Boondocking 101 - Preventing Theft
We were pretty nervous about RV theft after we bought our RV and were considering boondocking full time. We are still precautious, but much less nervous now that we have been doing it. The boondocking land that we have been camping on is usually so far removed from civilization, and such a pain to get to, that we cannot imagine who would be out there looking for something to steal. Also, we usually are not too far away from other RVers, which makes us feel a bit safer, having other people around.
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How Can I Keep My RV Safe When Boondocking?
Locks
If you have a campervan or motorhome, you don’t have to worry so much about someone towing your RV away. However, if you are like us and have a travel trailer, it is definitely a concern. There are a variety of locks you can buy for your travel trailer, from hitch pin locks, to coupler locks, or wheel locks. We looked at about every lock on the market before purchasing ours.
Hitch Pin Locks: These locks go through your hitch, instead of a hitch pin. We did not find anything too impressive out there as the metal is typically pretty thin, and easy to cut through. The ones we were looking at were also not the most complicated locks to pick. We actually did buy one however, as you need something to keep your hitch in place while traveling, we definitely did not want to rely only on this.
Wheel Locks: We looked at a variety of these locks. Unfortunately the wheel lock that all the forums were talking about, Brahma wheel locks, are no longer being made. Here are some other options we considered. Proven Industries makes wheel locks as well, but they seem to be made more for enclosed cargo trailers, rather than RVs.
Trimax Wheel Chock Lock - This lock also doubles as a chock, to prevent your trailer from rolling away. It is made of steel and comes in two different sizes, which you can find here.
X-Chock Wheel Stabilizer - While there are more stabilizers than locks, they can be locked with a small padlock or as some suggested, a bike lock. These highly popular stabilizers go between the tires on a double axel RV, to help prevent rocking when walking in the RV.
Coupler Locks: There is a huge variety of coupler locks out on the market, ranging from $20 to $250+ (depending on the actual locking mechanism that you decide to go with. There were three different locks that we were considering, based on their reviews. They are all in the $200+ range, but seem to be well worth it, when considering it could prevent the theft of your RV.
Amp Lock: This lock is built to withstand a variety of attacks, as it is 12 pounds of metal. It also reports that it has a patented lock mechanism. It also has a high customer satisfaction rating of 4.8 and almost 1,000 reviews (on Amazon). You can check it out for yourself here.
Proven Industries: This coupler lock is similar to the AMP lock in toughness - it is 10 pounds, made of steel, reports having a unique key design that is difficult to pick, and allows you to lock your chain hooks inside, preventing someone from dragging your RV off with just the chains. This is also a costly lock. It comes with a puck lock, but to upgrade to the all stainless steel lock, it is an extra $10o (on their website). We almost went with this lock however, due to all of the happy customer reviews we have read on forums and on Amazon. Check it out here.
Fort Knox Lock: This seems to be a lesser known company, and a smaller operation, as we did not read as much about it on forums, and it does not have as many reviews. This lock is also made of steel, is 8 pounds, and is big enough to allow the chain hooks inside. We liked this lock as it lets you pair it with the puck lock of your choice. You can choose to purchase it without one here, or with a lock. We decided to choose it without, as that was the biggest draw for us. We wanted a puck that was very difficult to drill into, but also difficult to pick. We decided on Paclock’s stainless steel puck, due to its unique cone shaped design, making it difficult for drills to penetrate to the lock core inside. So far we have been very happy with the ease of this lock and strength of this lock. It takes us only a a few seconds to take on and off.
Other Methods
Video Camera - Having a video camera installed somewhere conspicous may be helpful in preventing someone from breaking in or stealing or RV. We have thought of purchasing the Ring Doorbell to put on our front door to deter break-ins as it is affordable and easy to install.
GPS tracker - We have also thought of installing a GPS tracker somewhere on our travel trailer in the event that it does get stolen. They are also pretty affordable, but the downside is having to purchase a monthly plan. We like this one here.
Make it look as if someone is home - This is a bit more challenging with a travel trailer when you only have one vehicle. When our truck is gone, it is likely no one is home. However we do make sure those who do pass by are aware that it is has not been abandoned for a long period of time. We have our patio set and rug out, a light or two on, and sometimes the radio on.