PDI to Supply Centerboard for OSU's New Research Vessel

Power Dynamics Innovations LLC (PDI) said it has been subcontracted by Gulf Island Shipyards LLC, to design, engineer, construct, install and test the centerboard system for Oregon State University (OSU)'s new Regional Class Research Vessel (RCRV).

Gulf Island Shipyards is building the vessel under a contract from OSU, with an option for two additional vessels. 

OSU has engaged with naval architecture and engineering firm Glosten to lead the design contract of the next class of oceangoing research vessels for the National Science Foundation (NSF).

These state-of-the-art 193-foot ships will be highly flexible, multimission platforms that maximize energy efficient design concepts. The first vessel will be built in Houma, La., and will be delivered to OSU in the fourth quarter of 2020. This vessel will be ABS Ice-Class C0 and DPS-1, Green-Marine Certified, acoustically quiet, and carry up to 29 crew and embarked scientists.

The first RCRV will be operated by OSU on the West Coast as part of the University-National Oceanographic Laboratory System (UNOLS).

The RCRV will feature a deployable centerboard, designed and manufactured by PDI that will provide a versatile platform on to which a wide variety of acoustical sensors can be easily installed based on specific mission requirements.

These sensors could possibly include fisheries survey transducers (EK-60), current profilers (ADCP) and shallow water multibeam units (2040), among other possibilities.

The RCRV's centerboard will have a removable foot that can be used to swap out families of sensors and it will have swappable plates that will provide flexibility for individual sensors. Presently, no vessel in the academic research fleet has one so precisely spatially referenced in order to provide highly reliable data, PDI said.