our vessel
Our 14.5-foot Stabicraft 1450 Frontier is a compact but exceptionally capable aluminum-hull vessel designed for stability, safety, and flexibility in dynamic coastal environments. Small enough to launch almost anywhere. Tough enough to do real work.
Compact, tough, absurdly stable for its size, and built to work in the messy, dynamic places where a lot of real coastal fieldwork happens. Its shallow draft and maneuverability make it useful around rocky shorelines, estuaries, eelgrass beds, bays, and weird little coves where bringing a large research vessel may be unnecessary, impractical, or prohibitively expensive.
vessel capabilities
Nearshore research & wildlife surveys
Drone-based coastal monitoring
Photo documentation & at-sea observations
Dive support
Plankton tows
Transporting researchers, artists, engineers, field crews, equipment, and supplies to hard-to-reach places
nice words from our guests
The MendoNoma team knows exactly what it's like to be you: An impassioned explorer left frustrated by the barriers of entry into the field. With decades of experience working on the water and in wildlife conservation, you'll rarely interact with boat captains that ‘get it’ the way that the MendoNoma team does.
They know the difference between the perfect spot and a total waste of time, and they have set themselves up to take you and your project to the finish line, whether it's making that perfect frame or taking you to that one place you'd always dreamed of sampling.
Photographer & Science Communicator
FAQs
Yep! And being small is kind of the point. Our Stabicraft 1450 Frontier is compact, stable, trailerable, and maneuverable, allowing us to work in nearshore environments, estuaries, rocky coastlines, bays, lakes, and other places where a larger vessel may be unnecessary or difficult to use. It won't be the right boat for every project, and we'll never pretend otherwise. But for the work it was designed for, a small boat can have suspiciously big capability.
Your boat is only 14.5 feet. is that really big enough for fieldwork?
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What does the vessel rate include?
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Our $120/hour vessel rate includes the boat, licensed captain, fuel, and vessel parking/launch fees. We also tow the boat at no additional charge for projects between Salt Point and Sausalito; beyond that service area, additional towing mileage is $1.50/mile. If your project would benefit from another biologist aboard, boat + captain + an additional field biologist is $140/hour. We intentionally keep our vessel pricing accessible because we don't think your entire field budget should disappear just getting onto the water.
How can I book a trip on the water?
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You can schedule a free orientation call first to see if we are a good fit. If so, we’ll send you a booking link to schedule a time. We’ll collect a deposit and lock it in!
a small boat with big range
Think our boat might be the right fit? Let's talk specifics and see if we’re ready to go.