Cheap Leisure batteries for sale.

[RD1]

I thought the title would attract your attention.

 

We all need batteries on our boats, this is the note sent from North Walsham Police in Norfolk regarding battery theft.

 

 

"There has been a spate of battery thefts over the past few weeks with caravan storage facilities being targeted. The miscreants are smashing the battery boxes and removing the batteries presumably for scrap value. This adds many hundreds of pounds of damage costs to that of replacing the battery itself.

 

Whilst at this time there have been no reports of boats being targeted, if it was me a marina or wetshed would be a good target to. So yet another heads up and hope non of our members have this misfortune, but perhaps spread the word that this is the new trend!!!!"

 

 

When discussed on another forum, some one said... there are more batteries on boats, 3-6 or more and many boats are left unattended, so as boat batteries often contain more lead, so their scrap value is a lot more. So I only wanted to make our forum members aware.

 

I guess this is already happening all around the country so I probably made too much fuss about trying to avoid setting a new trend. So apologies for that.

 

Hope it helps at least one member, then my post was worth the effort.

 

Richard

[RLWP]

Is that what all the fuss was about!

 

Beware, your boat has batteries and someone might nick them

 

Richard

[ditchcrawler]

I thought the title would attract your attention.

 

We all need batteries on our boats, this is the note sent from North Walsham Police in Norfolk regarding battery theft.

 

 

"There has been a spate of battery thefts over the past few weeks with caravan storage facilities being targeted. The miscreants are smashing the battery boxes and removing the batteries presumably for scrap value. This adds many hundreds of pounds of damage costs to that of replacing the battery itself.

 

Whilst at this time there have been no reports of boats being targeted, if it was me a marina or wetshed would be a good target to. So yet another heads up and hope non of our members have this misfortune, but perhaps spread the word that this is the new trend!!!!"

 

 

When discussed on another forum, some one said... there are more batteries on boats, 3-6 or more and many boats are left unattended, so as boat batteries often contain more lead, so their scrap value is a lot more. So I only wanted to make our forum members aware.

 

I guess this is already happening all around the country so I probably made too much fuss about trying to avoid setting a new trend. So apologies for that.

 

Hope it helps at least one member, then my post was worth the effort.

 

Richard

My son had 15 lifted last week in Gloucestershire

[RD1]

My son had 15 lifted last week in Gloucestershire

So it is happening already, if they are going for scrap, then isn't there supposed to be a record trail of from where scrap comes from, and from whom? Don't scrap men now have to issue cheques and not pay cash?

 

There will always be the scrapyard that likes to say yes... with no records, difficult to break the habit I guess.

Of course it was only suggested that they went for scrap, there might be a market for second hand batteries.

if your son replaces the 15 batteries... the thieves may well be back for new ones.

Edited January 20, 2017 by RD1

[ditchcrawler]

So it is happening already, if they are going for scrap, then isn't there supposed to be a record trail of from where scrap comes from, and from whom? Don't scrap men now have to issue cheques and not pay cash?

 

There will always be the scrapyard that likes to say yes... with no records, difficult to break the habit I guess.

Of course it was only suggested that they went for scrap, there might be a market for second hand batteries.

if your son replaces the 15 batteries... the thieves may well be back for new ones.

That is quite possible but he has to have them

[Laurie Booth]

I thought the title would attract your attention.

 

We all need batteries on our boats, this is the note sent from North Walsham Police in Norfolk regarding battery theft.

 

 

"There has been a spate of battery thefts over the past few weeks with caravan storage facilities being targeted. The miscreants are smashing the battery boxes and removing the batteries presumably for scrap value. This adds many hundreds of pounds of damage costs to that of replacing the battery itself.

 

Whilst at this time there have been no reports of boats being targeted, if it was me a marina or wetshed would be a good target to. So yet another heads up and hope non of our members have this misfortune, but perhaps spread the word that this is the new trend!!!!"

 

 

When discussed on another forum, some one said... there are more batteries on boats, 3-6 or more and many boats are left unattended, so as boat batteries often contain more lead, so their scrap value is a lot more. So I only wanted to make our forum members aware.

 

I guess this is already happening all around the country so I probably made too much fuss about trying to avoid setting a new trend. So apologies for that.

 

Hope it helps at least one member, then my post was worth the effort.

 

Richard

Thanks for the message, must admit I hadn't thought of my batteries being stolen.

[Taslim]

That is quite possible but he has to have them

True but a chum had his ride on ridden off recently. The insurance coughed up, like for like. Two days after the shiny new mower was 'safe' in the shed it too went ride about. A local job?

[Bob the welder]

So it is happening already, if they are going for scrap, then isn't there supposed to be a record trail of from where scrap comes from, and from whom? Don't scrap men now have to issue cheques and not pay cash?

