Kaharoa
Science Centres: Vessels
Although designed primarily for coastal surveys, Kaharoa is capable of working throughout New Zealand's EEZ and further afield. The deployment of ocean-profiling Argo floats alone has taken it over 75,000 nautical miles.
It can trawl to a depth of 600 m and has surveyed most inshore fish species around New Zealand.
Kaharoa is also used for acoustic measurement of fish abundance, as a diving support vessel, and for survey work in biology, ecology, geology and sedimentology.
Specifications and Principal Features
| Name of Vessel | RV Kaharoa |
| Owner / Operator | NIWA Vessel Management Ltd, 301 Evans Bay Parade, Greta Point, P O Box 14 901, Kilbirnie, Wellington, New Zealand. telephone (64 4) 386 0300, fax (64 4) 386 0555 |
| Flag | New Zealand |
| Call Sign | ZM 7552 |
| Port of Registry | Wellington |
| Classification | DNV 1A1 |
| Safety Management | Lloyd’s Safe Ship Management System |
| Year of Construction | 1981 |
| Length | 28.0 metres |
| Beam | 8.2 metres |
| Draft | 3.2 metres |
| Displacement | 300 tonnes |
| Cruising speed | 10.5 knots |
| Main Engines | Lister Blackstone 511 KW at 750 rpm |
| Main Generator | 2 x Volvo 116 kW each |
| Propeller | Liaanen Control Pitch |
| Freshwater Capacity | 21.3 cubic metres |
| Water Maker | approx. 1 tonne per day. |
| Fuel Capacity | 48.8 cubic metres |
| Freezing Capacity | 8.0 tonne insulated ice hold |
| Accommodation | 5 scientific staff + 5 crew |
| Endurance | 30 days |
| Rescue Boat | Lancer Inflatable SOLAS B |
| Work Boat | Can be provided |
Lifting Equipment
| Seacrane | Hiab |
| A-Frame | Heavy-duty stern mounted gantry. Operates through an arc of 75 degrees with a lifting capacity 3.8 tonnes |
Electronic & Navigation Equipment
| Gyro | Tokyo Keiki |
| Autopilot | Tokyo Keiki |
| Doppler Log | Ametek |
| Net Monitors | Scanmar Furuno CN22 |
| Radars | Koden MD 3721 60-mile range Racal-Decca – Type 65614600 |
| Video Plotter | Seaplot |
| Echo sounders | Koden CV 8814 colour sounder |
| GPS | 2 x Furuno GP 50 |
| Weather Fax | Furuno Dfax |
Communication Equipment
| Marine Radios | Skanti 400 watt SSB radio teleophone Icom VHF |
| Watch Receiver | Skanti |
| Cell phone Fax |
+64 27 442 7509 (when in range of the New Zealand Telecom network) +64 27 236 4932 (when in range of land based network) |
| Inmarsat Mini M Voice Fax |
008 72 7 622 14760 008 72 7 622 14761 |
Winching Equipment
| 2 Main Trawl Winches | Norwinch 1,500 metres 14mm 6x19 wire rope per winch. |
| 2 Gilson Winches | Norwinch |
| 1 Windlass | Norwinch |
| 1 Net drum Winch | Norwinch |
| Acoustic Winch | Holds approx. 1,000 metres 12.5mm faired cable. Slipring fitted. |
| Hydrology Winch | Holds 3,000 metres 6mm wire. |
| CTD Winch | Holds 2,000 metres 6mm cable. Slipring. |
| Camera Winch | Holds 1,500metres camera cable. Slipring. |
Additional Equipment (Mobilised as required)
| Side Scan Sonar | Klein dual frequency side scan sonar. C-MAX side scan sonar |
| Sub bottom profiling system | Geo Acoustics profiler |
| Magnetometer | SeaSPY towed system |
| Hydrographic sounders | Echotrac – 24 and 200 kHz Multibeam echo sounder |
| Survey navigation systems | HydroPro |
| Motion compensation | TSS DMS TSS POS/MV |
| Sound velocity calibration | Expendable Bathythermographs (XBTs) Digibar DB-1100 AML SVplus sound velocity profiler |
| Seabed sampling | Rock dredges and grab samplers |
| Tide measurements | Current, level, etc meters |
The above specifications for Kaharoa are correct at the date of publication. However some of the cable types and cable lengths on the winches may vary from those stated, as these are being replaced or shortened on a regular basis. Similarly the electronics and other capabilities are being upgraded or changed continually.
