How many people live a long way from their boat?

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Dave99

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Hi Guys,

I was just wondering whether you thought there was a market for being able to see what’s happening to your boat while you’re away?

People have attempted to put webcams on boats and remote monitoring systems, but I'm trying to establish whether people would use a service where you would be able to book to have work done on your boat - a clean for example and then be able to log in on the internet to check out how its going and see the pictures.

Further more, pictures could even be taken weekly of mooring lines etc for peace of mind during winter storms etc.

All comments most gratefully received!

David
 
David,

Most of us have a serious investment tied up in our boats. Whilst I have no intention of increasing the cost of ownership, there are times when I can not get to the boat. I would like to think the Marina and neighbours watch out for it, but never too sure. Also I 'do not trust' boat cleaning companies so the idea of a live feed would be a possibility.

So yes, at the right price

Paul /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif
 
It never fails to amaze me the number of boats berthed in marinas over Winter that are tied up (warped) with pieces of string. I've spoken to a few owners about this and had the reply that they were useing their old string over Winter to keep their smart mooring warps good for Summer. False economy and stupidity if I ever saw it. Their investment worth lots to them at the mercy of warps that could be suspect during storms. Yes your camera idea could be good for some but there is other similar 'gadgets' on the market at present like Craft Alert.
 
OK you see yr boat is breaking away from it's berth you phone the marina. They might do the decent thing and go secure for you asuming it isn't dangerous for them. Good mooring lines and a secure boat is the owners responsibility....

But what if you don't see it? Are you gonna watch live voideo feeds 24hrs just in case? I think not.

Marginal benefit I'd say.
 
You could have a video camea pointing at a nearby building or something that doesn't change. Get software to monitor this and if it changes then notify you.
 
Nice idea but by the time it changes isn't it too late? There is already a system using GPS which alerts when boat moves more than a threshold but these systems work well only for theft situations. I really can't see what you'd do if you noticed a change, be that when yr looking at it or it alerts you.
 
I think its a great idea, you never know what they are doing with your boat while you are away, could be hiring it out! (maybe a bit farfetched)...

Mine is just over 1000 miles away in the South of france, and because its a smaller boat (Bayliner 175) then the price would have to be right /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

I sometimes think that smaller boats are overlooked when it comes to this sort of thing and prices are aimed at 'Big boaters', but the bayliner was still a big investment and I feel it deserves the same sort of security as most others

I assume we all get free trials for helping? /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

Good luck

Chris

Edit: As far as the theft thing goes, its locked up during winter on land, so theft is unlikely because its gated and well guarded, but maybe sometimes when i'm feeling cold or bored I'd like to log on and remind myself of why i'm working hard /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif
 
Well Dave, can you beat 60.99 for installation and good service?

Of course for a free trial I'm still in support /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Chris
 
I think if a service included a package with cameras, support & software maybe with several cameras and local connections for quick response in emergency then there might be a market for bigger boats esp if really long distance like Med.

I beleive that would price it out of the smaller boat market.

Perhaps an alternative is to provide a marina security service which includes boat owners being able to view cameras at the marina?
 
We were all talking about this the other night and we came to the decision that we would pay between 50-100 pounds per year to be able to see our boats. Although the key selling point is security, we agreed that in reality it would be used to show the boat off to the secretary.
 
The idea isn't to have camera's fitted all the time -it's having a weekly check, as well as photos from all work carried out posted immediately. So if you have your boat cleaned regularly you will be able to see that the work is done as well as being able to see that everything else has been checked. The idea is to have the service free of charge as part of the normal valeting.

Thanks everyone for contributing - very much appreciated - I have already started talked to some web people to start implementing the system.
 
I see. But if I had to pay extra on top of work to confirm the work had been done I'd be pretty pissed off. If work not domne when I get to boat next I'm calling up the cleaning company, sending a rocket up them and if not improved then I go elsewhere.

Why would you expect someone to pay for check someone elses work? Or are you a cleaning company? Again I'd not want to pay you more for work I already pay to be done properly.

Am I just not getting what yr saying here?
 
you are quite right, you are not getting it /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

He's already said, [ QUOTE ]
The idea is to have the service free of charge as part of the normal valeting.


[/ QUOTE ]
 
[ QUOTE ]
If your marina has wireless internet get an IP camera with wireless connection, no need for PC you can view it direct over the web.




Hows that work then?
Ian
 
Ian,

See the ebay link I pasted in this thread earlier. An IP camera with wireless connection acts like a server, connects via wlan if yr marina supplies that and you subscribe. You then get a website address to access that shows the view from the camera.
 
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