Hydrographic Survey Cheetah in Northern Holland

Nov 4th, 2009

The latest hydrographic survey Cheetah Catamaran was delivered to Dutch Company Heuvelman Ibis earlier this month. ‘Cetus’ measures 6.2m LOA and has been fitted with the long survey style wheelhouse. Seatrials in October at Cheetahs base at Ventnor Haven achieved top speeds of 26 knots with twin Honda 50hp outboards. With a lightship weight of 1440kg, Cetus can be easily towed, launched and recovered from various sites where the Company operates across Holland and Germany.

Cheetah Marine has established a reputation amongst the workboat world for designing and building catamarans and in particular designing systems for the hydrographic survey sector. In addition to this acknowledged experience, Heuvelman Ibis chose a Cheetah Catamaran for its good seahandling and seaworthiness on a relatively small and towable boat. Already with 1 project underway just 1 week after delivery Heuvelman has reported an ‘excellent ride and stability especially considering the size of the boat’.

Cheetah Marine build boats to varying degrees of finish depending on the customer’s requirements. Heuvelman Ibis specified a basic level of finish in the long survey wheelhouse including a modified lower dash for installation of computer screens, sliding windows and helm and navigator suspension seating. The dual hull design with a beam of 2.4m provides a stable and spacious working deck.

A Kongsberg / geoAcoustics Geoswath Multibeam Echosounder has been bow mounted allowing surveys right up to the nearshore zone. With a shallow draught from 25-30cm ‘Cetus’ is capable of accessing extremely shallow water giving greater flexibility when working to tidal windows.

Heuvelman completed the fit out to include 19” racking housing 2 PCs and UPS, dual 19”monitors, Robin 3200 220/24v Generator, Furuno Navnet radar/chart plotter system with VHF and land based navigation reference antenna.