Reviewed by: CAPT. MIKE SCHOONVELD
As fishermen and other outdoorsmen head out on the lakes, forests or fields they often leave behind some of their most valuable equipment. This includes their vehicle, gear in the truck, car or SUV; or perhaps the trailer that their boat rides on to and from the lake. Are they secure?
Fishermen are often in the position of leaving well stocked boats for a few minutes (or a few hours) in unsecured locations, whether that’s in the parking lot behind a McDonalds where it’s sitting for just a few minutes or overnight at a hotel on a long weekend.
Thieves know this and they know they can grab and go a valuable tackle box, pilfer the spare tire off an unattended trailer or unhitch the whole trailer and drive off with it, whether the boat is on the trailer or on the lake.
There are many products available to lock up easily accessible valuables. All of these work, but an outdoors man who has locks on his tire, trailer, spare tire, steering wheel, tackle box and all the other things has one other thing – a pocket full of keys.
A year or more ago I posted a review of a product called the Bolt Lock which solved one of these problems – a receiver hitch locking bolt which can be keyed to fit the same key that fits the door and ignition on the tow vehicle. Now the Bolt Lock people have expanded their line to include padlocks, ball hitch locks and others – the most versatile of which is their Cable Lock.
It’s a six-foot long, quarter-inch (vinyl coated) stainless cable with a loop on one end and a lock on the other. Loop it through or around anything you want to be where you put it when you leave and return. Then unlock it when you need to use it with the same key that fits the ignition of your vehicle.
The process is simple. Insert the ignition key from your tow vehicle into the lock, give the key a twist and the lock is instantly keyed to the pattern of your vehicle key. They are widely available. Details and a store-finder widget are available at http://www.boltlock.com or online at Amazon.com.
FISHING TOYS 