Florida shipyard Patti Marine Enterprises has delivered an original concept design clam catcher, developed with the Truex family’s company SeaWatch International which operates 30 vessels and is the largest US harvester of offshore clams.
The company’s 40.80m (134’) Seawatcher I was also built at Patti Marine in 2003, and was the first aft wheelhouse clam dredger with integrated and stylised stacks. The new 46.30m (152’) by 10.97m (36’) beam vessel is designed to carry close to 200 cages of fresh clams caught on the George’s Banks in a 20.70m by 10.97m (68’ x 36’) clam hold module. The first ABS class clam vessel to be built, Seawatcher II is Patti Marine’s fourth project with the Truex family.
Seawatcher II has a complete suite of Simrad marine electronics, including two Simrad NSO evo2 processors driving five 18.5-inch monitors, an AP70 Autopilot, Halo-4 and Halo-6 Pulse Compression Radar systems and two SonarHub sonar processing systems.
The NSO evo2 offers a distributed multi-function display system for integrated charting, echosounder, radar, autopilot and more. The NSO evo2 is ideally suited for professional mariners, typically suited for vessels of 10m or over.
Also part of the package is Simrad’s AP70 pilot controller and a Simrad Halo Pulse Compression radar, the world’s first high-performance solid-state, open-array radar system with pulse compression technology.
This combines the advantages of Broadband Radar and traditional pulse radar systems, Halo provides navigational visibility and awareness, as close as six metres, within the pulse radar’s short-range blind spot, where once only Broadband Radar could operate, while also offering exceptional long-range performance up to 72 nautical miles.
SonarHub performance modules provide a plug-and-play network solution that drives today’s latest echosounder and imaging technology to help identify productive fishing and clamming areas. Offering a powerful performance advantage in any situation, the module’s CHIRP sonar provides high-definition detail to depths of 1000m, while StructureScan HD functionality delivers a picture-like view to the sides and beneath a vessel to help locate potential fishing and clamming areas.
‘We are very proud to be working with Patti Marine on the Seawatcher II,’ said Navico CEO Leif Ottosson. ‘Outfitting a state-of-the art clamming vessel of this size requires the most advanced electronics to produce the results that will deliver the best return on investment. With Simrad, our goal is to give the Seawatcher II confidence to head offshore knowing they will have safe and productive journeys.”
