MySwag.org The Off-road Camper Trailer Forum
General => General Discussion => Topic started by: Bluetongue on October 14, 2011, 09:15:43 AM
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Hi all,
I've just had my Blue Tongue camper trailer stolen Sunday 18th Sept, 2011 at about 4:15am from out front of my house between Avalon/Palm Beach, NSW. It had a large padlock and chain on the kerb side and the thief didn't realise until he drove off! Sounds of tire screeching and gravel as the wheel locked. My wife and I got out of bed to look out the window thinking we would be seeing some drunk doing a wheelie! We both did not notice that the trailer had gone! He dragged it about 100 meters around the next bend and then jimmied the padlock and broke it. If I'd twigged I would have caught him around the bend! I followed the drag mark and found the padlock, chain and a large block of painted timber with carpenters writing on it, all to be fingerprinted, talked to neighbours a few hours later when we realised. It was reported to Police.
CCTV at Avalon Beach at 4:20am shows a black 4WD towing it through an intersection and then also at Newport Beach at 4:31am heading south. He could be local northern beaches but also the police are checking CCTV to the west of the northern beaches and then to the north as it may be someone that was working in the area and decided to come back in the early hours and steal it. CCTV as far as Collaroy does not show it passing that morning.
I've since set up a Twitter and Facebook page for anyone that has a trailer, car, boat etc stolen by criminal idiots. Send me your info, pix etc and I will post it online. It can be found at facebook.com/CrimStopper or twitter.com/CrimStopper
Also the pictures are at http://www.flickr.com/photos/crimstopper/
I've also been told a couple of days ago that someone else down my road had there Camper trailer packed and hooked up ready to go for school hols on Saturday 2nd Oct, 2011 and Sunday morning they got up to find the drivers window smashed and the Camper trailer with all of their gear stolen!
I can now say that if you have a trailer anywhere it needs a "Keep It, Klamp It", a huge padlock and chain, the wheel removed and also the tow ball connection dismantled or plugged! Chain it to a tree or drain, park a car in front of it at night or any other method because once it is gone it is only a matter of swapping plates and VIN to rebirth a trailer!
I would ask that if any of the people in the forum are in camp sites/parks on the east coast could they pass this on in the hope that perhaps someone may see my Camper Trailer which was uninsured ($4100) plus all of our camping gear ($800?) stolen one week before school holidays!
Also I've been told by a Police Inspector that the culprits may also be renting it out to gain income from it so if anyone is looking to rent a Camper Trailer please view or print out my pictures so that you don't make the mistake of taking a stolen CT on holidays!
There is a reward for any information that leads to the recovery and hopefully a conviction with regard to my stolen Camper Trailer.
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Sorry to hear about your camper being stolen, seems this is happening all too often.
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Not a good thing to happen to anyone.
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I was gobsmacked to see the Stolen Camper trailers section in campertrailers.org! It appears that too consistently they are stolen and where they get to is the mystery. It appears that someone is buying them? Perhaps there should be a register of buying and selling trailers with a picture!
I can only hope that someone sees my pictures and notices it in their street, in a neighbours backyard or in a camp area?
A black 4WD towing a CT early hours of the morning... the police will be apparently checking credentials of anyone in our area in the early hours in the future.
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never good to have anything stolen
mine has a padlock through the locking pin on the tregg and i've dynabolted a plate to the garage floor which i padlock the saftey chains too
the wheel clamp i had before the trailer wont fit the larger wheels so i'll come up with something for that.
hope your trailer surfaces soon
but with it so easy to re-birth a trailer you can only assume someone is going to buy themselves a bargain
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Mine was on the main road in front of my house and if I'd twigged at 4am that it had just been dragged away I would have caught the guy around the next bend! It had a large padlock (but not the strongest obviously) and a thick chain.
I can only suggest that at all times everyone should have a KeepIt KlampIt or similar and perhaps take a wheel off! Dismantle the towball connector whatever.
Also it may be an idea to get a GPS locator or LoJack system. Some of the CT's around are well worth it and besides the insurance situation I'm sure everyone has a load of items that are a bugger to replace!
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Also it may be an idea to get a GPS locator or LoJack system. Some of the CT's around are well worth it and besides the insurance situation I'm sure everyone has a load of items that are a bugger to replace!
I'm waiting for my GPS locator to arrive. Should be an interesting project.
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Mine was on the main road in front of my house
On a drive from Micks place to drop daughter off at ballet the other week, I was shocked to see how many camper/bike trailers/ caravans are just chained to a pole with the safety chains.
Gee, you'd be brave to hire out stolen trailers to people wouldnt ya?
Theres been plenty of threads on stolen trailers recently just on this board, several threads on security items too.
