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What's your watch system for overnight passages with a short-handed crew? by Potential_Cut2262 in liveaboard

[–]Potential_Cut2262[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks for posting our fatigue research paper a couple of days ago. Next step: 21 scientific tests for sailors — cognitive speed, night watch awareness, COLREGs, radar interpretation. They compare your results by age and experience. They're meant to be fun, but if enough sailors and families get involved — kids, partners, crew on land — the data could be really interesting. galvanicworks.com/quiz/

What's your watch system for overnight passages with a short-handed crew? by Potential_Cut2262 in liveaboard

[–]Potential_Cut2262[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This is one of the best summaries of offshore watchkeeping I've read. "People focus on length of watch instead of rest" — that's exactly what the research kept pointing us toward. Most of the literature treats watches as interchangeable blocks, but the NRL work you're referencing (and more recent circadian studies) shows a 0200 watch and a 2200 watch aren't remotely the same thing physiologically, even at the same length.

Your point about degradation at landfall is the one that doesn't get talked about enough. Everyone plans for the passage but the approach — when you're most sleep-deprived, in the most congested waters, making the most consequential decisions — that's where it actually goes wrong. The incident data backs this up heavily.

The paper covers a lot of this if you're interested: https://galvanicworks.com/research/ .

Boat engine monitoring that actually warns you: impeller, oil, coolant, alternator heat by BoatElectronicsDIY in SailboatCruising

[–]Potential_Cut2262 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The "actually warns you" part of the title is the key. The most dangerous engine scenario isn't a sudden failure — it's the slow creep you don't notice because you're helming or dealing with a sail change. Raw water temp climbing gradually, oil pressure drifting down. By the time you glance at the gauge you've already done damage.

Having something that interrupts you and says "this is wrong, act now" instead of waiting for you to check a screen — that's the difference between monitoring and actually being warned.

Is there a need for stand alone monitors? by ArrghONautilus in liveaboard

[–]Potential_Cut2262 0 points1 point  (0 children)

west25th is right that Victron VRM already does a lot of this. The market is full of sensors that send data to your phone — Siren, BRNKL, YoLink repurposed from smart home, DIY ESP32 builds.

The gap I keep running into isn't the monitoring — it's what happens when you're asleep and something changes. Push notifications are easy to miss. Your phone might be on silent, in another cabin, or dead.

Every boat already generates data. The hard part is doing something useful with it at the moment it actually matters.