Stolen Terrova

Yesterday I had my Terrova stolen off the bow of my boat while it was in my driveway. Not sure if it happened at night or during the day, but when I got home from work it was gone. Had it padlocked to my bow but probably should have known better and kept it in the garage. They went through the boat as well but my graphs were in the house along with the remote for the trolling motor. They didn’t take anything else. Not holding out much hope that I’ll ever see it again, but if you come across someone selling a new model Terrova 80 iPilot w/Link without a remote or foot pedal, let me know!

FYI, this was on the North end of Coon Rapids about a half-mile from Crooked lake.

Sorry to hear that man. That really sucks. Someone tried to steal the tires off my truck a week after i bought it while parked in my driveway. I know how you feel man.

I’m so sorry to hear that. What a bunch of garbage bags some people are. I shop craigslist all day so I’ll keep a eye out

Thanks, that’d be awesome. Also, if anyone knows of websites where fishing/hunting items are sold outside of craigslist please share so I can keep an eye out there as well.

Good Luck getting it back. There is a site on facebook for boating items for sale that you may want to watch

Watch your local Craig’s List for sure.

That sucks! My guess is it would not be on the facebook sale sites because that would have all your information connected to it.

Tuma wrote:

That sucks! My guess is it would not be on the facebook sale sites because that would have all your information connected to it.

You’re giving some thieves way too much credit for their intelligence.

blank wrote:

You’re giving some thieves way too much credit for their intelligence.

Very true. But they knew how much a trolling motor is worth and they planed ahead and brought bolt cutters for the lock.

I wonder if Minn-Kota keeps a list of serial numbers for motors that are reported stolen, and reacts if the new owner tries to register it, or download an update?

HRG

May your motor be a defect, catch on fire and burn those miserable souls right down to the bottom of the lake in which they become fish food to supply the nutrients to grow that 30″ eye you end up catching and mounting on the wall.

Check pawn shops around the area. The son’s .

Did you file a police report and did you give them the serial number if you had it? This will prevent the thieves from bringing it to a pawn shop. All pawn shops must report serial numbers to their local PD’s and hold the item for a set amount of days before they can sell it. This time period allows the system to cross check serial numbers against stolen items.

If you didn’t have the serial number now is a good time to log all your serial numbers in a nice neat document. I just took my camera and photo’d all of my serial number plates on everything with a S/N. I then sat down on a rainy afternoon and logged them into a document which I saved to thumb drive that I keep in the gun safe.

Not saying that you didn’t already do this but thought I would mention to others out there that might be on the fence. It basically takes pawn shops out of the scenario. Of course there are still idiots out there that will try to pawn it and they are often busted by the serial number system which is a win-win as you get your equipment back and they get a one way ticket to the gray bar hotel.

x2 on what huntin4walleyes said for sure file a report.

Can’t wait until Karma catches up with them. Dirtbags

Tuma wrote:

That sucks! My guess is it would not be on the facebook sale sites because that would have all your information connected to it.

Guy got busted this winter on facebook for selling items stolen from ice houses in the metro area.

bioguy wrote:

Thanks, that’d be awesome. Also, if anyone knows of websites where fishing/hunting items are sold outside of craigslist please share so I can keep an eye out there as well.

Letgo, OfferUp, and Backpages are probably the most popular Craigslist alternatives.

Good luck!

Are you considering an insurance claim? Your home owners policy should cover this. Might not make sense with the deductable?? Do you have boat coverage?

-J.

. I then sat down on a rainy afternoon and logged them into a document which I saved to thumb drive that I keep in the gun safe.

I know many insurance companies, banks, and apps offer free cloud storage specifically for saving these types of documents. Probably much safer to use a couple of these than just one thumb drive, as they do go bad occasionally.

munchy wrote:

. I then sat down on a rainy afternoon and logged them into a document which I saved to thumb drive that I keep in the gun safe.

I know many insurance companies, banks, and apps offer free cloud storage specifically for saving these types of documents. Probably much safer to use a couple of these than just one thumb drive, as they do go bad occasionally.

Thanks, I’ll have to check into it. I also have a few hard copies scatter around the house too in case of failure but the cloud idea sounds the best.

Hunting4Walleyes wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Munchy wrote:</div>

. I then sat down on a rainy afternoon and logged them into a document which I saved to thumb drive that I keep in the gun safe.

I know many insurance companies, banks, and apps offer free cloud storage specifically for saving these types of documents. Probably much safer to use a couple of these than just one thumb drive, as they do go bad occasionally.

Thanks, I’ll have to check into it. I also have a few hard copies scatter around the house too in case of failure but the cloud idea sounds the best.

Anywhere in your house doesn’t help any if you are unfortunate enough to have a fire.

The exact same thing happened to me Sunday night/Monday morning in the exact same area. They stole a Terrova off the front of my boat and went into the glove box and took the ipilot remote as well. They even took my MN and WI fishing licenses out of the glove box! I didn’t have the foot controller in the boat nor the manual so I at least have the serial number. The one time I didn’t take it off and bring it in the garage…. Pretty mad at myself.

I filed a report with the Andover Sherriff’s dept, you should do the same if you haven’t already. I’m sure this dude has a garage full of them, and hopefully they’ll catch the jerk.

