STØDIG
Exploring the Arctic on a Repurposed Lifeboat. Self Sufficient Design. Solar Energy.
Two architects re-purposing a 100 person marine survival lifeboat; Stødig, into a self sufficient expedition home to travel 3500km from the UK to the Norwegian Arctic in 2019.
Architects Guylee Simmonds and David Schnabel bought a marine survival lifeboat in February 2018 and after a year long conversion are on their way to Norway. Along with Shackleton, Guylee's dog, they are travelling from the UK to Tromsø, far north in the Norwegian Fjords. Situated north, Tromsø is the largest city in the Arctic Circle and having arrived, the lifeboat will spend the winter there, making smaller coastal excursions. The aim of this expedition is to explore this wild and isolated landscape, demonstrate the ability of design innovation to facilitate self sufficiency in such extreme environments and to document and share the adventure through photography and film.
The voyage began in May 2019, departing the southern British port of Newhaven. The route skirted the Belgian and Dutch coast, passing the Kiel canal in Germany into the Baltic. Passing up the Danish then Swedish coast past Copenhagen and Gothenburg, before crossing the Skagerrak south of the lower tip of Norway up to Bergen. The lifeboat followed the route of the famous Hurtigruten ferry, passed up the fjords and ended in Tromsø.
Sunflare is honored and inspired to be a part of the Stødig expedition.
Off-Grid, On-water, Solar + Battery. Exploring the Arctic Circle.
Sunflare charges a comfortable life for two architects-turned-explorers who left the UK and headed up to Norway. They totally refurbished this decommissioned lifeboat to take advantage of the majestic views of the fjords and cliffs of the Arctic Circle. By adding 900 watts of solar, two batteries and a small wind turbine they thought they’d experience the joys of self-sufficiency. By the end of the trip they felt a deeper sense of what they could handle as they managed the environs, maintained their boat, sustained themselves from the fruits of the sea.
