How to 'Ferry travel' in my 991.2 GT3RS ?
Discussion
Having searched the internet I can't see that there is anything special I need to do when transiting with the car on a ferry ... other than to let Vodaphone tracker know about the journey ... but can I / should I turn the alarm off ?
Should the car be parked with the electronic handbrake on or off ??
Obviously the transmission will be in Park and the car will be locked ....
Thanks for all feedback !!
Should the car be parked with the electronic handbrake on or off ??
Obviously the transmission will be in Park and the car will be locked ....
Thanks for all feedback !!
ChrisW. said:
Having searched the internet I can't see that there is anything special I need to do when transiting with the car on a ferry ... other than to let Vodaphone tracker know about the journey ... but can I / should I turn the alarm off ?
Should the car be parked with the electronic handbrake on or off ??
Obviously the transmission will be in Park and the car will be locked ....
Thanks for all feedback !!
couple of chocks under wheels if your really worried and a blanket to cover and protect the paint from some annoying family parked 6" from your door . Apart from that yes turn off alarm .... yet to hear of a car heist at seaShould the car be parked with the electronic handbrake on or off ??
Obviously the transmission will be in Park and the car will be locked ....
Thanks for all feedback !!
-Parking Brake... ON
-Alarm... Double click key fob to Turn OFF the Interior monitoring and Tilt sensor.
If you don't deactivate the Tilt function then the alarm will go off when the ship moves. Worst case scenario is you end up with a flat battery, but on longer trips you may also get called back to your car to deactivate it.
Other things to do whilst waiting to board, and if you're going to be driving on the right.
- Units > Metric/Km
- Headlights > Inverted
Always worth having a practice of these things before the day when there is no time pressure.
-Alarm... Double click key fob to Turn OFF the Interior monitoring and Tilt sensor.
If you don't deactivate the Tilt function then the alarm will go off when the ship moves. Worst case scenario is you end up with a flat battery, but on longer trips you may also get called back to your car to deactivate it.
Other things to do whilst waiting to board, and if you're going to be driving on the right.
- Units > Metric/Km
- Headlights > Inverted
Always worth having a practice of these things before the day when there is no time pressure.
We travel to France every year have done for over 20 not in the 911 though, what everyone has said above I find the larger ferries have more space so we don’t need to worry, but we always hang around outside the car keeping an eye those parked around us traveler's are pretty careful these days.
The smaller fastcraft catamarans were the worst for space Brittany ferries have done away with theirs, if you’re travelling on an overnighter take some ear plugs for “car alarm rave”
The smaller fastcraft catamarans were the worst for space Brittany ferries have done away with theirs, if you’re travelling on an overnighter take some ear plugs for “car alarm rave”

All of the above is sound advice. I took a screenshot of the manual how to convert to kph, disable interior/tilt and invert the headlights, I never find the menus particularly intuitive but I am a bit old, and practising without time pressure is a great suggestion.
Having said all that I have just had the great pleasure of having my car jump started on the deck of the Brittany ferry when we arrived in Santander on Monday. It was so flat we had to use the emergency procedure to open the bonnet, another one to add to your collection of things to learn. Fortunately the car had opened up so didn t need to use the physical key, but that is also a right faff apparently. The deck master said that they have had a lot of Porsches recently with flat batteries so it s worth thinking about.
There is something particularly toe-curling about apologising to the cars behind you, watching them getting held back in the queue to clear some lanes, then waiting for the crew to come over with the battery pack. I also left the plastic cover for the battery area propped up on the side of the deck and had to be flagged down as I was driving away by a Brittany ferry employee.
I must say the ferry crew could not have been more helpful, friendly and non judgemental so my thanks to them.
So my car is nearly new, 74 plate and has the LiFePO4 battery, I had driven the best part of 400 miles to the port so had plenty of time to fully charge and still it failed. Obviously once I ve gone through the reverse procedure at Plymouth docks I will take it to my dealer to check it out!
One thing that did occur to us was that we spent 3 hours in the holding lanes at Plymouth and had the ignition on and off for most of that time, setting up routes, disabling the tilt, inverting headlights, moving seats back and forth etc. Plan at Santander is to leave it alone for as long as possible, it might just get us through, but another tip would be to open the bonnet as your first move back to the car.
I m sure your trip will be completely uneventful so have a great time and good luck.

Having said all that I have just had the great pleasure of having my car jump started on the deck of the Brittany ferry when we arrived in Santander on Monday. It was so flat we had to use the emergency procedure to open the bonnet, another one to add to your collection of things to learn. Fortunately the car had opened up so didn t need to use the physical key, but that is also a right faff apparently. The deck master said that they have had a lot of Porsches recently with flat batteries so it s worth thinking about.
There is something particularly toe-curling about apologising to the cars behind you, watching them getting held back in the queue to clear some lanes, then waiting for the crew to come over with the battery pack. I also left the plastic cover for the battery area propped up on the side of the deck and had to be flagged down as I was driving away by a Brittany ferry employee.
I must say the ferry crew could not have been more helpful, friendly and non judgemental so my thanks to them.
So my car is nearly new, 74 plate and has the LiFePO4 battery, I had driven the best part of 400 miles to the port so had plenty of time to fully charge and still it failed. Obviously once I ve gone through the reverse procedure at Plymouth docks I will take it to my dealer to check it out!
One thing that did occur to us was that we spent 3 hours in the holding lanes at Plymouth and had the ignition on and off for most of that time, setting up routes, disabling the tilt, inverting headlights, moving seats back and forth etc. Plan at Santander is to leave it alone for as long as possible, it might just get us through, but another tip would be to open the bonnet as your first move back to the car.
I m sure your trip will be completely uneventful so have a great time and good luck.

Edited by sardis on Monday 15th September 08:56
Useful thread!
I presume unsociable hours is overnight?
I m travelling on the Portsmouth to St Malo ferry next May (first time taking my car on a ferry), and have booked priority embarkation for £15 (although you have to book a premium cabin but they aren t much more). As I’m first off in the morning as above I’m thinking I ll be right at the front therefore safe(r) with no one going past it.
I presume unsociable hours is overnight?
I m travelling on the Portsmouth to St Malo ferry next May (first time taking my car on a ferry), and have booked priority embarkation for £15 (although you have to book a premium cabin but they aren t much more). As I’m first off in the morning as above I’m thinking I ll be right at the front therefore safe(r) with no one going past it.
TDT said:
Take the spare key and fob with you!
Each member of my drive group now always takes their spare key and gives it to someone else in the group.I had a panic, when I thought I'd lost my only key, so resolved to take a spare, on any overnight trip away from home, and it caught on with the group.
I’m usually extremely careful but I learned a hard lesson at the N’ring the other week, when the transponder in my key got damaged.
And of course the Spare key is never on hand when you actually need it! anyway all resolved and now I know!
And of course the Spare key is never on hand when you actually need it! anyway all resolved and now I know!
Edited by TDT on Tuesday 16th September 12:40
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