Boat watching services

[jwag956]

We are embarking on a new adventure - which will involve, at least to start, having our 40ft trawler up in the PNW while we live 8 hours away.

Anyone have experience with boat watching companies and what services they perform, costs, etc.?

How often do they check on the boat, do you augment that with remote sensing like cameras, temperature, humidity etc.??

Thanks!

 

[OldDan1943]

A yacht manager. They aint cheap.
A fellow boater?
A friend?
Perhaps the marina office can recommend someone?

 

[Comodave]

Welcome aboard. I also would check with the marina, you do have a slip don’t you?

 

[N4061]

Been in your shoes and always stressed from time to time especially when we had one boat in northern Mexico for six months. Despite the marina team doing a great job checking dock lines that was as far as they would go. Over the years we would ask others docked near us to please keep an eye on the boat (especially the bilge pump) for anything that did not appear right. Also left our contact information on the aft salon window.

I know there are systems you can install to monitor different items on the boat including cameras which you can check on your computer. May be worth looking into?

John

 

[rgano]

When I lived aboard, my next slip neighbors were like surrogate parents and would be many hours away from their boat for six months of the year and then aboard for the other six. I, of course, took good care of their boat while they were out of town - heck, I did it WHILE they were in town too (Ruth fed me nightly after work). Make friends with somebody living aboard or perhaps you might establish an business relationship with a boat handyman if you are not inclined to do everything yourself aboard. That handyman would be a good choice to ask because he would know your boat.

 

[firehoser75]

jwag,
Maybe if you inform us as to where your boat will be moored it would help. I know someone very good here in Nanaimo, Vancouver Island, but he would not be appropriate for say, Anacortes .
It is always possible that at least one of our members knows the area, and could recommend someone close by????
The other suggestions such as talking to the marina manager are good places to start.

 

[guy with a boat]

We are embarking on a new adventure - which will involve, at least to start, having our 40ft trawler up in the PNW while we live 8 hours away.

Anyone have experience with boat watching companies and what services they perform, costs, etc.?

How often do they check on the boat, do you augment that with remote sensing like cameras, temperature, humidity etc.??

Thanks!

We have been down this road and can offer a couple of suggestions. This is a common need and there are boat watchers almost everywhere. Ask at the marina office for referrals first, and talk to others in the marina and the local boating community. Usually you will hear the same names from multiple sources and will get a quick sense of who is reliable and trustworthy. Typical routine is weekly boat visits and being available if needed. Cost varies but isn’t much.

I strongly recommend that you plan for a combination of a basic monitoring system and a local boat watcher. You can monitor shore power, humidity, temp, bilge high water and most anything else you want. Those are the key things and you can get a text message whenever anything is out of the range you set. Then you can call your boat watcher and have them check it out and deal with it. Without the monitoring system, you never know if something went wrong right after the boat watcher’s last visit and you might not know until they return next week. Without the boat watcher, you just get stressed out if you get an alert and don’t have a local contact to handle it.

If you don’t mind spending a few more dollars, get a remote camera or two that is motion activated and sends you an alert when anyone is on the boat. I don’t think it hurts for the boat watcher and any service people to see that red camera light go on whenever they are on the boat. You are handing your keys to the boat to someone you probably have only met once.

We have done this program in multiple locations and the combination has worked really well.

 

[DDW]

Many places in the PNW are well set up with boat watch services. I live not far from you and have kept a boat in the PNW since 2014. First you must decide if you will keep the boat in the water or out of the water, each has its pros and cons. Then decide what services you want: there are basic services that look in once a week and see that it isn't sinking, the power is on, nothing obviously amiss, then there are more full services which will start and warm the engines, exercise equipment, do maintenance etc.

I would not call it cheap - the going rate in BC for a basic service is around $150 Canadian/month. You can find individuals who might do it for $75 - 100.

Due to the border closure, my boat this winter is on the hard in Washington, I've installed more remote monitoring equipment which tells be everything about the electrical, from which dehumidifier, fan, battery charge, etc can be monitored. If I'd spent a little more time on it I could have bilge pump monitoring as well. It is in a storage yard and is also casually monitored by the staff, no charge. If it was in the water I'd want someone paid to visit and report weekly or biweekly. On the hard I'm comfortable with this arrangement.

 

[Comodave]

When we lived in Tucson we had a 46’ trawler in San Diego. We didn’t have any service but I was usually at the boat each weekend. Now however your insurance company may require a local service, you should check into what they require, if any requirements.

