Marcelle Melosira
The people of Vermont have a well-earned reputation for environmental stewardship, so it’s only fitting that the state’s flagship university is operating one of the first hybrid research boats in the United States.
The 64-by-19-foot Marcelle Melosira arrived in downtown Burlington, Vt., near the University of Vermont (UVM) campus last summer following delivery from Derecktor Shipyard of Mamaroneck, N.Y. Chartwell Marine of the United Kingdom designed the aluminum catamaran, which features a BAE Systems HybriGen package.
The hybrid propulsion system consists of Cummins generators, Corvus Energy lithium-ion batteries and traction motors coupled with the prop shaft connected to fixed-pitch ZF propellers. The vessel can run for up to three hours on battery power alone while generating zero emissions and hit 12 knots without burning a drop of diesel.
“We can get on station and be in electric mode and we are not pumping out emissions and we are not burning fuel,” said Capt. Taylor Resnick. “It is a pretty nifty system in that way.”
“All-electric mode is nice when we are doing research involving fish because we are not producing a lot of noise,” added Resnick, who typically operates the vessel along with a deck hand. “And it is a lot quieter when we are using all-electric mode.”
Planning for Marcelle Melosira started more than five years ago. The Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources already had a research boat in the 45-foot Melosira, but it wanted something bigger and more capable. The new vessel combines the names of Marcelle Leahy, the wife of former U.S. Senator from Vermont Patrick Leahy, and the former research boat.
The design for the new boat closely mirrors three others Derecktor has built for other customers in the northeastern U.S. in recent years, including RV CUNY I for the City University of New York. UVM uses the vessel as a floating classroom for K-12 and college students to study aquatic ecology and the Lake Champlain watershed.
“The advantages (of this design) are that it is low emissions, your fuel usage is much lower and it is a lot less noisy than traditional vessels because you don’t have those two diesel motors running all the time,” explained Mark Donahue, Derecktor’s director of business development and government affairs.
Resnick got to know Marcelle Melosira intimately during the delivery voyage from Derecktor Shipyard to Burlington. The voyage took the ship under the Brooklyn Bridge and around the Statue of Liberty before heading north in the Hudson River and entering the 60-mile Champlain Canal north of Albany, near the town of Fort Edward.
The vessel faced a stiff current heading up the Hudson and extensive flotsam and floating debris within the canal following days of heavy rains. High water also tested Resnick and his co-captain, Tom Beardsley, under some tight bridges. Transiting the 11 locks on the way were another challenge.
“It was a little hair raising,” Resnick recalled this summer.
Even so, the boat ultimately arrived in Burlington without a scratch. And Resnick got to experience how the vessel performs in challenging conditions. “It is maneuverable and it is very stable,” he said. “Its hulls are about 7 feet wide at the widest point.”
Marcelle Melosira is unlikely to encounter similar conditions on Lake Champlain, which runs 125 miles from the Canadian border to Whitehall, N.Y., but is no more than 12 miles wide. Students and faculty typically operate within a short transit from the dock in downtown Burlington. Even so, scientists and the Rubenstein Ecosystem Laboratory have high expectations for the new vessel.
“The research vessel is an incredible resource for our students, community partners and researchers,” Jason Stockwell, director of the Rubenstein Ecosystem Science Laboratory, said in a video soon after the vessel arrived in Burlington. “With increased capacity, state-of-the-art equipment and an improved classroom environment on board, Marcelle Melosira greatly enhances our ability to do impactful research and education.”
“We are missing a lot of information from deep parts of lake,” Stockwell continued in the video. “And this boat allows us to get out into the deep areas and collect a lot of information.”
Marcelle Melosira can accommodate 32 passengers, enough for a classroom’s worth of students as well as a contingent of instructors. It has a wet laboratory and space on the aft deck for myriad research activities. The vessel also is equipped with a Supreme Integrated Technologies A-frame and three electrically driven winches developed by InterOcean Systems.
The two 80-kilowatt-hour Corvus Energy lithium-ion batteries installed in the lazarette are the heart and soul of Marcelle Melosira’s BAE propulsion system. Two variable-speed generators driven by Cummins QSB 6.7 engines supply electricity to the batteries, which can then be dispersed to the vessel for onboard power needs or propulsion through traction motors that turn the Aquamet 22 steel shafts connected to ZF fixed-pitch propellers.
The system has three modes available to the operator: All-electric mode which relies entirely on the batteries and generates zero emissions; hybrid-electric mode, where the generators kick on when power demand levels hit a certain threshold; and charge EV mode, where electrical current replenishes the batteries and supplies power for propulsion.
Marcelle Melosira contains numerous fire safety features. They include a deluge system in the battery compartments in the lazarette and HFC-227 and Novec 1230 fire suppression system in the hulls. Fireboy-Xintex supplied both systems.
In the wheelhouse, the vessel is equipped with Furuno navigation electronics, including radar, AIS, GPS and autopilot. Standard Horizon supplied the VHF radio and loudhailer and the weather station came from Airmar Technologies. There are also accommodations in the hulls in a climate-controlled space for rare overnight voyages.
With almost a year of operations under its belt, Marcelle Melosira has proven itself to be a highly capable, stable platform for research within Lake Champlain, and a worthy successor to the venerable Melosira. •