Vessel type
Fishing vessels: long trips, hard motion, no one to climb the mast
A fishing vessel asks three things of deck equipment: it must keep working when nobody is free to fix it, it must survive continuous motion rather than occasional roll, and it must pay for itself in a season. That pushes the specification toward wiping cameras, a washer tank, and an antenna with margin rather than the smallest dish that fits.
The antenna: margin beats aperture
Grounds are rarely under the strongest part of a satellite footprint. A boat that fishes a bank 200 miles out at the edge of coverage sits in the outer contour for most of the trip, and that is where an undersized antenna starts losing lock in rain. The published ladder runs from 50 dBW on a 33 cm radome down to 41 dBW on a 105 cm one; the practical rule is to pick the model whose minimum EIRP is comfortably below the weakest contour on the grounds.
Motion is the second half. A fishing vessel rolls constantly, and both antenna families document the same envelope — roll ±25°, pitch ±15°, yaw ±8° at a 6-second period with tracking above 90°/s. The difference is the third axis: a 2-axis platform with automatic skew is adequate for a hull that rolls and rights itself, while sustained heel on a beam-on sea is where cross-level ±35° earns its place.
Cameras: the window is the weak point
Funnel soot and salt film kill a deck camera long before the electronics fail. That is why the wiper models exist, and why the washer tank is specified as a pair with them: the wiper clears water, the washer clears the dried film before the sweep. On a fishing vessel the camera that matters is usually over the working deck or aft of the wheelhouse, both of which are in the dirtiest air on the boat.
For the working deck, a wiper bullet is the economical choice — fixed aim, cleaned glass, IP68. Where the activity moves (shooting and hauling gear, a crane working), a wiper PTZ is the alternative, at four times the weight and a wiper blade that becomes a service item.
Connectivity: 35 miles is the line
Inside roughly 35 nautical miles the shore mobile network is the cheapest bandwidth on the water, and the documented 4G/5G antenna is built to run alongside VSAT with automatic priority switching — shore link while it has coverage, satellite when it does not. For a vessel that fishes the same grounds every week, that combination is usually the difference between a usable data bill and an unaffordable one.
Beyond that line there is no cellular fallback, and the choice is between VSAT and nothing. A fishing company that wants crew welfare (video calls, messaging) and CCTV backhaul offshore is specifying VSAT; one that works inside the line is not.
Specify against these points
- Weakest footprint contour on the grounds, minus 3 dB margin
- Whether the hull heels continuously or only rolls
- How dirty the camera positions are — wiper, washer or both
- Whether the vessel stays inside 35 nm or needs VSAT
A typical configuration for this vessel
An example, not a quotation — the model follows the route and the footprint. Send the route and the numbers come back with the model.
Buyer questions
Fishing vessels
Is a 2-axis antenna enough for a fishing vessel?+−
For a hull that rolls and rights itself, yes — the 2-axis platform with automatic skew covers the documented ship-motion envelope. If the boat works beam-on in a sea and stays heeled for hours, the cross-level axis of the 3-axis range is the difference.
Do I need explosion-proof cameras on a fishing vessel?+−
The marking is specified for hazardous areas, which on a fishing vessel usually means fuel and paint spaces rather than the working deck. Many operators fit the same housing on deck for the IP68 rating and the wiper, and specify the marking only where the zone requires it.
How much does the washer help?+−
It addresses the fouling a wiper cannot: dried salt and soot. A 5 L reservoir at 27 PSI gives short bursts before each wipe, which is how a washer is used in practice.
Can one system serve a small fleet?+−
The hardware is per vessel; what changes across a fleet is the control layer. The Advanced ACU adds cloud monitoring and route tracking, which is what lets one office see the state of several boats without visiting them.