Great Lakes Ship­yard has been award­ed a con­tract for the Unit­ed States Envi­ron­men­tal Pro­tec­tion Agency R/V LAKE EXPLORER II. The research ves­sel was hauled out using the 770-ton capac­i­ty Marine Trav­elift at Great Lakes Ship­yard. The repair con­tract that start­ed on August 14, 2014 includes Dry­dock­ing, Rou­tine Repairs & Main­te­nance, Upgrades, and Design, Fab­ri­ca­tion & Instal­la­tion of a New Bul­bous Bow.

The 90-foot research ves­sel has been sta­tioned in its home­port of Duluth, Min­neso­ta since 2009, and is the newest addi­tion to the U.S. Envi­ron­men­tal Pro­tec­tion Agen­cy’s fleet on the Great Lakes.

The R/V LAKE EXPLORER II is used for Great Lakes research, and spe­cial­izes in devel­op­ing a com­pre­hen­sive envi­ron­men­tal assess­ment of coastal con­di­tions. This research is con­duct­ed using cut­ting-edge tech­nolo­gies for sam­pling aquat­ic life, water qual­i­ty and sed­i­ments, includ­ing state-of-the-art in situ envi­ron­men­tal sens­ing systems.