Overnight Anchoring - Portable GPS Alarm

Stray Cat

Active Member
TECHNICAL Contributor
Oct 4, 2006
2,344
Pool 10 Guttenberg, IA
Boat Info
2006 300DA Sundancer
Engines
350 Mags / Bravo III
I'm looking for a way to wake me up in the middle of the night if my anchor should drag.

Previously I used a depth alarm of the Lowrance depth finder on my old boat, but this boat uses the Smartview for depth and it turns off when you shut down the engines.

My current boat has a Northstar NS100SS (single station) VHF unit that appears to have some GPS interface capability. I have not researched what it would need, and then not sure if it would have an alarm feature that I am looking for.

Finally to my real question, would a portable handheld GPS unit provide what I want it to do? If I placed the unit on the dash, would the signals be strong enough? I am GPS illiterate please :smt100 Is this asking to much out of a portable unit? :smt100
 
Hey Jeff...

I know my new Garmin 76CSx handheld has a drift alarm feature. I have not had the chance to use it yet, but it's there.
 
Your GPS should have an "anchor alarm", or "drift alarm", which can be fine tuned for distance.
 
I have tried to set the alarm on my GPS for this purpose but with the cabin door closed at night I can not hear the drift alarm. I am curious as to what other guys do for this, as I have often thought about a "remote speaker" setup in the cabin to let me hear the alarm if it sounded.
 
I know the 276C does just not sure if it would be loud enough from the dash to wake you. May have to go with a remote antenna and have the unit close to your bunk??? :huh:
 
I use the anchor alarm on my GPS any time I am anchored...I have never drifted but we have changed positions and the alarm is loud enough to wake me up so that I can see whats happening. I wouldn't anchor without it..
 
So Frank, your alarm will wake you up while you are forward sleeping with your door shut and the AC's going?? Mine won't, I have tried it. Is yours RayMarine or something else?
 
My GPS is Raymarine. I Typically don't have the door shut or the A/C on when we are sleeping (no kids left at home or on the boat so no need for the privacy of a door). That said, I also do not sleep very well while on the hook and am up at he slightest noise. Thankfully the boat does not have mice or I would never sleep! :smt043

I guess if you can't hear the alarm from the staterooms, it wouldn't be too hard to rig a remote speaker.
 
My hand held Magellan explorist 400 has this feature and I set next to me and sleep like a baby. Remembering my beginning post of drifting at lake mead made me take this route asap until getting a full size fixed unit for boat. I may still use this one as a backup. :thumbsup:
 
Im with pete....

Cant hear a thing... I do hear the wind whistling past the bow rail.

But no helm alarms ...

I have wondered how to fix that ... shutting the a/c off was not one of my choices...


Rob
 
lorenbennett said:
My hand held Magellan explorist 400 has this feature and I set next to me and sleep like a baby.

Evidently the signal isn't required to be line-of-site huh? I was concerned about a portable picking up the signals when the camper was enclosed on the cockpit...I presumed the cabin was out of the question...

Thanks for the model recommendations for portables. I use nuns, cans, depth finder, and paper charts for navigation so the portable unit seems to fit my needs. (river boater)

Thanks again to all for the insight so far :thumbsup:
 
I quess I should mention that I keep it next the window but it works fine. Up on top its great with my maptech charts and down loadable cards for lakes and other areas. :thumbsup:
 
Gotta be able to see the satellite so I guess thats line of sight but not the way it's usually used..........GPS should work through canvas. Not sure about GPS through fiberglass but my XM radio works with the antenna in the trunk of my fiberglass car. Just my $.02.
 
Gotta be able to see the satellite so I guess thats line of sight but not the way the "line of sight" phrase it's usually used..........GPS should work through canvas. Not sure about GPS through fiberglass but my XM radio works with the antenna in the trunk of my fiberglass car. Just my $.02.
 
My handheld Garmin GPSMAP 76Cs has this functionality but does not receive any signal through fiberglass so inside the cabin does not work. I am curious about a remote alarm as well. Definately something I will look for in the built in plotter that I am looking for right now. The handheld is soon to become a backup :smt001

If anyone knows of a product that allows for an remote alarm speaker please let us know :smt001 Maybe that is how they get you to buy two units :smt043 ok wait... it is not that funny... those things are not cheap
 
ok reading through the Furuno documentation it seems there is a the ability to add an "external buzzer" this buzzer would sound if any alarm conditions that were set "alarm' were met (Page 3-47 in the online PDF)

I am going to browse through a few more user manuals.

Ok.. update... I read the 6000/6100i manual.... they have a external output that will "honk" as they call it.... seems to be common among the charplotters.... this is a good thing.
 
280 SeaRay said:
My handheld Garmin GPSMAP 76Cs has this functionality but does not receive any signal through fiberglass so inside the cabin does not work.

Jeremy - What if you held it up to one of the port windows?
 
The Garmin 276-476 can be bought with an automotive ant that you could put outside the window and run off battery or 12v and it would work in the cabin. JC
 
Stray Cat said:
this boat uses the Smartview for depth and it turns off when you shut down the engines.

:smt100

Stray, I believe you can still use the smart craft depth sounder with the engines shut down by leaving the ignition switches on at the first click. This enables the smart craft system gauges including the depth sounder and alarm if activated.
 

Forum statistics

Threads
112,945
Messages
1,422,746
Members
60,928
Latest member
rkaleda
Back
Top