Networking and TV setup

markhpc

Member
Apr 9, 2019
47
St. Croix River, MN
Boat Info
2003 Cruisers Yachts 3970 Express
Engines
Twin Mercruiser 8.1S HO Inboards
Hi Folks,

Just got a new-to-us boat this summer and am thinking about redoing the IT and TV setup over the winter/spring. Currently there's no onboard networking and the onboard TVs are pretty ancient and in various states of decay. We've also got an old KVH M1 Satellite receiver which still appears to work but it sounds like it's basically obsolete at this point.

Here's what I'm thinking:

- Replace KVH M1 with a new OTA digital TV antenna. Reuse coax.
- Dual WAN router + wireless access point (switch between marina WIFI and LTE)
- 2 or 4 tuner HDHomeRun (have one of these at home, love it)
- Small plex server with recordings from our blue-ray/dvd library
- new interior 22-32" Roku capable TVs with wifi (or TVs/monitors + Roku streaming sticks)
- new 32-43" cockpit TV (standard model with waterproof cover, roku capable)
- use the new Roku HDHomeRun channel for OTA TV.
- bluetooth to run TV audio through stereo system?
- hopefully 12V DC to XX DC conversion for battery based operation of the whole setup

Might also upgrade speakers/stereo at the same time, though the 2010ish alpine system actually appears to be fairly capable.

Anything I've missed? The goal would basically be to only need 12v at the TV locations and everything else would be wifi/bluetooth.

Thanks!
 
You are on the right track. If you want a one stop shop and need an unlimited internet plan, check out the TOGO C2. It will probably fit where the Sat dome was. Dual Wan celluar LTE, and local wisp if you are in range (like a marina). Phone app to control it. Strictly wireless, so devices that have to use a wired Enet won't play nice (which is keeping me off of it for now. There's a port in the dome, they don't allow users access to it (yet).
AT&T 30 bucks a month for unlimited. yep, I said that. Prepaid, so $360 for the year. Dome is $400. Built for the RV market, but just tell em you have a Holiday Rambler (made by Sea Ray).
 
I just got my Bose stereo system on line. The Bose Life Style systems are oldies but goodies that were installed in many boats and RVs. Getting the LED read out fixed was much more cost effective than a system replacement. Now it's time to update the TV system. I don't know zip about hooking up the satalite TV system. Hope you report on your progress. Might well be following right behind you.
 
You are on the right track. If you want a one stop shop and need an unlimited internet plan, check out the TOGO C2. It will probably fit where the Sat dome was. Dual Wan celluar LTE, and local wisp if you are in range (like a marina). Phone app to control it. Strictly wireless, so devices that have to use a wired Enet won't play nice (which is keeping me off of it for now. There's a port in the dome, they don't allow users access to it (yet).
AT&T 30 bucks a month for unlimited. yep, I said that. Prepaid, so $360 for the year. Dome is $400. Built for the RV market, but just tell em you have a Holiday Rambler (made by Sea Ray).
The TOGO C2 looks like a real problem solver.
 
You are on the right track. If you want a one stop shop and need an unlimited internet plan, check out the TOGO C2. It will probably fit where the Sat dome was. Dual Wan celluar LTE, and local wisp if you are in range (like a marina). Phone app to control it. Strictly wireless, so devices that have to use a wired Enet won't play nice (which is keeping me off of it for now. There's a port in the dome, they don't allow users access to it (yet).
AT&T 30 bucks a month for unlimited. yep, I said that. Prepaid, so $360 for the year. Dome is $400. Built for the RV market, but just tell em you have a Holiday Rambler (made by Sea Ray).

Very interesting! Looks sort of similar to the Glomex webboat 4G plus platform (but better executed?). Nice that it's completely roof mounted. That would save some interior space and a lot of messing around vs cobbling together a system from ubiquity/peplink or other components. Looks like it has a LTE Cat4 modem and supports up to 802.11n at 450Mbps (but only a single radio doing double duty?). Kind of low specs, but maybe good enough. The wireless plan appears to throttle after 22GB/mo but only during active congestion. A pretty great deal if you can use your boat all year round (less great for us since we'll only be on it 6mo out of the year but what else is new!).

It's tempting. Definitely something to think about. Not a fan of it being carrier locked and technically an RV product (granted I doubt they'd care much about it being mounted on a boat).
 
