# 36ft Contender. Stolen Thursday night. Shailmar 12\6\13 Fl



## Scottyg (Jan 21, 2010)

Shailmar Florida. By Shailimar bridge the Bite Me was stolen in the night. If u see this boat please call the police. They left the boat lift running to break it also.


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## MrFish (Aug 21, 2009)

Not an easy boat to hide. Hope they catch them.


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## SouthAlabamaSlayer (Oct 13, 2011)

They stole a 36' Contender?! Holy crap! I hope they catch the piece or pieces of crap that did this. Might want to check local paint shops and marine shops as they will probably be looking to change the outside of it pretty quick so it's not as easily recognized.


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## Boatjob1 (Oct 2, 2007)

Wow, isn't ANYTHING sacred???? I would think it would be some punks that had been eye balling it, and out for a joy ride. Hang Them High!


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## 301bLLC (Nov 23, 2013)

There have been several Yellowfins stolen recently in south FL. The last had a gps tracker on it. Within a few hours the boat was half way to Cuba.


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## bigrick (Sep 29, 2010)

Wow, that's takes some balls being right by the bridge. I live about a block away. Unfortunately it probably no where close to here anymore. Good luck.


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## ThaFish (Feb 27, 2013)

Holy shit if I had that happen to me I don't know what I'd do if I found the thieves... best of luck getting it back man.


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## SaltWaterBuck (Sep 2, 2013)

i would guess its well on its way to mexico seems reasonable trip on a boat like that


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## sel1005 (Jan 10, 2008)

wow, I live a mile or so down the bayou from that boat, have looked at it for several years. Sorry to hear of the loss, she was a beauty. Hope they catch the slime that took it and toss away the key


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## Boatjob1 (Oct 2, 2007)

301bLLC said:


> There have been several Yellowfins stolen recently in south FL. The last had a gps tracker on it. Within a few hours the boat was half way to Cuba.


This could be part of the drug trade. They are converted to what they call "Go Fast". They stealth them by taking anything reflective off of them and paint them over with flat paints, gut the boats, then add additional fuel tanks. Planes come in from South America and make drops offshore (Bahamas, Saba Bank, ect), then the "Go Fast" pick the loads up and run them to a designated pre determined ports.

Nasty business if that's what's going on..... In case you were wondering and to clarify things, I was an engineer on Gumb-ment boats watching this activity in the early 1990's....


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## PaulBoydenCustoms (Dec 3, 2008)

Thats crazy, people have got some balls these days. how do you hide a 36' contender?


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## sel1005 (Jan 10, 2008)

no kidding... saw a HUGE amount of these type boats on Key Largo and Islamorada last spring. Most had quads, several had 5 huge outboards. All were priced in the $500K up range. when I asked a local Capt about them he just laughed, said they all go to the Cuban and MX drug /smuggling trade. They outfit them, use a few times, if they get caught and lose them, no worries, been paid for maybe a hundred times over???
But that's the Keys, used to live on an island off Miami so I know that's what they do there. However, in Shalimar? This area has enough issues already without importing all the crime from S FL or NO, would be great if some of our local LEO's could focus on these types of crimes for a bit and see what they find out


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## Sea Rover (Jan 15, 2008)

Money is not in drugs it's in running people. Going rate is $20k a head for Cuban nationals. Families here in the states pay for it and these guys go pick these people up and run them stateside. Very dangerous and also sad for the people that just want to come here for better opportunity. 

I gurantee this boat will be running people. Mobile is one of the largest human trafficking ports in the world of people both leaving and coming in. Something to think about when you have a false sense of security living here...


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## whome (Oct 2, 2007)

Sea Rover said:


> Mobile is one of the largest human trafficking ports in the world of people both leaving and coming in.


Not doubting you, but where did you get this information?


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## JD7.62 (Feb 13, 2008)

Sea Rover said:


> Money is not in drugs it's in running people. Going rate is $20k a head for Cuban nationals. Families here in the states pay for it and these guys go pick these people up and run them stateside. Very dangerous and also sad for the people that just want to come here for better opportunity.
> 
> I gurantee this boat will be running people. Mobile is one of the largest human trafficking ports in the world of people both leaving and coming in. Something to think about when you have a false sense of security living here...


