Stolen Tearsrop! Recovered

[DezPrado]

November 2021 some cretins/swines stole my teardrop from my home that was secured behind two closed gates, not visible from the road. Wide range of emotions, some of which included visiting some very dark thought processes, never intending to act upon I hastily add & donning the foil hat. Police turned up four days later! And were not particularly helpfull, patronising and I conclude that as an organisation in this regard, callow and indolent.(result of private discussions with individual officers) Got some nice paperwork to give the insurance co though!
Fast forward to last week, 15 months later, I recieved a phone call from a friend that the local Facebook Marketplace had a teardrop for sale that looked suspiciously like mine. It was! Raced to local constabulary armed with literally tons of additional information to prove that is was mine. Three hours later it was recovered to the police yard. The Sergeant advised that the teardrop had "been thru many hands since being stolen" The implication being arrests not imminent. I haven''t got it home yet, but am negotiating with the insurance to get it back. There is considerable damage to the body work, interior, & galley. Any metal work like spare wheel carrier, stainless bumper, brass portholes were removed & presumably sold to the scrappers to fund their meth habit. I am grateful police acted relatively swiftly to retrieve once they had positive strong evidence to do so. I''m also grateful that I now have damn good security measures in place on my other trailers now that will either slow them down, or give them cause to descend upon yours that are easier targets, and less secure.
When I get mine back, repaired & upgraded, two trackers will be installed among other measures.

From the collective wisdom of this forum I would welcome your advice, thoughts on moving forward renovating the trailer....... Apologies for the long post....
Thanks so far People!
Dez

[QueticoBill]

Sorry for your loss and glad you got it back!

[Tom&Shelly]

Geez! I'll admit to an American stereotype: I thought New Zealand was above that sort of thing. Upon reflection, there are bad people, and meth, everywhere, of course.

Glad you got it back, and that it is in shape to be fixed up and made right!

Tom

[philpom]

Sorry this happened but very glad you were able to recover it. I hope the damage is mostly superficial.

[dabend]

What kind of trackers will you use?

[Shadow Catcher]

Good outcome, now a plug for unique graphics making it easier to recover.

[troubleScottie]

Here is relatively nice one, not too expensive: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09QYG17S8/?coliid=I3EIFIAM9ZHI4H&colid=1LA75JJKYECQY&psc=1&ref_=lv_ov_lig_dp_it

Has both internal and external power connections, a kill switch (obviously un-needed for trailer). It does require cell service which should be around $5 per month. Options to how often it broadcasts -- few seconds to 10 minutes @ 60 mph is 10 miles. Has internal battery so can broadcast when power is removed (for over 24 hours, I think) Small enough to hide.

[DezPrado]

What kind of trackers will you use?

Not sure yet, a lot of research to be done closer to the time at the end of the refurbishment or rebuild. I want two trackers, one to be ''discovered'' and discarded should it be found, and
the well hidden second one to do all the hard work tracking. That's the plan, reality may dictate something else but research it well is the requirement.......

ShadowCatcher. I thought I had distinctive but simple graphics on it, but rough use of a scraper, cheap horrible paint and a yard broom made short work of any concours look anyone might have been going for.

latest update from the insurance people is that I have been offered it back to purchase, at a ridiculous price, considering the structural damage they advise me of, and that the teardrop will have it's registration cancelled 'because it is no longer safe to put back on the road in it's present condition'. Still in negotiations but tempered with the authority from the Lady of my Household to build a new improved version , I'm not stressing the outcome there anymore.

thanks for your kind words folks
Dez