 

[Slowmo]

Like you we live in CA (Bay Area) and keep the boat in Washington (Anacortes). The current boat is kept on the hard over the winter so once winterized doesn't need attention. However for many many years we kept a boat in the water in Seattle. We made sure to get to know the people with boats near us, as well as the marina manager, had our number if anything when amiss. We had a local boat yard who could be on call if there were an emergency.

When moored in the water I always made sure that ALL through hulls were closed, all fuel tank valves were off, and water system was emptied. We had power to the battery charger and bilge pumps but all else was off. We made sure that animals were not able to enter the boat or cockpit lest an otter (yes otter) or other animal take up residence. We ran dehumidifiers to keep the interior dry and mold free. We removed all the linens over the winter. Frankly my family did this for decades (literally from 1920's) - living in CA with a boat in WA - and it worked just fine. You just have to close it up methodically.

 

[ranger58sb]

Sometimes called concierge service.

-Chris

 

[Mako]

Remote monitoring and control (temp, lighting, cameras, etc.) was the single greatest thing to give us peace of mind with a home in America while we lived 8000 miles away in the Middle East, leaving it idle sometimes 6-8 months. It was a major hassle to get someone to go visit the home just that one time when things got out of whack (router went down and had to be manually reset).

For a boat I'd recommend as everyone has already stated above, but make sure to include a robust security system with multiple "knocks" (motion sensor, infra beams, pressure pads) and various automated responses (eg., flood lights -> horn -> siren + strobes). This is especially true if you'll be floating the boat at a mooring. With today's technology these systems are not overly expensive.

 

[Ken E.]

I pay a guy $200/month to watch the boat when we're gone, which includes weekly visits. I also have a monitoring system that sends me, and him, a text message and email if the primary bilge pump runs or if there's high water. He also turns on heat when temps are sub-freezing, like now, and generally keeps an eye on things. Ask around your marina for referrals. This is money well spent in my estimation.

 

[slowgoesit]

We are here with our boat in Port Orchard, and depending on where you boat is, we could keep an eye on it. Other option is to search out live aboards folks in your marina and ask them to keep an eye on it for you.

 

[AlanT]

We are embarking on a new adventure - which will involve, at least to start, having our 40ft trawler up in the PNW while we live 8 hours away.

Anyone have experience with boat watching companies and what services they perform, costs, etc.?

How often do they check on the boat, do you augment that with remote sensing like cameras, temperature, humidity etc.??

Thanks!

I am guessing from your phrasing that the boat is not yet yours, or alternatively is yours but not yet in the PNW.

If that is the case, by far the most important piece of the puzzle is to secure a slot in a marina. Once you have that you can figure out the resources in that marina. It makes sense to try and find a marina with liveaboards and to look to that community if possible/suitable. Someone that close will be more attentive and aware than someone that is hired and 'drops in'.

We have been lucky, we had a boat neighbor watch our boat in Turkey for 5 months while we were in Italy, they were happy to do it, and all we could persuade them to accept was a really good meal at the end of it.

We watched a fellow's boat in Gibraltar for a month. He had been away for a while with family illness, knew me and knew I would be in Gib for a while.
Boat looked fine on the outside, he mailed me the key, when I went below every surface was covered in black mold. It had been left untouched for some time before I arrived in the marina. I told him frankly that I didn't even want to be inside that boat until the mold was treated, but was happy to check his shore power, and that the sole was dry (ie bilges not flooded) from the companionway.

As others have noted, you can monitor your boat's essential vital signs from afar (SOC, Bilge, Humidity etc) but you actually need a human to resolve any issues and to spot loose covers, missing or deflated fenders etc.
~A

 

[wkearney99]

Remote monitoring and control (temp, lighting, cameras, etc.) was the single greatest thing to give us peace of mind with a home in America while we lived 8000 miles away in the Middle East, leaving it idle sometimes 6-8 months. It was a major hassle to get someone to go visit the home just that one time when things got out of whack (router went down and had to be manually reset).

Fwiw, I put an MSNswitch at my MIL's apartment, to handle babysitting the router if there were connection problems:

the one I used: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B015NM0LKI
the company: https://www.msnswitch.com/

The idea is it's constantly checking up to two devices. One being the cable modem, the other being the router. If either fails to ping as live on the network, the switch will attempt to send an e-mail (saved until service resumes, obviously) and then power cycle the sockets (in a configurable order). The idea being if the router is hung then it power cycles it. If that doesn't work then it'll power cycle the cable modem. Each time it sends me an e-mail when the connection resumes. It's saved me a bunch of phone calls or having someone go do it manually.

