St Lucia murder

[s/v Jedi]

If you're looking for something legal to spray onto your attacker, how about a nice big gulp of gasoline from one of those super-jet water toy guns? Show your Zippo lighter in case the scumbag is too drugged to understand what is about to happen to him.

Just have a good sized fire extinguiser at hand in case he starts a fire aboard by accident!

[boatman61]

Originally Posted by s/v Jedi

If you're looking for something legal to spray onto your attacker, how about a nice big gulp of gasoline from one of those super-jet water toy guns? Show your Zippo lighter in case the scumbag is too drugged to understand what is about to happen to him.

Just have a good sized fire extinguiser at hand in case he starts a fire aboard by accident!

Buga that.. Be a cheapo.. Be a Fire Eater..

[pablothesailor]

Originally Posted by boatman61

No need to get personal... unless you've done 20 minutes with me..

Ha,ha...Brilliant Boatman, you are a one off!

[Travis McGee]

Originally Posted by pablothesailor

There is a lot of really useful info on this thread & im sure its given many food for thought! The ¨thread drift¨ has been caused by someone (probably a single old guy) who feels unloved by the world, probably sails alone as no one could put up with him more than 20mins, and If you told him a board was black he would argue it was a ¨White board painted black¨ , special thanks to Mark for the photo of his simple security grid, I showed it to my local welder who says its easy to make something to fit & be mighty strong, a photo of it locked fom the inside would be useful Mark if possible?! As a relative newbie would it be a big safety risk to have 2 bars across certain Hatches to stop entry through an open one? I am close to a boat purchase & would like to get all these type of jobs done before we set off! Im now at a stage where ive gone past the argument of ¨to lock or not to lock in¨, i respect the right to an opinion & if people want to go everywhere with the boat wide open then thats thier choice, I wish to have that bit of extra security available to me & others on board if I feel w need it in certain areas!

I think the metal security grid drop board is a great idea to have on board as an option. At anchor or in port I don't usually like having my offshore drop boards in their slots, since I am often going from my bunk to on deck a few times a night. Getting them in and out can be awkward and clumsy, especially since I have a hard dodger over the companionway. Normally when I'm aboard at anchor or at a dock I use a single sheet of 1/4 plexi that I drop onto the cockpit benches like a draw bridge.

In hot weather with bugs, the bug screen is usually in the drop board slot. The clear plexi is easily lifted by its string to the vertical like a draw bridge for sudden rain showers etc.

I suppose it makes sense to make a metal security grid drop board, and just glue bug screen material to it. The bug screen material would also help to camouflage the security grid from outside.

Here is my contribution to the thread, and what I will try next on my own boat. Since I am up several times a night, I want something that can be silently removed by a half groggy skipper in the dark, without awakening crew / guests. It doesn't have to be built like Fort Knox, it is just meant to provide an unanticipated obstacle to a boat invader.

Mainly, I don't want bad guys scrambling across my deck and down the open / unlocked companionway, while I'm awakening in my bunk 20' away around the corner and down the passage. I don't want to meet the boat invader in my saloon. I want to meet him, if it must happen, short of my interior.

This quiet, simple, easily removed barrier doesn't have to keep the bad guy out for long, just enough that he can't get down without using tools and taking time. This can be accomplished either with some Kevlar line. Flexible but hard to cut line could be looped in an hourglass or "X" with a cross between the two tops of the "X". The top of the "X" is at the top of the C-way. The bottom of the X a few inches up from the bottom.

To install it, I'll dig up a few stainless steel eye straps, the open kind with a curved hook to the side. I don't want to lace and unlace the line from actual eyes. Putting the "X" over the open straps and tightening it down at the bottom (sailors will figure out how) will only take a second or two. Ditto removing it. The small stainless or brass hardware should be installed just on the insides of the C-way, invisible from outside.

When facing an unexpected stout Kevlar etc line tightly gridded across the C-way, the invader will have to stop to consider how to defeat it. Cut it with a knife? Push it out? Climb over it? A clever kid might defeat it, given a few minutes time.

But I'll have already heard him crossing my decks, and I'll be ready for him, armed with this or that, but something that can hurt him or repel him from the cover of my saloon, inside and to the side.

Just another OPTION to consider, along with tactics, weapons, a solid metal grid drop board, etc.

[MarkJ]

Originally Posted by pablothesailor

a photo of it locked fom the inside would be useful Mark if possible?!

