Here’s a new idea that was just introduced at the Annapolis Powerboat Show: The SmartMooring, an app-controlled device that travels along an underwater chain and brings your boat to you.
Forget the dinghy. Just stand on a dock, press a button on your smartphone and SmartMooring will deliver your boat. At the end of the day, when you’re back at your deep-water mooring, press the button again and SmartMooring will carry you back to shore. (You can see how it works in the video, below.)
Tom Derecktor, an engineer and member of the Derecktor Shipyard family, developed the SmartMooring after he moved to a waterfront home and got tired of transferring his family on a dinghy from shore to his boat on its deep-water mooring. He started Derecktor Design in Bristol, Rhode Island, a few years ago, and decided to make the entire process of getting to, and from, his moored boat a lot easier.
SmartMooring is a patent-pending, solar-powered, mobile mooring system. It moves along a chain between a conventional deep-water mooring and a shore-based anchor, dock or piling. It has an integrated 12v AGM battery that can be charged remotely; it also can provide a boost to your boat if it has a dead battery.
The SmartMooring has an integrated GSM chip for control by a mobile phone, plus a GPS chip to provide mooring location data to the app. The drive system is modular and can be upgraded for larger boats. It costs $$2,950. Read more:
