Thievery At The Lake

[Billfo]

Sorry you had been ripped off. Hope you had insurance !

Ive looked at the lower unit locks before- maybe I will look at them again !

darn this type of stuff really pisses me off.

My son, his wife and 3 sons arrived at the lake last night for a hopefully fun weekend of fishing and boating, only to discover ( this morning ) that the lower unit had been removed from his 225 Merc Optimax. He has reported it to the Stone County Sheriff's office and to the Missouri Water Patrol. Does anyone have any other suggestions on who we might notify? Looks like the high water debris claimed somebody's lower unit and they decided to go "shopping"

Thanks in advance for any info....

"God bless the people of Joplin "

[Sam]

This doesn't help the situation, but I'm old enough to know that morality and behavior have REALLY gone downhill in this country in my lifetime. I hate that.

One of my first jobs back in the 1960's was at a big steel mill with over 7000 employees. It was a rough, dirty job - and there were a bunch of rough, tough guys working there, lots of them WWII and Korea veterans. A feller dropped a $5 bill on the floor of our locker room once while changing. That was over an hour's pay at the time. Some of the other workers saw him drop it, but the guy got out the door and left for home before they could catch him. They stuck the $5 bill on the front of his locker with a note - "Hey Joe, you dropped this on Friday." It was still there on Monday, though hundreds of workers had come and gone over the weekend and lots of them on night shifts had been alone in the locker room.

Of course in those days, if anyone had stolen from another employee he'd have been beat half to death and had to quit the job. No one would have had anything to do with him after that.

I'm not saying there weren't bad people back then, but things have changed a lot, and for the worse.

[dtrs5kprs]

This is one reason I stay where I do when at the lake, am able to back the rig right up against the cabin, preventing any access to the lower and the prop if I so desire. I also choose not to slip overnight, or for anything much more than sitting in the boat eating lunch or quickly running back up to the room to retrieve something. A few years ago they were cutting ropes and floating boats right out of the slips.

Sorry to hear about it happening.

[bobby b.]

We have had a bass boat stolen (but later found less its fishing gear) and two jet skis. a variety of fishing gear and lots of gas over the last few years. We have caught two young people having sex in one of the boats but let them go as the boy was on leave from Afghanistan. We have installed a locked gate with a barrier to make it tough to get around the gate. Being an engineer I designed and built an alarm system that would work in cold weather and that has helped the most.

[Bill Babler]

The boat tow away deal was a monster problem, both here and on Lake of the Ozarks. Some of my friends lost all their gear and baits. Some were not replaceable as they were custom made and painted. They have even set boats on fire after stealing all the gear inside. The untied towed boats were pertty much trashed. Most had locker bars and the crooks just pried the bars out with a crowbar breaking out the sides of the boats. Complete disaster. They just left the boats floating and then banging onto the rocky shorelines.

This is not a current problem or a conviction on our society today, this has been happening on our lakes for 50 plus years. Don't expect it to end in my lifetime.

Told the story many times of all my gear and electronics being stolen from the boat at Shell Knob, while I was eating friggin lunch. Including custom Coats with my name and guide service written on them.

Only thing we can do is be responsible for our stuff. As long as they keep having easy success they will keep on keepin on.

Please do not leave anything in your boats in slips on Table Rock Lake. Lower Units? Now that is a problem.

[techo]

Stealing lower units is ridiculous! You shouldn't have to take your motors and parts off at night. Baldknobbers?

[skeeter]

Cable lock your boat to the dock...Cabela's has a couple of different models that should work for you.

Propeller locks will slow down lower unit thieves and are about $50 at BassPro.

If your gas tank filler necks/caps are made by PERKO, that Company has locks available that fit down into the filler neck.

Then, there are lower unit anti-theft bolts I found from http://www.lowerunitlock.com/ and http://www.captmikesstopthief.com/.

Disgusting to have to do all this crap but if you got it, the scum want it.