 

[Mako]

So @wk, if I understand right, you program it to ping your 4G/5G at certain intervals (say twice a day) and if not successful then it automatically restarts the system. I like that.

 

[wkearney99]

yeah, it's really set-and-forget. it's a brute-force solution though, and I wouldn't use it to hard power-cycle anything that had a live filesystem (like a computer). But for 'appliance-like' devices it's a nice solution.

 

[wkearney99]

I've been pleased having added a couple of Blink wireless cameras. The only requirements being 5vdc USB power for the sync box and a wifi uplink to the internet. For over the winter I use a USB battery power bank that as a solar panel on it, and the wifi network at the marina.

The key is point the cameras only at areas where there will be change you want to detect. As in, angled inward toward a door, not out toward a dock where people passing will constantly trigger it. Set up right you can expect about two years out of the AA cell lithium batteries in the cameras themselves. I get a message on my phone if anyone's right at the aft door, inside the salon or enters the engine room, with a short video clip.

But no amount of remote monitoring can take the place of having a responsible person doing a periodic check in-person. Especially not if the boat is in the water. There's too many variables like lines, fenders, canvas, random animal issues, potential damage from other boats or storms, etc.

 

[Mako]

But no amount of remote monitoring can take the place of having a responsible person doing a periodic check in-person. Especially not if the boat is in the water. There's too many variables like lines, fenders, canvas, random animal issues, potential damage from other boats or storms, etc.

Very true, you need to be able to call someone to attend to you boat in person.

For long term storage it would probably be better to swing from a mooring. Chafe protection of the dual (or more) mooring lines is about the only worry. Being at a dock however is a constant worry to adjust lines, fenders, etc., especially when the wind blows.

 

[wkearney99]

For long term storage it would probably be better to swing from a mooring. Chafe protection of the dual (or more) mooring lines is about the only worry. Being at a dock however is a constant worry to adjust lines, fenders, etc., especially when the wind blows.

It's a tough call, on a mooring you've got no shore power and no people regularly near the boat. That and visiting it will require someone to be in a boat (dinghy, etc). You're not at the mercy of random people walking up, but instead anyone in another boat. Out on a mooring you're not going to have anyone 'noticing' others onboard, as at a distance who's to tell the difference between a legit visitor checking things, or a criminal ransacking it?

I suppose it'd depend a lot on the general situation around the mooring, some places would certainly be safer than others.

If I wasn't planning on regular access to the boat I'd be more inclined to have it hauled and stored on the hard, especially for something fiberglass in the 40' range. I'd run the numbers on the difference between that and a slip with someone 'maintaining' it. Because if I'm traveling an extended distance to get to the boat, then that would likely give the yard time for the boat to be put back in the water into a transient slip. But it's not something I've had to do, so I'm probably overlooking some other downsides to the idea.

 

[mahal]

Will you have boat washing service? They will let you know if there’s something wrong with the exterior. Offer to pay a little extra to check the inside.

 

[Shrew]

Talk to the dock master. If you're going to be gone for more than 1-2 months, see if hauling it and storing it on land is cheaper. Even if it's more expensive, how much more? You don't need anyone to watch it on the hard.

Otherwise, here are options:

1) Talk to a liveaboard (offer to pay them)

2) Talk to a dock hand or one of the guys who works in the yard (offer to pay them)

3) Talk to the Marina (offer to pay them)

You can use services like boat washers, but I want the boat checked daily (walk-by). Ideally 2x per day (once in the morning, and once at night). Just make sure she's not sitting low and bilge pumps aren't kicking off. Maybe once a week, do a walk through to check for power and leaks, verify pumps work.

 

[Mako]

Have to be careful about your bottom paint if you’re hauled dry for extended periods

 

[Nepidae]

Boat Watching

We are currently on the Loop and have had multiple times we've been a distance from our boat. Currently about 16hrs from her.

We've been fortunate that we have found someone at the marinas where the boat has stayed for multiple months, that we were able to pay to keep an eye on her.

Currently, the dockmaster (mistress) who walks by our boat every day from her boat to the dockmasters office is keeping an eye on her. While she can see any overt change in the boats position in the water, I have the dockmaster going onboard once or twice a month to look things over. She charges a very modest fee to do that, but it is what the parties can agree on.

On a previous experience, I had made a contact with someone who was a tech for the marina. He did what the current person is doing and also did some work for me on the side. A great situation.

So far, knocking on wood & my head, it has worked out very well.

Good luck.