securing kayak on trips

[vasmallie]

what methods do you use to secure your kayak when staying at motels? i currently own an old town otter. sometimes i carry it into the room, more recently i've started using a chain around the seat.
i want to upgrade to maybe a coosa in the near future. any ideas?

[Lucky Doug]

Good luck. Rule of thumb - If they want it they can take it. Heard a lot of stories about boats stolen at motels and apartments. Seems like I read on here or maybe another site that somebody put a cable lock through the scuppers for a SOT. Make sure to use hardened steel chain or the best you can find cause the thieves have seen it all. They used to make some kind of super lock for bicycles and the thieves figured out right away that a can of freon would make short work of that lock. If you trailer, make sure to lock the hitch, ball latch, and maybe even the wheels at motels. You might want to check your policy too.

[Ocmulgee Tim]

With the Coosa you can lock the hatches with your rods inside of the boat and like RC said run a cable thru the scupper hole to lock her down.That way your boat and gear are secure.

[basshead]

Sleep next to the car with a shotgun.

[riverdawg2]

Upgrade to a suite and drag it inside?

[deadeye]

make your boat ugly enough so it is of no value to thieves. think of the term "sleeper".

[wolfewiz]

I use a locking heavy cable thru the scuppers and the rack.

[Catawba]

Sounds like prudent advice to lock it down but I'm curious as to how many actually know firsthand of a stolen yak? I don't think I've seen a report of a stolen yak in the past several years on several online sites.

[Flyfisher]

cable lock through a scupper and haven't had any problems.

I also have not heard first hand of a kayak being stolen off a car. I have heard out of people's back yards etc....

I would think that taking a kayak would take some planning to do since you would have to either have a truck or a way to secure the kayak once it was removed from the car. It would also be a pretty time consuming process to do so, assuming there is a cable to cut through etc...

[Alphahawk]

I have two Coosas. Most of the time at least one of them is on top of my car....I am using it 5 days a week and I just leave it there and head out again the next morning. I have some good cable locks that I put through the scupper holes. But in my 61 years on this earth I have learned locks are to keep honest people honest. I don't think many folks realize what a good kayak costs. They see those cheap ones at Wally World and on the sidewalks at cheaper sporting good stores and have no clue that over a thousand dollars is sitting on top of a sub compact car. The only time I have heard of one being stolen is at a remote location while the person is fishing. My insurance...home owners...and or car insurance.....will pay if it is stolen. But having said that with the insurance companies industry wide going to a one thousand dollar deductible for home owners insurance it would hurt if it was stolen. Just my two cents.


Regards

[admile3]

I have two Coosas. Most of the time at least one of them is on top of my car....I am using it 5 days a week and I just leave it there and head out again the next morning. I have some good cable locks that I put through the scupper holes. But in my 61 years on this earth I have learned locks are to keep honest people honest. I don't think many folks realize what a good kayak costs. They see those cheap ones at Wally World and on the sidewalks at cheaper sporting good stores and have no clue that over a thousand dollars is sitting on top of a sub compact car. The only time I have heard of one being stolen is at a remote location while the person is fishing. My insurance...home owners...and or car insurance.....will pay if it is stolen. But having said that with the insurance companies industry wide going to a one thousand dollar deductible for home owners insurance it would hurt if it was stolen. Just my two cents.


Regards

In regards to insurance, sometimes gear like that isnt always covered by homeowners or auto insurance. What I would recommend is to add a rider to your policy, specifically for your gear. It usually only adds a few more dollars a month to your policy, and is great for peace of mind.

[revbass]

I have done what Ocmulgee Tim mentioned one time, so far (just started yak fishing last Sept). I have a truck so I ran the heavy gauge cable through a scupper on my COOSA & locked it to a tie down in the truck bed...and put locks on both hatches (as Oc Tim mentioned). I know they can get into it or get the whole thing, but at least they can't just grab it & go. I made sure to get a downstairs room facing outward & I backed my truck up where the kayak was spitting distance from my hotel window. The hotel I stayed in was in a decent area. If it had not been, I probably would have slid it inside my room.