German winch order first for Spanish yard
The German marine equipment supplier HATLAPA Marine Equipment has manufactured a selection of winches specifically designed for research vessels.
Several German research vessels, such as Polarstern, Sonne, Meteor and Maria S. Merian have HATLAPA branded research winches on board. After a short negotiation period with the Spanish shipyard Construcciones Navales P. Freire, HATLAPA received an order for a complete set of winches for its newbuild vessel C-661.
The contract for this vessel was HATLAPA’s first contract to supply a complete winch package to a Spanish shipyard. The package contains hydraulically driven winches for several different applications including winches for fisheries research and hydrographics. For these activities, three winches were installed to carry out work for bottom and water sampling via CTD-rosette and side-scan sonar applications.
The hydrographic winches handle streamer cables which are fitted with hydrophones that transmit data to the ship’s laboratory in real time. The streamer cables are highly sensitive and therefore need to be handled carefully, especially in adverse conditions.
In order to maintain the integrity of the streamers, the winches have sophisticated spooling devices controlled by software patented by HATLAPA. The software enables the user to minimise the sideways force on the rope and in that way allow for more accurate data.
