Gadget keps boats and entrepreneur afloat

Mar 9 2009 by Karen Dent, The Journal

A YOUNG entrepreneur has ambitious plans to go global with a monitoring device for boats.

The piece of kit, called BilgeWatch8, records a boat’s automatic bilge pumps to see whether they are working more often than normal and provide an early warning of potential problems.

Andrew Edgeworth, 22, set up Celectron to sell the device which was invented by his father Jim. However, his father has retired to build an aeroplane and Darlington-born Andrew is operating Celectron as a sole trader.

The Northumbria University graduate, who has based his firm in Newcastle, said: “My father has been around boats all his life, that’s how he came up with the idea for the product. Most boats that sink, sink as a result of a certain problem and he came up with a simple way of solving this problem.”

An estimated that four out of five boats sink at their moorings and Andrew believes the system will help cut those statistics and make sailing safer. He said: “It’s aimed at every single type of boat – whether your pride and joy is a small boat costing a couple of grand or a super yacht.”