Says who? Any documentation to back that up?


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## Sea Rover (Jan 15, 2008)

Article published by The Polaris Project bought two years ago. Trying to find it now, also the same article has been cited in a few stories done by The Independent on Rick's blog.


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## Matt Mcleod (Oct 3, 2007)

Most likely that boats in about 1000 pieces by now. A lot of times they find the stripped hull in the woods somewhere, that's about it.


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## goheel (Feb 3, 2011)

I hate to be the devil's advocate here, but maybe the owner sunk it for insurance purpose?


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## whome (Oct 2, 2007)

Matt Mcleod said:


> Most likely that boats in about 1000 pieces by now. A lot of times they find the stripped hull in the woods somewhere, that's about it.


 I'm with Matt, this boat has been stripped somewhere locally. Criminals are lazy. There is no WAY they are stealing a boat from Shalimar and running it to Mexico, Cuba or anywhere else to traffic dope or people. Don't you think there are about 10,000 center consoles in South Florida that are a LOT closer to the Bahamas, Cuba etc.... 

And the information I read on Polaris' site shows 145 Calls for human trafficking in Alabama total for the first 6 months of 2013. They don't say those are confirmed cases, simply calls reporting it. That being said, there were over 14,000 calls in that same time period across the country. Hardly putting Mobile as the top port in the world for human trafficking


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## TailRazor (Apr 25, 2011)

*...*

Yup, stripped and someone has a nice set of Yami's and whatever electronics.



Matt Mcleod said:


> Most likely that boats in about 1000 pieces
> by now. A lot of times they find the stripped hull in the woods somewhere, that's about it.


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## flyliner (Oct 13, 2007)

the navy dock on Isla Mujeres is loaded with boats like this that they have confiscated. Used to smuggle Cubans to Mexico and than overland to US through Mex/US border. I will keep an eye out for it while we are down there this winter.


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## _Backwoods (Dec 4, 2013)

Sea Rover said:


> Money is not in drugs it's in running people. Going rate is $20k a head for Cuban nationals. Families here in the states pay for it and these guys go pick these people up and run them stateside. Very dangerous and also sad for the people that just want to come here for better opportunity. I gurantee this boat will be running people. Mobile is one of the largest human trafficking ports in the world of people both leaving and coming in. Something to think about when you have a false sense of security living here...


...


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## JD7.62 (Feb 13, 2008)

_Backwoods said:


> ...



:thumbup:


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## Tobiwan (Apr 27, 2012)

_backwoods said:


> ...


😂^^


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## MrFish (Aug 21, 2009)

Matt Mcleod said:


> Most likely that boats in about 1000 pieces by now. A lot of times they find the stripped hull in the woods somewhere, that's about it.


Yep.


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## 301bLLC (Nov 23, 2013)

How can one help prevent boat theft?

Throw the breaker to the lift? 

Lock the lift control box?

Put a simple fuel pump ground kill switch hidden somewhere? The motors just crank, no start giving you plenty of time to set up for a head shot.(the best solution in my opinion, I put a push/pull switch on my Jeep, It doesn't look like a switch)

GPS tracking unit? They are very affordable now.

Anything else?


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## BlueH20Fisher (Mar 20, 2008)

Doubt they even tried cranking it...probably towed it a ways from the house before fooling with anything.


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## bigrick (Sep 29, 2010)

I'm sure there really is no sure way to not have something stolen. If a thief wants something bad enough they will get it. All security products to is give the owner piece of mind and maybe slow the process down.


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## Orion45 (Jun 26, 2008)

301bLLC said:


> How can one help prevent boat theft?
> 
> Throw the breaker to the lift?
> 
> ...


Put an extra disconnect switch by your house. That way, there is no power going to the dock.


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## WW2 (Sep 28, 2007)

Orion45 said:


> Put an extra disconnect switch by your house. That way, there is no power going to the dock.



This... very hard to drag a 36 foot boat out of a lift harness.


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## gator7_5 (Oct 4, 2007)

Insure it. Buy a new one.


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## chad403 (Apr 20, 2008)

A boat being stolen is blessing. Cheers to ya.


