SlingTV for TV and Sports on the Boat

Looking for an inexpensive way to watch sports on the boat this coming fall. I have just replaced the original Panasonic 4:3 VHS units that came in my 2001 Sundancer with new TVs. We don’t watch much TV and the boat is intended to be an electronics free zone. The exception is we do want to watch college football on Saturday.

I have the Glomex antenna pulling in enough channels to get the news, weather and something interesting on Cozi TV for the 1 time a week I turn on the TV after a long day working on the boat. I don’t want to invest in a satellite system, too much $$ for our needs.

I was looking at SlingTV.com. A bunch of decent channels. Packages are $25/$40 month, pay as you go. A sports adder is $5 and adds a decent number of channels that the games we want would usually be on.

I have a hotspot with “unlimited” data that I could use to stream it.

Anybody try this? Any feedback would be appreciated.

Hi,
Yes, I did it. I installed a WiFi antenna and booster with a high speed router. I also changed all my TVs to “smart TVs”. If you don’t install a Wifi antenna you probably won’t be able to stream fast enough because typically Wifi shared by everyone in the marina.

Bow Tie

I am converting to Playstation Vue - Good value, 5 streams included and almost all my must see channels. I plan on using the 4G LTE hotspot function on my phone as a backup to wifi. For wifi I also have an outdoor repeater/router connected to wifi router on the boat. Planning on adding two FireTVs and distributing the output to all TVs via Coax along with the over the air reception.

I will report back as it progresses.

-Kevin

Dave-
With the unlimited data, you can stream with the ESPN app and watch every game on an ESPN Network. The CBS Sports app carries the SEC games of the week. Get an HDMI to Lightening adapter from Amazon for $40. Make sure to get the one apple makes-more dependable. The other option is an Apple TV and use your phone as a hotspot. The Gen 3 Apple TV allows you to download the apps you want. I just use my iPad with my phone as a hotspot. With our OTA antenna, we get 2-ABC, 5-FOX, 11-NBC, and 46-CBS. All of this is either in the slip or on the water.

That will cover most every game. If that is not enough, we have DishNetwork in our slip-just bring the beer!

Bennett

bbwhitejr said:

Dave-
With the unlimited data, you can stream with the ESPN app and watch every game on an ESPN Network. The CBS Sports app carries the SEC games of the week. Get an HDMI to Lightening adapter from Amazon for $40. Make sure to get the one apple makes-more dependable. The other option is an Apple TV and use your phone as a hotspot. The Gen 3 Apple TV allows you to download the apps you want. I just use my iPad with my phone as a hotspot. With our OTA antenna, we get 2-ABC, 5-FOX, 11-NBC, and 46-CBS. All of this is either in the slip or on the water.

That will cover most every game. If that is not enough, we have DishNetwork in our slip-just bring the beer!

Bennett

Click to expand...

Your On!! Might I suggest a trial run soon?

Dave

I went with the unlimited plan on Verizon and use a ruku stick for the tv. I also subscribed to YouTube TV and found they had better sports channels. I can usually get better WiFi through the phone than the marinas. We don’t watch much tv either but this works for us.

My boat came with a satellite system, and I’m an AT&T mobile family plan subscriber so I got a decent price on the basic Direct TV package. Lot of channels, but other than News, not much you’d want to watch. I mostly have the news on when I Watch TV on the boat anyway.
Honestly, if my boat hadn’t come with the satellite, I probably wouldn’t have spent the money on it either.
I’ve got no WiFi at my dock, and cell service is sketchy.
I just replaced the salon and forward stateroom TV’s with 24” Smart TV’s so I’d have the option to use Netflix and Amazon Prime at transient Marinas.
Anyway, an iPad with unlimited cell plan might be a good way to go. Plus you’ll be able to use it everywhere. Not just on the boat.
I often connect my iPad to my boat TV’s for watching stuff. It has an unlimited cell plan so I either watch stuff I downloaded to it (no more need for DVD players) or I stream stuff. Even with sketchy cell service I can still get apps to work pretty well just about anywhere I go.
I’m also able to subscribe to my local newspaper on it for less than the newsstand price and I can get the paper on my iPad anywhere so I don’t have to be on land to get it.
I’ve got the Kindle App so I’ve always got books with me for the lazy days.
I’ve got the Sirius XM app (subscribe to it in my car), and Pandora app on it and stream to the stereo on the boat from my iPad all the time.
As a bonus, I have just about every manual for everything on the boat saved to it as pdf files so no need to waste space aboard for those things.
BTW: What did you do to mount the new aft cabin TV? Did you fabricate something?
I used inexpensive swing brackets for the salon and forward stateroom, but it doesn’t look like that is going to be an option back there.

I unbolted the TVs from the mounting board and used that as a base. I added under mount drawer slides to the bottom of the base, and an under counter VESA mount to mount the tv to the front. I added a cheap dishpan and keep cleaning supplies back there. Basically a slide out drawer where the tv is the front. I’m planning to repeat in the front, and just add a door in the aft cabin, but this will work in any of the cubbyholes.

Thanks Dave! I like the idea of the under counter VESA mount attached to the existing base for mounting the TV in the aft cabin. Looks like it might be adjustable and you just mounted it upside down? Does it stay pretty tight when the boat is moving? I may try to squeeze another 24” back there.
I used full motion wall mounted swing brackets over the fridge and up in the forward cabin. There is enough meat immediately inside the cubby to lag bolt them in to. The mounts are tight, but if they do move while underway the only way they’ll go is back against the cabinetry. Been out with them a few times so far and they stayed in place nicely.
I put a little self adhesive clear bumper in the 4 corners on the back of each TV to protect everything just in case I hit really rough water.
Unfortunately, the inside of the TV cubby in the aft cabin doesn’t have any meat to lag the same type mounts in to, and I think that a swivel mount in that spot with the TV facing the side of the boat might be a disaster waiting to happen in rough seas of it were to swivel out.

John.

Correct. It is solid. I did have to raise the drawer slides using a 1” square piece of trim so they slide over the trim. I think the slides were 20”. The outboard one was the tightest fit lengthwise.

Plenty of room back there for storage.

Here is the mount.

Thanks Dave! I just ordered the mount from Amazon. I think it’s the perfect solution for the aft cabin.
What size TV did you use in the aft cabin? I’d like to try to squeeze a 24” back there. It might be a little tight, but if I position it just right it looks like it might fit.

The front and aft "holes" are going to become storage. Just don't watch that much TV on the boat. In the salon, I found a Samsung 24" smart TV at best buy in the refurbished bin for $100. Fits perfectly above the fridge. Unfortunately, its 110 only, so doesn't work at anchor just yet, need to add an inverter. The other TV will be ouit on the radar arch, and likely the main viewing area.

To lock it all in place, I used brass threaded inserts (3 per slide, see pic below) into the top on the fridge cabinet. I through drilled the 1" square trim, and then bolted the drawer slides down. I either used #10 or 1/4 bolts. The mounting board was attached to the slide with sheet metal screws, as was the TV mount.

I put 24” Vizio 1080 Smart TV”s in the Forward berth and over the fridge in the salon. They’re both 110 too. They were among my Father’s Day/Birthday gifts.
I need to update the one in the aft cabin for when the kids sleep over with us.
Thought about inverters, I’ll get around to them one day, but I really don’t watch them away from the dock all that much. In the meantime, if I do decide to watch them away from the dock, I’ll just run the genny so I can take advantage of the other 110 amenities too. These diesel generators burn so little fuel that I don’t mind exercising it whenever I find an excuse to.