generator security need?

Use common sense but yes, mostly paranoia.

We keep it out of sight with a bike cable tying it to the truck. If someone really wants it, I'm sure they could get it but I figure, they would probably take the truck with it.

Mine is kept secured in the tail gate corner of my covered and locked truck bed. When I need to use it I just pull it out onto the tail gate and plug my trailer into it using a RV30A-15A adapter...

Keeping mine out of sight I think has been my success over the years keeping it safe... My generator goes where I go...


Roy Ken

The best security is putting them away and out of sight. Next best is a chain or bike lock. In 12 years I've heard of only 1 incidence of theft, in a casino parking lot.

I do the same as Roy Kern {above} We were at Lake Tahoe last summer at a Camp Ground and 4 portably Honda Generators were stolen in one night. I don't think it is paranoia. You have to lock them up and keep out of sight . I also have an alarm connected to the rear of my TV. We were at Half Moon Bay outside SF and 3 Gen were stolen in 1 weekend, one just outside kitchen window where the MIL was doing dishes. She thought the gen ran of gas

If you consider the cost of a Yamaha or Honda generator, why wouldn't you lock it up? The current replacement cost for mine is about $1500.

Details of how I modified mine are here: http://2manytoyz.com/genlock.html

I even lock it to the tie down points in the bed of my truck when I travel, cover it with a slip cover I made, then pull the roll top bed cover closed, and lock the tailgate!

You didn't say which brand you're considering. the expensive quiet ones get stolen. The loud ones..not so much.

In the Tonto National forest I see people who have a metal plate on the bottom of their genny. The plate is sturdy and is long enough to drive onto with your truck
one end of plate under truck tire other end securely fastened to genny = no stealing

Wish I had a picture for you

Maurice45 wrote:
Getting ready to purchase genny for our 5er. Have seen a lot of allusions to gennys being stolen, is this paronia or a real concern? If it's real, how do you secure yours?

Paranoia? Would you leave a $1000 stack of bills sitting on your truck tailgate and not be concerned? ... same for the genset. :R My EU2000i rode in the back of our Avalanche, out of sight, out of mind inside the Av's locked cargo compartment. Every situation is different so you need to invent your own most appropriate solution ... and the reason for doing so seems obvious to me. ;)

darsben wrote:
In the Tonto National forest I see people who have a metal plate on the bottom of their genny. The plate is sturdy and is long enough to drive onto with your truck
one end of plate under truck tire other end securely fastened to genny = no stealing

Wish I had a picture for you

Thanks for sharing! That is about as secure as it could get. Not fool proof but much more secure than a chain/cable.

The stories I've heard and read about in RV forums tend towards the following:

Not secured and the genny walks away some in daytime but mostly at night.

Secured and the chain/lock is defeated usually at night or if no one is at the camp. Have read of a couple of gennys stolen while they were running at night. The cable or chain was cut and by the time the owner got outside, no one was seen. These thefts were at boondocking BLM spots.

I've never heard or read of a generator being stolen if it was locked away inside the RV or tow vehicle out of sight.