Njord – Marc Valgaeren

Sunday, September 25, 2022 (launching, Njord), 2 comments

A very nice interpretation of Njord, very close to initial intentions and hopes!

Hello Björn,

I just wanted to let you know that I recently finished the Njord. It took me about 310 hours of work, due to the problems I had with glassing the hull as you may recall ( i had to redo it because of air bubbles). The rest of the building process went reasonably well.

I did make a few changes, I reduced the height of the foredeck in front of the cockpit to 21cm, and I glued in a foam masik, so I now have 19cm from my kneecaps to the bottom. I like a tight fit.

I also made the coaming larger behind my back, so my tuilik and sprayskirts would fit. I kept the seat position according to the plan.

I hope you don't think I've spoiled the lines of your design with these changes.

I tried to give the Njord a modern look, but with a few details referring to its east Greenland history, such as decklines and paddle holders.

I live 200 km from the sea, so I went testing it on a canal which is usually crowded with freight boats. My first impression is that the Njord is pretty fast, I did 10 km in one hour. And she rolls very easily. It feels very stable and safe. I like it very much!

Despite some difficulties I liked building it very much, it was my first strip-built. I immediately started a new project, I want to build a strip-built version of my east Greenland SOF replica. 

Thank you, Björn, for your advice, and for the wonderful design.

Best wishes,
Marc Valgaeren