Nautic9 Fenders save space on board with inflatable and collapsible fenders from 9- to 48-inch diameters of varying lengths. Fenders are constructed with UV treated, ultrasonic heat welded, 1.2-millimeter PVC, and the Nautic9 Fenders inflate and deflate in just minutes. Look for their new and innovative, 90-degree corner fender at the Palm Beach International Boat Show.
MSRP of the 14-inch diameter fender for boats sized 25-55 feet is $110
The Montauk Supply Co. Boarding Mat is a durable gunwale
cover that protects the side of your boat from scratches as people step on and off. The water-resistant and UV-resistant mat is sand-weighted on each side to prevent it from slipping or blowing overboard. No assembly or installation required.
MSRP $48;
montauksupply.com
Owners of large yachts typically employ crew to manage and care for their yachts and to ensure their systems are in good working order. Owners of boats less than yacht-sized, however, generally manage and care for their own. But if they don’t dock it right behind their home, short of hiring full-time crew, it’s nearly impossible to monitor their boat 24/7, or it was until recently.
Yacht Protector is an innovative, affordable and easy-to-install boat monitoring system designed for boats of all sizes. Now, before you envision your boat being dismantled to install the system, think again. Yacht Protector was designed to be a plug-and-play system, so no boat modifications are required. Here’s how it works.
Wireless sensors are paired with the CORE module then strategically placed and set throughout the boat. Owners download the Yacht Protector app on their phone, tablet or laptop that enables them to monitor essential onboard systems. The boat’s current position can be seen in map or satellite view, and a complete history by day, week and month can be viewed and pinpointed to within 3 minutes. If there’s any deviation from the system’s thresholds that have been designated by the user, the owner and up to four additional contacts are alerted via the app. Additional alerts are sent via SMS, email and even a phone call from the call center.
Yacht Protector is the brainchild of Gerald Berton, CEO and owner of the Yacht Group. “Boat owners of every size wonder what’s happening with their boat when they’re not there and wonder ‘Will my batteries be okay? Has anyone been on my boat?’” says Berton. “The idea was to come up with a very easy-to-install and intuitive system that allows a person to use their smartphone to access the boat and put a geofence around his boat so they know if it’s been used.” Berton adds that people are comfortable using their smart devices, and the Yacht Protector app provides all the information on the device including forecasted weather risks.
The system has a built-in GPS, so if you’re in a mooring the geofence can be set for a perimeter around the boat. You can receive an alert if someone is on or approaching your boat, and you can also adjust for drift. For larger boats, the geofence can be set to also monitor tenders aboard. The alert system can be muted when desired, and customization options include language, sensor names, alert thresholds, geofence settings, avatars, and much more. “The alert system is really user-friendly. You get an email immediately and also a push alert. If you don’t accept it, you’ll receive one every minute for the first 10 minutes, then at the end you get a text message,” explains Berton. “If there’s something going on, you want to know about it right away. If you don’t answer those, you’ll get a phone call from the call center. You can also list whomever you want as a contact—marina, person who cares for the boat, neighbors, etc. So marinas can have a little cottage industry, too, by providing service and being named as a contact.” The main keyfob is programmed for the boat owner, and additional keys can be programmed for authorized persons.
Dave Sell and a business partner took delivery of their 2016 Azimut 66 Fly in early August and each has his own keyfob. “I don’t live aboard the boat, which is the main reason why I installed Yacht Protector,” says Sell, who lives in Newport Beach, California, about 20 minutes away from Marina del Rey where the boat is docked. “I wanted some indication of the systems at all times.” Sell installed the system himself with some assistance from a marine service company who was doing work on his yacht at the time. Both Sell and his partner have the app on their phones, and their keyfobs are programmed so that when either one of them goes on the boat, the motion sensor is muted on the other’s keyfob so that no alerts are sent.
According to Sell, the Yacht Protector system has already paid for itself. “Just last weekend we got an alert that the shore power was cut. We called the marina, they sent their person to the dock and found out the power receptacle was not functioning properly,” says Sell, who added additional sensors to the standard unit. “That malfunction would have caused problems for all the boats on the dock, but Yacht Protector on my boat prevented it.”
The Yacht Protector system costs $1,295 and includes a one-year subscription and a two-year warranty. So how does it save you money? In addition to peace of mind, since you’re able to monitor your boat 24/7, the risks of theft and other kinds of damage are significantly reduced. Consequently, boat or yacht insurance may be discounted, and some carriers even pay for the alert/service center fees and a substantial portion of the actual system’s cost. According to Berton, NOVAMAR gives discounts of up to $500.
