Stolen Boat.
 

One of my HS classmates had his boat and trailer stolen from Silver Sands Sunday evening. As my classmate says, highly unlikely that they will be boating here on the lake with it....but you never know...

Here is a link and following is a picture of the stolen boat notice:

http://www.boatman.com/images/heselton_stolen.pdf

again
 

This happed last year or a couple of years ago at another boat facility up here. In that one, they actually stole the company truck that the boat was hooked up too. I beleive they found it in Mass. Do they know when the boat was taken? You think with so many places that have outdoor cameras now that someone would have something on tape.

Per the notice...
 

It says it was stolen on May 4th.

How can something that big be stolen and not be seen going down the road??? :confused: Highway cameras on 93 would easily pick this up, not too mention the looks it would get by many people simply going down the road...

Unbelievable!!

My question is how could it be stolen from the marina? Aren't the boats behind locked gates when the marina is closed? And don't they have any video surveillance?

That boat and trailer would back into a Semi Tractor Trailer very nicely.

So someone backs a tractor trailer up into a marina, sets up massive ramps and then loads a 29' fountain in it and no one sees anything??....:confused:

I agree. They probably went down 93 or Rt. 11, 16 to 95. There are cameras at all toll booths. I would think that the technology would allow someone to enter the boat trailer plate number into the toll booth database, which would then show when they went through, and also the plate of the truck towing it. If you blew through the toll and cheated the state out of their $0.75, believe me, they would find you in no time flat!

I posted this in another thread last year...Fountains are targets
 

A few years back someone had their Bravo XR outdrives and props stolen from in front of Silver Springs Marina while on display for sale. They were stolen off a Fountain 35' Lightning, same model as ours. Seems these boats were being targeted because of the drives. The marina called to let us know our boat should be watched as we also had the same equipment. Before I was here full time we would park the boat at the house a few days before we launched it. Midweek our neighbor heard and saw some activity near the trailered boat and chased off the suspicious party. Turns out they were only a couple minutes from having the outdrives removed. We were very lucky. Boat thieves know these outdrives are big money and I'm sure they are constantly casing the area for easy targets.

All typical Mercruiser outdrives are only a couple of minutes from removal, as delivered from the factory. They are shockingly easy to remove. One only needs to cut one small rubber hose, remove 7 nuts and slide out one shaft. All 7 nuts are very accessible, all the same size, not very tight, and are rarely corroded. The only tools needed a speed wrench, one socket, one wrench and a knife. If you have any fear, install a drive lock.

No fear now because we leave all the boats in our storage back home until launch day! Wave runners go in this weekend!:D
They had the nuts loosened and were minutes away from success. They certainly followed us home and cased the area before attempting the caper. We are on a dead end so I would think it's not the most desirable place to mess with a boat, but thieves are brazen.

I wouldn't be surprised if that stolen Fountain was within 3 miles of the marina, for now.

It's really not that difficult to avoid the tool boths on 95 & 93. Get off at exit 12s in Concord and pick up 93 again at exit 10 in Hooksett. And I'm sure this was done during the very early morning, i.e. 1-3am. Not many people up and about during those hours.

You can be in Montreal in 3 hrs. You could be out of the country before it is reported stolen. Find a way to put it in the St Lawerence. I suspect that once it is in the water once it might be pretty easy to move it.

hit Portsmouth and go down or up the coast

Go down Rte 11 from Gilford to the coast... no cameras, no tolls.

Of course there are many ways around the tolls. But, I'd bet that these clowns drove right down the highway. Seems less conspicuous to me. But maybe I'm wrong.

cameras
 

There are cameras everywhere. Businesses, gas stations. I bet if the cops really wanted to investigate, they would check all the businesses around there, around all the intersections on the roads that lead away from there. Maybe the boat owner should do that, drive around and ask any of those places if their cameras are aimed at the street and then tell the cops. Look how quick they caught the maraton bombers using cameras amongst 1000's of people. A boat that size (and they know the date) should be easy to see on a video

I have heard unofficially that a truck was stolen as well, so it may not be a big help to catch it on camera other than to indicate a direction of travel.

Is there a Lo-Jac for boats? Heck, they have a "Find my Phone" app. I would think it would be easy enough to have some sort of transponder that could be boat mounted.

Three Days and Counting
 

Nothing reported yet on my boat and trailer despite really trying to get the word out there. I understand it is standard practice for the insurance investigative services to perform lots of due diligence before paying a claim and that can take up to 90 days. I understand the process, but was looking forward to having a nice boating season (our 22nd year on the lake!). I guess the silver liner is being "boatless" for the summer will give my family an appreciation of how lucky we are to be able to enjoy what Lake Winnipesaukee has to offer.

I'm not holding out much hope at this point. I understand these crooks act pretty quickly to strip out the engines, outdrives and electronics and then trash the hull......pretty tough to swallow as my family has enjoyed lots of great times on that boat.

I'll keep you all posted if I get any information on this theft.

In many cases, the cops aren't going to be highly motivated to investigate something like this. The owner has insurance (or *should* have), they'll get reimbursed from the insurance agency, and unless it appears there is an epidemic theft ring operating in the area, the cops are going to be busy with higher priority tasks. That's just the reality these days.

Most businesses have really crappy video cameras, the odds of them capturing any details are minimal at best. Exporting video for evidence or further investigation is also a nightmare 99% of the time, which reduces the incentive to go around asking for security camera footage for a case like this. It's not a big enough deal to warrant the effort. You might be able to get some idea of the time of the incident and the tow vehicle used, and if you were really lucky the police would recognize it as being associated with other thefts.

