Remote view of anchor alarm?

[HeadedToTexas]

Anchor alarm apps and functionality seem to be focused on alerting people aboard the boat that their anchor is dragging. While that is important, I want an app or function that keeps me apprised of boat position relative to my anchor when I am ashore eating dinner or walking around town.

Until recently, I have been using Anchor Pro on my iPhone to keep watch on dragging. It could email me if the boat left “the circle,” but I meant I had to leave my phone on the boat. That has a whole suite of problems.

Now I am learning the Garmin GPSMAP system. It has an anchor alarm function and it has a way to mirror the plotter on my iPhone, but only over WiFi. That ends well before I reach shore in the dinghy. I don’t see a way to extend that mirroring over internet which would make it truly valuable. Am I missing anything there?

 

[twistedtree]

It’s a problem. You are right.

Whatever is doing the monitoring needs to be on the boat, so that means a chart plotter, phone or tablet app, or some other application on a Mac or PC or other. Then it needs to have a way to send you alerts if there is a problem, presumably via text or email. It would also be possible to do some Cloud thing where whatever is on the boat can communicate with a phone app via the cloud. All of these of course require a data connection from the boat to the Internet, and from your phone to the Internet. I have very mixed feelings about Maretron at this point, but I do use their anchor watch and it does send email alerts if there is a problem.

 

[Mambo42]

I thought about this as well and then I realized it is completely useless. I might be sitting at dinner or being in a supermarket and get an anchor alarm........what am I going to do ? Run like hell to the dinghy, try to get to the boat and save the boat ?

The reason why the anchor could be dragging is that the wind has picked up drastically and that usually means a sudden storm, which also means the seas have kicked up. A TS has violent wind shifts, pushing the boat in all directions in a short period of time. That does not really sound like the best time to try to climb back onboard to me.
So after some thought I basically gave up on the idea, I know it sounds nice and logic, but when you think of it........it just does not make any sense.
So the only thing to do is to make sure the boat does not drag an anchor, not even at 65 kts of wind. That will give a lot of peace of mind and it has already saved us once. Last year we were in an anchorage, dogs were still onboard, all the solar panels were out, was a beautiful calm day, so we went to visit a village inland. While being there we suddenly saw a TS building up and that went fast. We were not afraid of what might happen to the boat, we were more worried about the dogs. It took us 45 min to get back to the boat, storm had passed, boat was lying still on anchor. However.......one of the solar panels was ripped from its supports, had been smashed to pieces and from experience I knew we must have had a wind gust of over 50 kts.
And that is when I was happy we had anchored with 65 kts of wind in mind, anchor never dragged, we were lying solid. Must have been hell onboard, but the boat never was in danger.
In other words, forget the alarm relay, just make sure you anchor with the absolute worst condition, you can think of, in mind.

 

[3rdOrderEffect]

Simple enough if you really want this and can’t find a ready-made solution:

Run any anchor alarm program on a windows based PC on the boat, connected to the internet (starlink or cell based wifi access point, whatever). Access remote app via the windows official Remote Desktop connection app on iOS.

But man, Mambo makes some great points Easier to buy a bigger anchor and more chain.

 

[Mjohnson]

For those that have Victron cerbos connected to both a gps signal and a internet connection just adjust the geo fencing. Set vrm with a alarm and you can send the oh no signal to phones and email. Your choice from there to call the Coast Gaurd or your insurance agent.

 

[JackConnick]

For those that have Victron cerbos connected to both a gps signal and a internet connection just adjust the geo fencing. Set vrm with a alarm and you can send the oh no signal to phones and email. Your choice from there to call the Coast Gaurd or your insurance agent.

6.7. Geofence​

Typically used for RVs and boats. The example below shows a Geofence that will give an alert when the RV leaves the designated parking space. An alarm will also be generated when the location data is no longer being received, for example when the GPS receiver is unplugged. Use this in combination with the Communication monitoring alarm for full coverage.

 

[Gypsy Island]

With Time Zero running on a PC and TZ Iboat on your Iphone you have remote Anchor watch real time as long as you‘re connected to the internet.

 

[Iggy]

With Time Zero running on a PC and TZ Iboat on your Iphone you have remote Anchor watch real time as long as you‘re connected to the internet.

Thats the key to all this. The internet, cell or sat.

 

[boomerang]

Our Vesper Cortex AIS has an excellent anchor app, which we use each time we anchor, and a Monitor app that we never use. Monitor sends whatever sensor is connected (battery voltage, bilge, etc) in addition to anchoring info via a cellular signal. I have the remote cellular antenna but I've never installed it or used the Monitor app and doubt I will.
Like Mambo indicated, I have faith in our systems and if we happen to be off of the boat when a situation arises, I'm not going to make it worse by jumping in the dink and possibly putting us in harms way trying to get to the boat in a storm.

