Boat

The research boat “NIES94” is the FRP-boat (model S-299, produced by YAMAHA Motor co., ltd.) weighing about 4.7 tons, having total length of 8.1m, width of 3.59m, and depth of 0.88m. The boat is catamaran for preventing the yawing (the previous boat was monohull and it was swayed easily by waves).

Various ideas; having shallow draft to make sensors easily submerged etc., are found in NIES94 as a research boat. Furthermore, it has been customized according to the needs of researchers (ex. Equipping with GPS, installation the winch system.).

It has been used on the monitoring of Lake Kasumigaura from 1994 as its name suggests, and the number of cruise exceeds 250 times. For long-term use, we continue periodic maintenance like the overhaul of the engine in 2011. We would like to use with care the backseat player “NIES-94” to continue the monitoring far into the future.