Another thought for a hotspot with cellular data if you’re generally in an area with good cellular coverage:
Try an iPad with an unlimited data plan and use it as a hotspot for your smart TV on the boat.
I’ve got a KVH system with DirectTV account on the boat, but I use my iPad as a hotspot when I want to watch something on Netflix or Prime Video. It works pretty well. Much better than trying it with my iPhone.
Not a techie, but I’m thinking the iPad probably has a better antenna than the iPhone so that’s why it’s better as a hotspot.
I think the days are numbered for my satellite system and would love to replace it with something like The Glomex webboat or similar product, but I’m thinking as 5G becomes widespread the technology and options for cellular streaming will become more plentiful so I’m trying to hold out a while longer before investing in more equipment.
In the meantime the iPad is a pretty good stop gap.
 
@JVM225 I suspect it's going to be a while before we see 5G in boat products. Most of the boat products seem to be composed of a dome/antenna combined with off-the-shelf routers from Teltonkia or other manufacturers with custom firmware, webapps, and a big price markup (except for the C2 which appears to be priced competitively). There was some discussion about it on the cruisersforum here:

http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/f13/glomex-webboat-4g-plus-users-experiences-215579.html

On the other hand, D-Link is coming out with a home based router with 802.11AC wifi and 5G. Theoretically it will be released in December for $800:

https://wikidevi.com/wiki/D-Link_DWR-2010
 
Another thought for a hotspot with cellular data if you’re generally in an area with good cellular coverage:
Try an iPad with an unlimited data plan and use it as a hotspot for your smart TV on the boat.
I’ve got a KVH system with DirectTV account on the boat, but I use my iPad as a hotspot when I want to watch something on Netflix or Prime Video. It works pretty well. Much better than trying it with my iPhone.
Not a techie, but I’m thinking the iPad probably has a better antenna than the iPhone so that’s why it’s better as a hotspot.
I think the days are numbered for my satellite system and would love to replace it with something like The Glomex webboat or similar product, but I’m thinking as 5G becomes widespread the technology and options for cellular streaming will become more plentiful so I’m trying to hold out a while longer before investing in more equipment.
In the meantime the iPad is a pretty good stop gap.
I've been using the ipad approach all summer and it has been a decent solution. The thing that I like about the TOGO product is that it would give me an external wifi antenna. My marina provides wifi but the signal is poor inside the boat so I end up using the ipad as a 4g hotspot.
 
The TOGO certainly looks interesting, but information that I've found is rather thin. Let's say I have this, and along with the AT&T data plan, I install a wireless camera or two on the boat. This could be configured to run off the marina's WIFI using the built in extender, but if the marina's WIFI stopped, then the TOGO would automatically switch to cellular (without me having to do anything), and I could still view the camera(s) using either my cell phone or my computer? Same for watching TV? If in range of the marina's WIFI, it works, but if away from the dock, it switches to cellular and vice versa? Hate to be a dumb-a$$, but have been out of the IT world for about 15 years...
 
@Windjammer That sounds right with the caveat that the WAN IP would change depending on which provider is being used. If you are trying to access the cameras directly you'd need a dynamic DNS service setup or else your computer/phone wouldn't know if they should look for your boat via the marina wifi or via the AT&T service (assuming either actually allows incoming connections at all). Our marina appears to block incoming connections as my kids found out when they were trying to play minecraft with each other.
 
Anyone purchased and installed the Glomex Webboat 4G Plus? Pros/Cons? Any helpful hints or suggestions? If you had to do it all over again, would you go with this system or is there something better?
 
@Windjammer There's some discussion about the webboat in that link in post #7. The feeling I get is that the C2 is probably a better all-in-one platform, but both are pretty low-spec vs a DIY setup. OTOH that AT&T $360/year plan on the C2 is pretty sweet which might make up for it.
 
I've been using the ipad approach all summer and it has been a decent solution. The thing that I like about the TOGO product is that it would give me an external wifi antenna. My marina provides wifi but the signal is poor inside the boat so I end up using the ipad as a 4g hotspot.

I’m not in a marina. I dock my boat on my private property so there is no WiFi. There is WiFi in transient Marinas that we frequent, but it’s usually sketchy and cellular is more reliable.
 
Very interesting! Looks sort of similar to the Glomex webboat 4G plus platform (but better executed?). Nice that it's completely roof mounted. That would save some interior space and a lot of messing around vs cobbling together a system from ubiquity/peplink or other components. Looks like it has a LTE Cat4 modem and supports up to 802.11n at 450Mbps (but only a single radio doing double duty?). Kind of low specs, but maybe good enough. The wireless plan appears to throttle after 22GB/mo but only during active congestion. A pretty great deal if you can use your boat all year round (less great for us since we'll only be on it 6mo out of the year but what else is new!).

It's tempting. Definitely something to think about. Not a fan of it being carrier locked and technically an RV product (granted I doubt they'd care much about it being mounted on a boat).
The parent company owns Airstream, so I wouldn't go around bragging you have one on a boat.
Originally it was exclusive to new Airstream owners. Just opened up in April or May of this year.
 

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