One path, every time: sensors on the boat reach a station by radio, the station reaches the cloud, the cloud reaches you.
Sensor, station, cloud, you
Every DockNeighbor sensor talks by long-range radio to a DockNeighbor Station
up to about a mile away. The station carries the readings to the DockNeighbor cloud, and the
cloud does the watching: it keeps the live view current, raises alarms, reaches you first, and
reaches the neighbors you chose only if an alarm keeps going and you have not answered. Aboard
or three states away, the app shows the same picture, because it always comes from the cloud.
Sensors reach the station by radio, the station reaches the cloud, and the cloud reaches you
first and your neighbors only if you don't answer.
The station keeps hearing the sensors through an internet outage and catches the cloud up when
the connection returns. If the boat goes completely quiet, the cloud notices that too.
Where the station lives
That is the only real decision. A marina, yard or club runs one station for the whole facility,
and every boat within range reports through it. A boat with no station nearby, or one that
cruises, carries its own aboard.
Within range of both, the boat’s own station carries its sensors and the marina’s is the
backup. The station never counts against the plan’s devices.
Your marina’s station — pick the marina as the boat’s home and
the sensors are the whole install. Nothing aboard to plug in or keep online. Boats that
choose a station as their home earn its owner credits toward a free plan — see
the DockNeighbor Network.
Your own station — the M2 ($99) uses the boat’s own
Wi-Fi or a wired connection; the M2-4G ($149) adds cellular with your own
SIM, so it needs nothing from the dock and travels with the boat. The app sets either one
up in a few minutes. Which one, and where to buy →
Both in range? The boat’s own station carries its sensors and the
marina’s is the backup. The station never counts against the plan’s devices.
Gear on the boat’s own network
A boat that already has a LinkTap valve, Shelly relays or meters, Starlink, or a Peplink,
Cradlepoint or GL.iNet router can bring it along: the station reads those over the boat’s
network and shows them next to the sensors, with nothing installed on them. Partner devices are
on Weekender and Voyager, and each takes a device slot like a sensor.
The partner device list →