Nordic Tug 34 – Riveted

Port Townsend to Stuart Island

Laura Domela — Tue, 21 Apr 2015 21:25:44 +0000

Yesterday morning we left Port Townsend on the early side (before 9am) and headed north to take advantage of the perfect weather and great conditions for crossing the Strait of Juan de Fuca.

And by perfect weather and great conditions, I mean this:

So, yesterday crossing the strait we saw Minke whales, and then up on the west side of San Juan Island, we saw a whole bunch of Orcas. I posted about all the whales in a separate post because…well…tons of photos!

We were cruising with the current giving us a bit more speed than usual….a pretty strong current:

Cool bird with nice face paint:

Nice rock formation along the tip of Stuart Island:

Lighthouse on Stuart Island:

Here's yesterday's track (55.4 nautical miles over 8 hours, including whale watching):

(You can see where the whales were in both spots…look for the little circle southwest of Minor Island out in the Strait…that's where the Minke whales were, and the Orcas are where the large doubling back happens off of San Juan.)

We grabbed a mooring buoy at Stuart Island State Park in Prevost Harbor and had ourselves a nice deck top happy hour:

Look at our cute little neighbor, named Slo-Poke:

We went to bed early and got up early this morning. If it's early enough when I first wake up, I can usually can tell if the light is worth getting out of bed to go look (and take a quick photo before hopping back into bed) by looking at the edges of the portholes on either side of the stateroom. This morning, it told me I should get up:

Because this:

And then this:

We left Prevost Harbor on Stuart Island after some breakfast and a shower, and decided as we rounded Speiden Island that we'd go back to Anacortes via the back side of San Juan Island again, because maybe more orcas!

Sea lions on the tip of Speiden Island:

The wind was supposed to pick up this afternoon, but we thought we might beat it and have a nice smooth cruise. About half way down San Juan Island (just as we saw three adult orcas trucking north), the waves increased and we were in about 3-6 ft seas. Not super fun, but not scary. We tacked a little to minimize the roll, and decided rather than head around the south end of Lopez Island as was our plan, that we'd go through Cattle Pass (at max ebb). It was actually no big deal, and quite a bit easier than being in the strait.

Entering Cattle Pass, looking back toward the strait:

Cattle Pass, Lopez Island in the background. (See? Not bad.):

I didn't take any photos out in the strait because I was too busy holding on.

Here's today's track from Stuart Island back to Anacortes (48.6 nautical miles, 5 hours 42 minutes):

We're back in Anacortes now, because tomorrow we're having a Racor dual fuel filter installed. Fun stuff!

Airship Relaunch

Laura Domela — Wed, 11 Mar 2015 14:15:18 +0000

Here she is, headed back to the water (where she belongs!)

A pressure wash, a new coat of bottom paint, shiny new zincs, antifouling paint on the running gear, and now we’re ready for more adventure. Since the end of September when we got this boat, we’ve logged over 1500 nautical miles and over 200 hours. Can’t wait to double triple quadruple that!

(Thanks again, Herve, for the photos!)

More Boat Stuff

Laura Domela — Tue, 21 Oct 2014 16:20:17 +0000

We spent the weekend up at the boat in Anacortes. We left Portland late on Friday and got to the marina around 9pm, and then stayed up late (3am!) doing boat stuff. Fun! The wind was really whipping when we arrived and there were gale warnings and tons of rain over the weekend, so it wasn't a great boating weekend anyway. (Plus, the solar panels being installed on top of the pilot house are mid-install and just strapped to the roof with rope line at the moment.)

Stormy pretty view from the stern of Airship:

We brought a car load of stuff to the boat: bedding, pillows, kitchen cutting board, a new rug for the salon, a bunch of electronic things, cables, etc. We spent a lot of the weekend moving in and out of very tight places, tracing existing cabling so we could run a few new ones alongside (making sure to re-zip tie and label everything, just like the very neatly done existing wiring). More yoga will come in handy for these kinds of pretzely projects.

I cleaned out and organized the lazarette (the below deck storage area at the back of the boat, also very pretzely), which now holds two organized crates of fluids, parts, waxes, and cleaners, the two boat chairs that came with the boat, an extra fender, a foot pump for the dinghy, a deck brush, a little folding cocktail table, a second anchor in a bag, and a whole bunch of sandbags/ballast they moved from the engine room while they finish up installation of two additional AGM house batteries and an inverter.

I should have taken some photos, but I think it'll be hard to accurately depict the space without a wider lens (which I'll bring with me next time). Here are a few more photos of the interior as it's shaping up.

Galley, with new cutting board and shiny new oven:

Chilewich runner rug for galley:

Cupboard in galley:

Most of the acrylic glasses came with the boat (we added two small stemless wine glasses, and two larger water glasses). The blue Willow coffee cups are perfect for cappuccinos, and the saucers and small bowls are from that same set. I may move those to the cupboard below and add a few more tall water glasses.

Our boat came witha 22" television hidden in this sapele overhead locking cabinet:

Ta Da! And now, upgraded to a newer 24" version (including new HDMI cable routed through the far depths of the boat and back up to a switcher hidden in a closet near the stateroom, along with an Apple TV, a DVR/TV tuner, and a Blu-ray player).

We tested out said Blu-ray player with a $9.99 Best Buy purchase of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Well, half of it anyway. We fell asleep, perhaps because we stayed up until 3am the night before.

