The official start of summer is just a few weeks away, and for many that means leisure time spent on the water. Boating is a very popular pastime with an estimated 141.6 million Americans going boating in 2016.  Sales of recreational watercraft (powerboats, personal watercraft and sailboats) reached a high of $39 billion in 2017, up 6.5 percent from 2016.

Like cars, boats are often stolen. But the boat owners among us will be happy to know that watercraft theft was down by 8 percent in 2018 over the prior year. According to the National Insurance Crime Bureau’s (NICB) 2018 watercraft theft report, a total of 4,499 watercraft were reported stolen in the U.S. between January 1 and December 31, 2018.

Florida was the top state for watercraft theft, followed by California, Texas, Louisiana and North Carolina. According to the NICB report, personal watercraft were the most likely type of watercraft to be stolen followed by runabouts, utility boats, cruisers and sailboats,.

You can do a lot to help prevent someone stealing your boat. The NICB recommends the following tips to protect watercraft from theft:

• When you “dock it, lock it” and secure it to the dock with a steel cable
• Remove expensive equipment when not in use
• Chain and lock detachable motors to the boat
• Do not leave title or registration papers in the craft
• Disable the craft by shutting fuel lines or removing batteries
• Use a trailer hitch lock after parking a boat on its trailer
• Install a kill switch in the ignition system
• Ensure your marine insurance policy includes your equipment, boat and trailer
• Take photos of the boat and mark it with a Hull Identification Number (HIN)