Boat and trailer were pulled behind Cheetah Marine's Toyota Landcruiser to facilitate the builder's first ever commissioning of one of their GRP catamarans in Italy. Sea trials and training which followed the launch of GAIA concluded several months of successful cooperation between Cheetah Marine's Sean Strevens and Antonio Simone of Ketos.

'We required a boat suitable for performing hydrographic survey in the articulated coastal zone of Campania, Southern Italy, which features many small bays, coastal lakes, and is generally a shallow water coastal zone, said Ketos' director Simone. 'After spending some time looking around Italy we found the Cheetah Marine website and realised that it could be the right yard to develop our ideas.'

The standard 6.9m Survey Cheetah is powered by twin 50hp four stroke Honda outboards matched with Southern Cross twin engine hydraulic steering. A deck mounted 6kVa Lombardini generator is fitted into its own moulded box which doubles as a workbench.

Stainless steel keel bands offer additional protection to the hulls when beaching or in shallow water. All stainless steel work is carried out in Cheetah Marine's own metal shop using marine grade 316 stainless steel.

GAIA is currently surveying sea grass on the sunken city of Baia in the western Gulf of Naples. Ketos Marine Surveyors may also participate in an Italian Government project to promote and protect local fisheries, eventually implementing an effective management scheme.

Simone added, 'Since GAIA was launched in the Gulf of Naples it has aroused lively interest amongst the Neapolitan applied marine sciences community.'

Cheetah Marine, meanwhile, is in the early stages of developing new techniques for the deployment of multibeam echosounders and ROVs from beneath the bridge deck. Cheetah Marine will have at least one of its boats on the Seawork 2005 floating pontoon available for test runs

MJ Information No: 20437