Web Cams

Tim R. · Jun 22, 2009

Christian, I installed one at our yacht club in South Portland. With the weatherproof housing, fan and camera it was about $3000. It has a wide range of movement, zooms in really nicely and has a night viewing mode. Check it out. You can control it by clicking on the Blue arrow box in the bottom right corner.

http://24.103.130.226:30025/viewer/live/en/live.html

Maybe you can convince the harbor master in Rockport to install one for security purposes.

Hermit Scott · Jun 22, 2009

Tim-that is really cool.

sailingdog · Jun 22, 2009

If your marina has WiFi, you could install a solar-powered WiFi web cam on your boat and remotely view it. You'd have to get permission and cooperation from the marina or company supplying the WiFi, since you'd need the IP address and having them set port forwarding on the firewall.

chinny said:
I'm curios to know wether or not anyone has installed a web cam on their boat to 'keep an eye on it' while away.

My 34 footer lives up in Maine (2 1/2 hours away) and I would like to be able to view her from time to time from a distance.

Is it possible to do it without having to continuously power a lap top on the boat?

Thanks to anyone with insight.

Christian

Napa Ed · Jun 22, 2009

chinny said:
Is it possible to do it without having to continuously power a lap top on the boat?
Christian

You can buy network cams starting at under $100 (not weatherproof) with a built in server. You plug them into a router; wireless or hardwired. Don't need a computer. You'll also need shore power for the little wall wart transformer. I have one from Panasonic (not on the boat) that provides an image every second or 15 frames per second. Either streamed or stored on a server with a motion dectection trigger that will save the event plus a measure of time before and after the trigger event; bird on the rail, tweeker stealing your winches...
Look up pet cams or nanny cams.

Roger Long · Jun 23, 2009

Tim R. said:
Christian, I installed one at our yacht club in South Portland.

Wow. Cool indeed. Makes me wish I was still at Aspasia although your set up misses my old slip buy just a few degrees.

I had to get the boat off the mooring on the NE South Portland shore Sunday night because of the northeaster. If I'd known about the webcam, I might have rented one of those slips at Aspasia that are visible on your cam. I opted instead to pay about twice the price up at the end of the bridge because it was more protected, I wouldn't have to worry about tracking Julie down, and the boat would be watched more closely in case I couldn't get back to the boat after the surgery yesterday.

BTW, the tooth popped right out and they didn't find any problems under it so no actual surgery was required. I should be sailing again as soon as the weather clears up a bit.

I drove the boat from the marina back around to Willard Beach yesterday morning to get my inflatable off the mooring so it wouldn't get too beat up yanking on the mooring half full of water. That was a nice little adventure. Only took two tries to pick up the mooring singlehanded in those conditions. I'm glad I went back for the dinghy as it was pretty rough out there on the open coast just past the Willard mooring area.

You should talk to S.P. about putting in a cam down at the town dock. It's a great facility but in danger of becoming a teen hangout. Fees are also on the honor system and I don't think they are getting many so a cam might pay for itself. There would also be some great close ups of the bridge going up and down.

Tim R. · Jun 23, 2009

Roger, you should call CYC when you need a mooring for a night. We only charge $30 and that includes a launch. We usually have something open for a night or two.

We limit the travel of the cam so shoreside activities cannot be watched.

BTW, we sailed right by Strider last Wed. during our race. She looks good.

Roger Long · Jun 23, 2009

Tim R. said:
We limit the travel of the cam so shoreside activities cannot be watched.

There's a similar cam in Mystic CT that zooms right in on someone's front door and driveway. I watched a bunch of people come out, hug, get in the car, and wave good by. Then I thought, this is really creepy. Maybe no more creepy though then the neighborhood busybody peeking through the curtains.

The Aspasia folks probably would appreciate having the stops adjusted to cover their docks though.

I'll keep CB in mind next time. Thanks, I didn't realize they did that. My mooring would probably have been OK if the new pendant had been put on. My SOP in bad weather is to take a short cruise and anchor in a protected spot as I enjoy being on a boat snug in bad weather with good books and suitable libations. The tooth thing made the logistics complex this time.

Snotter · Jun 23, 2009

For a while I was using Motorola's Homesight software and web cams to monitor my house while at work. It was pretty slick using a number of cameras throughout the house to keep an eye on pets and the maid. It was kind of hard explaining the camera in the bedroom to guests, though.

Homesight sucked. They were worse than Microsoft about updates that bring your system down. Technical support was harder to find then Jimmy Hoffa. After one update, I never could use the system again.

It would be pretty slick if some entrepreneaur would design a system just for boats. I figure it is just a matter of time because more and more marinas offer WiFi. It would be slick to have software record everytime the bilge pumps come on, the temperature in the engine room, or whether the shore power went down; and to be able to monitor it from home or work. How kewl would it be to have some pan and zoom cameras mounted at the spreaders with infared capability to see every one who is on the dock or fidling with the electrical piling. Hell, it would be slick to have a camera at the masthead that looks straight out to make judging the heights of bridges a trivial task.

However, wouldn't it be kewl if Phil compiled a page where all the feeds of all the web cams of all the sailors here could be accessed. I would never get any work done at work.