One of the first things you notice when you walk into the MDL Marina in Torquay is just how clean and tidy everything is, the pontoons are in excellent order and the team that greet you in the Harbour master’s office are very professional and very welcoming, even at a social distance.
Why are we here? Well, I am following Axxess 28 Ltd a company with 20 plus years working in the security industry, they cover everything from access control for commercial installations through to home solutions and laterally yacht security. Today we are to board a Sealine F37 where Pete the owner has kindly employed our services to add some very clever security tech on his boat. In fact this could be the best boat alarm system on the market today! (This after all is just our humble claim).
Retro fitting security protocols on vessels is not new and why would you add extra measures considering that marinas offer excellent levels of protection needed to secure your boat anyway? “I’ve had this question posed to me by many in the past” states Graham, the MD of Axxess 28 Ltd, “Whilst many marinas provide regular patrols, CCTV coverage and 24/7 monitoring of the entrance/exit point of the marina, there is a wealth of added benefits of having some extra security measures installed, namely is your boat always moored in your marina?”
Interesting question indeed, and another thing to consider is that its just not the boats that are at risk, but the equipment like satellite navigation and attached ribs and outboard motors.
Also, today we are here to install a water leak detection system which adds some great functionality to the install and adds just another layer of piece of mind for the owner.
The system comprises of a central hub unit that communicates to any additional peripheral installed, and the owner’s mobile phone/computer. It can connect to the Marina’s Wi-Fi and has an independent sim card to connect to the nearest mobile phone signal. It has four ways it can communicate and with its military grade in intelligence it hops frequencies to avoid jamming and interference.
The hubs main job is to maintain a constant connection with the cloud server and sends operation incident reports to the owner’s smart phone, essentially a 24hour system health monitor. “This system is great as a standalone” remarks Graham “But you can also upgrade the system to connect to a third-party professional installation, for instance a marina could host a main frame system that all boat owners could then plug into as well.”
The first task is to hardwire the hub into the boats electrical supply and this can be achieved by using either 240 or 12v approach. In this instance because the vessel needs security coverage when away from the marina, Graham has opted for the 12v approach, and installs a sim card system, that ensures coverage when cruising along the shoreline and based at other marinas. This is integrated behind the main instrument cluster on the bridge.
With the HUB now active, its linked directly to the AJAX app, which can have up to 150 different peripherals connected, ranging from an audible siren, fire protection, flood, or smoke detection. That is not including the intruder hardware options, ranging from CCTV through to door monitoring.
The App registers the HUB to the user’s mobile device and offers various options for extra security protocols and password protection, set up takes less than 30 minutes.
This install sees a door protect, leak detector and siren added to the hub and Graham installs these throughout the vessel, ensuring the main access points are covered.
Should any of these devices be triggered, the app will inform the users mobile phone within half a second of the exact nature of which alarm was triggered and in this instance a 113 dB alarm will sound inside the cabin, making any intruder aware of the breach. This system could be linked to a CCTV unit, that would capture any intruders’ movements throughout the boat. A great feature of this siren is that it operates up to 5 years without any power supply, so you can be very creative in where you wish to install this. Plus with no screws to use, you won’t be damaging the hull in any way.
The door protection units work on breaking the magnetic fields that are created when they are together, it features two modules and offers a staggering 7-year battery life, once installed it links directly back to your app for constant monitoring.
Added to the line-up Graham installs a ‘Out-Board Motor Detect’ a tailored anti-theft device that is discreetly connected between the rear deck and outboard motor that Pete uses when making small excursions away from his main vessel “As my boat is moored at the edge of the Marina, I wanted a solution that would alert me if opportunist thieves wanted away with this equipment”. The alarm is activated as soon as the motor is detached.
Lastly, we were commissioned to add a leak detector in the rear storage compartment of the vessel, comprising of metal external electrodes as soon as water contact is made, the unit is activated, this system could be also added to a third-party security company or marina harbourmaster’s office, for continuous added protection. What’s more this unit also notifies when the flood risk is eliminated and everything is drying up. So spotting accidental leaks is a breeze.
The whole system takes just a few hours to install and ensures great peace of mind for any boat owner and offers great versatility too on which doors or hatches you wish to protect.
For more information on how you can get your boat secure, please contact Graham at Axxess 28 Ltd gs@axxess28.com
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