Boat alarm advice please.

Alarm said:

I have "wired" a few boats in my time. You have to be careful where you drill

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That is a good point. You certainly want to avoid drilling below the waterline

JohnD said:

Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!

I do not sell or install alarms.

I have no vested interest in promoting or attacking any alarm system.

On the other hand.....

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Childish reply or what?

I know you don't install alrms, the OP didn't. Yet you felt qualified to recommend and suggest the Pro's dislike a technology as if you knew better.

Back on track.
We used a 9448 or a Verits r8 on boats as they are compact and draw little current. A solar battery charger also was installed to top up the boats batterys when not in use. Although we did recconmend a larger "lesiure" battery was fitted.
We fitted contacts only, again no current draw. Less chance of false alarms too.
Strobes were used and a sound bomb in the cabin.

Wireless is not good as there are always conflicting frequencies on boats, hence the previous about wireless. Your first idea about hard wired is correct.

You could also fot a GSM dialler to notify of any activations. Good ones also have other outputs so you could have a water level monitor in case the boat took on any water for example.

I hope this helps.

Alarm

At last, an actual recommendation for an alarm is in amongst the arguments.

I do not sell or fit them - care to slag off my initial post too?

this looks like a good idea.

Not low cost is it.

I know of someone who has fitted a wireless system on their boat and have had no problems with "conflicting frequencies".
There are systems out there which will trigger the sirens and also ring your phone so that you are notified immediately should the alarm get activated which may be a good idea for you.

solarsecurity said:

I know of someone who has fitted a wireless system on their boat and have had no problems with "conflicting frequencies".
There are systems out there which will trigger the sirens and also ring your phone so that you are notified immediately should the alarm get activated which may be a good idea for you.

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Apart from not agreeing with wireless on boats, what did you add to this?

About time I did the same as certain others and moan about non constructive replies,

One problem with the use of wireless on boats is metal walls ( bulkheads ) which do drastically reduce signal strength when communicating from one side to the other. They also absorb radio frequency energy transmitted from equipment close to or attached to them which also reduces the maximum distance between transmitter and receiver even if they are line of sight with nothing between them.

You also need to be carefull about the type of contacts used if there is propane gas used on the boat. gas leaking will build up in the bilge and if not detected could fill the boat. A spark from a switch or alarm sensor could ignite the gas. There is also a very slight chance that a radio transmission could create a spark in adjacent metal which might ignite leaking gas but the power used in alarm system transmitters make this a low risk. A mobile phone used by the alarm to send an alarm message may present a higher risk of leaked gas being ignited.

If you moor at a marina with a radio linked alarm system then you may find co-channel interefence becomes a problem.

Professional alarm installers recognise the deficiencies of wireless systems. In most makes of wireless alarms these deficiencies can be tolerated in return for the apparent ease of installing the wireless system but the deficiences mean the wireless systems can never be 100 % reliable in operation.
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Bernard, many boat structures are constructed from fibreglass, excluding some narrow boats.

To obtain a certificate of worthiness (the Boat Safety Scheme), boats on inland waterways have to be double vented (where gas is used) to create an airflow and prevent a build up of gas.