Steel oceanographic research ship Sea Scout

The 134’ x 37’ aluminum research vessel built C & C Technologies, Inc. (C & C) of Lafayette, La, was one of the first catamarans featuring quad propeller propulsion and was custom designed to significantly increase C & C’s surveying capabilities. Sea Scout’s design marks a shift for C & C, which typically operates steel monohull vessels. Commissioning a high performance and versatile catamaran design made the most sense for accomplishing C & C’s diverse multi-mission requirements. Getting to the site quickly means more time on the job and fewer trips offshore. In addition, the catamaran design offers great seakeeping ability which allows the survey team to operate in all kinds of weather. “With this boat, we will be able to do more work in rougher seas,” said Sea Scout’s Captain, Jeramie Rivette of C & C Technologies. “That’s really important in survey work where pitch, roll and heave will often stop you from getting good data.”

The vision for the revolutionary survey catamaran began in 2008, when C & C Technologies vice president, Scott Croft, toured the 83’ R/V Manta which All American Marine had constructed for NOAA’s National Marine Sanctuary program. Croft envisioned that a properly designed catamaran hull would optimize C & C’s capabilities for deep and shallow water oceanographic survey, geophysical research, seismic survey, and Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) operations. “The challenge was to design a vessel that would run at high speeds and over long distances to reach the project site, but also a vessel that would be efficient spending a long time on low power and low speed during surveying work,” said Nic de Waal of Teknicraft Design Ltd.,