Sorry to hear that man, I feel your pain. I’ll be keeping an eye out on CL and will let ya know if I come across anything.

Wow a serial trolling motor burglar! Kinda crazy to think about. those things are awkward and heavy it seems an odd thing to steal. I feel bad for you guys! If its the same person or persons who ripped you guys off you can be sure they cased your place beforehand. I would recommend thinking back to see if you can remember any cars slow rolling down your block. I would also bet that they will keep doing it until they get caught. Sad state of affairs.

Put up a wanted ad on a few sites.

IT WORKED FOR ME!!!

Thieves love them, a great way to dump equipment without involving pawn shops or advertising it.

Short story long, the circuit board in my garage door opener started acting up.

It opened part way one night on it’s own and some douche bags helped themselves to $4,000-$5,000 worth of stuff, including my Honda EU2000.

The cops were of little help….until later.

I posted a wanted ad on Craigslist for a Honda EU2000 generator. It had a lot of replies and I had people send me pictures.

A few days later one guy sent me pictures of my generator!!! (I had an hour meter installed so it was one of a kind)

I set up a sting operation for the detective on my case.

I ended up getting my generator and about half my stuff back at a later date

(And busted the perps in the process)

There’s a lot more to the story, but that’s the short version.

label033 wrote:

The exact same thing happened to me Sunday night/Monday morning in the exact same area. They stole a Terrova off the front of my boat and went into the glove box and took the ipilot remote as well. They even took my MN and WI fishing licenses out of the glove box! I didn’t have the foot controller in the boat nor the manual so I at least have the serial number. The one time I didn’t take it off and bring it in the garage…. Pretty mad at myself.

I filed a report with the Andover Sherriff’s dept, you should do the same if you haven’t already. I’m sure this dude has a garage full of them, and hopefully they’ll catch the jerk.

Sorry to hear that man, I feel your pain. I’ll be keeping an eye out on CL and will let ya know if I come across anything.

I had a feeling that I might not be the only one just based on the fact that they were obviously on a very focused mission. Sorry to hear you had the same experience and I will definitely let you know if I hear anything on my end.

Just to answer some earlier questions, I did place a police report immediately and provided the serial number so pawning it off should be more difficult in theory. The theft is technically covered under my boat insurance and/or my homeowners, but neither is going to cover it all because of deductible, etc.

I really like the idea of a wanted ad! I am going to put one up on a bunch of sites and see what happens. At this point I would get just as much satisfaction busting these slime balls as I would getting my motor back!

Not trying to be a downer but here is some food for thought.

Most everyone in this part of the country seems to be in love with the idea of a quick release plate for their bow mount trolling motor. The little bitty locks you can secure them with can be popped off with a screwdriver in seconds.

I always bolt mine on with nyloc’s and it going to take some time, effort, contortion disassembly and tools to get it off, and if you add a second nyloc on top of the first you likely with not find a thief motivated enough to bother with it.

I am parked next to someone with a quick release plate you can bet on which one will have better chance of being gone in the morning. Your quick release plate is my best trolling motor security system.

Chubby- don’t disagree at all, I like them because I bring it into the garage every time, except that one time… and here we are. I agree, if it were bolted I doubt it would have been stolen. I will argue that popping the ipilot link head off is pretty easy so your bolts will not protect against that..

chubby wrote:

Not trying to be a downer but here is some food for thought.

Most everyone in this part of the country seems to be in love with the idea of a quick release plate for their bow mount trolling motor. The little bitty locks you can secure them with can be popped off with a screwdriver in seconds.

I always bolt mine on with nyloc’s and it going to take some time, effort, contortion disassembly and tools to get it off, and if you add a second nyloc on top of the first you likely with not find a thief motivated enough to bother with it.

I am parked next to someone with a quick release plate you can bet on which one will have better chance of being gone in the morning. Your quick release plate is my best trolling motor security system.

Definitely something to think about. If you bolt it on you make the choice to leave it out there and often even in the face of the best laid plans, “where there’s a will there’s a way”. With a quick release plate you can take it off and bring it in when the boat is not in use. Now if you are traveling with the rig is it always going to be practical to remove it from the bow every time you walk away? For me, at this point in my life, sadly my boat lives in my driveway more than it does on the lake/road, so I’m probably going to go with the quick release and always remove it when necessary.

Hunting4Walleyes wrote:

Did you file a police report and did you give them the serial number if you had it? This will prevent the thieves from bringing it to a pawn shop. All pawn shops must report serial numbers to their local PD’s and hold the item for a set amount of days before they can sell it. This time period allows the system to cross check serial numbers against stolen items.

Where have you heard that pawn shops have to report serial numbers to their local PD? Maybe we are in different states. A lot of the MN pawn ships are a part of the automated pawn system which allows Law Enforcement to search for items that have been stolen but not all shop are.
DT

Thinking more about your post. Our local pawn shops are not on the automated system. We do get copies of all the pawn slips for the items they take in however we maybe get them once a month so there will be a long delay. But yes, we do get the serial numbers. When I read your post it just made me think that you were saying that they immediately report them.
DT