I cant get a good photo without a flash as its dark inside and sunny outside.
Its the normal padlock for the hard washboards and then another padlock looped through it and through the screen.

But as Travis McGee says in his post once you got the general idea the details work themselves out.

Love his idea with kevlar rope. Even Dynema is a bugger to cut. A little bell on it may make is difficult to do quietly.

Once the motivation is there then creativity and intelligence take over and supply a myriad of wonderful, inexpensive ideas.

As Travis says you are only trying to slow them down so you fight them on a ground of your choosing, when you have woken up and you have taken the initiative (surprise) from the boarder.

[goboatingnow]

Originally Posted by pablothesailor

Gordon, its a waste of time with this bloke, he is the sort of guy who would rubbish wearing a seat belt and tell you he has driven 50 years and never had a a problem......then bang, as you fly through his windscreen shake his head in disbelief and say, blimey, thats never happened before???

Blimey, Are you still going on about this , give it a rest, sail around the world a few times and then come back to us. If its good enough for boatie, it's good enough for me

[pablothesailor]

Originally Posted by goboatingnow

Blimey, Are you still going on about this , give it a rest, sail around the world a few times and then come back to us. If its good enough for boatie, it's good enough for me

Hey Boatie,looks like you have a new pal......Bromance is in the air ! when is the next trip together?

[Travis McGee]

Originally Posted by MarkJ

I cant get a good photo without a flash as its dark inside and sunny outside.
Its the normal padlock for the hard washboards and then another padlock looped through it and through the screen.

But as Travis McGee says in his post once you got the general idea the details work themselves out.

Love his idea with kevlar rope. Even Dynema is a bugger to cut. A little bell on it may make is difficult to do quietly.

Once the motivation is there then creativity and intelligence take over and supply a myriad of wonderful, inexpensive ideas.

As Travis says you are only trying to slow them down so you fight them on a ground of your choosing, when you have woken up and you have taken the initiative (surprise) from the boarder.

Yes, you get my point exactly.

And if a fiber line might be cut with a machete swipe, it would not be hard to upgrade the same basic concept with something like two lifeline segments (white vinyl to blend, or just s.s. wire) crossed in an X and hooked at the bottoms. Most times they can just hang vertically on each side, or be removed and stowed. Segments because the wire prefers not to make tight bends. Maybe three segments, an "X" and one across the top.

And as you suggested, bells and other tell-tales to make a racket if they are being fiddled with from outside.

[Lake-Effect]

great ideas, Travis

Originally Posted by Travis McGee

The bug screen material would also help to camouflage the security grid from outside.

Noooooo. You want others to SEE the grille. It screams "hassle! this guy's thought it out, this boat will be a PITA, I'm not even gonna board it".

[sailorboy1]

What are you guys that are spraying all the gas, pepper, bear, wasp sprays going to do afterwards?

On the gas, if you are below and spray it and the attackers are smokers .....................

[Kenomac]

My wife Rambo loves her new SOG Spirit knife. Forget the bug spray.

[pablothesailor]

Originally Posted by Lake-Effect

great ideas, Travis



Noooooo. You want others to SEE the grille. It screams "hassle! this guy's thought it out, this boat will be a PITA, I'm not even gonna board it".

Yup, I agree, no point hiding from the robber that you have a secure boat, let him SEE that you are not a soft target! The minute we put metal grids over our business property doors & windows we never got bothered again although others that did not have them did!

[Travis McGee]

Originally Posted by Lake-Effect

great ideas, Travis



Noooooo. You want others to SEE the grille. It screams "hassle! this guy's thought it out, this boat will be a PITA, I'm not even gonna board it".

That concept has great merit, and I would have both. But first, I can rig a line obstacle right now with stuff on board. And second, it's quiet and easy to remove for my 2-3 deck trips per night minimum. But for sure, have both, and use them as the local situation merits.

[Travis McGee]

Originally Posted by Kenomac

My wife Rambo loves her new SOG Spirit knife. Forget the bug spray.

Wife Rambo? Don't you mean Rambinita?

[vtsailguy]

Originally Posted by minaret

If you lock the door to your house at night and have a few motion lights and maybe an old shotgun in the back of the closet, have you "barricaded yourself in"? Everyone I know lives like this

We should meet, then you can say you know someone that doesn't.

In fact, I don't know anyone within 50 miles that does.....