Forum Discussion
RollinFreenEasy
Mar 19, 2017Explorer
Over the years we have camped in a lot of different places, private, state, national and Corps of Engineers and never had anything stolen. Having said that, I want to express that I take security very seriously and don't leave anything of value exposed, unless it is secured by chain or cable. Last December I found out how vulnerable our 5er is. We have a double lot about a mile from where we live in a small town of about 11,000. I went to the trailer right before Christmas to start preparing it to leave for Gulf Shores Alabama at the end of the month and found the door pried open, both tv's and a few other small things gone. After talking to a Keystone service center I would guess the thief was in the locked door in less than 5 minutes,I've probably put more time and effort into opening a jar of pickles. A thousand dollar plus door damaged, (we are not going to replace it) so somebody could steal 2 tvs worth less tha $400. Ironically, the thief or thieves missed an $800 metal detector in the front closet and had looked at the $900 RaceMe programer for the diesel tow truck, I guess they didn't know what it worked on. We had left a spare set of trailer keys on a hook and they took those and tried to get into a friends trailer that was next to ours. Thank God they broke our baggage door key off in the door lock as I had hundreds of dollars of tools in the bay,although they could have popped the bay doors open just as easily as the main door, but I still had to change the door lock because they had the key. Oddly, our lot sets right across the street from two leaders of the neighborhood watch. Lots of lessons learned here, I had the utility company put up a high pressure sodium flood light that shines on the trailers. When we got to Gulf Shores I put on a Starlights motion sensing led porch light that is very bright and because it also is equipped with a dusk to dawn sensor can be left on all the time, I also drilled about a 5/16 hole in the door handle on the inside and wrapped a small link chain around an assist handle and use a small padlock through the hole and chain (not locked in case we have to escape quickly), I sleep a lot better. We are back home now and the trailer is cleaned out, no spare keys, nothing of value and more security in place.
About Bucket List Trips
13,487 PostsLatest Activity: Jan 18, 2025