Rapp Marine has been selected by Gulf Island Shipyard as the overboard handling system single source vendor (OHS SSV) for Oregon State University’s (OSU) multi-mission regional class research vessel (RCRV), with the option of two additional vessels.
Funding for the RCRV project is provided by the National Science Foundation (NSF), and the contract design of the RCRV was developed by Glosten. The first vessel is currently under construction at Gulf Island Shipyard in Houma, LA.
Under the scope of the OHS SSV, Rapp Marine is responsible for integrating the systems required for science mission and cargo handling operations. The overboard handling systems will consist of the oceanographic winch and hydrographic winch systems, which will supply various tension members to the stern A-frame, main crane, and overboard handling apparatus. The portable winch will also supply the tension member used with the portable side A-frame and portable crane.
The primary application of the oceanographic winch system will be for towing scientific devices, coring, and deploying/recovering large surface buoys or heavy packages to the seafloor. The hydrographic winch system will be for instrument handling and towing as well as CTD/rosette casts. The portable winch system will be used for lighter tows or casts. The load handling systems will employ state of the art features for smooth operation, a few of them including Electric Variable Frequency drives (VFD) and Active Heave Compensation (AHC) for all the winch systems, wireless control chest packs with CCTV display feeds, and Rapp Marine’s proprietary Pentagon PLC Control System that displays and logs all line data according to UNOLS standards during operations.