Swansonator 3000

Morristown Beard (NJ)

Updates:

Voyage 1

The 12th miniboat from Morristown Beard School was prepared over the 2024-2025 School Year.

November 2024 Updates

  • The Hull and Keel crew ballasted and installed the keel.
  • The Deck crew collaborated with other classes to finalize their design template and began transferring their design onto the boat, selecting colors for markers, and tracing the school mascot onto the deck.
  • The Cargo crew began planning and updating the miniboat’s contents, including a list of items to represent the 50 states.

   

January 2025 Update

Students provided the final touches needed to complete their miniboat build. They also worked together to install the deck camera and made sure the sensors and gps tracking technology were working properly.

March 2025 Update

Student’s celebrated and christened their miniboat during a special ceremony. The history of ship christening dates back to ancient times when sailors and seafarers believed that ships had their own spirits and personalities. They believed that if a ship were not properly named and blessed, it would not be able to navigate the seas safely. Over time, ship christening became a formalized ritual and an important part of maritime culture. The christening of a ship is a significant event because it marks the ship’s official launch and the start its journey. It is also believed to bring good luck.

This assembly brought together all the students and other classrooms to admire their hardwork, praise each other, and to wish a safe journey for their shared creation: the M/B SWANSONATOR3000!

The Swansonator3000 was named after their lead teacher Mrs. Lisa Swanson. She now proudly has a namesake to add to Morristown Beard’s fleet.

March 27, 2025

Mrs. Swanson herself drove the SWANSONATOR 3000 down to North Carolina on March 26, and got to launch it into the Gulf Stream on board the F/V FISHIN FRENZY! Special thanks to Captain Greg, crew, and Charles CP Perry for making this all possible!

May the Swansonator 3000 sail swiftly and safely across the Atlantic, bringing all who journey with her closer to the beauty of the world and the majesty of the ocean.

Cheers to new adventures and safe travels!

Watch the big launch and read more about the Morristown Beard’s 12th miniboat here:

Ocean Science Data from Onboard Sensor System

The location reports from the main GPS will show on the map at the top of this page (which updates hourly with new positions if available).

Here below is where you can see the data reporting from the second GPS which is connected to a custom sensor package. In addition to reporting location with a secondary GPS tracker, this system is also collecting air temperature, water temperature, and orientation of the boat. Please note that the map below will only the last 7 days of data and may include invalid points and data. If you are interested in looking at the data in a different format from the whole voyage, contact us.

The Swansonator 3000 was launched alongside a MakerBuoy drifter to learn more about wind and currents. Here is an embedded map of the last 30 days of tracks (note these data are not QA/QC’d and include transit points):