For those who have WIFI on there boat?

mnm99

mnm99

Well-Known Member
Oct 2, 2015
2,447
Long Island
Boat Info
2004 340 SeaRay Sundancer
Engines
Twin 8.1 Merc
I installed a Rogue WIFI unit with a wireless router last season, It works great. My problem is whenever I leave the boat I turn everything off. Then when I get back I have to log in and re-boot the router. This sometimes takes a while, because it doesn't always work for some reason. I have shore power always connected at the dock and most of the time leave it on when i'm out. Right now it's wired to my main shut off that turns everything off when I leave. Think I would be alright with it left on all the time and re wire it direct?
 
We always leave our port battery on when we leave the boat so that our satellite receiver doesn't have to reset itself every time. So far we haven't had any issues.
 
Can anyone tell me about their set up? I'm very interested in this. Thanks
 
Zeusmt said:
Can anyone tell me about their set up? I'm very interested in this. Thanks
Click to expand...

It's pretty simple. If you buy a WIFI antenna ( Rouge for me ) you would just power it up with the adapter and plug the cat5 cable into your computer. Now you can pick up any WIFI signal around. I took it a step further. I bought a wireless router. So, You power the Rouge, plug it into the router and configure it. Now you have a WIFI hot spot for all. I'm not going to get into the details of the configuration, but you get the idea.
 
I did a similar system. Mounted a Shakespeare antennae on the hardtop. From there to a Microtik Groove receiver. From there to a wireless router for a boat wide hotspot. Works great! Easily programmed from my Ipad or laptop.
 
fr8dog said:
I did a similar system. Mounted a Shakespeare antennae on the hardtop. From there to a Microtik Groove receiver. From there to a wireless router for a boat wide hotspot. Works great! Easily programmed from my Ipad or laptop.
Click to expand...

Yea those Marine wifi routers are too much $$. My Dlink router has a 12v input. All I did was cut the power pack off and put an inline fuse, wire it up to 12v. Works great and reaches my entire dock.
 
fr8dog said:
I did a similar system. Mounted a Shakespeare antennae on the hardtop. From there to a Microtik Groove receiver. From there to a wireless router for a boat wide hotspot. Works great! Easily programmed from my Ipad or laptop.
Click to expand...

Which antenna did you use? I have (and love) the MikroTik Groove and wireless router ready to go in my office and I am just trying to figure out the final antenna setup. I have been connected to Optimum Wifi now with it for a coupe of months. We use the MikroTiks for a bunch of special configurations in my business and they are powerful, reliable and surprisingly inexpensive.

-Kevin
 
The Shakespeare Galaxy wifi antenna. About 2 feet long and matches the vhf antenna. From the antenna I ran the cable to an access point in the hard top and put the groove there. From there to the router in the main cabin. Two years now with no problems.
 
Has anyone looked into or have the Shakespeare Web Watch antenna / amplifier?
This is advertised to automatically switch between a hot spot and cellular without interruption and has a HDTV antenna and amplifier integrated.
Seems this is simply wired in and it is the router / WiFi hot spot. A hub is all that is needed to extend the LAN to multiple stations.
http://shakespeare-ce.com/marine/product/wct-1/
 
mnm99 said:
What do you mean dumbed down firmware?
Click to expand...

It's uncommon in the high tech world for virtually the same hardware to be sold as different products by different vendors with the internal software changed for cosmetics/branding, more complex features or configuration hidden or removed, etc.

Sometimes the products are even physically different, but they share the core system (like in wifi, same wireless radio chipsets and controller), but packaged in a different housing.
 
ttmott said:
Has anyone looked into or have the Shakespeare Web Watch antenna / amplifier?
This is advertised to automatically switch between a hot spot and cellular without interruption and has a HDTV antenna and amplifier integrated.
Seems this is simply wired in and it is the router / WiFi hot spot. A hub is all that is needed to extend the LAN to multiple stations.
http://shakespeare-ce.com/marine/product/wct-1/
Click to expand...

This seems to be similar to Yachtconnect product, which runs around $1500. Steve has it and had good experience on the cell booster side. He may chime in with more details.
http://www.yachtconnect.com/

I don't see the price on their site, do you know how much is shakespear unit?

mnm99 said:
I installed a Rogue WIFI unit with a wireless router last season, It works great. My problem is whenever I leave the boat I turn everything off. Then when I get back I have to log in and re-boot the router. This sometimes takes a while, because it doesn't always work for some reason. I have shore power always connected at the dock and most of the time leave it on when i'm out. Right now it's wired to my main shut off that turns everything off when I leave. Think I would be alright with it left on all the time and re wire it direct?
Click to expand...

I hooked mine up to 12VDC side and it stays on 24/7/365.
 
Last edited:
Alex F said:
This seems to be similar to Yachtconnect product, which runs around $1500. Steve has it and had good experience on the cell booster side. He may chime in with more details.
http://www.yachtconnect.com/

I don't see the price on their site, do you know how much is shakespear unit?


I hooked mine up to 12VDC side and it stays on 24/7/365.
Click to expand...


$500 from what I see. BOE has them backordered....
 
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