Installing a safe in an Interstate?

[InterBlog]

Has anyone installed a safe (as in the security device for storage of valuables) in their Interstate?

You might not want to put that info on a forum, especially if you announce yourself by WBCCI, so if you have and would like to PM me, I could later summarize by making generic references to what "some owners" have done. Or I could say nothing whatsoever.

In my case, I'm not looking to store great riches in the vehicle, but rather my Interstate usage sometimes intersects with my job, which requires me to adhere to certain confidentiality protocols.

I do know one AI owner who installed their own safe, and Sprinter Store does offer one option. Those are the only ideas I know about thus far.

Sprinter Safe Stor

Thanks.

[Protagonist]

The Sprinter Safe won't work with your 2006 Interstate, since it would occupy the same space as your house battery. But there are a variety of automotive safes that could be made to work, and home handgun safes that could be adapted.

I haven't installed a safe in mine (though I wouldn't admit it if I had), but I have looked at various mounting options if I choose to add one in the future. After all, in the event of a hurricane evacuation I will be carrying some vital documents with me, and a secure place to store them would not be amiss.

One key feature is that a safe would have to be mounted to the metal of the original van in some position. That means fastened to the roof inside an overhead locker, fastened to the floor inside a full-height closet (or fastened to the floor under a galley drawer that would have to be removed to access the safe if you really want it concealed), or fastened to a rear wheelwell under my side-facing seat (or under a twin bed if you have a twin bed model). Anything fastened to the sheet metal of the van could be reinforced using a backing plate to prevent the fasteners from being pulled out by brute force, which kind of eliminates the possibility of fasteneing it to the van's sides; roof or floor only.

I don't know if it's like this on the 2006 models, but on mine, there is a compartment under the passenger-side front seat footwell, that holds tire-changing tools. One excellent possibility would be to relocate the tire-changing tools, and install a shallow recessed floor safe in place of the tool compartment.

[InterBlog]

Originally Posted by Protagonist

The Sprinter Safe won't work with your 2006 Interstate, since it would occupy the same space as your house battery. But there are a variety of automotive safes that could be made to work, and home handgun safes that could be adapted.

I haven't installed a safe in mine (though I wouldn't admit it if I had), but I have looked at various mounting options if I choose to add one in the future. After all, in the event of a hurricane evacuation I will be carrying some vital documents with me, and a secure place to store them would not be amiss.

One key feature is that a safe would have to be mounted to the metal of the original van in some position. ....

FRONT SEAT SAFE - Yup. The front seat Sprinter safe is a popular option for some owners but not workable for us due to the house battery being there.

SMALL GUN SAFES - Let me speak in generic terms. This being Texas, almost everyone we know has at least one gun safe placed strategically somewhere in their house. Most people report that they are superb (especially the ones that have the electronic code pop-open buttons, not the biometric ones which can have a higher fail rate), and I can see where they'd work in a vehicle. I agree that is a potentially good option for certain applications in any motorhome or trailer.

VEHICLE SAFES - I've had trouble searching for products because the word "safe" is used in so many different contexts. A lot of returns have to do with "safety".

FRAME-MOUNTED SAFES - Here we get into the Catch-22 of sorts because a safe designed to deter thieves is really great at attracting thieves. Most of the homeowners I have personally known who have suffered serious losses had safes that were focused on to the exclusion of most other contents of the home. Thieves will drive a truck through the wall of a tract home and use heavy chains to yank a bolted safe off the floor if necessary. I've seen cases where homeowners under-insured themselves because they had this high-dollar safe that they thought would provide the protection for them. Wrong answer.

So where is the sweet spot of protection vs. attraction? I'm thinking that a safe in a trailer or motorhome would primarily offer limited protection from the simple smash-and-grab scenario. Anything more sophisticated and they will manage to get into it no matter what.

Word of advice to anyone who uses one - much like a personal safe in a cruise ship or hotel room, leave it open whenever you are not using it. That way if you do get broken into, they won't destroy your infrastructure trying to crack open an empty safe.

[Protagonist]

Come to think of it, at least in the imterim, the idea of removing a galley drawer for access made me think of something.

As long as you're storing documents and not valuable goods, just slip them into a document-sized Ziplock bag to protect them against leaky plumbing, and remove a bottom galley drawer. Put the documents under the drawer, and put the drawer back in place. I doubt that casual thieves would go to the trouble of completely removing a drawer to look under it; they're more likely to look in the drawers for pilferables, not under the drawers.

[InterBlog]

Originally Posted by Protagonist

Come to think of it, at least in the imterim, the idea of removing a galley drawer for access made me think of something.

As long as you're storing documents and not valuable goods, just slip them into a document-sized Ziplock bag to protect them against leaky plumbing, and remove a bottom galley drawer. Put the documents under the drawer, and put the drawer back in place. I doubt that casual thieves would go to the trouble of completely removing a drawer to look under it; they're more likely to look in the drawers for pilferables, not under the drawers.

It generally goes beyond documents into electronic media despite lack of theft value.

There is another consideration here and that is weight. I called our biggest area security-related brick-and-mortar and said WHAT IF I wanted to put a small safe in a motorhome and WHAT IF I maybe wanted to think about investing in something a bit better quality than the toy safes that I see on the internet?

