Canoe Theft While Traveling

How do you keep your canoe safe when traveling? We are thinking about staying at a hotel for a couple of nights in Columbia SC instead of camping. I'd rather camp, but wife is not up for that on this trip. What are some things that I can do to keep my canoe safe when sleeping at night? I like the thought of bringing it into the hotel room, but this may not be possible.
Roy

I don't know the type of establishment you will be staying at but if you talked with the staff at the more reputable ones they may, after a certain hour, let you park close to the main entrance under the lights as long as you're not blocking the place for emergency vehicles. We would do this on multi-day trips to Cape Cod with a couple sea kayaks tied to the roof. Maybe we were just lucky but we never lost a boat to the bad guys.

My Yakima roof rack bars have locks which secure them to the vehicle. I take a ~~10 foot vinyl covered cable with loops at each end and attach it to a rack bar by passing one loop through the other loop and around the bar. Now take the free end and pass it around canoe seats, thwarts and lock the cable to itself using the loop at the free end.

I do similar to Will, but I use 2- 2' lengths of aircraft cable and wrap them around the yoke and factory racks on either size, each with their own large, easily noticeable padlocks that I leave hanging down in plain sight as a deterrent. My thinking is that if it's obviously locked down they'll go looking for an easier mark.

I travel with two bikes and a tandem kevlar canoe and I do similar to what WillDerness does
You can get vinyl covered cable dog runs at Wally World. Just cut the snap clip off one end and you"ll Have a metal loop left there and a loop at the other end. I install the cable around the bars, the canoe seats, and through the bike frame and rear wheel and then lock the two loops together.
I don't stay in flea bag motels and I park in a well lit area
I keep two different lengths of the cables since sometimes I use two J cradles for ourkayaks and our various other toys

I have read of the tip over alarms being used, set on top of a seat.

I use a heavy vinyl coated steel cable lock, probably around 6 ft long that has a keyed lock. It wraps over a thwart and yoke and under the roof racks. I feel like a jerk with it on in a restaurant parking lot, as though I'm dissing the locals, but opportunistic thieves can come from anywhere.

Like most respondents I lock the canoe(s) to the rack crossbars with a cable. If, as usual, we have two or more canoes I lock them not only to the rack but to each other, sometimes with a second lock & cable. Belt & suspenders; if a thief cut the lock around the roof rack bars they might find two canoes locked together unwieldy obvious (and noisy) to make off with, or simply get off the racks.

“I don't know the type of establishment you will be staying at but if you talked with the staff at the more reputable ones they may, after a certain hour, let you park close to the main entrance under the lights as long as you're not blocking the place for emergency vehicles”

I do not care for motels, even decent ones, but sometimes it is the best solution for the night, and I request a room “Down and out, up front”. That is motel speak for a 1st floor walk out room, up near the motel office and lights. With the truck parked five feet from the bedroom window I sleep better; parked in the dim back lot near the dumpster, in a second floor room distant from the truck, not so much. Not just for the canoes but also for the thousands of dollars worth of more easily stealable paddling and camping gear.

I have never had an issue using that technique in a motel room stay. I did stay in a hotel on a non-paddling trip and parked the truck in the hotel garage. When I went into the garage to leave the next morning I saw the truck in the garage and thought “McCrea, you dumb arse, you never shut the driver’s door all the way”. And then, truly a dumb arse, thought “And you parked on a pile of broken glass”

Cleaned out, even took my speakers and dirty laundry. No more hotel parking garages for me. Well, once. The missus planned a weekend getaway, with a hotel stay. The parking garage, the only option, was not tall enough for our van with canoes on the racks. The hotel staff allowed us to store them overnight in an unused conference room.

Nothing at all. We just got back from a 5000 mile trip with boats on the truck. We were gone for five weeks. We were not in canoe country per se, if we were I would worry more about theft. There is a bigger market for fencing them there. On an interstate motel. not so much. Over the years we have literally put hundreds of thousands of miles with boats on the vehicle.

The biggest problem we have is finding parking with boats on the truck.. Garages almost universally are a no no. We were in St Johns Newfoundland with boats on the truck and finding a street space was a challenge.. St Johns is vertical parking for the most part...garages. St Johns is itself mostly vertical.

I drove a $7,000 carbon fiber 23' canoe from NY to the Yukon and back on top of my Forester, and the brand new canoe did not even belong to me. Nine days out, six back, staying in good hotels each night across Canada. I always parked in good light and where I could, I had a room with a window where I could clearly see my vehicle parked very nearby. The canoe was cable locked to the roof rails, not simply to the crossbars. There were 4 sets of straps holding the canoe down which would slow anyone down, even if they were cut. Bags of gear securely tied in and stored under the canoe were not in danger either, rather they would make a confused fuss for any one messing with them. During 6 previous such Yukon trips when I flew instead of driving, friends of mine made similar canoe carry driving trips without ever having any problems enroute.

