From Spikon Gasthamn in downtown Trollhattan we made a ridiculously short 2nm run to a small marina at the top of the Trollhattan locks that was the basin at the topmost flight of the 1844 locks. We figured it would be fun to spend a night in the area and enjoy the boat traffic in the locks, similar to the final night of our westbound trip through the Kiel Canal last year.

While there, we received a most interesting visitor, Olle Skold, who drove over from Stockholm to show us the 3D printer model he’d built of Dirona. You’ll be impressed with his work. We were.

Below are trip highlights from August 26th, 2019 at Trollhattan, Sweden. Click any image for a larger view, or click the position to view the location on a map. And a live map of our current route and most recent log entries always is available at mvdirona.com/maps.

Ttela Position: 58°17.23’N, 12°17.13’E Carl-Oscar Lysander’s interview with us was printed in the paper Ttela yesterday. Trollhattan resident Jan Leverin dropped off a copy (click image for larger view) along with a translation to English.

Trollhattan Road Bridge Position: 58°17.16’N, 12°17.08’E The Trollhattan road bridge opening for us to pass through.

Trollhatte Canal Position: 58°17.11’N, 12°17.06’E A beautiful clear and sunny day along the Trollhatte Canal.

Trollhattan Locks Position: 58°15.96’N, 12°15.84’E Moored for the night at the top of the Trollhattan locks. It wasn’t a very long trip for the day, but we decided it would be a fun place to stop for the night and watch the lock traffic.

Skagern Position: 58°15.91’N, 12°15.33’E The cargo vessel Skagern passing through the lock flight at Trollhattan.

Flow Position: 58°15.92’N, 12°15.44’E The Trollhattan locks are unusual in that rather than open sluices at either end of the locks to raise and lower the water level, the water instead is flows in and out through grates in the lock floor. This produces much less turbulence in the lock, particularly when rising, than other locks we’ve been through.

Skagern Exiting Position: 58°15.93’N, 12°15.92’E Skagern exiting the upper Trollhattan lock next to Dirona.

Kello’s Position: 58°15.72’N, 12°16.39’E A good lunch at Kello’s a short walk from the Trollhattan locks.

Russian Crane Position: 58°16.00’N, 12°16.18’E The Russian Crane was commissioned in 1922 by local manufacturer NOHAB to ship an order of 1,000 locomotives to the newly formed Soviet Union. The railway guage in Russia was larger, so the locomotives couldn’t be shipped by rail. The locomotives were run from NOHAB facility to the Trollhatte canal on special Russian-gauge rails, and the crane was used to transfer them to barges for shipment by water.

Lady Alexandra Position: 58°15.92’N, 12°15.72’E The cargo ship Lady Alexandra about to descend in the upper Trollhattan lock.

Olle Skold Position: 58°15.96’N, 12°15.89’E We meet a lot of fun people with a wide variety of different interests through the blog. Today Olle Skold drove over to see the boat. It’s not that unusual for someone to be interested in seeing the boat but Olle’s interest was unique. He’s building a radio-controlled model of the Nordhavn 52. He found a video of Dirona on YouTube and decided to build one using a 3D printer. You’ll be impressed with his work. We were.

Dirona Model Position: 58°15.96’N, 12°15.89’E Having found the Dirona YouTube channel back in 2018, Olle used all the data he could find there, on our website, the Nordhavn website, and other pictures and descriptions on the web to get a good understanding of the layout of the Nordhavn 52. He drafted it up and then printed it out using his 3D printer. It’s not yet finished but it’s close, with full interior detail. All that remains to be done is glue the sections together, do final fairing to get a yacht quality finish, and install the motor and radio control hardware.

Dirona and Dirona Position: 58°15.96’N, 12°15.89’E Olle with the model of Dirona in his hands standing in front of Dirona. It’s an incredibly accurate Nordhavn 52 and, since it’s 3D printed rather than hand assembled, he can make more. If you are interested in a Nordhavn 52 model, Olle is able to print and complete one for you. And, if you are interested in a model of another member of the Nordhavn fleet, we’re sure he would consider drafting the changes for a different boat. You can see a wider variety of his work and get in touch with Olle at http://depronized.com/. Even better, if you want a model that can actually be sailed under RC control, he can do that as well.

Lock Traffic Position: 58°15.96’N, 12°15.89’E Taking in the Trollhattan lock traffic from the cockpit over dinner on a warm and sunny evening.

Click the travel log icon on the left to see these locations on a map, with the complete log of our cruise. On the map page, clicking on a camera or text icon will display a picture and/or log entry for that location, and clicking on the smaller icons along the route will display latitude, longitude and other navigation data for that location. And a live map of our current route and most recent log entries always is available at mvdirona.com/maps.