Securing a trailer.

I had a small trailer full of sprayer's and other High dollar painting equipment.
Was doing a 175 unit apartment complex in Charleston 120mi from home.
On week ends we would park it 50ft from the front door of the office in well lighted area in full view of office windows.
Chained to a tree with logging chain, those are massive!

Went home for week-end, Monday upon returning I see its gone.......They CUT the tree down! It's laying right there.
I go in the office,, NO one had notice a damn thing...LOL morons

If a thief REALLY WANTS some thing ...they WILL get it.
One can only take reasonable steps to secure things. Like I said..if they really want it....it's gone. No lock, chain etc is totally undefeatable.
Heck they can lift it with a wrecker, pull it up onto a car carrier.... there are so many ways you haven't even thought of to steal a trailer it ain't funny.

When at home my vans and trailer were in a chain link "bull pen" with 2 large, mean dogs. For me that's the best deterrent. they go nuts barking when anyone comes near. But even then if some one really wanted something, they could have poisoned my dogs and still got to it. At one of my friends car & body shop....some one knew there was a vintage 'Vette in there being painted. The hooked up 2 chains and ripped the garage door right out, including the tracks & that "Vette" was gone...never to be seen again. Yeah there were camera's all they saw was 2 guys wearing masks hooking up chains to a wrecker and ripping that door off. Pushing the car out, hooking a winch up & pulling it on an unmarked single car carrier. Gone in 60 seconds! Never to be seen again.

PS That's what insurance is for ..keep a detailed inventory with pictures. That's your best bet & collect insurance if it happens to you.

When I worked on a local cattle ranch the owner had a policy of taken all the tires off of his trailers, so they won't be stolen. For me it was s***y job handling all those tires with cow poo on them. No trailers were stolen during the time I worked there, of course we had to block them up old railroad ties, but it worked.

blackjack2564 said:

If a thief REALLY WANTS some thing ...they WILL get it.
One can only take reasonable steps to secure things. Like I said..if they really want it....it's gone. No lock, chain etc is totally undefeatable.
Heck they can lift it with a wrecker, pull it up onto a car carrier.... there are so many ways you haven't even thought of to steal a trailer it ain't funny.

When at home my vans and trailer were in a chain link "bull pen" with 2 large, mean dogs. For me that's the best deterrent. they go nuts barking when anyone comes near. But even then if some one really wanted something, they could have poisoned my dogs and still got to it. At one of my friends car & body shop....some one knew there was a vintage 'Vette in there being painted. The hooked up 2 chains and ripped the garage door right out, including the tracks & that "Vette" was gone...never to be seen again. Yeah there were camera's all they saw was 2 guys wearing masks hooking up chains to a wrecker and ripping that door off. Pushing the car out, hooking a winch up & pulling it on an unmarked single car carrier. Gone in 60 seconds! Never to be seen again.

PS That's what insurance is for ..keep a detailed inventory with pictures. That's your best bet & collect insurance if it happens to you.

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+1 Agreed!

However I still think video is incredibly valuable and helpful. Without it, there would be situations which you would only wonder what happened (which many don't realize is so frustrating about a theft situation) - one of the reasons I finally got around to installing my video security system was that someone stole something from my backyard and I had no idea who or how (we had our suspicions, but you shouldn't direct blame based on guesses). At least with video you can see and also give to insurance and police if helpful.

Here's security video of a "ghost car" hitting my car in my driveway (starter shorted on it's own and grinded it's way across the street...owner left the stick in 1st). I actually made it to the car before the owner and dove in there to stop the car (which my other neighbor later thought would've destroyed my garage if I hadn't stopped it). Insurance later asked if I was operating that vehicle! I also questioned myself immediately afterwards since I got to the car door first and had to make a split sec judgement call on whether to get in or let the owner stop it...watch the video and you will see the owner grabbed the spoiler to try to pull it to a stop and wouldn't have made it in time anyway:
[video]https://www.facebook.com/ken.liu.96558/videos/10202015171794664/[/video]

I also have another video (shortly after I installed the system) of a truck delivery guy almost getting run over by his own truck when he reversed into my driveway, he left the truck in neutral/out of gear and got out...then the truck started rolling back and he tried to get back in and the front left wheel (which were turned to the right) almost ran him over. "Luckily" the truck hit the garage roof and my parked car, which stopped it in time. I have the video somewhere...gotta find it again. My car was under a year old at that point and the truck slightly damaged the rear bumper.

