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By Greg Bartlett

With the coming of summer, people will soon be out in droves to enjoy the sun and participate in outdoor sports and recreation. Many will plan long afternoons and evenings out on the lake or in the harbor in recreational watercrafts.

While a large percentage of the population thinks about the possibility of auto theft and takes precautions to prevent it, relatively few people ever consider the possibility of their boats being stolen. A casual stroll through your local marina may reveal unattended boats with no locks, keys left in the ignition, or even boats left idling while the owner has run into the clubhouse for a moment. While these are common sense no-no’s, they do serve as a reminder that we all can be more alert to the possibility of theft. One step that boat owners should consider taking is purchasing a GPS tracker to help prevent theft and to aid in recovery if a boat is stolen.

GPS trackers use satellite technology to send signals from a transmitter to your computer. The transmitter is small enough to be easily concealable, so thieves won’t even know they’re being watched. You can monitor the boat’s location in real time, checking in at any moment to validate the whereabouts of your vehicle or you can view daily reports detailing the boat’s activity including location, stops and mileage.

Insurance companies estimate that as many as 27,000 watercraft vehicles are stolen each year and the odds are ten to one that any given boat will be recovered. Even if you keep your boat at your home instead of in a marina, it is still not safe from theft—over half of stolen boats are not in the water when they are stolen. The thief simply hooks your trailer up to his truck and is in the next county before you realize what happened. Installing a GPS tracker can greatly improve the odds of recovering your stolen boat, however, and it may also reduce your insurance premiums.

Theft is a particularly painful crime, since people tend to feel that a part of their identity has been compromised. A GPS tracker can put you in control of your assets and give you the upper hand over any criminal. At the end of boating season, when you’re ready to put away the keys till next year, you’ll be at ease knowing that you’ve done everything you can to protect what is yours.