LCRI Replaces Old Research Boat with New 36-Foot High-Tech Vessel

SUNY Plattsburgh’s Lake Champlain Research Institute in the Center for Earth and Environmental Science has received a new, 36-foot, $850,000 research vessel, replacing the institute’s 30-year-old R/V Gruendling, and will hold a dedication ceremony from 10 a.m. to noon Tuesday, June 9 at the Valcour Inn and Boathouse.

The R/V Leptodora, named for a tiny — less than an inch long — endangered native planktonic predator in Lake Champlain, arrived May 5 and has been out on the water in preparation for the dedication.

“We wanted to have a good month to get used to it,” said Dr. Timothy Mihuc, distinguished service professor in the Center for Earth and Environmental Science and director of the LCRI. A representative from Munson Boats, the company that built the Leptodora, was on hand to do a walk-through and shakedown cruise.

It’s a huge step up from the university’s 30-year-old vessel, Mihuc said.

In comparison, the Gruendling was 32 feet long 10-foot beam — or width at its widest point — while the Leptodora is 36 feet with a 12-foot beam.

”I like to say the Gruendling was analog; this is digital. The technology is amazing.”

Mihuc said that another difference is in its power. The old boat, named for Dr. Gerhard Gruendling, professor emeritus in earth and environmental science after being repaired from serious storm damage in 2014, was a single propeller with a single inboard diesel engine. This boat is two-prop and 2-diesel, so it has much more capabilities. With a catamaran hull design, it ends up being more stable,” Mihuc said.

Having the benefit of the old boat at the ready helped Mihuc and the university “build a pretty strong research program,” he said. “But after 30 years, it was time. This new boat keeps all our programs running (such as) our buoy research and long-term monitoring. We knew, in the design, exactly what we wanted or needed. It’s custom-designed, so it’s unique to do the work we need it to do.”

One of the new pieces of technology includes a side-scan sonar that will allow the crew of the Leptodora to map the bottom of the lake.

“We haven’t even thought of all the things we could possibly do (with this technology),” Mihuc said.0

But one of the main points Mihuc said he wants to make is that this boat “is capable to do what we need to do for my staff and our students’ work, and we’re able to do so on a higher-tech vessel.”

Mihuc said he has “an army of students who will exclusively be on the boat for my freshwater ecology class, learning sampling techniques, training on a vessel, learning how to be a deck hand, how to operate on it. We’ll be able to support any number of courses,” he said.

The quest for a new research vessel began when the Great Lakes Fishery Commission, one of the major funding sources for SUNY Plattsburgh’s LCRI, asked for a summary of research ideas and needs in the fall of 2022. According to Mihuc, the GLFC receives federal funds from both the United States and Canada and distributes them for research throughout the Great Lakes and Lake Champlain.

Mihuc submitted ideas for the LCRI, including replacement of the Gruendling, which has continually been in use for the study of deep-lake ecology focused on thermal dynamics and climate change. The old vessel has been an integral part of the data buoy and high-tech weather station research projects that make up a large part of the institute’s work.

Change Orders Funding

As a result, in early 2023, the fishery commission funded $750,000 to replace the Gruendling — as well as $650,000 for a multi-year deep-lake ecology project. During boat design and construction, additional funding for needed change orders came from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Sea Grant program, Lake Champlain Basin Program as well as the GLFC, according to Mihuc.

During the test runs this past month, Mihuc and crew have been out installing the buoys for the monitoring season.

“It’s running great,” he said, having installed one buoy just north of Cumberland Head May 27 and one on Friday, May 22. “We’re on schedule, and if we get the last one in June 1, we’ll be ahead of the game.”

For more information on the Lake Champlain Research Institute, the R/V Leptodora or to RSVP for the dedication, which is open to the public, contact Mihuc at 518-564-3039 or email [email protected].

— By Associate Director of Communications Gerianne Downs with Photos Provided