This is great. I will be on a mooring for the first time this year and it is very tempting to build something like this! But my boat will be close enough where I could almost look out my window to check on it. :)
Hey, if your boat is that close to you, skip the WiFi and send the daily report over marine VHF.
In fact, if you decouple the delivery method from the report generation, you can have have it running even while under sail and do periodic data collection and logging. If you get a Marine SSB radio, you could even collect the data while crossing an ocean!
How would you send a report over VHF? From what I understand the only digital bands are DSC and AIS and that is broadcast only, anyone can listen in.
SSB is not a set and forget communication. It's great for long distance communications but the operator has to be seriously fairly knowledgeable on how to make HF work. It's a 100W radio that can do some damage if used incorrectly.
Well no drain plug, but there's always the possibility of losing a thruhull, having the dripless seal fail, or something. But it really isn't any different than the slip, and we've been on there every prior season.
I'm not a boat person, so I have no first hand experience other than seeing a picture from a friend whose boat was half under water because the drain plug had corroded away.
He blamed it on galvanic corrosion from the boat being plugged into shore power with depleted anodes.
A quick google search shows that corroded drain plugs do happen from time to time. And the drain plug is just one of the through-hull fittings that can leak.
Came across this quote:
To quote BoatUS Insurance, “for every one boat that sinks underway, four sink at the dock” and “failed thru-hull fittings account for 50% of all sunken boats at the dock.
I never did understand why some sailboats have so many holes in the hull. This one for a drain, this one for an old-fashioned "paddle wheel" speedometer, this one for "inspection", good grief. A single drain hole through the transom makes sense for a planing hull that is regularly trailered or lifted, but not for anything with a massive lead keel. Before setting up a complicated monitoring system, boat owners should buy some plastic plugs for $10 per. That should really be a requirement on insurance contracts...
