Founder's Own Boat Saved by Sensar Marine

It's October on Strøno - an island southwest of Bergen, Norway. Nobody in the region can remember the last full day without any rain. On this day, most people are sitting at home, warm cup of tea in hand, dreaming on brighter and warmer times out on the ocean. All the while, a tall man from Bergen is fighting through rain to keep his boat above the water.

His boat is stored on the water all year by his family's seaside cabin, built by his parents in 1969. As a self-draining, open console boat in Western Norway, it's normal that the boat's bilge is always taking in a bit of water, and then pumping it out. 

But this time, the situation was different. And for his boat's sake, it could have ended much worse had he not been notified that things began going wrong with the boat. 

The boat is docked year round near his family cabin.

Dreamed about a better boat life

Thankfully, this man wasn't just any boat owner - it was in fact Sensar Marine's founder, Paal Kaperdal.  

"The first time I owned a boat myself, I lived a few hours away from the marina. During those times, I experienced all of the challenges of being a boat owner - and the things that can go wrong." 

"I want to be able to be far away from my boat, and at the same time know exactly what is happening with it," says Kaperdal.

Sensar Marine's purpose from day one has been to monitor the critical systems in boats that can create the most stress among boat owners. Things that require ongoing attention, like avoiding dead boat batteries. And avoiding significant damage to the boat due to leakage,  freezing temperatures, or theft. If things begin to go wrong, you immediately get notified by the Boat Monitor. 

"Our goal from the start was at this system was going to be built to maritime standards. It should be waterproof, and be able to handle the demands of the Norwegian coast. It needed to be waterproof and be able to tolerate the demands of Norwegian weather and maritime conditions."

– I want to be able to be far away from my boat, and at the same time know exactly what is happening with it, describes founder Paal Kaperdal. He launched Sensar Marinee into the market in 2019.

Boat Monitor interrupted the workday with critical notifications

On this rainy afternoon before Paal Kaperdal had to drive out to save his boat, he sat in a meeting with his team. Then came a few SMS-notifications that he had to prioritize: the water level in his boat had increased to 14 cm, even though his bilge pump had been running. And on top of that, his house battery was almost entirely empty - likely because the bilge pump hadn't taken a break for quite a while.

By looking at the app, he realized that his boat really was sinking, and that the only way to keep it afloat was to go out and fix it himself. 

When he arrived at the dock, things were worse than anticipated. The hose from the bilge pump had cracked, and was leaking water back into the bilge. Rain was still coming down in buckets, while the engine room was half full with water. The boat batteries and the defective bilge pump had to be replaced there and then.

Thanks to the internal battery in the Boat Monitor, the system was able to do its job independent of what was happening with the boat batteries. 

Without his own invention, his own boat would have sunk.

What made Sensar Marine specially equipped in this situation?

1. The Boat Monitor operates on its own battery - even though the boat's batteries were in bad shape, Paal's Boat Monitor was able to retrieve data from its sensors and send that data to the app. As a result, he never lost an overview of what was happening with his boat. 

2. Bilge Sentry allows you to see real-time water level in the bilge - our sensor gives you a depth measurement for how much water you have in your bilge, when it began taking in water, and how quickly it has filled up to that point. Combined with the overview of bilge pump activity, Paal had enough information to act quickly to save his boat. 

"We designed the Boat Monitor to be installed in all types of boats. If the system can handle the challenging maritime conditions in coastal Norway, it can handle it anywhere."

- Paal Kaperdal