salinity.live

Safety & Installation

Read this before installing or using Salinity aboard. It states the practical boundaries that must remain visible in the app: Salinity reads information, but it cannot make the boat safe, replace required equipment, or decide what the captain should do.

Before installation

• Confirm the gateway and every connection are approved for the exact vessel network and environment.
• Use current manufacturer instructions and applicable NMEA, ABYC, electrical, fire, and local requirements.
• Have a qualified marine electronics installer or marine electrician perform or inspect work when appropriate.
• Power down and isolate circuits as instructed. Use correct fusing, cable, connectors, backbone layout, termination, power insertion, voltage-drop limits, grounding, and weather protection.
• Do not splice, modify, energize, or troubleshoot a shared network unless you are qualified and the procedure permits it.
• After installation, verify every critical manufacturer display and alarm still works before leaving the dock.

Improper installation can damage electronics, cause battery drain, fire or shock, interrupt critical network traffic, misidentify engines, or disable information used at the helm. Salinity does not certify the installation or the condition of the vessel network.

Before every departure

• Inspect the vessel and perform the manufacturer and operator pre-departure checks.
• Use current official navigation information, weather and tide sources, notices, and local restrictions.
• Carry and test the communications, signaling, flotation, fire, bilge, first-aid, and distress equipment appropriate or required for the voyage.
• Confirm fuel, range, reserves, batteries, steering, propulsion, cooling, oil, and safety equipment independently of Salinity.
• Tell a responsible person the actual float plan through an appropriate channel. Do not assume an app record was transmitted or monitored.

While underway

Keep a proper lookout and use appropriate primary instruments. The phone should be mounted and used without distracting the operator. Do not handle or configure the app while doing so would interfere with safe control. Screen content may lag or be wrong. GPS, Wi-Fi, cellular service, permissions, background processes, gateway power, and NMEA messages can fail without warning.

How to interpret Salinity

• A learned “normal” is only a pattern in prior recorded trips—not a safe operating limit.
• “In range” does not mean safe, healthy, seaworthy, or manufacturer-approved.
• “Outside normal” does not identify a cause and can be produced by load, trim, current, sea state, sensor error, installation, or missing context.
• No alert means only that Salinity did not produce that alert; it does not mean no hazardous condition exists.
• Manufacturer alarms, service limits, recalls, manuals, and professional inspection take priority.

Phone, smartwatch, and remote alerts

Anchor movement, depth, tide-margin, engine, electrical, device, check-in, and other alerts are supplemental notifications only. Delivery can be delayed, duplicated, silenced, dismissed accidentally, or stopped by lost Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, internet, GPS, gateway power, background permission, notification settings, watch pairing, low battery, operating-system limits, or hardware failure. A watch acknowledgement confirms only that the notification was acknowledged; it does not confirm that the condition ended or the vessel is safe.

• Set thresholds for the actual vessel, loading, draft, rode, water level, location, and conditions, and verify them independently.
• Keep manufacturer alarms and primary helm instruments enabled, audible, visible, and maintained.
• Do not leave a vessel unattended, navigate by a watch alert, or rely on an alert to maintain anchor watch, depth clearance, or a proper lookout.
• If an alert conflicts with what you observe or with primary equipment, take the safer action and verify the condition directly.

Engine or electrical irregularity

Follow the engine, vessel, and equipment manufacturer’s instructions and use the operator’s judgment. Do not clear alarms, continue running, open pressurized systems, touch hot or moving parts, enter a machinery space, or work on energized circuits based on Salinity. A mechanic package can preserve recorded context but cannot diagnose a cause or authorize continued operation.

Navigation and conditions

Salinity is not an official chart system or collision-avoidance tool. Tracks are history, not proof of a safe route. Depths, hazards, tides, weather, currents, closures, and rules change. Maintain clearance using current official information, primary instruments, local knowledge, and a proper lookout.

Emergency communication

A phone or Salinity feature is an additional tool only. It is not a substitute for the recognized maritime distress and safety systems appropriate to the voyage, particularly VHF/DSC radio and, where appropriate, an EPIRB or PLB. Offshore coverage may not exist, location may be delayed, and a message may reach only one recipient. Use the recognized distress channel and emergency procedure for your location.

Owner, crew, and mechanic sharing

Before sharing, review the exact time window and whether it includes precise location, home port, routes, vessel identity, passengers, emergency contacts, or medical notes. Send only what the recipient needs through a trusted channel. The recipient must independently confirm the engine serial, part, fault, procedure, and repair.

Report a safety issue

If Salinity displays a misleading engine assignment, unit, condition, chart element, instruction, or safety message, stop relying on that feature and email hello@salinity.live with the app version, device, gateway, vessel configuration, and a description. Do not create or repeat a hazardous condition to capture additional data.