McMullen & Wing launch 50m yacht using multibeam sonar system

When recently launching its 50m superyacht, Auckland yacht builders McMullen & Wing announced the use of a Wide Angle Sonar Seafloor Profiler (WASSP) multibeam sonar system technology to ensure the safe passage of the vessel.

Developed and manufactured in New Zealand by Electronic Navigation Ltd, WASSP allowed the vessel’s captains to profile the waters as she set off, highlighting any potential obstructions in her the path, including reefs, wrecks, fish schools, seafloor hardness changes and foreign objects.

With wireless connectivity, WASSP could also be installed in a tender or support vessel to send real-time sea floor mapping information to a superyacht’s bridge system in real-time.

Terry McDonald, chief sales officer at WASSP Ltd explained, “WASSP provides operators such as superyacht captains and owners the ability to carry out their own surveys without the more expensive cost of outsourcing to a third party survey firm to undertake the project, whilst still obtaining the accurate and reliable information needed.

“WASSP allows non-surveyors to self-generate valuable information, and the system’s practical design and intuitive ease of use requires minimal installation or operational training.”

McDonald continued, “Unlike other systems, the transducer is mounted in the hull of the tender, thereby avoiding the need to slip and engineer transducer hull penetrations on the superyacht – usually an exercise superyacht owners like to avoid.”

WASSP is also available for a number of other applications including wreck finding for scuba divers and general seafloor exploration.

For more information, visit McMullen & Wing or WASSP Ltd.