New Single Beam vessel R/V Echo
In fall of 2011 Geodynamics designed a state of the art singlebeam survey vessel specifically for shallow water surveys. It is a 21’ aluminum catamaran locally built by Barry Le Ray from Cape Fear Catamarans in Wilmington, NC. This vessel is designed to operate at higher survey speeds while still collecting survey-grade bathymetric data. In order to provide Geodynamics with an adaptable survey platform for modern hydrographic techniques, great care and research went into the design and rigging of this vessel. Vessel motion compensation during hydrographic data collection is provided by an Applanix POS-MV inertial motion sensor. The boat is currently outfitted with an Odom CV 100 singlebeam echosounder with a hull-mounted transducer; however the vessel also includes a “moon pool” between the two hulls to deploy other equipment like a multibeam or interferometric sonar system. The R/V Echo was designed from the ground up to be the most efficient platform for singlebeam surveys while still having the versatility to evolve with the technology of modern hydrography.
