The International Boundary Water Commission (IBWC) is the latest hydrology organization to recognize the benefits of remotely controlled instrumentation boats for environmental monitoring.  Conducting work at the border in Texas has become more difficult in recent years as a result of safety concerns on the Mexican side of the border.  IBWC hydrologists routinely collect dischange measurements at several sites, and traditionally this was performed by setting up a tag line across the river.  By replacing the tag line approach with the Oceanscience Q-Boat 1800 remote controlled boat, hydrologists are able to collect the same high quality discharge measurements from a single safe location.

Four Q-Boat 1800's will be used to deploy the IBWC's SonTek M9 acoustic Doppler current profileres for discharge measurement duties, however the boat can be configured for all of the common profilers in use today as well as other instruments such as water quality monitoring sondes.  The Q-Boat 1800 offers hydrologists a flexible survey platform to deploy instruments from any location.  Instead of being constrained  to use a bridge, erect a cableway or tag line, or use a large manned boat, the Q-Boat can be deployed from a convenient river bank in safety.  With continued pressure on manpower and operational costs, remote control discharge monitoring using the Q-Boat is being increasingly recognized as an investment  with an excellent return.  The number of Q-Boats in use in the US has increased rapidly in recent years; understandable skepticeism and nervousmess over the remote boat approach to deploying expensive instrumentation in a flowing river has been eroding steadily, resulting from the excellent reliability of the Q-Boats in the field and the extensive safety and back-up features inherent in every new boat.

Designed to maximize measurement accuracy using a stable hull design, the Q-Boat 1800P can achieve a sustained 4m/s profiling speed, making safe flood measurements possible.  The affordable Q-Boat 1800D offers a solution for slower moving rivers and streams up to 1.7m/s.