Spot Tracker engaged!

So on the right side of this page there should now be a Find Us option. This links to a Spot Trace which is essentially Lo-Jack for vehicles. We’re going to permanently mount it in a hidden spot when it gets here but for now the crew enables it for safety since it lets the Pro Yacht Deliveries track their progress.

Its exceptionally cheap at $140 a year for the service plan. To track, you should only need to click this link:

https://share.findmespot.com/shared/faces/viewspots.jsp?glId=0NxVllbxuBLqYs4NytbxuiSZqJdRo08MK

 

 

Everyday Gear

There are a few things I buy pretty regularly on Amazon. I wanted to list them out for my own reference (to make them easy to re-order) and just in case someone was interested in some of the gear we keep around.

Camera

The Lightdow LD6000 is my go to for outdoor, mobile, mounted action and discrete mobile shots. Its 1080P video with very sharp images but I’ve not had much success with memory cards over 32GB so you have to grab your videos from the card frequently. It also has a dashcam option with pretty good controls.

Its clearly a knock off of a famous action camera but we’ve used it skiing, snorkeling and traveling and we’ve not been disappointed. A few things to mention about this:

1. It comes with a waterproof case and all the mounting attachments you can imagine but your audio will be useless in the waterproof case. We’ve used the case underwater up to about 3 meters but I think it could survive deeper.
2. By default, it will cut off video after a few minutes so check the settings to enable a longer record.
3. My cameras work best with a 32GB card. I’ve tried various 64-128 GB cards and the video will freeze and turn to static or the camera just seems to “die”. I’m sure there is a workaround or a more expensive card I could buy for 32GB is good enough for me and its super reliable.

As for the memory card, I’ve just been using this basic SanDisk Ultra 32GB microSDHC for less than $15 and they work great! I have a handful of these for my cameras and have zero complaints.

Chores

Some things are gross, nasty and messy or hazardous and you just don’t want or can’t wash your hands good enough. I discovered these about 8 years ago and use them primarily for poisonous, acidic, oily situations or if I need instant hand hygiene for food, first-aid, etc.

As far as I know these Prematex disposable nitrate gloves are NOT food-grade and NOT approved for medical/hygiene use but in an emergency they are probably better than using filthy hands. My most common use is checking engine oil or checking and refilling the water in an acid battery or handling super gross stuff I don’t want to touch!

They say large, but I would call them a large medium. Also, they’re thick enough for light chores but if you are going something heavy like rebuilding an engine or handling something with sharp edges you will pop and rip these easily. They are about 11 cents a glove so keep that in mind.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Long-Range WiFi

My career has been IT and Kendall is a social creature so connectivity to the Internet is important to us. Right now I am testing the Ubiquiti BULLET-M2-HP and will put together a video of the setup but for now, here are 13 devices I can see from my home in Georgia. The furthest is about a mile away through trees and wooded lots.

Since the antenna is my home office, it’s connectivity is limited but I will be taking the device down to Florida next week to try it in our condo. By mounting the unit outside and elevated I expect to see many more connections and hopefully give my condo free Internet access! The entire unit is about 2 feet long with a range of miles plus it gets it power over Ethernet so a 100ft outdoor network cable is all you need to connect this unit to power and to your existing home network.

The application of course is to use it while at anchor. These devices work just like if you had a laptop near the Access Point. You need to know the Access Key if the network is secured or in the case of Xfinity, you just need to have your credential handy to get online.

There are a few of these devices available, but I chose this one as an initial test due to its price, outdoor qualities and software. If you are interested, please use the Amazon link below to take a look at the Bullet or to pick one up if you want one too. We are affiliates with Amazon so buying from the link below gives us a little credit we can use for our own travel gear! It’s not much, but it adds up quick!

One critical thing the Bullet M2 lacks is an antenna. I bought a TP-Link 2.4GHz 15dBi Outdoor Omni-directional Antenna  from Amazon as well but the range was pretty terrible. As it turns out, I had another antenna on hand that cost a little less, is far more sturdy and true marine-grade.

I would highly recommend this antenna for your outdoor or marine WiFi projects. I have no affiliation with these folks and get no credit, but they seem like a reputable shop and I have made another purchase form them that I will test as well. This small antenna is about 18″ long and comes with a great stainless mounting bracket that works well with the Bullet.

Once I get down to the condo, I will mount this outside, run an inside network and the record a video of the setup. I’ll post it below so you can see all the pieces working together.