Do you carry firearms while cruising?

[Lake Superior Sailor]

Extremely bright light , like that of a camera flash: The kind that leaves you with biue dots to look at, may give you an edge. Bear spray is supposed to stop a charging animal,(and the canister looks & works like a fire extinguisher). Best weapons don't look like weapons.(winch handle. boat hook,ect.). I would not give in easy ! But I do not think a gun is the answer, or worth the hassel.--Dale

[carl762]

Ya, would be a bummer to shoot a hole in the boat and sink.

[xymotic]

How big a hole would you have to make to 'sink' in under a few hours?

oh, and I have a steel boat made of 1/4" plate. I think I'd rather get into a shoot out with a panga than a knife fight on board, but that's just me.

[JonEisberg]

Originally Posted by drbuzz

OK, my first post on the forum. I came to this forum after searching for information on this topic. This is a big subject and I can see that it elicits some passionate responses. I won't dive into the why/why not at this point. I would be interested in hearing from someone who cruises internationally and who have guns aboard, or who have done so in the past and what their experiences were. Yes, I have read the previous posts in this thread.

Highly unlikely you will get an honest response to such a question, if I were cruising the world armed, I'd certainly keep my trap shut about it...

The overwhelming percentage of world cruisers I've encountered - especially non-Americans - do not appear to be "carrying"... And, IMHO, most Americans obsessed with this issue are unlikely to be going much of anywhere beyond the Bahamas...

No subject elicits so much bluster from cyber-sailors who will never cross an ocean, or clear into another country... Really, it's SO much easier to simply cruise to places where the bad guys ain't... (grin)

[Dfok]

Pleased to say I have sailed NYC, Staten Island, the Jersey Shore, Barneget Bay, Delaware Bay up to Philadelphia ( made it past Camden, no cannon or 50 cal fired/ either side). Chesapeake from North East and Charlestown to Annapolis, on the Eastern Shore up from Rock Hall to Turkey Point - no pirates or British.
Natives seem pacified, enemies have retreated. No shots fired. All is well.
Can't speak of pirates in Oklahoma but we are okay here. Leave your firearms home.

[StormBay]

Originally Posted by vega1860

Probably a better choice for defense is something called a Hawaiian Sling. Shown here in take-down form, it is basically a pole with a triple spear head on one end and a loop of surgical tubing on the other.



Also handy for catching lunch. Perfectly innocuous on a boat - just part of the normal gear anyone would expect to see.

Or how about a bang stick / power head?

Good for sharks too!

[neverknow]

I've been dreaming up this method of electrifying the life lines. It would be easy to do on a fiber glass boat. A high voltage inventor and a safe activation system is all that would be needed.

Once a threat has been determined all you'd have to do is turn the system on from the safety of the cabin.

Let's face it most criminals are stupid people. If at the first sign of trouble you set off a loud siren and light them up with a spot light, throw in some flashing police lights etc the bad guys will more than likely decide to move on. If all that doesn't stop them than turn on the electric life lines and retreat to the cabin. With a step up transformer and a cheap inverter you can easily put 5000 volts @ 500 watts on the lines. That's enough power to either kill them or certainly make them decide it's not worth it.

Edit, I was thinking this would be more for the horn of Africa, gulf of Aden etc.

[killarney_sailor]

Originally Posted by neverknow

Edit, I was thinking this would be more for the horn of Africa, gulf of Aden etc.

The reality is that cruisers are not going that way. Even a year ago there were a few flotillas going from India, but this season basically no one is. Cruisers typically are smart enough people to see a potentially very serious risk and avoid it and not pretend that they are a match to highly-organized, heavily armed bad guys. The alternatives are to go around South Africa, do a Pacific loop, or stay in the Pacific or SE Asia and await developments.

[flyingwelshman]

Just came across this.

It's an Early Warning System that would give cruisers enough advanced warning of impending trouble to assemble spearguns, load cannons, charge electric fences, retrieve their 'piece' from that secure cubby hole etc.

It's new from Italy. It's called The Schettino Early Warning System.

It's very easy to operate. It just hangs out at different parts of the vessel. When it perceives danger the Schettino automatically ejects itself from the boat.

Having left the boat the Schettino will 'fall' into any vessel that is in close proximity - ideally the pirate ship.

Once safely aboard the other vessel the Schettino will lie on the deckboards making incomprehensible and fantastical statements and whimpering inconsolably, thereby totally confusing anyone within earshot.

Here's what the unit looks like:



And here you can see that the Cruise industry has reacted very quickly and equipped some of their liners with this new piece of safety equipment:



The Schettino Early Warning System: Safety First!

[BreakAwayFL]

Originally Posted by Houze66

I met a guy in Key West who sailed solo. He related what time and money it took to get himself out of some lousy prison because he had hidden a gun aboard and they found it. I did not ask why he had it aboard. But he did not carry again after that. I knew another trawler guy who showed me his pull-out galley that led to compartment under his deck mid-ships that he claimed dogs could not sniff out and metal sweeps could not ping. I did not see the guns, I did not go trawler but went s/v. So far here in ME waters I need nothing like a gun aboard--just maintenance on the boat and a real fear of hypothermia if I fall overboard. That would be shooting myself in the foot.

Well he was dumb for hiding it. Even if you sail to Cuba, you just tell them you have it and they will lock it up for the duration.