Boat Propellers Article

Rae Anne Fenton and her husband purchased a new boat just two weeks ago. They haven't even put it in the water yet but already have discovered it was a target of thieves.

"I picked up some pieces of wood, and I noticed the propeller was gone," she said.

Pieces of Fenton's boat that hold the propeller were lying on the ground, and her propeller was missing. Fenton lives in a new neighborhood near 12800 South and 2900 West, an area where another owner also discovered the theft of a propeller that same day.

With boating season back, so is the lucrative lure of propellers, which can cost anywhere from $500 to $2,000.

Law enforcers from Utah to Weber counties fear the person or group of people responsible for a large rash of propeller thefts last year are back at it again.

Numerous thefts were reported to police departments in Sandy, Orem, American Fork, Provo, Ogden, Riverton and even Manti last year. Investigators believe the propellers are being sold to local dealers or on Internet auction sites.

And because propellers do not have serial numbers, investigators admit they're hard to recover once they're stolen.

One police report said there were easily dozens of these thefts last year. A local boat store employee said a business last year received two to three calls per week last fall from boat owners looking to replace their propellers.

Craig Meyer with the Salt Lake County Sheriff's Office warned other officers of the problem in a memo, saying, "There has been a significant rise in the thefts of props in Salt Lake County since the beginning of 2003."

Stainless steel props are mostly being targeted. Some dual propellers are also being stolen, according to one boat dealer.

Some victims may not even realize their propellers have been stolen until they uncover their boat in the spring, Meyer said. While the majority of burglaries have occurred while the boat was parked in the owner's driveway, some businesses where the boats are stored outside or in for repairs have also been hit, he said.

As of Thursday, investigators had few leads on any suspects. However, they believe a person who is very familiar with boats, possibly someone who has worked at a marine shop, may be responsible. Police say a person who knows what they are doing can remove a propeller from a boat in 30 seconds using a specialized wrench.

The sheriff's office is strongly encouraging boat owners to simply remove their props when their boat is not in use and store it inside their house. A propeller stored in a garage has a good chance of being stolen, Meyer said.

Boat owners should also use an engraver to etch a personal marking onto the propeller, he said. Propeller locks are also available at local stores.

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