Maybe when you get home from camping, swap rims over... Maybe theres a way you can get a spare pair of rims, and weld some brackets to it to lock the rim/wheel onto the Axle from the back of the rim/under the trailer to stop it turning at all, chains and locks can be cut... there has to be a better option.
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there has to be a better option.
Yep, stay out camping..... (We all wish)
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I watched this on the New Inventors a couple of years ago (2008):
http://www.abc.net.au/tv/newinventors/txt/s2390299.htm (http://www.abc.net.au/tv/newinventors/txt/s2390299.htm)
Not sure is the GPS version mentioned has been developed.
No association - never seen one, used one or know of anyone with one.
Cheers,
John
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I see so many unsuspecting/trusting people advertising their camper trailers for sale on Gumtree and other websites, and they list their full street address in the advert...
I wish they wouldnt do that as it is just fueling the fire for camper trailer theft...
Ours is stored where it is not visible from the street, and is behind solid locked gates and a very big grumpy blue heeler >:D
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Hmmm,
Seem to be hearing of this way too aften lately.
Perhaps we need the mods to set up a thread or register of stolen campers
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I watched this on the New Inventors a couple of years ago (2008):
http://www.abc.net.au/tv/newinventors/txt/s2390299.htm (http://www.abc.net.au/tv/newinventors/txt/s2390299.htm)
Not sure is the GPS version mentioned has been developed.
No association - never seen one, used one or know of anyone with one.
Thats a top idea... until ya mates discover ya got one ;)
But yes, that is the best option yet if you cant park it out the back.
Hmmm,
Seem to be hearing of this way too aften lately.
Perhaps we need the mods to set up a thread or register of stolen campers
http://www.campertrailers.org/stolen.htm
I note that a lot of them are 2009 -2010 models... Hmmmmmm some inside info from somewhere?
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Hey Bluetongue,
I am sorry to hear about your trailer.
I am also from the Pittwater area and I will keep an eye out for you.
Do you know what model 4WD was used?
Cheers
Parry
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I get extremely angry when I hear about some hard working honest person who gets a camper trailer, only to have some lazy low life mongrel steal it.
You often think if you catch one of these low life's would you be tempted not to call the police and deal with the situation " in house" in such a way that it would give you " customer satisfaction" .
Cheers
Campfire
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I get extremely angry when I hear about some hard working honest person who gets a camper trailer, only to have some lazy low life mongrel steal it.
You often think if you catch one of these low life's would you be tempted not to call the police and deal with the situation " in house" in such a way that it would give you " customer satisfaction" .
Cheers
Campfire
I would be tempted aswell, But the problem is if you do that you become the criminal and the person breaking the law in the first place would become the victim. Unfortunately I know plenty of people like that.
Edit: Sorry to hear about your camper. Any theft makes you feel violated.
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Dead man tell no tales...
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True but then you've got to dispose of the body, And any mess left in your car.
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Just call The Wolf.
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Bluetongue - sorry to hear mate...
Can I suggest you also keep a close eye out on the usual trading sites eg gumnut, ebay, trading post etc.
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Mate i am VERY sorry to here that ,having had ours stolen a few months back i know how u feel and it aint good.
i WILL keep an eye out for it in our travels . Are there any distinguishing features that make it individual.
it looks like a huge tent ,is it 18ft ,the canvas looks blue[is that correct].looks like an on road .maybe post a really detailed description and any unusual features [ marks ... stains ... broken zippers ] event number , cause u never know ur luck in a big city .
i for one WILL keep a look out for a large , blue , blue tongue camper trailer .
craig
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Just call The Wolf.
Better still when you catch the culprits.........
Unleash " the Gimp"
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G'day bluetongue sorry to hear about your bad luck.
I almost lost mine on the friday of the long weekend,i woke at about 4.30am and couldn't get back to sleep so i got up turned a light on in the kitchen and then heard a car start up and drive off a short distance so i looked out the loungeroom window to see my camper spun around and dragged down to the kerb ready to be hooked up and towed away.
They managed to get passed the pin and lock that i had through the polly block,put legs up and move it all very quietly.
I'm pretty sure they have done this before.
Hard to pin down exact make of 4wd but it was definately dark in colour.
I live out west in kings langley (seven hills,blacktown area)but i'm sure these grubs would travel.
I've heard of a few that have gone missing within 10 to 15minutes of my place.
Fortunately i saved mine as it was packed ready to go away on saturday,it doesn't usually stay at my place i only bring it over when getting ready to go away.
It now gets locked up with a wheel clamp as well which i went out and bought on the friday,another couple of hundred i didn't need to have to spend right now.
Best of luck with finding yours.
STEVE
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All camper trailer owners need to get a bit more creative in the proactive area of making your camper harder to be shifted quietly, by low life scum. i know there are electronic movement allarms, that you could probably find mentioned on here, via search,, but nearly everyone has forgotton the old mechanical version of these devises is within your hands.
