We had an interesting thing happen at our field. We had our shade shelter(20 x 60 carport) stolen overnight recently. We are lucky to be able to replace it but obviously would like to prevent this from happening again. I believe fencing the area is not practice and just gives scrap metal thieves a different target. Any suggestions? All are welcome. Anyone have the same problem? Did you find a solution?

There are many solutions, most of which cost money. The sad and simple fact is that a thief will usually find a way regardless of most hurdles you put in their way. A total lack of respect for others property.

We have 6 larger sized ones at our field, and even though we have a locked gate, it would be very easy to take them. The wind usually takes care of one a year. Worst case, we would just do away with them and have folks bring there own. Some already do, they are easy to move around now, and pretty cheap at $50.00

Good luck either way.

Sorry to hear...


Something I used is a mixture of epoxy and milled fiberglass to pour/apply over the heads of fasteners especially key fasteners to discourage thieves... they likely will pass on trying to take anything that requires work/time...as aversion to work is the reason they are thieves in the first place... also grinding heads off some key fasteners works well too. And along that line of thought, yield to torque fasteners may also be used.

That is a good idea. I believe we are looking into getting a guy with a welding torch out and welding the other sheds in strategic places to make it more difficult. I will pass your idea along. At this point is is spilled milk and wanted to get some ideas out there so others might not end up having to spend valuable club assets to replace shade sheds. We are lucky that it is a fairly large club with resources but no one wants to spend money on the same thing twice.

We had the same issue and tack welded every screw. Then we got a hold of a back hoe and dug a ditch to block easy access. Were in the process of installing a "real time" security system designed by a talented club member. Sounds expensive but replacing 3 grand worth of panels made it necessary. Is it 100% secure no way but anything is better than nothing. We also put in some game cameras positioned to track vehicles and people coming and going. We were amazed just how much traffic we were getting. Plate numbers and vehicle descriptions help when your going to build s case and prosecute.

Mike

Install hidden game cameras and post signs of stating security cameras are in operation. This works great at one of my local fields.

I've attached a few pictures from the game cameras to give you a idea what they can do. I elected not to post vehicles and people due to privacy concerns.

Mike.

We have a camera on one of our storage containers and it picks some things but they are far away and not very useful. The camera would also have to be mounted so that it had a view of the pit/shade structures and then we would just have one more thing for them to steal. I think the welding we did will be greatly helpful along with replacing the shelter with a more permanent structure. Thanks for all the ideas!