There will always be the scrapyard that likes to say yes... with no records, difficult to break the habit I guess.

Of course it was only suggested that they went for scrap, there might be a market for second hand batteries.

if your son replaces the 15 batteries... the thieves may well be back for new ones.

[Bob the welder]

When you take scrap it is up to the chap on the door to say what you have brought in .so you may have brought in bats but he may put cast or assortment of steel.who knows or can argue months later.

[RD1]

I wonder if it's worth fitting dash type cameras on boats, you could have motion detectors to trigger the camera. Date time etc. Problem with dash cams on boats, you don't want the camera continuing to record for days after the event, as it will over write the footage, hence a motion sensor, or maybe a timer. A small pir sensor will draw very little current. Of course, best to have it on a small seperate battery well hidden from view.

 

How far do you have to go to protect your property, the important thing is to get these thieves arrested.

Marking batteries or any other possessions with boat name, post code etc would be a good start, it helps to put the thieves at the scence of a theft, if ever batteries or stolen goods are found.

 

I don't want to start a survey, but I wonder, how many boats have an alarm fitted, and is it set when people leave the boat?

Are boat alarms reliable, what happens if it goes off, and your marina calls you, but you are three hours away, you really want the alarm to hush after say 20-30 minutes, but then the thieves may come back later.

 

Who actually investigates an alarm anyway? if at home you need a group of friendly neighbours and an alarm that doesn't false trigger, I am a member of our local Neighbour hood watch, we do check and look out for each other. One neighbour, his alarm went off randomly, In the end, I volunteered to investigate, there were in fact two faults, a rear door reed switch and a pir sensor that didn't like spiders. I also fitted a new battery, and it has been fine for a couple of years since I fixed it. I also extended the alarm to include his garage.

 

Getting back to boats, how easy is it for someone determined to actually steal your boat? It happens, some are driven away, some simply towed, A lot of steel boats and many cruisers are generic, same starter panel, a simple key. Is it worth having a hidden defeat switch, difficult to do on older diesel engines unless you have an electric fuel cut off, or can disable the feed to the starter solenoid.

In Norfolk, there have been many reported outboard thefts, boats have been taken to remote areas and the outboard sometimes chainsawed off, with fixing bolts some times below the waterline, even if removed with spanners can result in the sinking of the boat too.

How many outboard owners have a seperate record of the serial number? The police in Norfolk/Suffolk managed to arrest a group who were stealing outboards, they were loaded into a container at Felixstowe ready to ship abroad. The Norfolk Police also sell waterproof covers to replace the solid outboard cover, as engines can be difficult to sell without a cover, and a new one can cost £100+ The owners swap over to their hard cover before starting the engine, but most would keep it on board doh...

If you are looking to buy a secondhand outboard, you can look on a well known auction site, and see engines for sale without covers, a few I have seen where the serial number plate has accidentally fallen off. So buyer beware.

 

We just need to keep an eye open, if you are not in a marina, where there is a type of caretaker, is it worth sharing contact details with close moorers?

 

Some will say... don't worry, just keep paying your insurance. To a point I totally agree.

Edited January 21, 2017 by RD1

[Alan de Enfield]

RD1 - Just because you are paranoid doesn't mean they are not out to 'get you'.

[RD1]

RD1 - Just because you are paranoid doesn't mean they are not out to 'get you'.

I think you are right lol

 

I like many on here were born in a time (1950's) that things were hard to get, and once you have it, you make sure you looked after it. Make do and mend was the motto of the time. Darned socks, when a bed sheet ripped or wore thin in the middle, your mum would cut it in half and sew the outer edges together. It would last a lot longer.

Your dad would buy slack, (coal dust and chippings) as it was cheap and close down the coal fire so it lasted longer lol.

There was no credit, no loans, if you couldn't afford it, you didn't have it. There were schemes called easy payments, or a sort of hp agreements, and of course the tallyman but no credit cards.

 

You worked hard to get it, but you also worked hard to make sure you keep it too.

 

This day and age, people want it now, live today, pay tomorrow, we are in a throw away age, how many fridges do you see down the tip, that look perfectly well, probably just the wrong colour.

The week before Christmas, our fridge broke down, we thought £150 new fridge... no problem, or £6 for a replacement thermostat, I opted for the thermostat, as we had another fridge in the garage that was being replaced at the mother in law's house, as she said it was noisy... Well it is fine in our garage, been so for over 6 years now lol

 

I remember the days when washing machines had replaceable bearings, accessible from the rear without having to strip the drum, not any more, sealed for life units, but that life is only 5-6 years lol

 

Paranoid, possibly, but having been brought up when money was tight I would say I was more careful.

 

Without the make doing and mending, we would have spent far more hard earnt cash on just replacements.

[Alan de Enfield]

I think you are right lol

 

I like many on here were born in a time (1950's) that things were hard to get, and once you have it, you make sure you looked after it. Make do and mend was the motto of the time. .................

