Did You Know You Can Remotely Monitor A Boat? Here’s How
Characteristics that make boating great—independence, isolation, freedom—also create vulnerability. Thieves target boats. Systems fail. Parts wear out. Do you wish you could remotely monitor your boat no matter where it is? Well, you can.
The boat itself is weak. Every owner can tell tales of woe involving repairing and replacing parts. Systems can break down while you are away. A failed bilge pump can lead to disaster. A faulty battery charger can cause your boat not to start after you’ve been away for a few weeks.
Knowing the status of your boat’s security and systems is a top priority of owners of boats both large and small. Today, companies offer ways to help you guard the perimeter of your vessel and alert you if anyone breaks in. Some even call the authorities for you and emit ear-splitting noise deterrence.
You can also track your boat if someone steals it, with GPS geo-fencing to alert you if your boat leaves the slip. Or you can create a virtual boundary around your boat at anchor and receive a notification if you swing outside of a predetermined zone.
And if systems fail, such as the bilge pump during a heavy rainstorm, certain technology will inform you, and the marina staff, that the water is rising and somebody better do something.
All of this is made possible by improved cellular service (4G/5G), satellite systems such as Iridium, and global Wi-Fi such as Starlink. Using these lines of communication means your boat is almost never out of touch.
Security and Geo-Fencing Protection
A lot of cruisers dream of setting the hook off an island and hanging out for a few days. But your boat might be a target for pirates. Deterrence and identification have improved using cameras aided by artificial intelligence to spot the bad guys.
For example, the GOST Specter AI protects you and your vessel in the marina, at sea, and at anchor. The AI aspect can recognize when “known persons” come aboard the boat, which is great. Perhaps more importantly, if onboard cameras capture “unknown persons” boarding the boat, the system triggers an alert message. Also, if the system includes them, it will activate strobes, smoke, or sirens to scare off the intruders.
GOST costs $6,000 for the first year and then $129 a month for a host of services, including complete control and AI integration.
Setting up a geo-fence and tracking your boat if it “wanders” can pay big dividends. GOST has played a role in retrieving stolen vessels by delivering the exact location of the vessel, including video, to law enforcement, using Inmarsat or VSAT.
System and Levels Monitoring
A sunken boat in a marina is a sad sight. Heavy rain or a leak in the hull can sink a vessel, and an owner might not know it for days or weeks, especially if they have no way to remotely monitor a boat.
Preventing that is the aim of Bilge iQ, which displays the bilge pump’s status on the vessel’s MFD via NMEA 2000 protocol. It also connects to a mobile device, such as a phone or tablet. Owners can review pump activity, view real-time current draw, log pump cycles, and set alarms for dry-run events, unusual run time, or failure to activate.
Bilge iQ provides a historical record of pump activity and monitors the quality of the water being pumped overboard. If the system detects oil or other toxic substances in the bilge water, it sends you an alert.
Bilge iQ costs about $280, and if you possess basic wiring skills, you can set it up yourself. You have to connect the bilge pump, float switch, and power, and then connect it to the MFD via NMEA 2000.
BoatSense by BilgeBuddy is another system-monitoring system. It monitors low battery voltage, bilge float failure, or high water. It costs about $250 with a monthly subscription fee and ties into your boat’s systems using cell service. You get push notifications, email, and/or text alerts so you can take action before the battery dies or damage occurs.
An All-in-One Solution to Remotely Monitor a Boat
Vanemar is a boat monitoring and security platform that uses wireless sensors. It costs from $550 to $900 depending on the number of sensors. An Extended Package for a boat with a cabin and a galley costs about $900.
Using a 35-foot boat as an example, the wireless sensors mount to batteries and pumps and other equipment with adhesive and then feed into a Vanemar gateway from the boat’s 12/24V system. Then, GPS and cell service delivers your vessel’s status into the Vanemar mobile app, allowing you to monitor battery voltage, bilge water, and intrusion sensors in real time. You can also set geo-fences around your dock or mooring spot, and track location history.
Boat owners have enough to worry about. You shouldn’t have to worry about your boat’s security and systems health while you’re away from it. Technology can help, and you should allow it to help you remotely monitor a boat. We doubt your phone is ever very far away from you, and now your boat doesn’t have to be either.
Doug Thompson
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