How to keep an eye on your boat remotely?

[JumbleDuck]

If you are going to your boat, wouldn't it be good to know whether you should be packing charts and sailing gear, or pumps and claim form?

My boat's also at least three hours away, but it's nice to know what I'll be letting myself in for when I arrive, despite being adequately prepared and insured.

To be honest, to try to avoid sounding smug, and to tempt fate ... no.

I've had boats on swinging moorings most of the time since 1989 and have never had an unpleasant surprise when going on board. Which is not to knock you or anyone else who finds monitoring useful, and I am dying to know where you got a Pi-compatible IP camera for a fiver. My crew tried a Pi-cam connected by ribbon cable, which killed the Pi stone dead (electrostatic precautions were taken when fitting).

 

[agurney]

.. I am dying to know where you got a Pi-compatible IP camera for a fiver.

On the boat I use a cheap USB camera from eBay, it's hopeless for streaming video but is reliable and fine for stills.

However, I also have one of these ribbon connected Pi cameras (£3.90) that I use with Octoprint to monitor a 3D printer at home which streams fine on an early Pi 1 Model B.

 

[JumbleDuck]

On the boat I use a cheap USB camera from eBay, it's hopeless for streaming video but is reliable and fine for stills.

However, I also have one of these ribbon connected Pi cameras (£3.90) that I use with Octoprint to monitor a 3D printer at home which streams fine on an early Pi 1 Model B.

Ta molto. Nous experimenterons.

 

[Greenheart]

I understand almost none of the technical descriptions given here (however basic they may be), but I'm glad people have replied. :encouragement:

I asked the question because I have two potential mooring options when I buy a yacht: one is a marina where crime is not unknown; the other is a very exposed swinging mooring which experiences pretty severe wave-action, commercial traffic and south-westerly blasts.

While I'm only twenty minutes from the farthest option, I would like to be able to pick up my phone in fair weather or foul, click on an app icon, and instantly be looking at the view ahead from the pushpit, or wherever...

...so that whether I'm kept awake by the idea of ruddy delinquents seeing if my solar panel can be detached, or by wailing winds in the night, I can instantly get a view of the scene on board - loose halyards, genoa flapping, a hatch open a crack, or the odd angle she's lying at...

...I'm always very careful how I leave my boat, so I wouldn't want a live-link in order not to need to be so scrupulous in future...

...but seriously, whether it's an apocalyptic winter storm, or a blissful calm morning, which of us would actually prefer NOT to be able to look at his boat, wherever she is? I'd be looking at mine for five minutes every working hour, just for pleasure.

 

[maby]

.....

...but seriously, whether it's an apocalyptic winter storm, or a blissful calm morning, which of us would actually prefer NOT to be able to look at his boat, wherever she is? I'd be looking at mine for five minutes every working hour, just for pleasure.

You'll be terrified for it the first storm it goes through even if you are aboard, tucked up below with a large tot of rum!

 

[Greenheart]

Doesn't it go without saying that I wouldn't be aboard in horrible weather? Hence the interest in rigging up a presence by proxy.

There might be nothing that needs doing when things look bad, or nothing that can be done, but I reckon the option to see what it's like on board, at any given time, from the comfort of home or the other side of the world, is something most people would adopt warily, then never let go.

 

[maby]

Doesn't it go without saying that I wouldn't be aboard in horrible weather? Hence the interest in rigging up a presence by proxy.

There might be nothing that needs doing when things look bad, or nothing that can be done, but I reckon the option to see what it's like on board, at any given time, from the comfort of home or the other side of the world, is something most people would adopt warily, then never let go.

We generally go to the boat if seriously bad weather is forecast - to take care of it. If anything goes wrong, I want to be aboard to fix additional lines, move fenders, tie down anything that is in danger of coming free......

 

[JumbleDuck]

Doesn't it go without saying that I wouldn't be aboard in horrible weather? Hence the interest in rigging up a presence by proxy.

There might be nothing that needs doing when things look bad, or nothing that can be done, but I reckon the option to see what it's like on board, at any given time, from the comfort of home or the other side of the world, is something most people would adopt warily, then never let go.

I would just worry impotently. Sometimes we go on board and find a plate on the floor, or a book on a bunk. Oo-er, we think, must have been a bit wild. And that's as far as it goes - I don't want to see what's going on!

As a matter of interest, have you fixed up a similar system for your house? I thought about it for mine - I have a Hive system, so adding a camera is fairly easy - but I've decided that I don't really want to know.

 

[agurney]

As a matter of interest, have you fixed up a similar system for your house? ...

Sort of. I trial the boat stuff on a system in my shed (but it's a heck of a lot colder so at this time of year the polycarbonate windows are either frosted or covered in condensation) and I also track my home solar PV system on the Pi. I've other stuff, such as CCTV, that I can access remotely, but with security of IoT devices becoming more of an issue I've nothing that's externally controllable that could cause me major grief if it is compromised .. so Hive is a non-starter for me.