What to do with your electronic key when you go ocean swimming
You’ve driven to the beach, parked up, got into your swimmers and are about to head off for a swim with all your possessions safely locked in the car.
But wait, where do you put your electronic car key?!
You can’t swim with it (have you ever enquired as to how much they are to replace!), so where can it go?
You could just leave it on the beach; in a shoe (thieves never look into the end of the shoe – Seinfeld) or under a towel. You could leave it on the top of your back left tire – no one ever looks there either…
But if you want to make sure your key is safely secured and guaranteed to be there on your return, the best piece of security kit you can have as an ocean swimmer is a key safe.
This essential piece of equipment is latched onto your door handle or towbar and the key is placed inside a compartment with a combination lock.
You can purchase various types of key safes from your local surf shop – there’s likely to be one near your local beach – or from home hardware stores like Bunnings or Mitre 10 (they’re also popular with people renting out their houses on AirBnB).
OceanFit tip
Choose a key safe with a rubber/plastic over the combination lock. This will protect it from the salt air and prolong its life. The salt air will slowly rust most types of key safes and they’ll slowly become sticky and hard to open. If you use WD40/CRC regularly you’ll keep the movings parts greased and working smoothly.
Alternatives
Here are a couple of alternatives you could also use to keep your key secure:
- Place the key in a sealed bag and put inside a tow float
- Get a copy of the key without the electronic part and use to drive to the beach (won’t work with cars that require the electronic key to be nearby to start), then tie to your swimsuit.
excellent idea. i always take my key with me (the metal part that pulls out of the electronic bundle) …… but what a great idea, to leave the metal park in a key lock thing like this, under the car, out of sight – perfect !!
my car automatic unlocks the door and boot when the key fob is close by.
What do you recommend with the lock to stop the signal from getting through
Can you get a copy of the key made without the electronic part, and then leave the electronic key in the car and lock the door with the key? (assuming the doors have key access as well, and locking by key overrides the electronic opener).
The car with keyless entry knows when you open the door with a physical rather than electronic key, and loses it’s poop. Mine has an alarm, and I didn’t even know until I tried opening it physically once! O_O There is still the issue of what to do with the electronic part required to start a keyless car; that is the guts of it, after all. The physical key just gives entry, and there is no keyhole to start the engine, so no need to guard that in the first place. There is a definite need for signal-proof lock for these types of e-keys.