Socially Distanced Buddy Boating in the San Juans

As the upgrades on Airship get closer and closer to being finished (I know, very funny), we’re getting antsier and antsier to be out on the water. Summer’s over and we’ve only spent about 3 days aboard, which in a normal year would be closer to 7 months aboard, so this is quite a change. But this year is different than most, by far. The new Victron lithium batteries and … Read more

Meet the new Airship

We finally did it!  The new Airship is a 2006 Nordic Tug 42 flybridge model. We always said we didn’t want a flybridge (because, solar!), but she’s got one, and I’m sure we’ll eventually be totally on board with the flybridge concept, especially after the weather warms up. She’s got a Cummins QSC 8.3L 540HP common rail turbo diesel engine, an Onan 9kw generator, and SO. MUCH. ROOM! Two staterooms, … Read more

Interior Living Space Compared: 27′ Airstream vs. 34′ Nordic Tug

We’ve logged almost 700 nights in our Airstream since we purchased it in 2010 (a 2010 27’FB International), and almost 600 nights aboard Airship (2013 Nordic Tug 34) since it joined our family in 2014. We’ve returned to the Airstream for a week of camping on the Oregon Coast (OMG is it ever going to stop RAINING??), and we can’t help discussing the things we find different/better/worse between the interior living space of the two “vehicles”. … Read more

Power Made Easy

Airship’s Electrical Upgrades Before our 5-month trip up the Inside Passage to Alaska aboard Airship, we did some major upgrades to Airship’s electrical power system. Now, after five solid months on the boat – mostly away from marinas, here is a summary of how the system performed, what we learned, and what our “ideal” power system might look like. SPOILER: It was AWESOME! We could not be more thrilled with … Read more