They had two specific recommendations for use in a motorhome but the problem is, as soon as you get into better quality, they start to weigh as much as a small adult. So that idea sorta goes out the Airstream-retrofitted flap window.

[Phoenix]

Ran across these on the Costco Website. Not sure if these will fit in an Interstate, but they look like they are well-made:

http://www.costco.com/Console-Vault-....11318704.html

[interstateflyer]

We purchased an under seat (passenger side) safe from sprinterstore.com for our 2005 Interstate. Our house battery was under the street side couch.

[Ganado]

This company makes safes for all types of vehicles
Console Vault | Buy Direct For Lowest Price + Free Shipping

[Phoenix]

Note: Costco link is also for Console Vault, but price is a little less. Not sure about this item, but Costco usually includes shipping in online prices.

[jerhofer]

This company had laptop safes which might work.

View All Laptop Safes - Free Shipping over $99 | NationwideSafes.com

[c21]

I installed one of these in my prior RV. Great little safe and totally hidden by a rug. I haven't assessed the underside of the AI to determine if one of these would work.

Q200K RV Wood Floor safe

[mandolindave]

If the bad guys found a safe, they would think something valuable was in there. The damage done while ripping it out would cost more than whatever i could afford to put in it.

[Boxster1971]

Originally Posted by InterBlog

Has anyone installed a safe (as in the security device for storage of valuables) in their Interstate?
...........
I do know one AI owner who installed their own safe, and Sprinter Store does offer one option. Those are the only ideas I know about thus far.

Sprinter Safe Stor

Thanks.

Neither of those Sprinter Store "Safe Stor" panels will work on late model Interstates. The Seat Pivot blocks the use of the top plate and the front passenger seat side area on my and other late model Interstate contains the electrical switches for the awning.

I have not installed a safe or secure box in my Interstate, but I have looked at several possible areas to install one.

I found that there is a sizeable void under the second row passenger seats in my Lounge model with seating for eight. Even if I don't install a safe that area under the seats provides yet another area to store small items. Every cubic inch counts in these small B-vans, especially when you live in it for three months like I did this summer.

[InterBlog]

Originally Posted by jerhofer

This company had laptop safes which might work.

View All Laptop Safes - Free Shipping over $99 | NationwideSafes.com

Those look better quality than some of the "dorm room" safes that are clearly designed to prevent casual grabs only (you could break into most of them with a bit of effort).

[InterBlog]

Originally Posted by c21bill

I installed one of these in my prior RV. Great little safe and totally hidden by a rug. I haven't assessed the underside of the AI to determine if one of these would work.

Q200K RV Wood Floor safe

Just in case anyone doubts the level of sophistication that has been built into targeted internet marketing, I've attached a screengrab of the view I received while logging in this morning.

[InterBlog]

Originally Posted by mandolindave

If the bad guys found a safe, they would think something valuable was in there. The damage done while ripping it out would cost more than whatever i could afford to put in it.

Yup, I talked about that issue in one or two of my replies. A safe is the ultimate thief-bait. But in my case there's a liability factor for business reasons (I'm less liable if I can demonstrate that I took every reasonable precaution against theft).

As I mentioned before, if anyone installs any of these things, they ought to leave it open when not storing something important. That way a thief won't destroy your infrastructure trying to get into an empty safe.

[Lily&Me]

When I was still working, highly confidential materials in my car were the rule, rather than the exception, as was true for thousands of fellow worker bees, their supervisors, etc.

Locked up and out of sight kept things secure, and there was never an issue presented by anyone as to anything more that needed to be done.

The Interstate, locked up, is a pretty secure place, I feel, and much more so than my Toyota Matrix, which never had a break-in, and the tinted windows of the Interstate prevent all but the most persistent "peepers" from seeing what or who is inside.

A break-in could happen....just ask Protag, but he is in NOLA ....but is highly unlikely in but the most unusual and remote of situations, IMO.

Unless one had a lot of cash or valuable jewelry to secure, wouldn't your locked Interstate suffice to your employer as reasonable security and precautions for confidential information?

Just sayin'......with such limited space, a safe and its' weight just don't seem feasible or necessary. But, that's just my opinion.


Maggie

[Boxster1971]

I intend to just have a secure place in my Interstate to store any papers with personal information. Recent thefts had been targeted to just get your vehicle registration as it has plenty of personal information like your home address. In one recent case in Seattle area a couple, while out hiking, had their vehicle robbed including their registration. The thieves then went to their home and robbed it too since they knew the couple was not home.

ID theft has become more lucrative for the bad guys than just stealing stuff. Perhaps some of you saw this story recently published by AARP.
How Millions of People Fall Victim to Identity Theft – AARP

[UKDUDE]

I beg to differ from some of the expressed opinions: everyone knows an RV is a home from home, and as such contains a myriad of valuable items such as money, credit cards, cameras, iPads, etc, etc. So if it's parked in a State Park with lots of site cover (bushes and trees) or at a trailhead where there's no one else in site - and here in the southwest we have thousands of remote trailheads - then you're seriously exposed to the opportunist who will break a window for a quick grab of what's inside.
So a good alarm system such as fitted by Protag, plus a quality and secularly fitted safe seems essential to me.


Sent from my iPad using Airstream Forums

[Lily&Me]

That's true, Dude, just very rarely happening is all I am saying.


Maggie