BilgeRise by GarageForge Stay in the loop →

Most boats sink in their slip when no one is watching

BilgeRise watches the bilge while you’re away. Get notified when the water rises.

No companion app or subscription necessary.

How it works → View on GitHub
Phone showing BilgeRise water level beside the controller unit in a boat bilge FIG. 00 / FIELD
Pressure depth probe mounted in a boat bilge FIG. 01 / SENSOR
Fig. 01 · the probe

Reads water depth in the bilge.

A 4–20 mA pressure probe reads depth to about half a centimetre after calibration. Runs on 12 V boat power and handles the usual bilge mess.

BilgeRise config dashboard on a phone showing live water level and emergency threshold settings FIG. 02 / CONFIG
Fig. 02 · the config screen

Set your emergency levels in the browser.

On boat WiFi, the setup page shows live water level and lets you set Tier 1 and Tier 2. Change settings at the boat; alerts still reach you remotely.

How alerts work

Two thresholds. Get notified when either is crossed.

FIG. 03 · BILGE CROSS-SECTION depth in cm 50 40 30 20 10 CM TIER 02 50 cm · emergency TIER 01 30 cm · warning 12.4 cm P·DEPTH SENSOR pressure depth probe lowest bilge point CONTROLLER 12 V · WiFi SMS WARN SENT ↑ SMS ALERT SENT ↑ controller unit bilge-mounted BILGE FLOOR HULL
Tier 01 · Warning

"Water is rising. Heads up."

SMS and Discord fire when water stays above your first threshold. Worth a look from wherever you are. The on-device alert LED turns solid.

Tier 02 · Emergency

"This needs your attention now."

Alerts keep repeating at your interval, and the alert LED pulses. Silence on site with a five-second button hold. Everything clears when the water drops.

Build it yourself, or tell us you want a kit.

DIY is ready today on GitHub. An assembled kit with managed alerts is still in planning. Same open-source firmware either way.

Kit path · not shipping yet

Prefer an assembled unit?

We’re gauging interest in a weatherproofed, pre-flashed WiFi unit: mount the probe, connect 12 V, and let us handle the notifications. Not for sale yet. LTE-M is on the roadmap, not in the current firmware.

  • Pre-assembled & tested (planned)
  • WiFi today · LTE-M cellular planned
  • Managed SMS + Discord alerts
  • OTA firmware updates from GitHub Releases
  • Hardware warranty + email support (planned)
Interested in a kit →

Interest only · nothing to buy yet

Open source · available now

Build from the docs.

Firmware, wiring, and setup guides are on GitHub under the MIT license. About $200 in parts, flash an ESP32, and configure WiFi plus Twilio or Discord in the browser. No vendor cloud account and no companion app.

  • Firmware on GitHub, MIT licensed
  • Wiring diagram + hardware BOM
  • Parts around $200 in components
  • Bring your own Twilio, Discord, or webhook
  • Optional MQTT + self-hosted Grafana stack
View on GitHub →

Ready today · no BilgeRise account needed

Both paths run the same open-source firmware. Start from the BoatReporterESP repo if you want the architecture, hardware, and user guides.

Optional · 2 minutes

Stay in the loop.

Building from GitHub? You don’t need this form. Want kit updates, or a preference that would shape docs and hardware? A few answers help us prioritize.

Email only so we can follow up when there’s real news about an assembled kit. No newsletter, ever.

Q1 Length of your boat?
Q2 How do you monitor your bilge today?
Q3 What would you expect to pay? Device included, no contract.

WiFi, Discord, and webhook alerts stay free. SMS costs money because of carrier charges, so an annual SMS plan would sit on top of the device price.

Q4 Which path interests you most?

Helps us know how much to invest in docs, community tools, and the managed platform.

Q5 Your email * required

One update when a kit path is ready to talk about shipping. If you opt in below, a couple of follow-up questions as hardware options firm up.

* email is the only required field · the rest helps us prioritize

Under the hood · firmware 1.1.x

What the open-source
build does right now.

Numbers from the current BoatReporterESP release. Kit-path and packaging items are marked in line.

Completed BilgeRise controller prototype assembled on a workbench FIG. 03 / PROTOTYPE
Sensing 4–20 mA pressure probe · ADS1115 16-bit ADC
Range / acc. 0–70 cm operating range · ±1 cm after two-point calibration
Sample rate ~1 s continuous · 10-sample median filter
Connectivity WiFi (STA + setup AP) LTE-M cellular planned for kit path
Power 12 V boat power Battery backup planned
Mounting 3M VHB or screw bracket · bilge floor or wall
Enclosure Off-the-shelf waterproof project box Not production-rated · kit enclosure TBD
Alerts Tier 01/02: SMS (Twilio), Discord, custom webhook · alert LED solid/pulse · defaults 30 / 50 cm External horn/relay terminal planned
Telemetry MQTT JSON + optional self-hosted telemetry
Config Captive-portal browser UI · no app