Étude

Yesterday we signed the papers to take ownership of Étude. So we’re done, right? Hop aboard, cast off, and away we go.

Not so fast.

Once the Nordic Tug factory completes sea trials, a boat gets passed on to the dealer. If the dealer is a good one, and

We dropped into the Nordic factory on our way back from Canada. I was hoping for a firm delivery date, but didn’t get one. As best we know, Étude will be on the water some time before the end of the month.

But that’s not delivery. It’s

No, your eyes are not going wonky. All of the photos in this post were taken with a 28mm wide angle lens. I figured I’d need it for the interior shots, then was too lazy to switch to a different lens for photos outside of the boat.

You won’

It was the best of posts, it was the worst of posts.

With apologies to Charles Dickens

OK, “worst” may be a little harsh. But it worked with the quote and isn’t that what’s really important?

I say worst because there isn’t a lot of new information

“Making water”. Sounds kind of like magic, doesn’t it? Well it’s not magic, it’s misrepresentation. Water-making is really water filtering, and it’s energy-intensive which is why we’re not all drinking the Pacific Ocean.

Creating drinking water to rival any bottled product from plain old sea

“I love it when a plan comes together”

John “Hannibal” Smith, leader of the A-team

I agree completely.

We were frankly amazed to see how much progress had been made since our last visit to the Nordic Tugs factory about a month ago. It shows what they can do when

It’s been quite a while since I was able to show you any progress on Étude. The Nordic Tugs factory is not huge and can’t work on many boats at the same time. There are four steps:

1. Cast the hull, cabin and other pieces
2. Install everything

In the past month it’s become apparent that delivery is not likely to be on time. Small parts are not a problem but Cummins has yet to deliver the engine. Labor is also short and competition for good craftspeople is fierce. There are a lot of boat builders in

Have you ever noticed that sometimes people say “I could care less” when they really mean that they could not possibly care less about something? I mention this because…

Some of you may care less about how a Nordic Tug is built. Tough. Others have expressed interest and I’m

We paid a visit to the Nordic Tug factory yesterday to go over options — how many fans? where? Cummins or Volvo engine? where to put the watermaker? — and confirm that they plan to build the boat we think they’re building.

Now comes the part that everyone who has ever

We started discussing a new boat built to our specifications in late 2020. Like building a house, there are a lot of decisions to be made and a certain amount of financial negotiation. After several years aboard Fiona Bean, a Nordic 26 and Impromptu, a Nordic 32, we had a