Smart Boat

[Malkamus]

Wifey B: Why would you rate his attempt poor?

If referring to the second response, that's not a smart boat. If it gets cleaned and laundry done when he wakes up that is a wife and probably a pissed off one who got tired of looking at his mess.
If referring to the first response that also is not a smart boat, that is a dog. Both poor attempts at sarcasm.

 

[BandB]

If referring to the second response, that's not a smart boat. If it gets cleaned and laundry done when he wakes up that is a wife and probably a pissed off one who got tired of looking at his mess.
If referring to the first response that also is not a smart boat, that is a dog. Both poor attempts at sarcasm.

Wifey B: If I thought he was in any way negative toward his wife, I'd be all over his case. However, I think two things. First, I think he treats his wife incredibly well even if he gripes about it some but he's headed with her on a family obligation rather than to the Bahamas and I'm sure while he griped to us, which I didn't like, he's handled it all pleasantly with her. I think she does the things she does for him lovingly and he admits to her taking care of him. Their relationship isn't like mine but it works for them.

Are you trolling or is it a language issue? Are you just putting us on? Are you really Gomer Pyle or Goober?

Oh, I'm sure you'll grade my attempt as poor too. Lighten up a bit please.

 

[AusCan]

Part of the joy of boat ownership is doing little projects that personalize your boat. If making your boat "smart" is your thing, then go for it.

I wouldn't want it on my boat even if someone offered to do it for free, but that's just the way I feel about it. Projects don't have to make sense or be cost or time effective. Nothing about a boat makes sense other than the joy we get out of them.

 

[menzies]

If referring to the second response, that's not a smart boat. If it gets cleaned and laundry done when he wakes up that is a wife and probably a pissed off one who got tired of looking at his mess.
If referring to the first response that also is not a smart boat, that is a dog. Both poor attempts at sarcasm.

WOW! Who peed in your Rice Krispies this morning?

 

[BandB]

WOW! Who peed in your Rice Krispies this morning?

Wifey B: Apparently he thinks you did.

 

[Malkamus]

Wifey B: If I thought he was in any way negative toward his wife, I'd be all over his case. However, I think two things. First, I think he treats his wife incredibly well even if he gripes about it some but he's headed with her on a family obligation rather than to the Bahamas and I'm sure while he griped to us, which I didn't like, he's handled it all pleasantly with her. I think she does the things she does for him lovingly and he admits to her taking care of him. Their relationship isn't like mine but it works for them.

Are you trolling or is it a language issue? Are you just putting us on? Are you really Gomer Pyle or Goober?

Oh, I'm sure you'll grade my attempt as poor too. Lighten up a bit please.

I have no doubt they have a great relationship. you asked me a question as to him saying his boat was smart because he goes to bed messy and all is clean when he wakes up. only way that happens is a pissed off wife tired of looking at your mess. as for trolling you asked that question only to try to start your own trolling and Gomer and Goober are the same person, someone your age should know that. I'm not here to lighten up I am here for info, I did not ask a smarta** question nor did I post in a lighten up section of the forum. Now if you wish to contribute to the original post question, I would love your input. But if not then please stay out and lighten up with those who know you and maybe even like you. And no I'm not putting you on. To those who gave some great info thanks

 

[Olebird]

Obviously - a bank walker!
Goober (Lindsey) and Gomer (Nabors) were cousins!
Even my little boat knows that!

Watch it whipper snapper,

Old age and treachery trumps youth and exuberance, every time!

 

[Lou_tribal]

I wish I could make my boat smart enough so she goes out to buy wine when the cellar is near empty lol

L

 

[BandB]

I have no doubt they have a great relationship. you asked me a question as to him saying his boat was smart because he goes to bed messy and all is clean when he wakes up. only way that happens is a pissed off wife tired of looking at your mess. as for trolling you asked that question only to try to start your own trolling and Gomer and Goober are the same person, someone your age should know that. I'm not here to lighten up I am here for info, I did not ask a smarta** question nor did I post in a lighten up section of the forum. Now if you wish to contribute to the original post question, I would love your input. But if not then please stay out and lighten up with those who know you and maybe even like you. And no I'm not putting you on. To those who gave some great info thanks

Wifey B: Mr. Tough guy. Well, I know one thing for sure. No matter how much technology on your boat, it will never make it a smart boat.

