The Pivot: No Med..but hello rivers of Brittany

 The Pivot: Farewell Med, Hello Atlantic!

Based on some frank conversations with Steven at Archipelago, Nomadicat is just not going to make it in time to reach the Mediterranean by fall. There have been too many seen and unforeseen problems and the time can't be made up.  It looks like we’ll now take possession sometime in August, which leaves only September and October before the winter rains, swells, and storms set in.

While disappointing, all is not lost. We have several options for how to spend those two months, factoring in where we’ll winter the boat and where we want to head in April or May. One option is to motor around the British Isles and Ireland. Another is to head north into the river networks from Rotterdam or Brussels. We could even throw it on a barge and take it in to the Med or down to the Canaries.

A third path—leveraging our shallow 1m draft—is to work our way down Brittany and northern Spain exploring rivers.  Some options include the Seine (possibly to Paris), the Loire, the Charente, the Gironde to Bordeaux, or the Adour in Basque Country.

A Picture of the Charante River

This route would likely end with us wintering in the Galician area of Spain (the "elbow" before heading south toward Portugal). There are several lower-cost marinas there, such as in A Coruña, which features a Yanmar facility for a spring tune-up—plus plenty of tapas! It’s also well-connected, with a decent airport and 3.5-hour rail service to Madrid.

Build Update For your viewing pleasure, I’m adding a photo of one of the hybrid eMotion 440hp Yanmar engines.

Welding continues (check out the steps in the photo)

, and all the tanks (water, gray, and black) have been pressure-tested for leaks. This was a big milestone, and only one small leak was found!

We’ve also started playing with color schemes; this isn't final by any means, but we're thinking along these lines.

The French electricians are scheduled for mid-March, and I’m loosely planning a trip over to have a look-see sometime in April.