right thigh, then 'helped' the intruder over board and we've never had trouble since.
With those injuries, his swimming style would have been interesting.
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Old 03-20-2019, 01:41 AM   #38
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Personally I like the idea of a silenced 9mm for restricting damage limitation to the intruder without collateral to the boat.
If anyone's considering a dog then do a little research for a Belgian breed called a 'Schipperke' (Shipperkay).
These dogs are bred specifically as barge security dogs and are extremely good at defending their territory whilst making good family pets.
We always lock the doors and only leave windows open with screens on, I have a tazer by the bed and a very good baton. Only had to use the baton once, broke a left collarbone, right thigh, then 'helped' the intruder over board and we've never had trouble since.



We have a Schipperke, I will attest she is a better watchdog than any of the three German Shepherd's we have had over the years.. and her size makes her a perfect boat dog. The sounds that wake that dog up from a dead sleep are rarely heard by us.. and she rarely has sounded a false alarm.
Being all black they like to hide in the shadows and just watch.. most of the time people dont even know she is aboard until they touch the boat!
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Old 03-20-2019, 01:54 AM   #39
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The OP also raised a specific concern about the boat being left unattended for long periods, remote from where he lives (Bahamas versus California). I have been considering the same future issue, with a boat in another country and perhaps even moored out in the harbor as opposed to being in a marina.

The key to managing security in that situation is in technology. Various solutions have been mentioned such as motion sensors, pressure switches, door switches, infra or laser beams, lights, sound alarms, cameras, etc. All of this must be coupled to a central security control system with a dependable wifi connection. Buy a local SIM card with data, ensure solar can charge a dedicated battery to run the security system. Then obviously all monitored by a good phone and laptop app.

It's all doable and will be an investment. Perhaps hiring a consultant would be worthwhile if one doesn't have the personal technical skills.

This level of security obviously gives peace of mind even when sleeping onboard, where it can help to deter petty theft as well.

Of course, if you're cruising Patagonia and the natives are still running around in loin clothes, then you can spread tacks on deck - all of this to protect your stash of paraffin that you trade with remote tribes
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Old 03-20-2019, 08:47 AM   #40
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Wow, quite a myriad of responses. Thanks to everyone who replied. My take away is that there doesn’t seem to be a high likelihood of someone entering the boat while we are sleeping on anchor. That being said it would be prudent to at least close the doors, locking them would certainly be better.

I will leave my skiff in the water but I do have a good cable and lock.
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