Oh and Gomer and Goober are two different people. Gomer Pyle joined the marines and that's when Goober was hired by Wally. Goober was Gomer's cousin and they only appeared in one show together, but Goober also made a guest appearance on Gomer Pyle USMC. As to being old enough to know, I am, you're not, even though I'm likely far younger than you.

Now, I'm out unless you decide you want to keep the cat fight going by another response.

 

[OldDan1943]

I wish I could make my boat smart enough so she goes out to buy wine when the cellar is near empty lol

L

I am still mesmerized with waking up to clean, well organized boat and now with the added feature of discovering a always full wine locker.

 

[menzies]

I have no doubt they have a great relationship. you asked me a question as to him saying his boat was smart because he goes to bed messy and all is clean when he wakes up. only way that happens is a pissed off wife tired of looking at your mess. as for trolling you asked that question only to try to start your own trolling and Gomer and Goober are the same person, someone your age should know that. I'm not here to lighten up I am here for info, I did not ask a smarta** question nor did I post in a lighten up section of the forum. Now if you wish to contribute to the original post question, I would love your input. But if not then please stay out and lighten up with those who know you and maybe even like you. And no I'm not putting you on. To those who gave some great info thanks

Why is it, whenever I see a post like this, I want to sing:

 

[RT Firefly]

 

[Okydowky]

My boat is too old to learn new tricks. One of the things I like most about the old girl is the lack of sophisticated electronics below decks.

If I hear a rumble in the engine room and a water splash out the back I know the engine is running. If it all of a sudden gets really quiet on board I know the engine is not running.
Pretty simple..

I recently rebuilt my F.L. and of course I had the option of upgrading the engine to a tier 3 or 4 or 5 but adding electronics would never make the boat more efficient (already only burns only a little over a gl. an hour) or more powerful (I only use about 90 of the available 120 hp) or longer lasting (expected life of the new F.L. is longer than my expected life).

No Thanks, KISS..

pete

I love it Pete Simple and Simple! I think I am on a iPhone 10 now and I don’t think I figured out my 4. So keep it simple....

Lol I have never heard comparing engine hours to life expectancy! But I like it! How many hrs a year do you base this on life of running? My new boat to me I hope there is enough life left in them for me to live through to the end....

2700 hrs on engines/ good for 15000 hrs= 12,300 left on engines
150 hrs average season divided by 12,300 = 82 yrs left

But really the guys that can understand all this tech stuff that changes daily I am envious. If I didn’t have my kids or my wife I would be lost..

Cheers

 

[Olebird]

Famous last words:

"We have the technology - we can automate anything!" Boeing software project manager 737MAX.(past tense)

Different strokes for different folks.


Not nice to speak of a lady's age --- ever ever ever!

 

[Arthurc]

While I hate to say it I agree with many of the comments here. My house is totally automated and I love it, but the boat is something different. Id put the energy into complete monitoring, remote access to that and then advanced nav systems. Its really cool how far the Flir and PTZ camera integration has come with augmented reality, radar overlays, etc. I have all the capabilities to have started automating but haven't yet, right now I am just capturing everything on a linux box and alerting under certain conditions, likely to start writing software next year (as I have time) to do thinks like start the genset remotely in case of power failure as TwistedTree said, although id want to do it myself, run the dry bilge pumps and turn on the heat. Im taking the easy way out on the heat with a Nest when I get my diesel heat installed this winter so no automation required

 

[Scottwb96]

Yes, I have a smart boat I suppose.

I have a samsung smartthings hub and a variety of devices.

Here is a live screen shot.

As you can see, I am monitoring electrical power, bilge water, smoke/CO, intrusion, and temperature.

Since I keep my boat in Alaska I have made temperature monitoring and heating system control a priority. I can not only control my diesel fueled furnaces, I can also control my backup built in electric heat, as well as it’s energy usage to not exceed my available shore power capability.

When anything happens on the boat I get a text message indicating the condition, and some conditions will activate the onboard sirens to attract immediate attention.

This is all using off the shelf components, used for ther manufacturers intended functions. The system requires no code level programming skills, and is configured through the manufacturers GUI screens.

I also have a full set of pan tilt zoom onboard cameras to monitor the engine room, and other areas. Attached is a live shot of my salon and my engine room.

