Purdy Suite Anchoring App

This post will be my instructions page for my anchoring app to read from.

     This app is intended to help, but not be the sole solution to anchoring anxiety. As the legal notice screen says, this is an as is app that makes no guarantees about how well it works on various devices and in various situations.  This is for people who have that nagging concern when they leave their boat that the anchor may drag, or pirates may Shanghai it!  It will wake you up at night if the boat moves but it will also send a text message to another phone that tells you how far it has moved and what bearing the location you set is at from where the boat is now.

     When you log in, you will be brought to a legal notice screen where you click the check box to agree that you will not depend on this app and that it makes no guarantees. Once open, you need to complete all the yellow highlighted questions before the app will show you the Set Anchor option. Additionally, the app will not allow you to set it's anchor location until the GPS accuracy is better than 50'. Move it to a better location if it does not have a fix.

1. The on screen map works to show you an anchor icon (the bottom of which is where you set the anchor point) and a red mark that moves which shows your current fix. but not until you have "set" the anchor. Wait until your gps has a good fix and a small margin of error before setting the alarm.
2. While away, you may want to set the anchor alarm to silent, it will send you text messages and receive replies, but it won't sound the alarm at the boat. That way your cat or dog won't panic.
3. Plug in your cell phone on the boat if you are using this program so the GPS does not wear down the battery. Setting the GPS fix interval to a larger number may help prolong the battery life, but it will negatively effect the accuracy of the app if the boat moves.
4. Boats swing, so do not set the alarm distance so short that the alarm goes off for no reason. It is at 100 feet by default and I wouldn't set it less than 50' if you don't want to woken up at night often.  It depends on the accuracy of the GPS just how small the movement alarm can be set to without false alarms.
5. Selecting no texting will allow you to use it as an anchor alarm while sleeping on the boat. If you select texting, you will need to select a phone number from your contacts. The bell alarm is obviously not as jarring as General Quarters :)
6. The first thing the app does is verify that it is connected with the second phone by sending a Google map link via SMS. On the remote phone, you can click the link, open Google maps, save the location so that your remote phone will know where the anchor was set.  Then if there is an alarm and you open Google maps, it will show two marks. Where you set the alarm (a star) and where your are now (default red balloon). It is not necessary to save the location though. Please save this location as a starred location: https://www.google.com/maps/search/?api=1&query=41.86094,-70.19363&zoom=19
7. Your phone should be placed lying down with the top of the phone facing forward before setting the alarm if you want the wind direction or heading to read correctly. 

When the alarm goes off:
ANCHOR ALARM - Reply "Anchor" to set anchor again, "Off" to turn off system, "Compass" to get a report of wind shifts, and "Map" for a google map of current location  will arrive via SMS to the second phone.

Along with a heading (wind direction):
The wind direction during last anchor set was 167 degrees, now pointing 102 degrees. The boat has swung either 65 degrees, or 295 degrees.

Also report and a link to where the GPS believes the boat to be:
Bearing to anchor point is 259 degrees. The boat has moved 95 feet. New location is https://www.google.com/maps/search/?api=1&query=45.38094,-74.50363&zoom=19  The distance and bearing to the anchor point will be sent as well.  You can click on the coordinates to see the location in Google maps. At google maps you can change to satellite if you want a better idea.

If there is an alarm, you will probably reset the anchor point and wait for a new alarm unless the distance is excessive, or call for a couple maps to see if the boat moves further. If you don't reset it, you will need to call for data with text messages.

Pretty straight forward from there.  I will soon add a command to modify the distance from the anchor remotely as well.

Remember, bad GPS signal, poor reliability. Never rely solely on this app, use good seamanship practices. I hope this helps, but make no guarantees.