Powered by YouSail.com.auIs there wifi, phone signal and power aboard?
Some power, patchy phone signal, and wifi only if the operator provides it; plan to be partly offline.
There is power, usually 12 volt and often some 240 volt. Phone signal is patchy and disappears in the better anchorages. Wifi is only there if the operator supplies it, and even then it runs on the same mobile network your phone does.
Plan on being partly offline. That is generally the point, but it matters if someone needs to work or stay contactable.
Power, realistically
- 12 volt sockets for charging phones, cameras and lights, off the house batteries.
- 240 volt through an inverter on many boats, sometimes only when the engine or generator runs.
- Hair dryers, kettles and anything else with a heating element usually will not run off the inverter. Ask.
- Batteries charge by engine, and sometimes solar. A day at anchor with the fridge running still uses power.
Do not treat the boat as an apartment. Charge devices while motoring between anchorages and the battery question solves itself.
Signal
Around Sydney Harbour and Pittwater, coverage is good. In the Whitsundays it is reasonable in some anchorages and absent in others, and that varies by carrier. Offshore and behind islands, assume nothing. See Whitsundays and Sydney Harbour.
What you actually rely on
VHF radio, not the phone. Charter boats carry VHF and usually run a daily radio schedule with the base, so there is a scheduled point of contact every day whether the phone works or not. That is also how you raise help. Required safety equipment scales with operating area and includes appropriate communications along with lifejackets, in-date flares, an EPIRB and fire extinguishers. Safety and commercial vessel rules explains what carries what.
If someone must be reachable
Tell the operator before you book. Some can supply a satellite messenger, some will plan an itinerary with coverage, and some cannot help. Ask rather than assume, and give family ashore the base's number rather than your mobile. The bareboat guide covers daily radio schedules, and the booking and contract checklist lists the communication questions.