For all this to work one needs a onboard Local Area Network. This is provided by a Cradlepoint router that accesses the internet through carrier and hardware redundant cellular LTE connections that are backed up by a 2mbps satellite link. for when the cellular networks are out of range or unavailable. The comm and alarm systems run on a dedicated UPS that is powered by the whole boat inverter system, and fully alarmed. This prevents boat electrical issues from immediately rendering the com and alarm system inoperative. The cradlepoint router is also remotly accessble through it’s manufacturers cloud based management system.

What are you using for the GUI. Screen looks like a nice consolidated space for all "smart" devices. I like what you did, looks great!

 

[paulpoz]

I use a wifi light switch app UcSmartHome to turn on my engine heaters 750w each on my Cummins engines when it's cold. About 2 hours and she fires right up. Plus monthly fee as long as your marina has wifi. It works awesome.

 

[stevemitchell]

Steve Mitchell, has his own site: SeaBits

He seems to have some some good perspectives on this. I have not used his services and don’t know him personally. He’s on Trawler Forum.

Jim

Thanks Jim! I am here often depending on how many stupidly expensive/complex projects I have gotten myself into.

I've tried adapting a lot of home IoT stuff on the boat, and it works somewhat for some things, but in general sucks for a number of reasons. The primary reasons it has failed for me have been it's lack of marine-grade protection, reliance on higher speed "always on" internet connections, and assumptions of homes vs. boats.

That being said, I have used SmartThings to do automation of heaters and a lot more, but most of the automation I do now is taking marine grade systems and trying to connect them with other systems so that there is data being shared everywhere, and then try layering automation on top of that.

The more interesting things have been with taking that data from those standalone systems, shoving it into SignalK, and then using other systems like InfluxDB and Grafana to graph it, alert on it, and send messages to other systems to do something there.

Of course I have the usual integrations so I can yell at a speaker and turn lights on and off, get temperatures and weather forecasts, and more. But those only work with a good internet connection. Even with my extensive internet systems, even a small passage across Puget Sound will result in some section, even if only for 5 minutes, where things are disconnected. IoT and automation stuff really, really does not like that. Its also very disconcerting to have no ability to turn on/off lights if they rely on that.

Where I have spent the majority of my time is just in visibility and data collection. I have everything that could be networked or connected, and then some, connected. I want to be able to see it from anywhere, on any device. Having all of that data then do something to the boat is where I am very cautious - it has to be very reliable, marine-grade, and tested to work before I'm going to trust it with, say, my bilge pump or switching on/off a load that could cause a fire.

Anyone taken a look at the Vesper Cortex that is coming out later in 2020?

I'm supposed to get a beta unit at some point. Sounds like final approvals and such are still happening with the various agencies. Vesper posted somewhere (I forget) that they expect customer units to ship in March 2020.

 

[Ventana]

About five years ago I designed and built a boat for a New England yard that was close to what I think you are asking about. The idea was that the owner, who lived in CA, could leave his house, and by phone turn on the fridge and freezer, heater or AC, whatever else he wanted, and by the time he landed in Maine the boat would be at the correct temp. and the galley would be ready to accept groceries. If he showed up at night he could pull out his phone and turn on deck lights for boarding, or start the engine or generator so it was warmed up by the time he got down the dock. Lighting, switching, everything could be done remotely. We worked a lot with C-Zone, Garmin, and other marine manufacturers to develop the products, as most of this was in it’s infancy at the time. It was a lot of fun and worked OK, but there were a lot of frustrations along the way.
My career took a sharp turn and I haven’t kept up with the tech., but I know it has come a long way and should be very doable now. A lot more off the shelf parts available now where as we were doing a lot of “design and build our own” stuff to get what we wanted.

 

[ben2go]

I will be doing some automation with a Raspberry PI. It's the same thing as was going to do at home, security, lights, locks, and porthole/hatch open/close with monitoring. The boats essential systems, electrical, driveline, steerage, water, sanitation, will be simple.

 

[grahamdouglass]

My boat isn't that smart

I have a natrually aspirated Ford Lehman 120 and 2 E80 MFDs networked to a Raymarine S2G autopilot with a wireless remote. Everything is really simple. I'm in the process of upgrading my TV and stereo so I can run bluetooth and comcast.

Simplicity has its advantages. It is simple to maintain and less things to break down.