Settee/dinette accent pillows:

Chilewich "pebble" placemats:

The colors of the wood and the whiskey Ultraleather create such a warm environment, so we decided to go with graphic neutrals for the accents (plus, we knew from the Airstream interior, that we don't seem to tire of the neutrals like we do the bright colors). The walls and ceilings of the boat interior are white and the blinds are white, so together with the wood and neutrals, the interior feels really clean and inviting.

The new rechargeable indoor/outdoor LED lamp (Fatboy Edison the Petite, with its little striped cappie on), on the aft closet by the door, with the new Harmony universal remote/charger and a couple of key hooks (same Command/3M non damageable stuff we use in the Airstream):

Stateroom portlight, from bed:

Okay, so I bought a few more of those LED candles for the boat, like the ones we have in the Airstream. Only these candles are a bit different. They come with a tiny remote control that has options "light" and "candle" (to change from solid light to flickering light), a timer, and maybe three brightness settings. It's hilarious though, because when you click "on" all three candles spring to life simultaneously…"bling!!" They're cheesy as heck, but I like 'em.

And here's the bedding we went with for the stateroom:

I was originally gravitating toward the more traditional, nautical, blue and white striped stuff, but I found this set and decided to try it. I'm glad I did…I really like it! The neutrals work well with all the wood and I like the polka dot fabric on the reverse of the quilt — easy to show or not show, depending on how you make the bed.

We'll give an update on the electronics, solar, and internet stuff after the install is complete and we can give you a better assessment of how it's all working. (Early reports on the Moovbox internet solution though…SUPER fast!)

Some Interior Photos of Airship

Laura Domela — Mon, 06 Oct 2014 21:47:19 +0000

I wanted to wait a little until I got some of our own stuff in Airship to take and show you interior photos, but that's going a little slow since the boat is in Anacortes and it's a little harder to try things out to see what works. The Nespresso maker works though. Here's a photo of it:

The stovetop (and convection microwave below it, just out of frame) is being replaced this week with a Force 10 propane stove/oven.

So, as you enter from the aft cockpit through this door, you've got the L-shaped salon/dinette on your starboard side (it makes into a double bed), and the L-shaped galley on the port side.

The interior wood is all sapele. I'd never heard of sapele (pronounced suh-PEE-lee) until we looked at Nordic Tugs. Sapele is a member of the mahogany family (often used in making musical instruments) and it's just gorgeous. (None of this woodwork is veneer, either. The cabinetry and finish work is fantastic in this boat!)

The upholstery is Ultraleather in the color "whiskey".

All the stairs have little red lights for use at night (so you don't wreck your night vision if you're underway after dark, but it creates a nice ambient light while watching a movie, too).

A few steps up from the salon gets you into the very comfortable pilot house:

Another shot of the navionics:

There's great visibility from the pilot house…almost a 360 degree view! Both seats move forward (with their sapele footrests attached) for comfortable seating while underway. The windows behind the seats open for fresh air (as do the side doors and side windows) and it makes for a fantastic spot to hang out while cruising.

A few steps forward and down from the pilot house gets you to the head on the starboard side, and the master stateroom in the bow of the boat.

Looking up toward the pilot house from the hallway:

This is the head. (I borrowed this photo from the listing on the boat…I've added different towels, and a dark blue plush bath rug over the cork in front of the sink). It's super roomy for a boat head:

The master stateroom has a queen sized (almost walk around) bed, and a couple of closets and some drawers for storage. The "almost walk around" is that there are little carpeted steps leading up on either side of the bed. I haven't taken many photos in here yet because I want to work out the bedding first. Here's my closet, and the open port light above it:

I think I mentioned before that the boat came mostly outfitted (dishes, pots and pans, flatware, utensils, wine glasses, life jackets, tools, etc.), which is really nice! We can take our time deciding what else we want/need as we live with the stuff that's already there — it's been great.

So far, we've added some Turkish towels (really nice, but also thin so they dry quickly), pillows, a large countertop cutting board, additional plates (ceramic ones, to go along with the non-slip melamine yachty ones the boat came with), a nice omelet pan, a new kitchen rug, the cute anchor doormat, some Falconware bowls and baking pans (the white ones with the blue stripe), and today I took a trip to The Container Store in Portland to pick up some fridge bins, a couple of bamboo cutlery trays, a smaller trash can for the head, cord tamers…you know…stuff like that.

How cute are these rugby striped bins?

Anyway, thought I'd share a few interior photos with you guys (finally! I know!). I'll take more once we're back on the boat. Should be soon!

This week Airship is getting two 160 watt solar panels installed on the roof of the pilot house, a 2800 watt inverter, the new propane stove/oven, two more Lifeline AGM house batteries, the internet machine (Moovbox, we'll tell you all about it once we play with it a little bit), and a Frigibar deck top fridge/freezer (it can be either/or with the turn of a dial). The fridge in Airship is a 4.3 liter unit, which is only .1 liter more than the small fridge we had in our first Airstream. I remembered never being able to fit enough produce in that one, so we added this deck top fridge/freezer as part of our purchase. After living on the boat for a week, I know that we'll end up using the decktop unit as a freezer most of the time, because the freezer in this little 4.3 liter unit is TINY (and the fridge part is actually quite spacious). The deck top unit will be topped with a attached white seat cushion, so it'll double as bench seating. Should be great!

Hope you enjoyed the mini tour. More to come!