My :2:

I would suggest 2 or 3 chains with locks. More to fumble with cut.

The 'traffic signs' in our areas are set up, then their wheels are removed..

what about a giant concrete block, buried / sunken in the ground, and chained to the 'lift ring' (like what they would have to secure an airplane at the small / local airstrip)..

blackjack2564 said:

Like I said..if they really want it....it's gone. No lock, chain etc is totally undefeatable. Heck they can lift it with a wrecker, pull it up onto a car carrier.... there are so many ways you haven't even thought of to steal a trailer it ain't funny.

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Take his word for it, I know he is an expert...

Too bad it's probably illegal to electrify chains that lock the wheels, so anyone that tries to cut through them gets tossed about 20' away.

A determined thief can be very methodical but multiple measures in multiple locations can deter many if they have to take too much time. This does take time to set up and remove each time, you just have to decide how much the trailer and it's contents are worth. I can cite examples of that were not stolen because the thief gave up on the third or fourth lock. Some of them were trashed in the end but not stolen. Just use high quality products to secure your stuff and maybe the sticky fingers will pass you by.

H_Rocket said:

Take his word for it, I know he is an expert...

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Magic word Al...............

............ " FORKLIFT !"

Guys,

I am not all that worried on the field. I am worried about parking it at home. My nearest neighbor is not close by.

Camo netting? They won't try and steal what they don't see.

A mine field would be an effective deterrent.

How about a sign on top of the trailer which folds flat; however when driving, the wind catches it and it pops up saying "STOLEN! CALL 911! REWARD!" (install with a piano hinge and also chest lid brackets which lock open).

You just need to remember to pin it down before you take it out; however that's simple - you'll likely get a trailer hitch lock or some other lock too, so put the lock pin/cotter pin attached to that key with a "remove before flight" flag.

Have fun explaining that to the cop when you forget to pin it down.

blackbrandt said:

Have fun explaining that to the cop when you forget to pin it down.

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It would be proof it works! :grin:

Side benefit is that if it is actually stolen, someone likely would record it on their phone and call police and the video would go viral.

Well, at our house there are usuall one or two cars parked in front of the trailer but other than that, nothing. Of course, they wouldn't ft much other than a few sheets of plywood, a used garbage can, a handful of empty banana boxes, an old rocking chair, and a half-broken rototiller. I would probably come out ahead on the insurance money. Honestly, we've never felt the need to lock it up, though at times we keep the doors locked to keep our own kids out of it.

I worry more at overnight launches when it's full of useful stuff. I've thought about getting a hitch lock, especially after borrowing one once or twice.

Take an old ball that fits the trailers hitch.
Cut off the threads.
Insert ball, padlock threw provided hole in lock bar on hitch.
Inexpensive and easy to store.

astrowolf67 said:

If theives want it, they will take it. Sad, but, true. The best you can do, is make it as hard as possible to steal, and, easy to identify. The longer it takes to steal, and harder it is to cover identifiable markings, the less attractive it will be to a theif.

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Agreed - They say locks are for honest people.
If someone wants something bad enough they will get it. (Honest people don't want it so they don't try)

My house was once broken into - they kicked the door in.
I suggested beefing up the door (steel plate reinforcing or something)

I was told by both the insurance adjuster and the police that it would be a waste of money - if a criminal wanted to get into the house they will find a way, Maybe break a window - or worse. The harder it is to get in the bigger the mess they will make trying to get in.

Deterrents may help, but there is no way to be totally secure.

True about locks, but if your don't use them, I suspect the robbery rate is higher.