Join us for epic adventures and interactive entertainment
as we explore the waterways of North America!
Join us for epic adventures and interactive entertainment
as we explore the waterways of North America!
Welcome to The Stugatug's World of Adventure
Our Story
Deanna and John are both 50 Ton Master Captains with a combined 90 years of experience including 20,000+NM of racing and crusing their Beneteau First 38 Charrette throughout Lakes Michigan, Huron and Superior. In the fall of 2023, they purchased a Nordic Tugs 32 for the purpose of exploring the rivers, channels and intercoastal waterways of America's Great Loop. We invite you to follow along during our adventure.
The link to our 2008 Lake Superior adventure may be found here: https://www.sailblogs.com/member/charrette
Charrette's Facebook Page may be found here:
About Stuga
Stuga is Swedish for small house or cottage and as you may notice, contains the word "tug" which is appropriate since she is a NordicTugs 32. She was originally launched in 1994 as hull #075 but has undergone an extensive refit in 2023 after we purchased her. That refit included:
- Engine & Exhaust: the turbocharger was replaced and a custom stainless exhaust mixing elbow replaced the original cast iron factory mixing elbow. Additionally, the transmission oil cooler and all engine cooling hoses were replaced as well as all flexible exhaust hose components where exchanged for high temperature silicon.
- Shaft Seal: the old shaft stuffing box was replaced with PSS Dripless Shaft Seal system.
- Instrumentation: The existing radar, chart plotters, auto pilot, stereo, vhf and speed/dept instruments as well as the old through hull transducers were all removed and were replaced with a new Garmin NMEA 2000 system with data sent wirelessly to tablets for navigation. Access to the cloud is provided by a permanently mounted Starlink dish.
- . Electrical System includes 480 watts of solar panels and a Victronenergy Multiplus 2000va pure sine wave inverter. The house bank consists of 660ah of lithium ion with an external smart battery management system as well as dual starting batteries for the engine, the anchor windless and the bow thruster. Battery monitoring is provided wirelessly.
- Plumbing and HeatingThe standard small galley sink was replaced with an oversized stainless sink with a pull-out style hose valve and filtered water dispenser. The small 5 gallon water heater was replaced with an 11 gallon model heated by both the engine and by 110v shore power. The shower head was replaced by a water saving trigger style shower head. An Espar diesel heater was installed with ducted air both in the main cabin as well as the forward sleeping cabin. Propane valve connections and regulators were replaced
- Ground Tackle A 20kg Rocna anchor and new chain replaced the existing ground tackle.
- Upholstry all of the cushions were replaced with top of the line upholstry Sunbrella and the mattress in the forward cabin was replaced with a Verlo custom mattress.
- Portlights and Hatches opening portlights were replaced with solid bronze New Found Metal portlights.
About America's Great Loop
The Great Loop is the biggest adventure that you've probably never heard of! It is a continuous waterway that recreational mariners can travel that includes part of the Atlantic, Gulf Intracoastal Waterways, the Great Lakes, Canadian Heritage Canals, and the inland rivers of America's heartland. Anyone who completes the journey is then named an official 'Looper.'
Our jouney on the loop will begin in Sturgeon Bay, WI in late August of 2024 and will continue south to Chicago to the Illinois River and eventually to the Mississippi River. We will then take the Ohio River to the Tennessee River with side trips to Nashvile on the Cumberland River before returning back to the Tennessee River and the Tombigbee Waterway, which flows into Mobile Bay and the Gulf of Mexico. From there, we hope to explore the Western side of Florida and the Keys and perhaps the Bahamas before proceeding up the east coast and eventually back into the Great Lakes.
Want to know where we are now? Follow us on the Nebo Link App
After years of meticulously logging our sea time using pencil and paper, we have finally found a 21st century digital solution for logging our voyages and that is called Nebolink. It is an electronic device that detects and charts our movement while automatically recording data on each day of our voyages. If you wish to read the actual captains log of each and every time the Stuga Tug moves, then the Nebolink app is for you! You can download the app from Google Play or the App store for free and follow along.
Step 1) Log in to the Nebo Link with a free membership
Step 2) Look us up by boat name "Stuga"
Step 3) Click the Add button 1/2 way down
If we have not met before, please send us a message