How to Secure My Casita

[Sherritini]

I am thrilled to be a new Casita owner, 2012 17' Spirit. I will be parking it off an alley behind my home and want to secure it so it doesn't go "wandering off". Can someone tell me the best locking device they have found? Wheel locks? Mount over the cupler? Both? Thanks in advice for any advice.
Sherri

[raster]

Congrats on the new camper! I have a Trimax wheel lock. Something like the link below. I just looked it up and, wow, I can't believe I paid that much for a lock. It was apparently quite expensive but it's awesome and great peace of mind for parking pretty much anywhere you can't park in a fenced area or garage.

https://www.amazon.com/Trimax-TWL100.../dp/B003E1GLSM

[Darwin Maring]

Raster has the answer. With the trimax lock, the lug nuts are covered so it prevents them from removing the wheel to get rid of the lock. A worthy investment.

[stevebaz]

Best thing to do is fence it in. Off an alley your likely to have more break ins than theft. But if someone wants it, it is gone. Lock the hitch and the thieves loop the safety chains together and throw them over their hitch and drive away. A flat bed tow can just drag it up and haul it off.

If it was mine I would get a powered tow goat and park the trailer turned around. In the area of the trailer mount I would sink a 2 foot square hole about 30 inches deep. In that I would sink a 36 inch steel casing with an open bottom so it drains. I would fill the hole with concrete. I would get a 4 foot piece of pipe that fits snug in the casing. After the concrete is cured I would grease your pipe and slide it in the hole until it stops Then I would take a steel cap and mount a ball on it and weld it to the cap and weld the cap to the pipe. then I would measure how short to make the pipe to fit the height of your trailer hitch and cut off the excess off the bottom of the pipe. That way you can move your trailer into place and drop the hitch on the anchored ball and lock it down. Then you can wrap your trailer chains around the post and lock them together. Might have to mount rings or extra length of chain around post to make the tow chains reach. I would also weld a stop on the pipe so it doesn't sink into the ground. Thieves cant pull up on the trailer 30 inches to clear the pipe. So they have to cut the locks which they can easily do but they have to plan to do it and not just grab and run.

Cheapest and best way is to insure the trailer from theft and vandalism. Living with an alley way behind you sucks. You're a victim waiting to happen. It's not a matter of if but when will it happen.

[steve dunham]

My 2013 Casita is parked behind my cabin next to the county road .
I have a pad lock on the hitch and insurance.

[Darwin Maring]

I would store it In The attic then tie a tin can with a rock in it to the attic hatch and when they break in and open the door the tin can with the rock would fall and the clanging would wake me up and I would wake my wife up and she would threaten them with her cooking and all would be well.

[Timber Wolf]

What the heck is your dog doing while somebody is stealing the trailer? No way is mine letting somebody steal the trailer. She would have to go back to sleeping on the ground while we sleep in the back of the truck under the camper shell.

[Sherritini]

Resolution...
1. Getting insurance.
2. Buying the Trimax wheel lock.
3. Feeding the neighbors dog to bribe him to be alert.
4. Leaving my world famous tuna casserole by the door with a note, " Don't go on the road hungry".
Sorry, Stevebaz, you lost me at tow goat!
Sherri

[BuzzBunny]

Yep, after tow goat I couldn't figure out what was happening.
Ours is in the backyard behind an old car and a general purpose trailer.
And we live in a subdivision. I doubt anyone knows we even own a FG trailer.

[Mr Lynn]

Our Casita is in a side yard, not visible from the road. I just have the brass hitch lock on it, which I assume came with the trailer originally (it's an unusual lock that uses the key to turn a hasp screw), but nothing else.

I wonder, though, about leaving the trailer for a day in a campsite, while going off playing tourist. I assume the dangers of theft in most campgrounds are minimal, but should I assume that? I do worry about computers and cameras (though mine are both old), and might make a point of carrying them in my TV for the day. Not that cars and trucks are that secure, either. . .

/Mr Lynn

[Tom Cantrell]

Originally Posted by steve dunham

My 2013 Casita is parked behind my cabin next to the county road .
I have a pad lock on the hitch and insurance.

Ditto!

[Lee Senn]

Easy and cheap , although a little inconvenient , remove one wheel and spare and store them in garage. Lee

[Kai in Seattle]

Originally Posted by Mr Lynn

Our Casita is in a side yard, not visible from the road. I just have the brass hitch lock on it, which I assume came with the trailer originally (it's an unusual lock that uses the key to turn a hasp screw), but nothing else.

I wonder, though, about leaving the trailer for a day in a campsite, while going off playing tourist. I assume the dangers of theft in most campgrounds are minimal, but should I assume that? I do worry about computers and cameras (though mine are both old), and might make a point of carrying them in my TV for the day. Not that cars and trucks are that secure, either. . .

/Mr Lynn

I read an article on campground / trailer thefts and it said only 2 out of 1,000,000 nights camping is the number of thefts recorded in campgrounds. Break-ins are higher, small thefts of things left outside and unattended or overnight higher yet, of course, but only twice out of 1 million camping nights/days were the whole trailers stolen. So the odds aren't huge.

MOST trailer thefts occur in long-term storage lots.

In-between are those taken from next to houses.

We have ours in the driveway, which is bad because everyone can see when we're gone. Also there has been a certain amount of teenagers' hooliganism and malarkey in our driveway, but after they stole a hummingbird feeder from our front yard, we put up a camera thingy, motion-activated lights, and plenty of signs. End of the malarkey (so far, and it's been long enough the signs are fading badly--time to renew them, I realize).

Paul has a hitch lock / padlock on the tongue...still, every morning I check and feel good Peanut is still there.

Peanut is well-insured for total loss...smaller losses like minimal thefts / damages we'll cover ourselves.

We keep nothing of much value or interest to youth in the trailer. Maybe my puff pillow or the porta-potty with the fitted cover. Hmmmm. NOT.

The idea about taking off a wheel is actually super good--we have better support/stabilizer jacks now and I believe they could support that side of the trailer. Someone with initiative could still take it, a flatbed could do it, but gosh, that'd be a rassle.

They (those in the know) say make the theft hard; you don't have to make it impossible. Most thieves won't go to great lengths unless the target is of great and easily resalable value. (Like drugs, maybe.) NOT a huge or easy market in no-title vintage trailers, perhaps.
s

This is an important topic and great coments, all, thanks.

[stevebaz]

tow goat

https://www.google.com/search?q=trai...2UAYgQ_AUIBygC

[Tom Cantrell]

Originally Posted by stevebaz

tow goat

https://www.google.com/search?q=trai...2UAYgQ_AUIBygC

Is the tow goat for the thief or the owner?

[Sherritini]

Cheese!

[Mr Lynn]

Originally Posted by Lee Senn

Easy and cheap , although a little inconvenient , remove one wheel and spare and store them in garage. Lee

Or take off both wheels and put the trailer up on jackstands.

/Mr Lynn

[Scott H]

Wow, I guess i'm pretty happy to be living where I live!
I haven't locked my home in 18yrs. Keys in the ignition. In town.

[Mr Lynn]

Originally Posted by Scott H

Wow, I guess i'm pretty happy to be living where I live!
I haven't locked my home in 18yrs. Keys in the ignition. In town.

Where are you? I want to move there!

Used to be that way where I grew up in Maryland—no longer. Nor here in Massachusetts, either.

/Mr Lynn

[Slu Sky]

We found someone had been sleeping in our Scamp, we put locks on the back window.
Police arrested him the next night trying to get back in during a storm.