A news story out of Chattanooga, Tennessee leads to a quick tips reminder. Police say they found a working meth lab in a 33' travel trailer. While cleaning up the mess, they also discovered that the trailer had been reported stolen by its owner. Will the owner ever get his trailer back, or will it have been so badly contaminated by chemicals that the rig will have to be destroyed? That remains to be seen. But this is not the first stolen RV that wound up in a rather nasty "second life." How can you protect your RV from a similar fate?
For trailer owners the addition of a simple and not-real-expensive hitch lock can make a big difference. For travel trailers, a simple device locks into the hitch in the place of a hitch ball, and locks over the top of the hitch lever. Less than $30.
Fifth wheel owners will find a locking collar that goes around their trailer king pin. This collar prevents the king pin from coupling up with a fifth wheel hitch. Again, an inexpensive solution, some selling for less than $20.
Are the crook-proof? Nope, a determined thief can eventually cut through either of these type of devices, but most would rather not run the risk of getting caught with the amount of time (and noise produced) in trying to defeat a hitch lock. They'd much rather move along to easier pickin's.
For trailer owners the addition of a simple and not-real-expensive hitch lock can make a big difference. For travel trailers, a simple device locks into the hitch in the place of a hitch ball, and locks over the top of the hitch lever. Less than $30. 
Er... For travel trailers, wouldn't a$3 common padlock through the hitch work just as well? 1/10th the cost and more compact/useful for locking other things when not in use on the tongue.
ReplyDeleteCrooks can still easily steal your trailer with an undersized ball
DeleteI use both, a padlock and a hitch lock. My trailer is my home so protecting it is very important to me. Don't forget a lock on your spare tire and consider locking your batteries down. I hear someone is stealing RV batteries in Helena, Montana.
ReplyDeleteI'm new. Haven't bought my TT yet, but hoping to soon. Question: my choice to buy a travel trailer is because I can unhitch it at a campsite and use my Jeep to run around and sight-see. Should I plan to carry a heavy chain and fasten it to a tree? or something?? while I'm off being tourist-y??
ReplyDeleteWe have traveled for two months across America and see a lot of trailers versus Class C or the big Diesel Class A. We pulled a small Jeep Wrangler so we can just unhitch and go sight seeing. We also like the fact that we have easy access to the bathroom by just quickly pulling over etc.. Unhooking the jeep is about a 2 minute job with the hitch I have. Seems like the trailer is a lot more difficult to unhitch and setup than a Class C RV...many times we do not need to do all that leveling etc.. We just park, unhitch and jump in for a ride to wherever.
ReplyDelete