Shipbuilding: Work Starts on 50-ft. Hybrid Research Vessel
Snow & Company of Seattle started construction of a 50-ft. hybrid research vessel for the Department of Energy's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory.
Dubbed RV Resilience, the boat is designed by Incat Crowther with propulsion integration provided by Pacific Power. Hybrid propulsion will be accomplished by joining twin Volvo Penta D8-510 (374kW) marine engines, and two Danfoss Editron 20kW motor-generators. Power is stored using a Spear Trident battery system. This combination allows the vessel to operate in a zero-emission “quiet” state, which is more effective for marine research and will also reduce air pollution and carbon dioxide emissions.
The vessel will be stationed at PNNL’s Sequim campus. PNNL-Sequim houses the only marine research facilities in the DOE complex. Resilience will be a multi-use platform for deploying research equipment, ROV’s and diving operations in support of various research projects, including power generation and environmental surveys. Delivery is scheduled for summer 2023.
RV Resilience Main Particulars
- Length / 50’
- Beam / 16’
- Draft / 3.5’
- Displacement / 55,000 lbs
- Fuel / 600 gallons
- Fresh water / 80 gallons
- Person / 2 crew, 6 scientists
- Speed / Diesel – max 28 knots
- Speed / Electric – max 6 knots
- Electric “quiet” propulsion mode 1-6 knots for 4 hours
- Material / All-aluminum construction
- 5,000 lb capacity A-Frame
- 1,000 lb capacity crane
- 500 lb davit
- Dive operations platform
- Onboard Scuba Bottle air compressor
- Garmin electronics suite
- Flir camera