How comfortable would you be storing your Adventure or Tandem Island in an outdoor, gated, dry-boat storage yard, sitting on a trailer or dolly?
For about a year, I kept a sailing dinghy in just such a place, but it was a fairly unpopular and inexpensive boat, so I wasn't worried about security or theft. There also wasn't a lot you could easily remove from the boat and walk away with. The rudder, tiller and boom were about the only things you could just walk up and take. Not so with the Hobie Adventure design.
These trimarans come apart in countless places, super easily, and the parts are crazy-expensive to replace. This has me a little worried about storing it in an open, outdoor setting, even though it's gated and in a, so far, pretty safe area. I have never seen a AT or TI in the yard where I kept my sailboat.
Every time I've seen a picture of someone's stored "Island", it's been in a garage or backyard of a house. I never see signs of them being kept in exposed or easy to access areas. Even my local kayak shop keeps them under lock and key when not in use. Are these things popular with boat thieves?
Of course replies to this sort of question are going to be widely varied, based on each person's geographical location and the kind of neighborhood they're in. In my case, I'm in the SF Bay Area, on the Peninsula in Redwood City. The yard I use is at the end of a dead-end street with mostly sailing clubs and a few tech company buildings on it, so it doesn't get a ton of traffic or random passersby.
Still, there's no way for me to know if the boat is safe until I drive across town, 25 miles away, and look at it.
-T
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