 

 

Same here - example : have always 'recovered' nails, straightened them and put them into storage.

 

People forget that until recently (well it seems recently) we still had 'rationing'. Rationing did not cease until 4th July 1954.

 

Being brought up in a recently 'post war' Britain - when you didn't have much, what you did have was valuable.

Edited January 21, 2017 by Alan de Enfield

[ditchcrawler]

True but a chum had his ride on ridden off recently. The insurance coughed up, like for like. Two days after the shiny new mower was 'safe' in the shed it too went ride about. A local job?

The boy thinks his batteries where as well. local scoundrel just out of nick

[pophops]

Our microwave started arcing and flashing a few weeks ago.

Son-in-law : "Just get a new one".

Son: "Just buy a new one. They're really cheap these days".

So I sent for a silica panel to make a new wave-guide cover, (£1.99 including free postage). I cut out a new cover and fitted it.

The microwave now works perfectly.

Son-in law: " I'd just have got a new one"

Son: "I don't know why you bothered".

Generation gap?

[Laurie Booth]

I like many on here were born in a time (1950's) that things were hard to get, and once you have it, you make sure you looked after it. Make do and mend was the motto of the time. Darned socks, when a bed sheet ripped or wore thin in the middle, your mum would cut it in half and sew the outer edges together. It would last a lot longer.

Your dad would buy slack, (coal dust and chippings) as it was cheap and close down the coal fire so it lasted longer lol.

There was no credit, no loans, if you couldn't afford it, you didn't have it. There were schemes called easy payments, or a sort of hp agreements, and of course the tallyman but no credit cards.

 

My dad wanted to get a TV to watch the Coronation so he built one himself using a scrap radar screen.

[system 4-50]

It is a good idea to install new batteries discretely, and dispose of old batteries discretely too as they suggest that new ones have been bought.

I've also been surprised in the past how discussing my battery changing with one boater then becomes common knowledge with other boaters that I don't know.

They may be stolen for their scrap value but that is a lot of work for a small return.

Stealing almost new batteries I would imagine to more profitable.

[Naughty Cal]

Is this supposed to be new news?

 

Our marina was targeted several years ago and a couple of pallet loads of batteries taken!

 

Fortunately no damage to any boats but they did damage the boat shed getting in.

[RD1]

Is this supposed to be new news?

Our marina was targeted several years ago and a couple of pallet loads of batteries taken!

Fortunately no damage to any boats but they did damage the boat shed getting in.

The thing is, when it happened, was there a warning given out to other boaters in other regions about the thefts at the time?

This was my dilemma, to warn or remind the thieves about easy pickings.

You often see it on the TV, something happens in a region and within days there are copycat incidents all over the country.

Using stolen fork lift trucks to remove cash machines was one such situation.

Ram raids were another one, but some less bright thieves used their own cars lol, some undrivable and being left at the scene lol.

[Ex Brummie]

A scrap yard I use insists it must have name ,address etc, and pay by cheque. They are also a cheque cashing agency and will cash your cheque for a commission!!!!!

[MtB]

A scrap yard I use insists it must have name ,address etc, and pay by cheque. They are also a cheque cashing agency and will cash your cheque for a commission!!!!!

 

 

That's very resourceful of them....

 

Scrap prices have rocketed recently. Back in the summer I took three dead leisure batteries to the scrappy and got a fiver each for them. (Paid direct into my bank apparently - I never checked.) A few weeks ago I took another three the same and got £45! This time I'll check the money arrived

[mross]

I don't want to start a survey, but I wonder, how many boats have an alarm fitted, and is it set when people leave the boat?

a

I have a battery-operated PIR alarm that I set when moored on the towpath. It is silent but sends me a text if motion is detected. It seems reliable but the batteries did not last long. I have replaced the supplied batteries with Duracells and will see how long they last. Obviously, if I am more than 10 or 20 minutes from the boat it won't be much use but it gives me piece of mind.

[Dave Payne]

Don't do what the boat near me did in the autumn, fit an alarm that kept going all night, with nobody showing up.

 

And he had a poster in his window offering alarm fitting for a fee!

[ditchcrawler]

So it is happening already, if they are going for scrap, then isn't there supposed to be a record trail of from where scrap comes from, and from whom? Don't scrap men now have to issue cheques and not pay cash?

 

There will always be the scrapyard that likes to say yes... with no records, difficult to break the habit I guess.

Of course it was only suggested that they went for scrap, there might be a market for second hand batteries.

if your son replaces the 15 batteries... the thieves may well be back for new ones.

My son has discussed it with the local scrappy, IE if a guy turns up with a load all the same make that look like new etc. The new ones are all bright purple now.

[mango]

Did the battery thief plead guilty as charged?