INFORMATION:
yachtprotector.com
— By Liz Pasch, Southern Boating Magazine October 2016
On a quiet night in a sparsely populated marina, a 50-foot unoccupied trawler may seem like an easy target for thieves. The would-be criminals may already know the owner is away and few people are around. The timing for stealing a boat—or just getting inside to hunt for valuables—seems ideal. All that’s needed is to gain entry to the vessel.
Not so fast, however, if the boat is equipped with Siren Marine’s Pixie unit. This electronic boat monitoring system can send a text alert to up to four different mobile phones if an entry sensor is tripped or if the boat’s shore power is disconnected. In addition, a loud “Bloodhound” siren can be programmed to emit, scaring off any intruders.
“If the boat moves or someone gets in, you are going to know,” says Van Anderson of Fort Lauderdale, who installed a Pixie on his 2005 Nordhavn 55 Sunday Morning. Anderson set up a “GeoFence” for his boat so if it moves out of a specific range, the automatic GPS tracking of the Pixie lets him know. “I type in ‘POS’ in a text to my Siren Marine cell number, and in a few seconds I get a text back telling me where the boat is. There are also apps for iPhone and Android phones.”
Siren Marine is the creation of Dan Harper, a lifelong sailor who also has a long history with electronics and computers. Harper wanted to combat two problems that plague wooden sailboats: batteries and bilges. “A good, healthy battery can run bilge pumps,” says Harper, the founder and CEO, who runs Siren Marine out of his home office in Newport, Rhode Island. “The alert allows you to stay ahead of problems. A dead battery will not allow a boat to be started, or the bilge pump or other ‘vital systems’ to be operated in the event of an emergency.
“For Southern Boating readers a big concern is someone breaking into the boat rather than stealing it,” Harper continues. “Knowing that no one has gained entry and that the power is on is what a great majority of our customers tell us they like.”
When Harper launched Siren Marine in 2011, smartphones were not nearly as popular as they are today. Text messaging was the easiest and fastest way to communicate, and almost all cell phones had texting capability. “At the start we focused on a text-based system,” says Siren Marine’s chief operations officer, Jonathan Banks, who notes that the Pixie sells for $499, with a $180 annual subscription plan to Siren’s mobile network. “Fast forward five years and it’s a very different dynamic. Everyone has a smartphone or iPhone, and pretty much every product you buy comes with an app. The catalyst is the smartphone, as consumers connect through the Internet of Things (IoT) to their homes, cars and boats. The forecast is by 2020 there will be 5 billion consumer devices connected to the Internet.”
Each Siren Marine unit has a unique phone number and data is transmitted over GSM cellular networks. GSM conforms to a global standard, devices roam seamlessly with excellent coastal coverage, and the technology is extremely stable. Cellular modules are affordable and draw very little power. With the growth of IoT applications, the cost of cellular components and data is coming down.
“We have sold about 1,200 Sprite and Pixie boat monitoring units since the products were launched in 2011,” Harper says. Powered by the boat’s 12- or 24-volt battery, the unit can be easily installed in a locker by placing the Pixie (a little larger than a deck of cards) where it best fits and test the signal strength of the unit’s internal high-gain antenna. “If the signal strength is acceptable, that’s where it goes. Then you connect the leads to the monitoring unit to monitor battery voltage, bilge water level, motion, shore power status, temperature, and more.”
With the planned phasing out of 2G cellular networks, which the Pixie and Sprite use, Siren Marine is designing next-generation 3G and LTE devices, which will be launched in fall 2016 and will include added functionality. A NMEA 2000 interface, image capture, engine monitoring, and wireless sensors are new functions that will be introduced, and data can also be shared with boatbuilders, engine manufacturers and others through a customized Siren Marine portal.
“We take security of the data transmitted very seriously,” says Harper. “The company that is developing our cloud services and user apps also helped develop the international defense system after 9/11. Any crowdsourcing function is always opt-in by the user, and data will be stored locally on an owner’s device.”
Siren Marine’s greatest benefit, however, may still be those simple text alerts. Knowing right away that the shore power is disconnected can save boat owners a lot of hassle in terms of spoiled food and a horrible mess.
“My boat Sunday Morning was docked in Charleston at a marina and I was away,” says Anderson. “I received an alarm that the power was disconnected, so I called the marina and asked them to check on it, and hung up the phone.” It turned out another boat had come into the slip next to Sunday Morning and somehow disconnected the shore power. The marina attendant simply hooked the power back up.
“I knew right away the problem was solved,” Anderson says. “The Siren Marine unit sent me an alert that power was back on, so I knew the boat was good to go before the marina called me back.”
INFORMATION: sirenmarine.com
— By Don Minikus, Southern Boating Magazine June 2016
