GoPro mounting on Avalon river cruise?

I may not get many posts on this one as its a bit on the geeky side. I thought it would be fun to mount my go pro in my suite pointing to the scenery going by on a time lapse setting. I think I can get 6-9 hrs on it before a battery change. I would do that for most of the cruising part of the trip and then piece it together for a 10-20min video. I did this for my daughters wedding and it turned out great.

Here is the question....

It looks like I could mount it on the railing just outside the window of the room. I would use a flexible pod tripod that wraps around the rail. If I do that do you think there is enough room between the rail and window for the tripod to wrap around the rail? I probably need an inch. Also if I do that is the boat ever in any position that someone could easily reach out and grab the camera off the railing?

If I cannot do that there is a suction cup mount I can get. I would not trust it on the outside of the window but could mount it on the inside. The video quality would be less with that version. Any thoughts?

BTW if I do that I will post the results on here late October.

I may not get many posts on this one as its a bit on the geeky side. I thought it would be fun to mount my go pro in my suite pointing to the scenery going by on a time lapse setting. I think I can get 6-9 hrs on it before a battery change. I would do that for most of the cruising part of the trip and then piece it together for a 10-20min video. I did this for my daughters wedding and it turned out great.

 

Here is the question....

 

It looks like I could mount it on the railing just outside the window of the room. I would use a flexible pod tripod that wraps around the rail. If I do that do you think there is enough room between the rail and window for the tripod to wrap around the rail? I probably need an inch. Also if I do that is the boat ever in any position that someone could easily reach out and grab the camera off the railing?

 

If I cannot do that there is a suction cup mount I can get. I would not trust it on the outside of the window but could mount it on the inside. The video quality would be less with that version. Any thoughts?

 

BTW if I do that I will post the results on here late October.

Can't answer the space questions about placing the camera on the rail, but yes, there are times on a river cruise that you are close enough to either a lock wall, or another boat that someone could reach out and grab it.

Also if it overhangs the rail on the outside, there is a big risk it could be destroyed by the lock wall, there is not a lot of space between boat and lock.

It won't be on Avalon but we are planning to shoot video from our cabin with the GoPro on our Evergreen cruise next year. We'll probably opt for the "through glass" version or set up our ( full height) tripod within the cabin rather than risk leaving the camera on the balcony railing.

As you say the through-glass option isn't ideal but with similar situations we've found we get reasonable results with the curtains pulled behind the camera to cut down on reflections on the glass.

The other thing you have to watch is the flashing red light on the front of the camera. This usually gets reflected off the glass and is visible in the video so you need to cover the light with black tape or card if you can.

Good luck! I'm glad to know we're not the only GoPro geeks in the forum :)

I'd get one of these:

https://www.amazon.com/SublimeWare%C2%AE-Flexible-Adjustable-Gooseneck-Motorcycle/dp/B019KYJIC2/ref=sr_1_1?s=photo&ie=UTF8&qid=1469420988&sr=1-1-spons&keywords=GoPro+mounts&psc=1

There is also a section on Cruise Critic just for camera discussions. Some very good advise there. You might want yo check it out.

I may not get many posts on this one as its a bit on the geeky side. I thought it would be fun to mount my go pro in my suite pointing to the scenery going by on a time lapse setting. I think I can get 6-9 hrs on it before a battery change. I would do that for most of the cruising part of the trip and then piece it together for a 10-20min video. I did this for my daughters wedding and it turned out great.

 

Here is the question....

 

It looks like I could mount it on the railing just outside the window of the room. I would use a flexible pod tripod that wraps around the rail. If I do that do you think there is enough room between the rail and window for the tripod to wrap around the rail? I probably need an inch. Also if I do that is the boat ever in any position that someone could easily reach out and grab the camera off the railing?

 

If I cannot do that there is a suction cup mount I can get. I would not trust it on the outside of the window but could mount it on the inside. The video quality would be less with that version. Any thoughts?

 

BTW if I do that I will post the results on here late October.

Hello there,

I think it'll work...no harm trying, but keep an eye on it. Attached are some pictures which may help you visualize your thoughts. And yes, at some ports, someone can grab your camera. We were on the 2nd deck of the 4 deck ship, where the 4th deck is the sky deck.

The 1st picture shows the space between the wall of the canal & the edge of the ship's deck with the shiny railing from our french balcony on the left. The 2nd picture shows you how close the ship can get to land, in this case, the top landing of the canal wall.

Good luck.

Another concern I would have is possible damage if the outside of your ship is cleaned while in port. We've seen our ships hosed down and wiped clean. Plus rafting while in dock could put your GoPro well within a neighbor's reach. We've had ships rafted to us while we were off on an excursion and were surprised when we returned.

Thanks for the great advise. I am going for the suction cup mount on the inside of the window. That way I can also attach the backup battery for more capacity. Lower quality picts but the thought of a theif quickly grabbing it while docked or the water hose blasting away at it convinced me.:o