Exterior Switch Access Ever Cause Problems

[Me.Bikes.Dogs]

Hi all,

I see people doing mods to disable their exterior switches (dock lights, landing gear, stabilizers, etc.) because they are concerned about troublemakers having access to these.

I've never been in a place where I was worried about that and I wonder how concerned we should all really be. Is it a myth or is it really happening?

My questions is...has anybody ever had anyone mess with their exterior switches? If so, what were the circumstances?

[DocData757]

The only exterior switch that someone could mess with would be my rear stablizers. No one ever has. The switch for the front LG jacks and my nose docking lights on my 5vr is the compartment with my battery and its locked. No one has ever messed with anything.... yet.

[Jim W]

I have been camping since 1965. First as a boy scout and then started with my DW in 1971. I/we have never had any issues with other campers messing with our camping items. My Wife and I started out in a tent, with all of our camping gear such as stove, food, dishes, cooler and clothes. Moved on to two different pop-up's trailers and then on two different a 5er's. In my 50 + years of camping I have never heard of anyone stealing or doing mischief to a camper or their gear.
I sure there is an exception to everything, but to me the Internet fuels stories.
Jim W.

[KenBob]

We frequent off road riding areas where there can be several thousand people or a couple dozen. Depending on the time of year or day of the week. You can camp anywhere you can when its busy or anywhere you want when its slow. When you have a substantial amount of money invested in recreational vehicles, you want to keep them.

Having the garage area clear of spare tires, gas cans, etc. means locking them outside or in the bed of the truck. The front landing gear or rear stabilizer jacks provide a convenient place to lock up gear while riding, sleeping, hiking, etc. Preventing the LG or rear Stabilizers from being activated from the outside switches will help prevent the loss of items locked to them. Otherwise, if we camp in a campground with "sites" and do not have the toys, we would not be as concerned.

[hankpage]

We have been camping since we crawled out of a cave and stood upright. We have never had anything stolen or tampered with in a campground but we do lock our bikes up when leaving or at night .... only because they have wheels and can grow wings easily.
Twice we did have our break-away switch pulled out while sleeping at a truck-stop. Once going and again returning at the same truck-stop ..... I guess a local gets his jollies watching the old-timers try to drag their trailer out of the lot. First time it scared the stuff out of me and I thought it must have snagged on something. Second time I knew immediately what it was and was really ticked off. Now I give it a test tug every time we hit the road ... I guess we were lucky it could of just hung there and fallen out after we were at highway speed. Children must play!!! JM2¢, Hank


On the other hand .. We never had computers, flat screens and all the other "necessities" while camping in the old days and I never could figure a way to lock up the tent.