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## whalerjon (May 7, 2010)

Good article in Florida Sportsman about protecting your boat.

http://www.floridasportsman.com/2013/07/17/stopping-boat-theft/


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## DawnsKayBug (Jul 24, 2013)

Im going to speculate they find the boat and the thief chainsawed the engines off and took the electronics.


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## PurpleNGold (Mar 15, 2011)

Do that many thieves have access to a trailer to accommodate a boat that size?


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## DawnsKayBug (Jul 24, 2013)

Run it up on the bank drag it out of the water with a chain using a 4x4 and start cutting?


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## markw4321 (Oct 4, 2007)

http://www.thehulltruth.com/boating-forum/460032-ring-thieves-back-again.html#b

This thread about a ring of thieves that supposedly operates in Florida.every year is a good.read.


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## Kim (Aug 5, 2008)

A couple years ago someone stole a triple axle trailer from me, they probably put that boat on it and took it to the woods in Alabama for disection.


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## waveshaper2 (Dec 10, 2013)

This is my first post on the PFF. I have been following this site for a long time and I mainly fish the FWB/Destin area. Thursday night/Friday AM there was a 33ft Cobalt Craft boat that crashed into the Mid-Bay Bridge that resulted in the death of three people . It seems kind of unusual to have two almost simultaneous events like this at night/during such a slow time of the year in the same general AO. 
http://www.nwfdailynews.com/local/boating-crash-shocks-family-friends-1.246575


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## kanaka (Oct 3, 2007)

Hmmm, you thinking that too, eh? Saw the lift this afternoon, its all jacked up, bunks are at the top of the lift on one end, in the water at the other.


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## waveshaper2 (Dec 10, 2013)

kanaka said:


> Hmmm, you thinking that too, eh? Saw the lift this afternoon, its all jacked up, bunks are at the top of the lift on one end, in the water at the other.


These are the kind of incidents/stuff you would expect on Billy Bowlegs/Fourth of July but not on a Thursday night/Friday early AM in December. I figured that there is a chance that these two boats may have crossed paths during the night in question or maybe those killed in the crash witnessed something. Hopefully they can get a GPS track off the sunk boats GPS unit, if that's even possible?


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## baldona523 (Mar 2, 2008)

I would guess there is foul play involved by someone familiar with this boat. 
First off, the lift is broken in the Up position. Are you telling me someone was such a great thief to steal the boat and then broke the lift in the up position after the boat was removed? Just doesn't make any sense to put the lift back up to make that extra noise to break the lift, it would have to make a lot of noise to break it like it did.

Additionally, this boat was kept right next to the shalimar bridge in plain view of all kinds of people driving by. There are all kinds of boats in people's yards and in boat storage that with a pair of bolt cutters and 1-2 locks cut you could have a boat easily. This was not a new boat and probably had a lot of hours on it, and this is a huge boat that sticks out. This boat only had 2 or 3 outboards on it, which these days is underpowered for a 36ft center console and not a "go fast". I have a hard time believing this boat was stolen as there are much better and easier boats to steal that would be easier to deal with on the black market.


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## goheel (Feb 3, 2011)

Exactly, that's why we can't rule out the "insurance fraud" angle.


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## PaulBoydenCustoms (Dec 3, 2008)

trip yamaha's are the correct config for this boat, quads maybe on the 39 but the new 39 even comes with trips standard


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## bamachem (Oct 2, 2007)

baldona523 said:


> I would guess there is foul play involved by someone familiar with this boat.
> First off, the lift is broken in the Up position. Are you telling me someone was such a great thief to steal the boat and then broke the lift in the up position after the boat was removed? Just doesn't make any sense to put the lift back up to make that extra noise to break the lift, it would have to make a lot of noise to break it like it did.


If it's a cable boat lift - most are - then if you flip the switch to lower it down, it will go to the end of the cable and then the cable will start to wrap back onto the pipe in the opposite direction as before. Eventually it will pull the lift out of the water and put pressure on the cable/I-beam/structure until something breaks. Sometimes it's the cable and the beam will fall into the water. Sometimes the motor will burn up and the lift will be stuck in the air. Sounds to me like the cable broke on one end and the motor burned out on the other. 

