Safes at the Polboat Yachting Festival in Gdynia – report

The most beautiful sailing yachts bring together not only the event's partners, boat manufacturers such as Sunreef Yachts, Stillo Yachts, Vulcan Yachts and Cobrey Yachts. The city of Gdynia hosts water sports fans on the occasion. The yachting exhibition brought dozens of exhibitors together in exhibition tents set up in the marina, offering interesting products such as navigation equipment, sailing gadgets, engines, recreational equipment or even fuel for machines such as motor boats. Representatives of companies offering boating-related equipment are obvious visitors to the marina.

Last year, the sight of safes at the Polboat Yachting Festival caused quite a sensation among perhaps thousands of people spending time at the Gdynia exhibition. Sure, there are a variety of sailing accessories, gear, clothing, but safes? What does that have to do with motor boats or sailing yachts? Quite a lot, it turns out, especially when you are the European leader in the security industry, but more on that in a moment.

At this year's edition it was less sensational, our presence was even received with appreciation, many visitors remembered us and were pleased to appreciate the larger stand and the wider selection of safes. This is perhaps the best thing about trade fairs or exhibitions, that you can talk to interesting visitors.

In the first instance, visitors invited to our stand reflexively asked ‘but what do you mean, a safe on a yacht?’. This is an interesting theme, because instinctively safes, especially fireproof safes or cash-boxes, are somehow not particularly associated with equipment useful in yacht construction.

Is a yacht safe necessary?

As it turns out, however, the matter is not so obvious. There are plenty of items on board a yacht which should have limited access. This is especially true of larger vessels where there is a numerous crew. A quick glance at exhibited vessels is enough to notice that the yacht show has gathered at least a few boats that can easily accommodate a dozen or more people, passengers and crew.

Among the most important items to keep in a boat safe are:

• nautical documents (captain's logbook, charts),
• personal documents (passport, identity card),
• money in cash (sometimes quite a lot, also in foreign currencies),
• small but valuable items, personal valuables,
• watches,
• weapons and ammunition (small arms are increasingly common on yachts, especially on deep-sea vessels).

The waterproofing of safes is a relatively oft-stated issue, and at an event such as a yacht show it would be hard to expect someone not to ask about it. And indeed, the question was asked quite often, and after all, a safe is not a black box.

Among safes, there is no such thing as certified water resistance. Fireproof safes do indeed seal, but this happens under extreme temperature and is an irreversible process.

Read also:   Fireproof and waterproof safe – is it possible?

Yachts are yachts, but the purpose of a safe is to keep your possessions protected while you are away. So when clients turn out to be accomplished yachtsmen who spend months at sea, it would be wise to ensure that valuables, watches or jewellery left at home remain intact there.

Which safe to choose?

There are hundreds of safes on offer, varying in terms of burglar-proof or fire-proof class, size, equipment, locking method or place of installation.

This is the widest group of products, comprising essentially all safes that have burglar-proof grades. The primary task of a burglar-proof safe is to survive an attempt to gain access to the interior using simple or specialised tools within a certain period of time. The higher the burglar-proof class, the longer it takes to penetrate the armour of a particular structure. The security class also determines the weight, and this is a key element. Each safe can be opened with the time and tools available, which is why it is so important that the safe cannot be lifted from the burglary site and taken to a secluded location.

While burglary resistance is somewhat implicit in the definition of a safe as such, protection against a serious fire is an added value. This is a separate parameter which is physically tested at the relevant institution and expressed by a certificate according to a separate standard. In our range of safes, you will find safes with a fire resistance rating of 60 and 120 minutes subjected to a 24-hour test i.a. in a steel furnace. Such a device perfectly protects flammable items such as cash, documents, data carriers (there is a separate group of fire-resistant safes certified for this purpose), as well as family heirlooms or other items of sentimental value.

Among the models exhibited at the Polboat Yachting Festival, we had two products showing how we make safes to special order for the most demanding customers. This is because it is possible to create a completely new design in which we take the priorities that the customer has into account and create a personalised safe. Such parameters include:

• the dimensions of the safe,
• burglar-proof class,
• the colour and texture of the paint (choice of classic powder, soft-touch micro-effect, matt, high gloss),
• type and design of the lock (combination, electronic, biometric),
• interior fittings (watch winders, drawers with jewellery compartments, shelves),
• the material of the interior (veneer, alcantara, glass, polished steel).

The result is a one-of-a-kind safe that combines top-notch security and unique design.

See also:   Custom-made safe

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