On a side note, in several larger cities there are efforts under way to have businesses register their security camera views with local PD and provide a way for the PD to easily access the cameras remotely to make investigations easier. As you might imagine though, people are (rightly) hesitant to sometimes give police ungated access into their cameras.

Our boat isn't stored on a trailer, and it's not a very high-value or high-profile vessel anyway. If I had something like this boat I'd certainly make sure the trailer was locked and install a motion-activated tracking/alerting system. There are lots of them out there these days.

What is the boat and trailer worth roughly. Just curious.

I tried to post earlier from my phone but I messed up. Hezmans boat has been recovered in Mass and I have PM'd him with some details.

BT

EXCELLENT! I hope it gets returned as a whole and unharmed.
I hope the thief or thieves are heavily prosecuted too.

There is Higher Priority in Gilford ?????

well
 

Any info. Where was it found? still in tact? Anyone caught?

Damage
 

I heard that the stern drive was missing

This is a theft ring! Last year a few boats were swiped from Silver Sands area. One of the stolen boats (recovered) was sitting on my trailer. Luckily the boat & trailer were recovered, and after a lengthy stay at the Gilford PD they were released.


I hope they catch these dirtbags.....


Woodsy

Think about how easy it must be to steal a boat that is stored in a storage area or a marina. Once stored, they can be there for a long period of time. The owner of the boat might not be even looking for it for several days/weeks/months until he wants to use it. Sure, many people could see the theft in progress, but how are they to know the boat doesn’t belong to the thief. If I saw a truck hooking up to a boat trailer in a storage yard, I would think it was just the owner retrieving his boat.

The boat owner could ask the police to look at toll booth cameras, or other security cameras. But with no idea what direction the vehicle was headed in, and what exact time to look at, this could be a massive undertaking for the police.

Glad to hear the boat was recovered, and I hope hezman gets it back and is able to enjoy some quality time on the water.

After thinking about it a bit, I have chosen not to give all of the details that I know as this is an active investigation by Gilford PD. The circumstances of the theft and the condition of the boat upon discovery here in Mass are very suspicious to me. Hezman is reaching out to Gilford PD to gain more info. It's his boat and if he chooses to share the info, that's fine. Sorry....

BT

Boat Recovered
 

I just wanted to advise that my boat and trailer have been found and recovered. An active investigation is underway by the Gilford PD, so unfortunately I cannot provide any details. I appreciate your thoughts and well wishes and will update you as soon as I can.

Indeed this is theft ring.. The problem is they don't seem to stay in one area very long. They grab a boat or two a year from this area and then seem to move on.

These are professionals folks.... It will continue until they are caught...

Stolen Truck
 

The boat has been recovered but there has been no sign of the missing pickup truck ! It is a 1995 black F250 in mint condition. We think it is in the Methuen Ma. Area. There is a reward for it.

My pontoon was stolen in may of 13 from a marina on winnipesauke. Boat was left floating near the ramp in saugus mass. Trailer never recovered. BoatUS finally pd the claim around november.

Stolen Fountain - Update
 

The insurance company is declaring my boat a total loss. The boat was stolen on Sunday, May 4 at 8:15PM from Silver Sands Marina in Gilford. The boat and trailer were found at the end of a remote road in Georgetown, MA the following Thursday. When I last checked, the stolen tow vehicle was still missing. Pretty much, everything of value was stripped out of and off the boat (electronics, engine, outdrive, trim tabs, bimini top, dash and gauges etc.) The process has been arduous waiting for the various law enforcement agencies to complete their work. Although no arrests have been made, Kudos to the Gilford PD for providing me updates along the way. I am told that the boat will be auctioned off to a marine salvage company and apparently there is a market for these hulls. Although we will be reimbursed by the insurance company, my family will miss this boat. Fortunately, we have lots of photos and videos of fun times and we will move on from here!

wow
 

Looks like they knew what they were doing. Hope one of these days they will make a mistake and get caught

Wow, I thought they only did this to cars (Stripped them and left them by the side of a road).

I hope the insurance paid you and you can get back into boating.

OMG those people SUCK!!!!(to be polite!)
It amazes me how much work and effort some will apply to do things illegally. If idiots like them could put that much effort and planning into life they could be quite productive, maybe.

To the unfortunate owner, sorry about your boat. Now I'm wondering why your insurance gets the claim and not the carless marina's? After all you hired them to take care of your property. By the reaction of some as 'again!' has me thinking there may be insider 'help' to the crimes. Even if it's passing along an inventory list, to conveniently leaving access to a targeted boat. This isn't the first time I have heard of such crimes happening.

the insurance company of the boat owner will pay the insured, then they will consider subrogating against the marina's insurance policy if they see a reason

Car stolen
 

My brother had a car stolen back in the 90's from Gilford. It was found in a parking lot in N. Conway Outlets. Apparently the car was involved in a felony that the police cannot give me specifics as it the investigation was on going. The car was held in an impound lot by the state police. I finally receive the car about a year later and considerable weather damage due to leaving the convertible top down and was stored outdoors. All I got was a 'Sorry for the situation but we did not have the key to raise the top'. All they had to do was call me!

Fortunately, my insurance provide coverage. The thing of this is that I was without transportation for a year!

Yes I agree. I hope this doesn't become a mark on the insured's history raising his rates. That would be throwing salt into the wound, imo.

On a positive note.....I was surfing around on Winni.com here and noticed the amount of views to this thread is huge (5195views) compared to some others in this section. At this point in time this thread isn't 'very' old. That's great that so many check in and take notice, and hopefully pass the word along.

it would not be a direct mark, but without knowing the complete situation, insured's past and claims history, there is no way to predict the results

Wow, what a shame! I feel so sorry for you! I bet it was a beautiful boats before some low lives did that!

I hope somehow, someway those scumbags get caught.