Tongue Lock Advice Needed

rparis05

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jul 12, 2010
Location
Wake Forest
Bought a boat and want to keep it!!!! Looking for advice on tongue locks you've had good, or bad experiences with. Really don't want to spend a fortune on this, but want to keep my boat. I understand that if someone wants something bad enough, they will find a way to get it. What do you guys think?
 
I've ran a cable through the frame and wheel holes before. No experience with the tongue locks however.

Like you said it wont completely stop a dedicated meth head but it'll slow them down enough to maybe look elsewhere.
 
Bolt makes a decent hitch ball lock that can be keyed to match your truck.

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Get one that also locks the safety chains up.

I don’t underestimate a their pulling something by the chains only.

I’ve done the cable through the wheels, springs, and frame.

Also had a cheap tongue lock. “Master lock” brand.

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The more you secure it, the less like some idiot is going to mess with it. Then it takes then too long and too much effort/mental capacity. Thieves like neither.
 
I thought this thread was gonna be about wives.
 
Watch enough YouTube videos and you’ll just buy adequate insurance and sleep easy. I figure if somebody wants it, I’m due for a new one.
 
I go to the extreme , put a tennis ball where the ball goes , cable though the wheels , tongue locked with safety chains through it , heavy chain from frame to a tree , and a piece of polished conduit drove into the ground in front of the trailer .

The tennis ball in the coupling is to delay any would be thief , the conduit in front is so when the thief pulls it out of the way they will leave fingerprints
 
Theft insurance through your provider is about the best measure.
Unfortunately, stealing anything with wheels is pretty easy...
I remove the coupler from my gooseneck, run the chains through the neck and lock them together. All at a secure location. But, it could still be stolen with enough work.
So I added it to my auto policy for $500 over the cost of a new one. If it were stolen, I'll order a new one with the $$$.
 
I have a coupler lock, but I’m sure it could be cut off. I also have a beefy cable and lock that goes thru one of the stake pockets and around the basketball goal post that is full of concrete. If my wife’s car is at home, it blocks access to the trailer. But more importantly, it’s on my auto insurance policy.
 
The yellow Reese coupler lock is a piece of crap. I’ve had 2 and only bought it the second time because I was in a pinch and didn’t have another option.

I’d look for something better. The master lock one Scott posted looks pretty decent.

I also lock up my chains so they can’t be used to tow the trailer away.
 
@paradisePWoffrd has the simplest solution. Two bolts and the coupler comes off the frame completely. That will be great in the off season. During the season I had looked at the lock that @Mac5005 suggested. I bet a solid strike with a sledge hammer would shear it right off though. But if someone wants it bad enough, they will get it. Keep the ideas coming!!!
 
I watched a video where ol boy showed just how easy it is to steal your trailer no matter the coupler lock. He had a piece of chain and wrapped it around the tongue and his hitch. Wound the jack up and drove away. Said “I can cut this lock off back at my place with a torch”. All those fancy locks and chains get cut pretty easy with a battery powered portaband. Buy insurance! It’s stupid cheap.
 
A cordless grinder with a cutoff wheel makes quick work of most of these options in about 15 seconds.
 
When I'm on the road, I have a locking hitch pin, and a long Master Lock through the coupler pin location. I figure it will stop the casual criminal, and doesn't inconvenience me at all until I go to unhook the trailer. When stored at the house I just park them in the mud so nobody wants to deal with it :lol:
 
I put a ball with no shank in the coupler and lock it with a coupler lock. This prevents a thief from dropping the locked 2 5/16" coupler on a 2" and driving off. I also have a chain through the wheels and to a tree. Won't stop a persistent thief, but if I happen to be home I should hear the commotion.

It's also insured and has a tracker.
 
All this talk reminds me of my uncle back in the day. 30 years ago he had the most mac daddy bass boat in all of Florida. He and my grandfather go into a restaurant to eat. He's not worried about his boat because its locked to his truck with a super fancy coupler lock. They come out to no bass boat. There was no super fancy pin holding the hitch in to the receiver. Pull the pin, roll boat back until hitch pulls out of receiver, insert hitch in new vehicle...

I unbolted and completely removed the tongue and chains this evening, that will be a great solution until the boating season is back!!!
 
A thief attempted to get mine a year or so ago. Padlock was cut off and the Master coupler lock was almost sprung open. After looking at other expensive options, decided to design/make my own. Also, have some other security devices involved, including 12 ga. So far, all is well.
 

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Had one of our enclosed stolen off a jobsite last July in Asheville. We had been lucky for over 10 years we left our trailers on job sites with nothing more than the cheap yellow masterlocks. Lost around 30k dollars in tools that day(and set us back 2 weeks waiting on new hilti decking guns to come in). Job site cameras caught it all, they were in and out in less than 4 minutes. They even came back and broke into the electricians connex. We now have new utility trucks and have ditched all the trailers but one. You can see the yellow tongue lock laying on the ground where the trailer was.
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I'd ask some questions of the guys from VFD #1 ;)
 
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