generator security need?

Mr. Camper wrote:
Many years ago my wise grandfather taught me that "locks only keep honest people honest." If a person wants to steal something they'll find a way to get it done.

That's no excuse for making it easy. :S Lock it, hide it, make it annoying as possible to steal, at least the thief will have to work for it. :p

Many years ago my wise grandfather taught me that "locks only keep honest people honest." If a person wants to steal something they'll find a way to get it done.

I went to town one day and just me and one other camper in our side road at ELKMONT in Smopky Natl Park TN.. I guess the other guy went to town too for supplies... He had his 3KW Honda chained to a tree. When I got back a couple of hours later I couldn't get down my road for a tree down over the site road. I drove around to the other side and came up the wrong way to my camp site. Sure enough someone cut the tree down in broad daylight and stole his 3KW Honda.

My neighbor drove up just after I did and there we both stood in disbelivement.

I shared my 2KW generator for the rest of the week to keep our batteries charged up... It was right next to the road chained to the tree...

Roy Ken

Mostly situational awareness. In 40+ years of vacation RVing I've never had anything taken from my campsite. However, there are always signs around warning to lock your valuables, so I guess some have been less fortunate. My son did have a spare tire stolen from his boat trailer at the lake.
A good bike lock and chain will probably keep honest people from procuring something they need. A thief will find a way to take what they want.
Good Luck, and Happy Trails.

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.

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.

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. ;)

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

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

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!