Could your boat be a target for bad guys?

A brazen Ballard theft is a cautionary tale this summer for anyone who trailers their boat around town.

After a long day of crabbing last weekend, Brian McCall swung by the Ballard Fred Meyer for a quick stop before heading to a family barbecue.

But when he came out just a few minutes later, he couldn’t believe his eyes.

“I came outside and I was shocked. My jaw dropped and I said ‘I can’t believe it,'” McCall said.

“My wife said ‘What, what happened?'” McCall said. “I said, ‘Someone took our boat motor while we were in Fred Meyers.'”

A bystander told McCall that two men had come by in a pickup truck and quickly broke through the security bolt attaching the motor to the boat.

“They got out of there fast. It was 10-12 minutes and they got everything unscrewed and unfastened,” McCall said. “It’s a 105 pound motor, so that’s why probably there was two of them.”

The motor cost about $3,000. After McCall’s father contacted their insurance company, their agent told them he’s been dealing with a rash of boat motor thefts around the region.

“It sounds like we are not the first people to find our motor boat without a motor,” McCall said.

The Seattle Police Department is investigating and the King County Sheriff’s Office is also checking whether any of 40 separate incidents involving boats, motors and parts are connected.

McCall is taking the theft in stride, but says he shudders to think about what could have happened, since the thieves brazenly approached his truck and trailer in broad daylight in a busy parking lot and his wife and child could have been inside.

“It’s kind of scary to think about what might have happened if the thieves came across a running car attached to the motor they wanted to steal,” McCall said.

He hopes his experience serves as a warning to other boat owners to keep a close eye, even if it seems they’re parked in a completely safe place.