Enough is enough, which trade member has a decent tracker?

HUMBER P4VWL · 05 March 2010, 11:13

With our friend losing a big four stroke off the mooring in october, another member losing an outboard from Anglesey this last month.

Rather than having a go with some gps chip that needs setting up with a mobile as per my last thread...all too much hassle and unreliable. Anyone know of a good tested tracker for a moored rib? dont mind paying a monthly fee etc like we do on a classic sports car we have.

With so much money at stake and crappy insurance companies, Im willing to pay the premium.

chewy · 05 March 2010, 11:27

Won't the trackers used on cars work?

neilda · 05 March 2010, 11:56

Quote:

Originally Posted by chewy

Won't the trackers used on cars work?

They should do, I've had a few of my cars fitted with tracker devices at the insistence of the insurance companies. However the tracker system does take a constant voltage from the battery and my cars had to be left on a trickle charge if not regularly driven....

biffer · 05 March 2010, 12:05

you could run a solar panel, i could show you how to encase in resin to make it water and tamper proof, providing you don't have to get inside it from time to time

HUMBER P4VWL · 05 March 2010, 13:02

cheers for the pm. contact made.

yoyo · 08 March 2010, 00:43

Ummmmm……. I have often seen a very nice looking yellow Humber Rib on a mooring outside a pub in very well known north wales waters…… Now I wonder if it has a tracker fitted!

Remember, It’s not only honest Ribnet members who read ribnet!!

C2 RIBS · 08 March 2010, 16:05

Paul, I hope you have found what your looking for. I bought the unit direct from China as other tracker post detailed http://rib.net/forum/showthread.php?t=32981 and now I have it set up it seems to do what it says on the unit. Leapy and Knot Yet also have the same unit which is hard wired into boat. Seeing three engines reported stolen today on Forum I wonder what unit can monitor the engine or be tracked if taken?

Channel Ribs · 08 March 2010, 16:29

Quote:

Originally Posted by C2 RIBS

Seeing three engines reported stolen today on Forum I wonder what unit can monitor the engine or be tracked if taken?

I think rather than a dedicated engine tracker which will die shortly after being detached from the boat and therefore battery, it would be better to have a wire in the loom that sets off the boat alarm if disconnected.

You will not be able to track the engine, but you will know the moment it is detached.

Poly · 08 March 2010, 17:40

Quote:

Originally Posted by malthouse

I think rather than a dedicated engine tracker which will die shortly after being detached from the boat and therefore battery, it would be better to have a wire in the loom that sets off the boat alarm if disconnected.

You will not be able to track the engine, but you will know the moment it is detached.

Although the "mobile phone" style trackers have an integral battery which is kept charged by the main boat battery. So I would expect it to last several hours (I think one of them claims >24 hrs)? after disconnect. Surely you only need to be able to track for about 2 hours after the engine leaves its designated geofence for you to have time to (1) verify its on the move/stolen (2) tell the police and give them the tracking information.

chewy · 08 March 2010, 17:59

Shouldn't we be concentrating on how to make the engines harder to remove.
If you do track the engine what sort of state will it be in when you get it back and who pays for the engine to be reinstated, do you get money back from your insurer if the engine isn't cosmetically perfect?

Channel Ribs · 08 March 2010, 19:48

Quote:

Originally Posted by Polwart

Although the "mobile phone" style trackers have an integral battery which is kept charged by the main boat battery. So I would expect it to last several hours (I think one of them claims >24 hrs)? after disconnect. Surely you only need to be able to track for about 2 hours after the engine leaves its designated geofence for you to have time to (1) verify its on the move/stolen (2) tell the police and give them the tracking information.

Your an engine right, Mr Spiner, and your thrown into the back of a transit van. You have been disconnected from your power supply but you have one built in, but it is being drained fast because the metal van is getting in the way. Then you get unloaded and put inside a railway arch, or other nefarious but suitably unseen location. Your battery is going flat and you can not see the sky.

OK, I have scared myself now, I shall go for a lie down.

chewy · 08 March 2010, 20:12

Quote:

Originally Posted by malthouse

Your an engine right, Mr Spiner, and your thrown into the back of a transit van. You have been disconnected from your power supply but you have one built in, but it is being drained fast because the metal van is getting in the way. Then you get unloaded and put inside a railway arch, or other nefarious but suitably unseen location. Your battery is going flat and you can not see the sky.

OK, I have scared myself now, I shall go for a lie down.

I've got a terrier, paid £25 for him, I'm willing to post him to you for a trial, chain him to your engine and see if it gets knicked. I'd appreciate it if you didn't do it whilst afloat though!

Poly · 08 March 2010, 21:04

Quote:

Originally Posted by malthouse

Your an engine right, Mr Spiner, and your thrown into the back of a transit van. You have been disconnected from your power supply but you have one built in, but it is being drained fast because the metal van is getting in the way. Then you get unloaded and put inside a railway arch, or other nefarious but suitably unseen location. Your battery is going flat and you can not see the sky.

OK, I have scared myself now, I shall go for a lie down.

I don't have one of these devices to test - but with no display to power I doubt its going to die in minutes. My phone lasts for over two days with a very old battery even if its in an area with no signal (working hard) and has a backlit display to power. If its in continuous tracking mode then you'll know where it was when it ran out of power/lost signal which is presumably much closer to the engine than the tracker left on the boat.

Getting a text to say the boat/engine has just been tampered with if you're not on the doorstep isn't much use.

chewy · 08 March 2010, 21:45

Quote:

Originally Posted by Polwart

I don't have one of these devices to test - but with no display to power I doubt its going to die in minutes. My phone lasts for over two days with a very old battery even if its in an area with no signal (working hard) and has a backlit display to power. If its in continuous tracking mode then you'll know where it was when it ran out of power/lost signal which is presumably much closer to the engine than the tracker left on the boat.

Getting a text to say the boat/engine has just been tampered with if you're not on the doorstep isn't much use.

I'm with Polly on this one. I think alot depends on how much you trust you local force.
Been slap bang on the border of two counties the control room sometimes struggle to work out where I am.
During one case my pager went off and the police over took me whilst I was enroute to station, by the time the police had got lost and I proceded within the speed limits I still got there before then!

Channel Ribs · 09 March 2010, 06:05

Quote:

Originally Posted by Polwart

Getting a text to say the boat/engine has just been tampered with if you're not on the doorstep isn't much use.

Your probably right again. I just have a suspicion that the reason they thieves remove the engine is that it is easier to get under cover than the whole boat.

Of real value would be a tracker that used GSM as well as GPS to find a position, like the iPhone does.