When it comes to marine integration, the challenges are numerous: constant (and sometimes violent) motion, changing time zones and global locations, installations in spaces that are most often incredibly tight, and damp and salty environments. Another challenge, though, is assessing precisely what everyone on a vessel needs when it comes to systems control and automation — after all, there are often multiple users of a system with vastly different needs or responsibilities. From guests to captain to crew, every control panel may need enough flexibility to address a different “audience.”

Some brilliant examples of programming a Crestron system to meet the challenges of control at sea (and in ports of call) can be found in projects undertaken by the UK integration firm ClearSphere. The company won the 2021 Crestron Europe Integration Award for “Best Marine Project” for their work on “Lush,” an Oyster 885 sailing yacht. Alistair Ingram, ClearSphere’s director, has been programming Crestron products for many years — ClearSphere is an established integrator in high-end residential and large building-management projects in the UK. Four years ago, Angus Bruce Jones, a marine specialist, joined the firm to expand their business into the marine space. Their combined knowledge has led to the firm’s smooth transition into the complex business of Crestron integration on superyachts. “There are just so many disparate systems on a yacht that can be pulled together into a Crestron system,” says Ingram. “Obviously audio-visual systems are important in an integration such as the Lush, but this is way, way over and above your traditional AV control.”

The GUI on the Oyster “Lush”

One of the reasons Ingram and his team are Crestron devotees is that the range and flexibility of products they can install means that ClearSphere can introduce features commonly found in “superyachts” and install them in slightly smaller vessels. “We were able to give the Lush features you’d readily find on a much larger yacht,” says Ingram.

The touch screens at the heart of the Crestron system allow control and monitoring of the following systems:

Alarm & Monitoring — “Ordinarily on a yacht of this size, you tend to have a very large switch panel with loads of circuit breakers and gauges. It's not very sightly and it takes up a lot of space,” says Ingram. The software ClearSphere’s deployed via Crestron replaces all of that in an elegant fashion, monitoring system health and controlling AC and DC loads via the Crestron touch screens.

These pages include several sub-systems, including Domestic Systems, AC and DC electrical monitoring, fuel tank and bilge monitoring, and fire systems. “All these things are alarmed,” explains Ingram. “So if your battery voltage goes to a dangerous level, an alarm will go off; if the bilge fills up to a certain level, you’ll receive alarms, and so on.” The system further reports data on generators, inverters, and many other onboard devices.

Lighting — A blueprint of the yacht makes for an extremely intuitive interface experience for the crew, with touch-panel control of whole-vessel scenes programmed for all the common areas. “In the evening, click one button and the boat will light up to a pre-programmed system — you’re not sending a crewperson around the boat to switch all the lights on to a certain level. One touch and you’re done,” says Jones.

Lighting scenes are automatically changed dependent on the time of sunset using a GPS time clock and global location. The lighting scenes change from cool color to warm color as the evening approaches changing the onboard ambience.

Climate — This function is similar in appearance to the lighting page, and provides the crew information on heating and cooling in individual cabins in addition to the yacht as a whole. “One’s also able to see if a cabin’s not occupied, and adjust temperature and lighting accordingly,” says Jones — energy is a precious commodity at sea, of course.

AV — Available media sources and content distribution are all controlled from this page — as well as content distribution and individual device controls.

CCTV — Cameras are critical on yachts of this size and above, as offering captain and crew a complete view of the yacht as well as seeing what’s in the vicinity of the yacht — day or night — is vastly more important than offering a pleasant view of the ocean. Surveillance is, after all, a key element of security.

Concierge — In addition to enabling crew and guests to communicate in a one-touch manner, there are other aspects of this functionality that offer the kind of luxury one expects on a yacht such as the Lush. “One of the issues on large or small boats is you're trying to find a sort of happy medium between making sure you're looking after your guests' needs, but you're not being intrusive,” Jones explains.

“Some people just don't like the idea of having somebody coming and asking them every five minutes if they want a drink. With our programmed Crestron system, you've got this concierge feature where you can make that request very easily,” he adds. “Prior to a charter, the guests generally get a preference form from the charter broker asking them what their preferred drinks are, what they like to eat for breakfast, and the like.” All that data is entered into the system, and a guest can simply tap for refreshments.

In/Out — This is an elegant solution to a seemingly small — yet terribly important — necessity for a yacht: “When a vessel is over a certain size, there’s a regulatory requirement to monitor who isn't on the yacht at any one time,” Jones explains. It’s to ensure that there’s a constant log as to who’s aboard in the case of fire or sinking.

“The crew can just tap in and out on the Crestron touch panel as they come in and out,” he adds. “This replaces what’s usually quite an ugly whiteboard — and if the yacht's on fire and you can't get to that whiteboard, then you're in trouble, whereas this is all logged onto a separate server.”

Of course, the touchscreens in the individual cabins have less functionality, but they do provide their own features that add to the experience: weather forecasts and current air and water temps (Is it a good day for a dive off the stern?), and geo-location that keeps time zones up-to-date. “It’s easy to provide these kinds of little luxuries in a Crestron system with third-party devices,” says Ingram.

But the primary reason that ClearSphere are part of the Crestron faithful? Reliability. “The people that are pressing those buttons are spending $100,000 for a week on a yacht,” Ingram says. “They expect nothing less than a consistent, intuitive experience with zero friction.”

Interested in learning more? Find more Crestron Marine solutions here.

Additionally, Daniel Kerkhof, Director of the Crestron Marine sales department, will be speaking at the ISE Superyacht Technology Summit on May 12, 2022.