Hang cow bells under your trailer,, make long strings of old enamel plates, old cooking pots, billy cans, like you would see on the back of a car tarted up for the bride and groom to leave in after the reception,,lol,, attach them to the underside/rear/back end of your trailer, just after it gets dark. If your camper is close to, but not behind a/your front fence,,run lengths of fishing line towards your house, with said noisy implements attached to them. :angel: Don,t forget to remove them when you are leaving.
Anything to make a lot of noise so a mongrol grub can,t be quiet as he goes about his neferous activities. Its a first defence and a harmless booby trap,, for the criminal boobs. >:D
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Fit one of these, as soon as they try and move your camper the alarm sounds and either scares them off or wakes you up.
http://www.cuda-alarms.com.au/
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That looks like a worth while investment. :cup:
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Cheaper at BCF http://www.bcf.com.au/online-store/products/Cuda-Portable-Trailer-Alarm.aspx?pid=223425#Description
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Hi,
I think any sort of single alarm that is visible is a weakness, especially if it can be coated with gap filling foam or similar to muffle it without setting the motion detector off.
House alarms can be silenced like this if they can be seen.
I don't know the answer to the problem of theft apart from deterrents, barriers and locks, and must admit that security by obscurity is probably not going to be my option for much longer.
cheers
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That was my solution
(http://i220.photobucket.com/albums/dd234/cremo1/shed/shed.jpg)
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Really sucks to hear another trailer stolen! I've thought of a really cheap way to put a location device on one:
Another option is to:
1. buy one of those cheap Telstra 3G Android phones
2. put a 12v point with a 12v to USB converter somewhere on the trailer
3. hide mobile phone and connect it to trailer 12v
4. sign mobile up to google latitude and share it's location with another gmail account
5. top up pre-paid data plan as necessary
6. small solar panel on trailer to continually charge battery
Google latitude gives you a really good idea where the phone is - thus the trailer.
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Sad to hear of the theft.
Even sadder to read about trailers being stolen from driveways with people packed and ready to go on holidays!!!
Mine is locked away in a garage so is secure, but I hadn't even contemplated someone flogging it during the night before we go away - we often have it hooked up ready to go, or at least out in the carport beside the Pajero ready for a morning hookup, and similarly leave it out if we get home late. Time to think about a way to secure it while its outside for the night by the looks of it (though I have a 6ft high gate across the front of my place).
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Wow some good ideas there. Not sure about Gimp though! The mobile phone/google map method is a techies delight but some of the camper community may not be up to speed so the loud noise department is good!
What happened with my trailer was that I had the padlock and chain on the kerbside! The crim thought it was a complete freebie! My mistake was I should have put the chain on the roadside wheel. A bit more visible. So he drove off and we heard it and it sounded like a drunk skidding away after doing a u turn? but when we got up and looked out we did not notice the trailer was gone.
Even better there was a drain right there. Imagine the racket if he drove off and the wheel dragged the grate out and the wheel seized too! Bang crash screech.
I wouldn't mind the CT damage if it allowed me to catch a thief in action. They might even have to run from an armed trailer owner. That would abandon, possibly, their personal vehicle, or is it stolen?
gqcamper/Steve that is very interesting about your location and the circumstances, dark 4WD and 4:00am seems to be the same Modus Operandi. Did you see the make/model? the police have told me a make/model from CCTV.
Also a CT was stolen from Winston Hills in August from outside a home on one of the main roads. It's listed on http://campertrailers.org/stolen.htm along with another recent stolen CT at Blacktown.
It's getting ridiculous!
I'm thinking besides all of our personal methods of securing the trailers perhaps all of the members should be emailed by all Camping/Caravan community websites and warned to be in a state of heightened vigilance with the location and methods of securing your Camper Trailers. (silly isn't it I don't have one anymore and can't afford to get another one for a long time.)
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There is also a product you can buy called "data dot dna" this stuff can applied all over your camper and works like an invisible ID finger print which can be instantly matched to police records with stolen property. It invisible and can only be seen with a special light.
Website is : www.datadotdna.com.au or simple google " datadotdna"
Cost is $199 and you can order online
Cheers
Campfire
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DataDot DNA Caravan and Camper Trailer Protection Pack Special $168.00
http://www.quicksales.com.au/vshops/item-themed.aspx?itemid=12078039&shopid=10165
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DataDot DNA Caravan and Camper Trailer Protection Pack Special $168.00
http://www.quicksales.com.au/vshops/item-themed.aspx?itemid=12078039&shopid=10165
Contact them, see if you can get a deal on 50 of them.
Im sure theres 50 forum members that would be interested. I did the last bulk buy
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I know a bloke who put signs on his bus saying he was the local snake catcher and there were live venomous snakes inside. Funny his bus was never touched.
Sorry to hear there are some lowlifes out there.