 

[O C Diver]

My boat had a Siren Marine alarm system with a geo fence, it would notify me by email and text, if the boat moved out of it's circle.

The other nice feature was that I could bring the screen up on my cellphone and see where the boat currently was and where it had been. Very reassuring when you expected a tidal change and a reversing of the current.

Ted

 

[cafesport]

Why not use one of the tablet apps like navionics, aquamaps or time zero? All three allow remote position and data viewing from any phone with sharing enabled. A tablet should also be able to run for 20 hours or so without needing a charge.

 

[sjisailor]

The Anchor Pro mobile app has remote control & notification. The options are for either two-way control using Telegram or one-way notification via email.

That would require having one device (phone / tablet) on board to monitor the position, and then some other device (phone) ashore to receive the notifications.

It's my favorite anchor monitor app and we use it all the time. OTOH I've never used the remote aspect because I'm not sure what I would do if I knew

 

[HeadedToTexas]

My current iOS anchor alarm app will send me an email if the boat drags outside the circle I designate. Minimalist geofencing of sorts. It works just fine, but I want to see the screen when I’m off the boat. I don’t typically go ashore when storms threaten as I definitely do not want to try boarding in heavy seas. That doesn’t mean I have no reason to be interested in seeing the boat position in that circle, right?

Why not use one of the tablet apps like navionics, aquamaps or time zero? All three allow remote position and data viewing from any phone with sharing enabled. A tablet should also be able to run for 20 hours or so without needing a charge.

You can log onto your iPad running an anchor alarm app with your iPhone and control the iPad remotely over the internet with your iPhone? I haven’t seen that functionality yet.

The Anchor Pro mobile app has remote control & notification. The options are for either two-way control using Telegram or one-way notification via email.

That would require having one device (phone / tablet) on board to monitor the position, and then some other device (phone) ashore to receive the notifications.

It's my favorite anchor monitor app and we use it all the time. OTOH I've never used the remote aspect because I'm not sure what I would do if I knew

I thought I was using Anchor Pro, but mine turns out to be simply Anchor. They do offer an Anchor Premium version, but I suspect I have something completely different. I’ll check it out.

 

[HeadedToTexas]

My bad; I am using Anchor Pro. The remote monitoring feature must have eluded me.

 

[Serene]

My bad; I am using Anchor Pro. The remote monitoring feature must have eluded me.

[SNIP]

I use the same app and hadn't looked into remote monitoring either until I read this thread. But it looks like even with Anchor Pro the 'Remote Control Settings' menu is greyed out unless you have their premium membership option.

 

[TJM]

Anchor pro allows for remote email notification. It has worked well for us for years. We have 2 phones.

 

[dutch-barge]

The VICTRON GERBO etc will alert you when the boat moves out of the assigned anchor watch area..( with VRM. which is free)
One time being in another country, the harbor master moved our boat to another dock, and I got an alert. Called the harbor master who was baffled I knew the boat was moved. He did seem to accept the satellite story that I had above the boat for monitoring!

 

[motion30]

I have a tracker on my boat where I can see where my boat is in case it is stolen. I just open the app on my phone. But I don't see any way to receive alerts if the boat is moved. So I guess I would have to check it occasionally. Still maybe better than nothing, it's not very expensive

 

[talort]

We had a similar concern a while ago - being away from the boat overnight and still wanting to monitor anchor status. We ended up using a smart monitoring system with anchor alarm + bilge + battery alerts over cellular. It’s called Vanemar - works through an app even sends push notifications if the anchor drifts.

Not saying it's the only option out there, but for remote peace of mind, it's been solid so far. Just thought I’d share if it helps someone.

 

[oceanskydivers]

Hi there, we know there have been differing opinions on this thread about the usefulness of a remote anchor alarm.

Regardless, we felt like we wanted the exact same view of our anchor alarm locally and remotely and find it useful for peace of mind while ashore. So we built Hooked which is available for iOS and macOS on the App Store.

We've had stories from users who got remote notifications while away from their boat which gave them an opportunity to scramble back to their boat and save it from dragging into other boats or even to find it far away from where they had anchored. It can never replace proper scope calculations and good anchoring practices but it's just another tool to have in your pocket.

Feel free to try it out and let us know if you have any feedback!

Cheers and safe sailing!

Kylee and Scott

 

[JackConnick]

The VICTRON GERBO etc will alert you when the boat moves out of the assigned anchor watch area..( with VRM. which is free)
One time being in another country, the harbor master moved our boat to another dock, and I got an alert. Called the harbor master who was baffled I knew the boat was moved. He did seem to accept the satellite story that I had above the boat for monitoring!

I have this set as an alarm against the boat being stolen. But how tight do you set it as an anchor alarm?