How to prevent the theft of a boat or outboard motor?

Boats and yachts are often unattended, especially if they are moored in a marina for a long time. Criminals may not steal them, but they can break into them, take valuables and do damage. Outboard motors are more often targeted. They are expensive, hard to protect and thieves know it.

Boat or outboard motor thefts unfortunately happen every year.

The most common methods of theft that we are familiar with work in such a way that thieves untie the boat from its moorings during the night, drag it out to sea and steal outboard motors or other valuable property. At the same time, they even use large battery-powered angle grinders (flexers) with which they cut the supports and thus make their work easier. They leave the problem of renovating the boat and buying new engines to you. This is why the vessel should be had constant supervision of the vessel.

How to protect yourself from the theft of an outboard motor, expensive property or the entire vessel?

In the following text, the functionalities of BeeDigital GPS satellite vessel monitoring are described, which every boat or yacht owner, charter renter or sailor should have in the palm of his hand. The system provides several protection methods.

Let's start in order.

1. Activation of the geozone on the berth in the marina

When you tie up the vessel to the mooring in the marina, it is necessary to mark it geozone (geo-fence) within a radius of about 50 meters around the vessel. After that, every time the boat leaves the marina, you will receive a notification on your mobile phone. When you sail alone and leave the moorings, you will also receive information on your mobile phone and know that the vessel's satellite monitoring system is working. If it happens in the middle of the night, when you're not around – you know it could be a problem.

Unlike car GPS trackers, boats move even when turned off. You can't trust either accelerometers which are found in better quality GPS locators because the vessel is constantly moving on the waves. Classic car tracking devices "sleep" when stationary and turn off the GPS antenna. Therefore, it is necessary to have the device and its software adjusted for a very specific purpose of vessel tracking.

2.BeeDigital M2M multinetwork SIM card

A frequently asked question is whether a GPS tracker can work without a SIM card? The answer is yes. There are GPS devices that do not use a SIM phone card but other networks like that SigFox, NB-IoT or LoRa. These are networks intended for sensors that send very little data. And rarely. Such GPS devices without a SIM card do not have two-way communication and send data generally once every 10 minutes or less.

A professional shipboard satellite monitoring system must send much more data to the tracking platform. This is information about movement, diagnostics, battery voltage and sensors. Boaters mostly want to have two-way communication with the vessel so that they can use the mobile application to turn on or off the electrical device on board. GPS tracker for these purposes without a SIM card there is no point.

BeeDigital SIM card for 300 operators without roaming

Our solutions for GPS satellite view of vessels and vehicles they come with built-in BeeDigital SIM card. That has its advantages. In case of theft of the vessel, even when it is being used jamming device (GPS jammer) it is possible to find out the approximate location of the ship. The location is not as precise as a GPS system, but it is good enough to approximately locate a stolen boat and notify the police.

If you find that something unexpected is happening with the vessel, you can use the mobile application to activate a siren or a flash that can scare away thieves. Or turn off the engine ignition switch, just in case. Thefts of boats or outboard motors can thus become much more difficult.

3. Application of the bluetooth identification sensor 

Identification sensors are small IP68 waterproof devices that fit in your pocket. They have their own battery that can last About 10 years and they completely are autonomous. You can put them anywhere. Once the sensor is connected to the GPS tracker tracking system, it transmits its identification code every 10 seconds or so. If the sensor moves away from the central unit, i.e. GPS tracker, he will register it and send you a notification on your cell phone.

Bluetooth sensor you can permanently installed in an outboard motor or other valuable equipment. When that equipment moves away from the ship, i.e. from the central unit - you know something is wrong.

Beedigital systems for satellite monitoring of vessels can connect multiple sensors on board and detect temperature, humidity, door opening (magnetic sensor), moving (cherry sensor) or moving away from the central unit (identification sensor). 

Of course, ours BeeDigital solution for GPS satellite monitoring of vessels that's all there is.