Great advice you all. Thank you. My is more worried about it then I was. I'm glad she likes my Woody....

We have been looking at hotels and the area they are in. I'm not oblivious as to the things that can happen.

I was going to take the Subaroo but it maybe in the shop. If it is it'll be truck and trailer. Definitely no parking garages. If it was just me, I would be at a camp ground, but wife wants to hit antique stores on way down, and she is uncertain about the camp grounds around that part of the area with the swamps. To much uncertainty for her, so we'll stay at hotels.

Great advice you all. Thanks again
Roy

Roybrew said:

How do you keep your canoe safe when traveling? We are thinking about staying at a hotel for a couple of nights in Columbia SC instead of camping. I'd rather camp, but wife is not up for that on this trip. What are some things that I can do to keep my canoe safe when sleeping at night? I like the thought of bringing it into the hotel room, but this may not be possible.
Roy

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Columbia is a wonderful city, pity you can't spend a few days there (we used to live nearby in Aiken). Locks and cables always add some security, but the thieves up here in NY are relentless, horror stories abound. Over the last few years when traveling with boats, I have begun using bed-and-breakfasts, which unlike motels are usually out of the way, safer, and on occasion can provide a storage facility like a garage or barn. Most have been most accommodating.

I use a long vinyl coated steel cable and bicycle U-lock. Loop the cable around the truck’s receiver and bumper and through the end loop, up the T-bar rack, around the carry handle and a thwart, then lock the end loop to the cable (capturing the thwart and handle) and to the top of the T-bar to keep the U-lock from flopping around. Unfortunately all one needs is a 3/8” combination wrench or crescent wrench and a Phillips head screwdriver to take the boat. Nothing much I can do about that. I suppose I could change the hardware out to something odd, or fill the screw heads with solder. Spose I could silver solder the nuts on too?

We were looking at a motel, thinking that we could just bring it in the room with us. I brought my solo canoe to a class presentation when I was taking some college courses. Carried it right down the hallway and into class. I got an A.

I've been known to bring the boat into the room with me. It was a challenge one time when I had to get it into the hotel's elevator as well. We got it into the elevator without too many problems but making the corner from the hallway into the room as a "NO GO!" I brought it back down to the hotel lobby and convinced the fine folks at the front desk to let me store it in their lobby coat room. In the end, I think they got a laugh out of the whole thing but that was fine by me.

That's all for now. Take care and until next time...be well.

snapper

PS - On another note, my usual "GO TO" is a long, plastic wrapped cable with a good lock around the thwarts with the bars being locked in place as well.

I've never given a thought to having a boat stolen at a Motel (and almost every trip involves at least one night in one).

Where I do have some concerns is on the night I return home and leave my truck, boat and gear in my driveway. I'm in what is considered to be a pretty quiet and safe neighbourhood but I've had some odd things lifted like a 20kg box of kitty litter. Somebody walked off with a 32' foot extension ladder a few years ago that was left out in the driveway.

Canoes are usually taken for a joyride so unless you are near water you are pretty safe.

Ground floor walkout. Peace of mind and a good night's sleep without having to keep one ear open.
Otherwise, cable locks through the rack, thwarts, seats, etc. parked in the light out front. I've also been offered the pool room after close.

A thief will get what they want if they really want it, but here are some locking cam straps that could help in conjunction with some of the ideas mentioned above. Not cheap, but neither is a canoe.


Thule, Yakima and Sea2Summit also make some of these.

I purchased a simple anti theft alarm, and a 12 foot cable, before we left. I snaked the cable thru the seats and thwart and the padlocked in 2 places. Anyone trying to steal it would have to work at it and make a lot of noise. Since my bed cover lock was messed up, I mounted the alarm underneath and inside of it. If the trailer was bumped, or the bed cover nudged, the alarm would go off. Wouldn't keep anyone from stealing things, but it was better then nothing.
Our hotel room was on the 5th floor and I parked where I could see it from the room. There was one person that looked very suspicious checking it out. I wouldn't have given it much thought, but when he was bent down between a car and my canoe looking around and the behind my trailer looking underneath, I got a little concerned. My was going off banging on the window. I clicked the vehicle remote, and saw the lights blink, and he left. If it was my strip canoe he was checking out like that, my wife would've been down the fire escape stairs in a flash and ready for combat
Roy

I use Master Python Locks. They're available in several lengths and thicknesses. They cinch down snuggly having the added benefit of being a back-up to whatever type of strap or rope you use. I normally wrap two of them around the boat at the same spots as the straps are placed.

As mentioned nothing will stop everybody but they are quite easy to use.

https://www.masterlock.com/products/product/8413DPF