Anchor Alarm via satellite

[mjgill1]

Originally Posted by jt11791

If you and the boat have cell service, the Anchor Pro app combined with the Telegram app can do this. You need two phones. I leave my phone on board running Anchor Pro and it will send a Telegram message to my wife's phone if the boat moves out of the circle. She can also send a query and get a status report. We also have Starlink and with that, the system can work without cell service.

Thanks for that. We probably won't go the Starlink route just yet, but I did get the Anchor Pro app and played with it around the house. We even have an older device that we could get a $10/month T mobile sim for and dedicate it to the boat.
Have you ever received a notification on your wife's phone since going this route? If so, was she able to see the boat's location on a map with a circle or something, or was is simply a note letting you know?

Thanks again,

[aqfishing]

I use the Anchor app.

https://apps.apple.com/za/app/anchor...rm/id661180281


It works really well. You can run the app on 2 devices and link them. Then leave the one device (my ipad) on the vessel and take the other (iphone) with you. As long as the devices are connected to the internet the app will alert you. You can also then see on the app if you really are drifting, monitor remotely or even change the anchor alarm radius.

I like that you can set the alert tone as my hearing is not great, so when my vessel drift the Klaxon goes off loudly!!!!

It really works well and will give you the remote monitoring and alerts your are after.

It can even be set to send you an email.

Presume it is on Android.

Not connected to the developers, just a great app!

Cheers!

Eugene.

[Mad Multi]

We just bought a cheap extra phone with a sim card with a basic data plan, then we can monitor it from anywhere.

[jheyland]

I use https://boatcommand.com/ to monitor position (with geofencing alarm), temp, voltage (ac & dc, saved my batteries when someone unplugged me and I got alerted). It needs cell phone service to work (they provide a SIM). Happy customer, no other affiliation.

[randygwatkins]

If you use Aqua Map, it now has this ability. You'll need to leave one device (phone, iPad etc) on the boat which is connected to the internet, and it will be mirrored to your other device which you have with you.

[intervivos]

We leave one phone with data Hotspot on that runs an anchor alarm app. We then use a tablet running a free app called alfredcamera, which turns our tablet into a private webcam. We place the Hotspot phone in view of the cam, as well as the cabin area where our dogs sleep when we are away. We take another phone with us running alfredcamera, and we can see everything that is happening inside the boat.

[Gnilias]

Like aqfishing, we also use the subscription version of the Anchor app. For some reason it is not available for download in our current region (Greece) but we downloaded it elsewhere and it still works here. To differentiate it from other Anchor apps, the developer is pomocanthus and the current version is V6.20, the app icon is a sailing boat with a blue sea and a yellow coastline above it.

We agree that it is brilliant. When we go ashore, we leave one device (either iPad or iPhone) on the boat, set on "Remote Sending" mode. We take another device with us, set on "Remote Monitoring" mode. We ensure we have power or battery packs for each device.

Anywhere with internet or mobile signal, we can use the device we have to see an update of the position of the device on the boat every 2 secs, 10 secs, 30 secs or 2 minutes (as long as the device on the boat is also connected to the internet).

Last month we'd anchored and taken lines ashore (standard procedure in Turkey to stop swinging and to deal with deep anchorages). Just as we were sitting down to have lunch with our friends, the anchor alarm went off. We could see the boat had moved and immediately embarked on an anxious 30 minute trip back to the boat. She had moved and was now 6 metres away from rocks, stable but vulnerable to being dislodged by a gust of wind. When we left for lunch, the anchor had been well set and we'd been 50+ metres away from the rocks. As it was, we were able to move her before any damage was done. From now on, we will always, without fail, set our anchor app and take it with us.

[aqfishing]

This is the one, see attached. I do not think I pay anything. Except the data used.
Also the sat view is like another nav device.

[Gnilias]

Yes, thanks aqfishing, that's the one I was referring to as well!

[jr_spyder]

Originally Posted by jheyland

I use https://boatcommand.com/ to monitor position (with geofencing alarm), temp, voltage (ac & dc, saved my batteries when someone unplugged me and I got alerted). It needs cell phone service to work (they provide a SIM). Happy customer, no other affiliation.

I'm also a very happy Boat Command user and have been for 8 - 9 years. Once installed, which was straight forward, it couldn't be easier. No fussing/remembering to leave a device onboard of activate something before you leave. It uses SMS to communicate with a server and you use a web browser, including on your portable device, to access the data. You set the alert parameters you want and get alerted immediately via text if any threshold is met. It has connected fine for me throughout the Caribbean.

In addition to the geofence I monitor the voltage in both my battery banks, the activity of two bilge pumps and high water alarm, internal temperature, shore power, and a security sensor.

I also set up a trigger so that I can turn on my spreader lights remotely from the browser app. It's always fun to light up the boat when I'm at the dinghy dock and heading back to boat in a dark and crowded anchorage.

It's a little black box that uses very little power. The subscription is about $7 a month. This is simply the best peace-of-mind device I have on my boat. I'm a fan, but not affiliated in any way.

JR

[mikk60]

I use the garmin on deck hub, and love it. Many be idiots, including switch device via wifi

[mjoplin]

I have the Vesper Cortex (mentioned in an earlier post) and it works great for monitoring anchor drag remotely using their smartphone app, Cortex Monitor.

It also has multiple IO channels and can be wired to do things like turning on your anchor light if you are onshore longer than expected. Can also be wired to a door alarm. Great device, have installed 15-20 of them in addition to the one on our boat.

Locmarine is a recent newcomer to boat monitoring and have a dedicated device for monitoring that you can geofence for alerts. It also monitors AC and DC power, door alarms, and bilge pump/high water alerts.