A thief would trip the switch to lower the boat and then not worry about turning the lift off. An owner would typically turn the lift off - if nothing else, out of habit - and secondly because there is no insurance on a lift since it's on a pier. The fact that the lift is broken points to a theif and not fraud.


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## baldona523 (Mar 2, 2008)

bamachem said:


> If it's a cable boat lift - most are - then if you flip the switch to lower it down, it will go to the end of the cable and then the cable will start to wrap back onto the pipe in the opposite direction as before. Eventually it will pull the lift out of the water and put pressure on the cable/I-beam/structure until something breaks. Sometimes it's the cable and the beam will fall into the water. Sometimes the motor will burn up and the lift will be stuck in the air. Sounds to me like the cable broke on one end and the motor burned out on the other.
> 
> A thief would trip the switch to lower the boat and then not worry about turning the lift off. An owner would typically turn the lift off - if nothing else, out of habit - and secondly because there is no insurance on a lift since it's on a pier. The fact that the lift is broken points to a theif and not fraud.


I didn't see what kind of lift it was, and you could possibly be right.

But someone that is not familiar with a lift is going to stand there using the controls until the boat is in the water, then turn it off. Control the intangibles yourself because you don't know what you are doing. They wouldn't just hit a button and expect it to lower by itself if they had no clue what they were doing.

I have a hard time believing that someone knows how to steal a boat but not work a lift, a lift is the easiest part.

Often times people over compensate for fraud like this by making it "look" like something else happened. Again, I don't see why anyone would pick that boat to steal unless there is a reason we don't know about. Again you could be right, but this just doesn't seem like a good prospect for a theft.


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## Orion45 (Jun 26, 2008)

baldona523 said:


> I didn't see what kind of lift it was, and you could possibly be right.
> 
> But someone that is not familiar with a lift is going to stand there using the controls until the boat is in the water, then turn it off. Control the intangibles yourself because you don't know what you are doing. They wouldn't just hit a button and expect it to lower by itself if they had no clue what they were doing.
> 
> ...


What *bamachem* said. 

Why would you stand on the dock waiting for the boat to come down? If the boat was towed off and started a bit further away, all you need is to tie a rope to the eyes/cleats on the stern, start the lift down, jump in the tow boat, and pull the boat off as it starts to float. 

Lifts designed to handle heavier boats use pulleys which makes them slow. By the time the bunks completely unravelled and then stared back up, the perps were long gone.


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## baldona523 (Mar 2, 2008)

Orion45 said:


> What *bamachem* said.
> 
> Why would you stand on the dock waiting for the boat to come down? If the boat was towed off and started a bit further away, all you need is to tie a rope to the eyes/cleats on the stern, start the lift down, jump in the tow boat, and pull the boat off as it starts to float.
> 
> Lifts designed to handle heavier boats use pulleys which makes them slow. By the time the bunks completely unravelled and then stared back up, the perps were long gone.


Because we aren't talking about some "Fast and the Furious" hollywood movie here, it is real life small town perps if thats what happened. There are much newer boats on trailers ready to steal all over the place with just some bolt cutters and a truck needed. To steal this boat you'd need to start it up, drive it to a ramp, put it on a trailer, etc. Theres not much you can do with a boat in the water but steal some electronics.

I could easily be wrong here I agree, but ask any detective and they'll tell you a great majority of crimes are a lot more basic and close to home than what hollywood makes them out to be. This boat just doesn't seem like an easy or worthwhile target.


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## WW2 (Sep 28, 2007)

baldona523 said:


> Because we aren't talking about some "Fast and the Furious" hollywood movie here, it is real life small town perps if thats what happened. There are much newer boats on trailers ready to steal all over the place with just some bolt cutters and a truck needed. To steal this boat you'd need to start it up, drive it to a ramp, put it on a trailer, etc. Theres not much you can do with a boat in the water but steal some electronics.
> 
> I could easily be wrong here I agree, but ask any detective and they'll tell you a great majority of crimes are a lot more basic and close to home than what hollywood makes them out to be. This boat just doesn't seem like an easy or worthwhile target.


You would also be towing said boat down road that have cops etc. Come in from the water and it's much more quiet and much less patrolled. There is a reason SEAL teams come in from the ocean and not drive in with trucks.


