wow somebody stole my bimini

[scottyt]

yep you read it right, i went to my boat about an hour ago to and i noticed my bimini is gone, and i mean the tubing the bases everything. it was unscrewed, there is no way it blew away, i had the cover on it folded and i have a split backstay that it captures. the bases that where screwed to the deck are gone too. lets see steps needed to remove it, undo cover, unzip the bimini from the frame, unzip the slots for the back stay. then take the tubing apart, because it surrounds the back stay, the unscrew the bases from the hull. i figure i could do it in 15 mins with hand tools.

for knowledge my boat is anchored between two marinas near the inner harbor in baltimore. so now i get to cruise thru the marinas looking for it, the question is what do i do when i find it. i know what it looks like do to wear on certain parts. i figure the worse thing i will do besides get it back when i find it, is to inform both marinas and several members i know in each that the boat owner is a thief. the real question is do i inform the police, one of my neighbors is a city cop and a friend. but the worse thing is letting the whole marina where the boat is that they have a thief for a neighbor. would not be surprised if one of them if the thief is in that one that they would throw them out.

first impression when i saw it missing was a small 1 inch hole at water line of what ever boat i find it on, but thats wrong, second was a large tear in a sail, but thats wrong too. the problem is with both the options is if i confront them they may retaliate and it still might not get me the bimini back, i think just demanding it back under threat of police, and ruining their rep in the marina should do

[Izzy1414]

Well, thanks alot, Scotty. I was sitting here having a pleasurable friday evening, sucking down a cold one and you go and ruin it. Thieves just flat piss me off. I have a hard time believing it was a boat owner though that actually stole it. It was more likely some meth head looking for drug money and he'll either pawn it or sell it to some unsuspecting boater. Probably a good reason not to sink the boat you find it on. At least not til you find out the details. Anyway, good luck finding it. I'm on the wrong coast or I would help form the posse.

Doug

[somers12]

Someone walked off with three bumpers from my boat last year. I wasn't too happy until I found them on a boat in the same marina. I identified them by the same attachment ropes and fittings I had made to fit my rails. I asked the fellow where he got them, and he told me, from some young guy out of the trunk of his car... for $50.00. That's twice what I paid, and the guy was older and so likeable, I just walked away without telling him about my loss. Anyway, my new bumpers are now very well marked, and I don't leave them hanging on the boat. You never know what you'll do.

Steve

[scottyt]

here is a pic of my boat, you can see its not a normal looking bimini, the tubing is longer for the front loop, i should be able to recognize it. no comments of the messy sail flaking, i did not have the cover on yet when the wife took the pic

[tdw]

Originally Posted by scottyt

here is a pic of my boat, you can see its not a normal looking bimini, the tubing is longer for the front loop, i should be able to recognize it. no comments of the messy sail flaking, i did not have the cover on yet when the wife took the pic

Scotty,
Maybe its not you but the local scumbags who are revolting.....

Sorry to hear about your bimini...BUT.....ref your other thread on moving the mainsheet fittings on your boom....having seen that pic....don't do it. If you need to reposition the mainsheet you will need to put a travellor in the cockpit somewhere and get you attachment points aft. For mine, the points are already to far forward, or at least a bit marginal.

At least that is my opinion, for what it is worth

[ardoin]

They may have taken it for scrap metal. That has been a hot item of late, but cooling down with the fall in prices. I have a site in Phoenix where every week someone come buy and pull about 1ft of copper wire out the light poles and cuts it off for scrap. I also lost a cat on my truck thanks to a portable sawsall and the price of platinum. Chances are they took it for the stainless tubing and will trash the canvas.

[patrickrea]

The best story of people stealing copper for scrap came from France a bunch of years ago. 2 theives were electrocuted trying to steal the the electrified catenary wires from part of the railroad system. The system runs at 24000 volts AC or 15000 volts DC.

[freddyray]

last year my brothers and I had our boats down at Ken Lake. Brother Ben had a long dock line tying his boat at the stern. All tied up nice with the extra coiled on the dock. In the morning he had a short dock line just barely able to reach the cleat.

[knothead]

Originally Posted by scottyt

yep you read it right, i went to my boat about an hour ago to and i noticed my bimini is gone, and i mean the tubing the bases everything. it was unscrewed, there is no way it blew away, i had the cover on it folded and i have a split backstay that it captures. the bases that where screwed to the deck are gone too. lets see steps needed to remove it, undo cover, unzip the bimini from the frame, unzip the slots for the back stay. then take the tubing apart, because it surrounds the back stay, the unscrew the bases from the hull. i figure i could do it in 15 mins with hand tools.

for knowledge my boat is anchored between two marinas near the inner harbor in baltimore. so now i get to cruise thru the marinas looking for it, the question is what do i do when i find it. i know what it looks like do to wear on certain parts. i figure the worse thing i will do besides get it back when i find it, is to inform both marinas and several members i know in each that the boat owner is a thief. the real question is do i inform the police, one of my neighbors is a city cop and a friend. but the worse thing is letting the whole marina where the boat is that they have a thief for a neighbor. would not be surprised if one of them if the thief is in that one that they would throw them out.

first impression when i saw it missing was a small 1 inch hole at water line of what ever boat i find it on, but thats wrong, second was a large tear in a sail, but thats wrong too. the problem is with both the options is if i confront them they may retaliate and it still might not get me the bimini back, i think just demanding it back under threat of police, and ruining their rep in the marina should do

What a drag. But at least they didn't break into the boat. A number of years ago, someone climbed down my fore hatch while my wife and I were at
church of all places.
He or they did some pretty disgusting things in our head and ransacked the interior.
When we returned to the boat, I saw a couple of my wooden fids floating near the boat.
I didn't put it all together until we went below but they apparently grabbed my marlinespike box which was rather heavy and in the relative
darkness down below didn't know what they had.
When the got out into the light and saw what they had, the bastards threw it off the dock.
I was able to dive and retrieve most of my tools. But boy does it piss you off.
I feel for you.
My suggestion is that you talk to your cop friend and if you find the guilty party, at least have your uniformed friend put the fear of God into them.
Good luck and sorry for your misfortune.

[mgiguere]

Not unexpected in Baltimore. You may be a resident, but i have no love for that city. Lots of crime.

We're in Galesville, where you could keep your boat at anchor there as well. Originally settled by the Quakers, it is a very safe place.

Moe