I build extra survey ships out of cargo hulls. cargo hull, 1 survey module, no other sensors (the survey gives 2 sensor), and the rest engines and life support. They scout for me in the process.

In metaverse games I only use cargo hulls for scouting and as survey vessels. They can still have decent speed when seeing 4-5 pc's out and having long range.

In non-metaverse games I use omega mod 2.0 the scout hull costs only 7bc apiece and has a base move of 2 (with no maintenance). Even at the beginning my secondary planets can churn those out in 1-3 turns.

Always

I use Tiny Ships +Ion drive +survey module + Life support as they fit in.
They won't be the fastest, but therefor I can build much more of them and especially much faster. The cost difference between a Tiny Hull and a cargo Hull early on is pretty extreme and will mean many turns difference in production time.
I think at the start you can match 2 Ion drives+survey module into a tiny hull (or maybe that is with the first miniaturization...can#t remember exactly /shrug)
But I use to play with +1 speed bonus, that helps some there.

Once they run out of anomalies in their reach I replace the engine(s) piece-by-piece by life support so they can scout more.
On a medium map with lots of anomalies I usually have 5-6 such scout ships real fast which mean I get the majority of anomalies, which helps me a lot to grab a lot worlds early on.

Once they run out of anomailies completly I send them to the worlds I want to trade with (which need to be also somewhat close to one of my planets/starbases, but this isnt a major issue on a medium map) and then replace all their interior with 1 trade module (I think already the 2nd, maybe the 3rd miniaturization level allows you to do so)

All in all, I use the tiny ships because they are cheap and can be produced real fast in the early game and later can still be converted to trade ships.