 

[BrianSmith]

I'm making a go at it, one or two sensors at a time with Signal K (www.signalkorg), a Raspberry Pi, and ESP8266 microcontrollers. Feel free to PM me if you're interested in what I've been doing. It's all hobby-level stuff (it's fun for me), but my knowledge of what's happening on my boat while underway os definitely better than before.

 

[ksanders]

What are you using for the GUI. Screen looks like a nice consolidated space for all "smart" devices. I like what you did, looks great!

Thanks!

I use Actiontiles.com as the GUI. I could integrate video into the display as well, I just do not have cameras that can do that remotely, although they are available. My cameras pre-date the alarm system, and will be compatible on the next refresh.

On the boat I also have a 10” Amazon Kindle HD that provides a slightly different display than the Ipad.

 

[Lollygag1]

I would think the marine environment might not be as friendly to some of the smart technology. I do like the idea of remote monitoring, I would think that with large pr craft this would be more practice. That said, the technology will only improve so this will become more common.

 

[rsn48]

If you want budget listening device to detect breaking glass and a alarms going off, I have copied and pasted an article about the "Echo Dot" (Alexa). So you buy the cheapest Echo Dot and put it on your boat with a doodad that turns your light on and off that you can control remotely through your Dot.

And I quote:

"When it comes to home security, most of us aren't looking to renovate panic rooms or build high-end home monitoring systems. We just want a little extra peace of mind. Turns out, one of the cheapest options for exactly this purpose is a $20 Amazon Echo Dot ($39 at Walmart). Using Alexa Guard -- a recently added, totally free feature for every available Echo device -- your smart speaker will listen using far-field microphones for window-breaks and alarms. In addition, the device can turn any connected smart lights on and off to simulate someone walking around the house, and it can send any notifications to ADT and Ring security services if you use them.

So if you're heading out of the country for a few weeks, or just to the store for a few minutes, your Echo can help monitor the house. Here's how it works:

Step 1: Open the Alexa app and tap the hamburger menu (the three-line icon in the upper left corner).

img-2162
The Guard screen can be accessed from the Settings menu.

Screenshot by David Priest/CNET
Step 2: Tap Settings, and scroll to the bottom.

Step 3: Tap Guard and follow the prompts to set up. If you want to use the smart lighting feature, you'll need to confirm your zip code.

Step 4: From now on, saying, "Alexa, I'm leaving" will activate Guard Mode.

Note: If Alexa hears glass breaking or an alarm sounding, she will record the sound and send you a snippet. If you want, you may then Drop In on your Echo device to listen for other sounds, such as an intruder moving around the house.

Step 5: To adjust Guard settings, return to the Guard screen from the settings menu.

Step 6: Tap the gear icon in the upper right corner of the screen. From here, you may adjust which Guard features you'd like to enable or disable, including connecting to an ADT or Ring security service."

 

[Lollygag1]

Additional challenge is having a reliable internet connection for a smart device. Our marina internet stinks.

 

[BandB]

I would think the marine environment might not be as friendly to some of the smart technology. I do like the idea of remote monitoring, I would think that with large pr craft this would be more practice. That said, the technology will only improve so this will become more common.

I would think TF members as a group would have only moderate interest in the latest technology. Many here reject anything from the last 20 years in engine technology so why smart boats? Yet, there's a percentage very interested in technology. Now, other boating types are different. The lake boaters are younger and many interested in latest and greatest although perhaps more toward stereo systems and internet than smart boats. Much of the yachting community though has made their riches through technology. Large yachts are heavily invested in technology and are almost all smart boats today. That's good for every boater as the systems become more affordable and find their way on smaller boats, on trawlers, on family cruisers. We had a smart boat system, including security, audio video, communications and all other aspects installed in 2014. Today, that same system would cost less than half what it cost us then. In 2014, the manufacturers of such systems only targeted boats 100'+ and generally 150'+. Today they're targeting 50-70'. They still don't seem to be aware of trawlers. Perhaps they're missing a lot of sales.

 

[Lollygag1]

I actually think that as the costs of the technology decreases the trawler community will be more receptive to it. I will be interested in seeing where this goes and what folks will be doin

 

[OldDan1943]

Technology = autopilot & electronic charts.

 

[BandB]

I actually think that as the costs of the technology decreases the trawler community will be more receptive to it. I will be interested in seeing where this goes and what folks will be doin

I agree. It's like most technology. It starts very cost prohibitive and with a limited audience, but gradually comes down to something for all.