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## SaltAddict (Jan 6, 2010)

In the OP, the poster says "they left the boat lift running to break it too."

If one set of keys was left in the boat, hell a kid could've pulled this caper off.


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## boggs187 (Jun 23, 2008)

http://www.weartv.com/news/features/top-stories/stories/expensive-boat-stolen-39218.shtml


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## Orion45 (Jun 26, 2008)

baldona523 said:


> Because we aren't talking about some "Fast and the Furious" hollywood movie here, it is real life small town perps if thats what happened. There are much newer boats on trailers ready to steal all over the place with just some bolt cutters and a truck needed. To steal this boat you'd need to start it up, drive it to a ramp, put it on a trailer, etc. Theres not much you can do with a boat in the water but steal some electronics.
> 
> I could easily be wrong here I agree, but ask any detective and they'll tell you a great majority of crimes are a lot more basic and close to home than what hollywood makes them out to be. This boat just doesn't seem like an easy or worthwhile target.


What "Fast and Furious" scenario?

The owner used circuit breakers at the dock to cut power to the lift. It's a simple matter of engaging the circuit breakers and then flipping the two switches to *down* to lower the boat.

Here's how easy it is to steal a boat:

1. Attach lines to eyes/cleats.
2. One guy jumps on the dock and flips lift switches to *down* position.
3. Guy jumps on bord towing boat and waits until boat on lift starts to float.
4. Pull boat of lift into the channel.
5. Connect batteries, start boat, and drive off. No way it takes 15 minutes to connect batteries as reported by owner. 
6. Insert screwdriver in ignition switch and crank the engines.
7. If engines do not crank there is a very fast way to hot start them. Most boat swithches have four wire attached. A pair for power, and a pair for the starter. Connect the two power wires and the touch the two starter wires and the engine will crank.

Also, I'll bet the boat lift switches were left in the down position. Lifts for heavier boats use pulleys for mechanical advantage. Thus, they operate slower than lifts without pulleys. Once the lift completelly unwinds, it will start winding up again by reversing the way the cables are wound. Once the lift jams in the up position, the motor will most likely burn out or trigger a overheat switch.


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## Orion45 (Jun 26, 2008)

WW2 said:


> You would also be towing said boat down road that have cops etc. Come in from the water and it's much more quiet and much less patrolled. There is a reason SEAL teams come in from the ocean and not drive in with trucks.


Absolutely. It gets very dark on the water and very few neighbors are paying attention.

I installed a prop lock on my motors since there were some hits in the area. People were driving up to lifts and stealing ss props.

My lift had a disconnect switch by the house and when I left town, I would also trip the circuit breakers inside the garage. No way anyone was going to get power to my lift.

Like you said, there is no way you'll drag a heavy boat of a lift by towing it with a boat....unless you have a tug. Even smaller boats will be hard and will create a lot of noise.

The only way to lower a lift without power is to cut the pulley belts and turn the pulleys by hand....and that will take quite a lot of turning. 

My lift used metal chains vice rubber belts. Lots of work involved before you could start turning the pulleys by hand. 

Cutting lift cables is also not an options unless you have four guys who will cut at the same time. Of course, watch out for the whiplashes and the big splash.


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## kanaka (Oct 3, 2007)

..."just had $30,000 in electronics installed..." Believe the thieves knew of this.


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## kanaka (Oct 3, 2007)

*New Twist*

According to the NWF Daily News from a Shalimar police dept report, " It took them about 37 minutes to launch the boat from the lift and head toward the Shalimar Bridge..."
The event was timed???????


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## Mac1528 (Mar 24, 2012)

Joe Bell "The batteries were disconnected, they had to connect the batteries. All this took about seventeen minutes according to our surveillance cameras."


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## waveshaper2 (Dec 10, 2013)

kanaka said:


> According to the NWF Daily News from a Shalimar police dept report, " It took them about 37 minutes to launch the boat from the lift and head toward the Shalimar Bridge..."
> The event was timed???????


The video of the theft starts at 4:36 AM + 37 minutes = 5:13 AM when they depart the dock with the stolen boat. That gives them about 45 minutes to make the boat vanish before daylight and that's not much time. Also, the boat owner noticed it missing at 6:15 AM on the same morning.


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