Canadian marine construction and survey specialist Lani Maritime’s principal Chris Kirby decided that it was time to upgrade their basic pole mounted echo sounder with a higher-grade system, and selected the CEE ECHO™. Here is what Chris had to say about the project:
“After 30 years in the Maritime Industry, I decided to give it a go on my own and founded Lani Maritime in 2019. Having been on or under the water my entire Career, I’ve gained quite a bit of insight into Marine Construction Operations, Maritime Transportation and Salvage and Wreck Removal. I always seemed to have a need for site specific depth information. In the early days it was a chainage reel and lead-line for hours of sounding by hand. In fast water, we’d defer to a portable fish finder. When I went out on my own, I soon thought it was time to get some equipment that will precisely record depth and position. My need was initially in-house, usually in support of a heavy lift cargo going into a spot not intended for Marine Traffic. Being able to offer a detailed “local chart” to my Clients, and ultimately their Underwriters soon became a standard deliverable for Lani.
We got by for a while with an entry level echo sounder, but as our client base expanded, the need for better bathymetric and positional data became more apparent. I was aware of the limitations of our hardware and took this into consideration when deciding to respond to a Request for Survey. Our biggest issue was in the processing and filtering of data and ensuring that positional data was accurate. We experienced a learning curve and did the odd survey twice to ensure we got it right. Our hardware was limited in what it would present. Often, the exact bottom profile couldn’t be confirmed so I would invariably end up deleting the entire line and moving to the next. Then on top of this, the Bluetooth connection to the GNSS Receiver caused some grief on a challenging survey. I decided it was time to upgrade our hardware and started shopping.
After some due diligence and spending a decent amount of time on the phone with CEE, we settled on the CEE ECHO™. The system is a significant upgrade step. It sat on the dining room table for a few nights while I went through the manual, got familiarized, and got everything connected. The manual is very well written, and I found it to be a great help. I’m learning more as I go, and the manual helped clarify some elements for me. Once we got the gear out on the boat it set-up easily and started up as it should…….. my previous system sometimes needed a reboot or 2 before everybody started talking to each other. The failsafe of recording data both in the CEE ECHO™ and Bathymetric software is great insurance as well.
Once the data was collected, the biggest difference in the gear was observed in post-processing. The echogram produced provides detail like I hadn’t seen with the other system. The ability to interpret data and filter or map out the bottom is quite astonishing in comparison. Knowing now what the CEE ECHO™ is capable of, I’m not concerned at all to take on a more challenging survey. The system is the real deal and validates the capital investment. The support offered by CEE HydroSystems is commendable and I’m looking forward to the relationship.”
So are we. Thanks to Chris for taking the time to comment on his experience. As Chris was already using Hydromagic software – a great partner for the CEE ECHO™ owing to the high resolution echogram support – some of the work learning how to acquire and edit his hydrographic data had already been done. Despite already having familiarity with the software, Chris was able to find substantial benefit in the CEE HydroSystems training videos to get up to speed and was quickly out surveying again with his new gear.
To find out more about Lani Maritime’s services in Ontario, Canada, visit their web site:
https://www.lanimaritime.com/