Custom made keel?

Hello and thanks for the input - the website will get updated soon - have a few things going on here at the moment, including selling my current boat, which is equipped with solar panels, electric engine and all the things you find on that website.
I did 5 conversions to electric in the last 8 months, helping from the planning via designing all the way to actually running it - successful too.
And I did spend quite a bit of time offshore, as I mentioned before I was working on research ships in the last years and spent quite a bit of time in remote locations and crossing oceans.
I am aware the US is a good and practical place for building/refitting projects but after having lived here for 2 years (well, really one year since I spend half my time at work at sea) it is time to go again... back to... well, wherever I might find that hull

 

If there are that many unknowns about cost it sounds like you have a lot more research to do before worrying about finding a boat. There are a few people out there doing things similar to what you are talking about, would be worth tracking them down and talking to them.

Its too bad Charlie Porter just died, he was doing a fair bit of small scale research in Chile and South Georgia on smallish (60-70ft) sailboats.

Skip Novak's Pelagic and Pelagic Australis occasionally get chartered for research work in the southern ocean.

Matt Rutherford has been doing some work in the Atlantic gyre on a small boat.

Mary Crowley Chartered Kaisie (115 brigantine) to do work in the pacific gyre a few years ago, bigger boat but I bet the group that chartered could give you some information on the challenges of doing research from a non-purposed designed boat.

Most any charter boat could give you a good idea of running costs etc.