Security/safety measures

I'm about to purchase a Dart 15 catamaran and hope to keep it at a nearby sailing club.  I've got a couple of concerns though.  The boat has a launching trolley plus trailer and ideally I'd store the road trailer at home and just keep the trolley at the club site, but I can't as I've nowhere to put it.  So, I've got to leave the trailer/trolley/boat all together at the club, and this is what worries me; firstly I can't help thinking that it'll make a convenient little easy-to-nick package should theives target the club (i think it has a locked gate but I'd rather not rely on that alone) and secondly I can't help worrying that if we had any serious wind there might be a risk of the whole lot blowing over or into someone elses boat. 

So, does anyone have any  suggestions on how to make things secure and safe?  I was wondering about getting some heavy duty stakes to tie things down to and maybe a wheel-clamp.  Alternatively, someone suggested I remove the road wheels/electrics from the trailer and keep them in the boot of the car or my back yard. 

Any advice gratefully received. 

Cheers.

surely there's no electrics permanent on the trailer? Try and see if you can convert the tow hitch to be removable, or fit a lock to that. Many clubs insist on this if you're keeping the road trailer in the dinghy park- after all, your boat may well not be the most valuable!

If the club allows it, and the ground is suitable, I'd advise creating secure tie down points either side of your boat. Especially with a cat- you need to tie that thing down. It's less to protect your own boat- more to protect the ones next to you, as you say. Try getting a length of heavy chain, and bury most of it as deep as you can, it's what we use. If you can't dig, I'd go with breeze blocks rather than stakes. Make sure you get old style ones rather than the fancy new enviromentally friendly ones which are a third of the density...

Dog tethers make good tie down points if your boat is parked on earth/grass.

They are a steel corkscrew about 18" long with an eye at the top. Designed to be screwed into the ground to tie the mutts lead to when camping/picnicking etc. One either side of the boat with a rope over the top of the boat is really very secure.

You can get them for a few pounds in most high st pet shops.

 

Edited by iwsmithuk

Make sure you can tie it down, If the club doesn't have a wire and you can't use dog tethers then a piece of pipe, bit of old shroud, brick and concrete in a bucket works well, you need 3 one for the bow and one on each side.  You can then tie the boat to the weights you've made.

Remove the trailer wheels - this stops them perishing because of UV & static weight, and also harder to steal.

Finally padlock the lot to something solid  with a decent bike chain to make it difficult to move.

Araldite all shackles that are removed infrequently to stop them being borrowed without pliers and hide the others either under the cover or for halyards hoist to the top of the mast (tie the end of the halyard to them so you can get them down again). 

I've just seen those dog-tether things on the 'net - are they really strong enough?  They look a liitle flimsy in the photos.  Has anyone apart from IWSmithUK used them?