The Watchman Cometh

You spent all afternoon chasing bait with a cast net. You’ve filled the livewell, and now you’re ready for tomorrow’s oh-dark-30 tarpon rendezvous. Before you leave the marina, you plug the boat into shore power.

In the quiet pre-dawn hours, the shore-power breaker trips. The livewells quickly drain the batteries. Now you’ve got dead bait and a dead boat.

You can steam about it or put some peace of mind in your cockpit, says Capt. Sean Gill, a South Florida Yamaha pro staffer. Gill installed a Siren 3 Pro smart boat-monitoring system in his 26-foot Yellowfin shortly after Yamaha acquired Siren Marine. If the shore-power breaker trips, or the bilge fills with water, or someone boards his boat uninvited, Gill sees it as an alert on his cellphone’s Siren app. “It’s a day saver,” he says.

Siren 3 Pro plays a vital role for boaters on many vessel types and sizes. And now Siren has enhanced the unit’s capabilities by adding Trident—software that delivers even more information to the owners of boats with Yamaha DEC outboards, the dealers who service them and the manufacturers who build them. Trident accomplishes three goals: It streamlines the initial build, creates a proprietary onboard network, and generates maintenance notifications.

“It’s really the industry’s most complete Internet of Things (IoT) system in existence now,” says Andrew Cullen, director of marine connectivity for Yamaha Marine. “We have the benefit of bringing in all of Yamaha’s resources to bolster this product. We’re just scratching the surface.”

The Internet of Things refers to a network of connected devices—such as sensors and onboard electronics—and the technology that allows them to communicate among themselves and to the internet, where they can be accessed remotely, such as on a smartphone app.

Initially, Grady-White Boats and Regulator Marine will incorporate the first Trident systems as standard equipment for select multiple-outboard vessels for the 2024 model year. In the future, all Siren 3 Pro units will ship with Trident.

For boatbuilders, Trident facilitates what’s called a Boat Power System scan, a process that verifies that all systems and electronics can talk to each other. Previously that was done by plugging in a computer and performing the check manually. Trident also integrates with Yamaha’s Command Link Plus rigging system to deliver a variety of data, including accurate engine run times. That gives dealers and boat owners a precise measure of maintenance needs.

“We’re getting data flowing so that it can be examined more closely,” Cullen says. Siren plans to periodically update Trident, sending more and more onboard information to the cloud and out to dealers and owners. The system might one day predict malfunctions before they can happen.

Boaters can purchase Siren 3 Pro for $796.86. Cellular rate plans start at $17.97 a month, $180 a year or $125 seasonally. If you need a satellite connection, rate plans cost $300 a year.

The system can handle up to 15 wireless and three wired sensors, including canvas snap sensors, motion sensors, battery monitors and more. Set a geofence to alert you if the boat moves from its location. Trident’s cost will be up to the boatbuilders and will be incorporated into a new-boat purchase.