Theft-proofing a 3-foot Tiki ??

I just bought one this weekend at Oceanic Arts. I'm going to place it in the garden in front of our condo complex. The problem is that we get a lot of transient foot traffic with people walking down to Main St. or the beach. I just know someone is going to snatch it if I don't secure it down. I'm trying to figure out the easiest way to do this. OA suggested attaching rebar to the bottom and then burying that. Does anyone have any other ideas? FYI, Home Depot is like a foreign country to me.

[ Edited by: JOHN-O 2009-07-26 16:11 ]

You're right it would disappear probably in the first week. For safety reasons I concrete a treated 4 x 4 post in the ground about 2 ft. down, then drill 2 10" lag bolts thru the post and screw into the tiki. Some folks don't want to put a hole in the backside but there's not a lot of choices. Just use a bag of fencepost concrete (Home Depot $3.00) If you make it tougher to steal so it takes longer to remove, they might decide the risk of getting caught isn't worth it. But then again they might be idiots.

Wanted to add that you should place the tiki on a stepping stone (less chance of rot) and make sure sprinklers don't water it.

[ Edited by: Jungle Trader 2009-07-26 16:33 ]

You could always chain it to something... if there is something to chain it to. Then you could get the thick nautical rope from Home Depot to wrap over the chain. The chain would only work if there is a deep groove so the chain can't be slipped over the top or bottom. Otherwise, you could drill a hole with a long drill bit? But, that still only works if you have something to chain it too, and shrubs or something to hid the chain.

you could also smear it with dog poo?

JOHN-O, Please post a photo of your tiki so that we may get some more ideas. Tiki theft is a serious crime (to most of us here anyway) so any help we can give will benefit everyone. I just installed a 6 footer in my front yard this past weekend and took photos to show how I secured it. Will have that in a new thread soon and will post the link here also. 8FT

I once was lost............but now I'm found

[ Edited by: 8FT Tiki 2009-07-28 16:48 ]

Razor wire or an electric fence.

[ Edited by: GROG 2009-07-28 14:53 ]

a meticulously maintained 9 mm

Here's the link:
http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=33324&forum=7&0