Eye to eye with Seaeye - Underwater Contractor Magazine

Eye to eye with Seaeye
Can a magazine editor match the pulling power of an underwater vehicle weighing just 50 kilograms? UCI's John Bevan discovered the answer when he paid a visit to Seaeye, one of the UK's most successful ROV manufacturers

The yachts swayed gently at their moorings, their masts rocking like the busy bows in the string section of an orchestra. The rigging tapped out a tympanic beat to the calls of circling seagulls in the wind section. Amid this symphony of summertime scenery-by-the-sea I could hardly believe that I was sitting in the office of Ian Blamire, Managing Director of Seaeye, overlooking the picturesque upper reaches of Fareham Creek, at the northernmost tip of Portsmouth Harbour. What a location!

Ian Blamire, Seaeye MD, explains the workings of a new Panther ROV

But back to business. I was there to review Seaeye's design and manufacturing facilities at Fareham, Hampshire, and Ian Blamire was giving me the 'big picture'.
Ian is one of those successful businessmen who have come up through the ranks. His track record includes time with Intersub and HMB Subwork, and there isn't a corner of Seaeye about which he doesn't have detailed knowledge. During my tour it not only became evident that Ian knew each of his staff by their first name, he was also acutely aware of the work each one was undertaking. This was hands-on management.
The layout of the design offices and workshops had that familiar look of high quality control - not surprising considering the ISO 9000 accreditation and the influence of military customers.
Ian introduced me to Matt Bates, Sales and Marketing Manager, who gave me a run-down on the spread of ROVs in the Seaeye portfolio. These include the Panther Plus (light work-class, drilling support, 12-function hydraulic power-pack), the Surveyor Plus (pipeline surveys), the Tiger (offshore observation), the Lynx (light work), and finally their latest creation, the ground-breaking Falcon observation ROV.
Major customers include Rovtech, who have accumulated some 15,000 hours of operations with their Tiger 810 and who are currently taking another Panther Plus. Stolt have standardised on the Lynx as their observation ROV. And the Italian Navy, Korean Fisheries Protection Service, CDIS (Sharjah), and two super-yachts, all figure in the order books.

Ruggedised

the ground-breaking Falcon observation ROV is powerful and portable

Inshore Sales Manager Tom Keene steadies the new Falcon during its acceptance trials for the MoD.

As we spoke, the Mooring and Salvage branch of the Royal Navy were taking delivery of the latest Falcon off the production line. This one had been ruggedised for operation from an inflatable boat, and I was to see more of this later. The Falcon has 130lb maximum thrust forward and astern with its magnetically-coupled brushless DC thrusters which have four times the energy density of AC versions. A battery-powered version is planned with a thin umbilical giving a long excursion of 3km. The Falcon's unique "distributed intelligence" system uses sensory feedback to control thruster output, giving the ROV an innate capability to sustain direction and force.

Introduction
Matt handed me over to Tom Keene, Inshore Sales Manager, who was to give me a special introduction to the Falcon, which is described as a portable, open frame electric ROV with 300 metres working depth capability. Tom's main selling points for the Falcon included:

l Power-to-weight ratio of 1:1 at 50 kg
l Portability
l Agility
l Flexibility
l Reliability - zero cost of ownership

Tom drove me down to Gosport where we had clearance to enter the MoD (QinetiQ) ship-model test tanks. Here I was able to see a Falcon in action as it performed its acceptance trials for the Navy. As a special treat, I was offered the opportunity to try a tug-of-war with the beast.
With the Falcon at full forward thrust, it took all my strength to prevent myself being dragged bodily into the test-tank. I was impressed. The Royal Navy technicians who were carrying out the acceptance trials were also clearly impressed with the Falcon's performance, and I could see that they were just itching to take it out to work at sea.
By September, nineteen Falcons had been ordered since its launch in May. Seaeye was at full stretch meeting customer orders, but I could see that this was the sort of problem that the company thrives on.

Details - Seaeye Marine Ltd, Seaeye House, Lower Quay Road, Fareham, Hampshire PO16 0RQ, UK, Tel: +44 (0)1329 289000, Fax: +44 (0)1329 289001, E-mail: rovs@seaeye.com, Website: www.seaeye.com