This page is for work that gets planned, not for something that broke this morning. An original that is worn, damaged or lost is measured, interpreted, redrawn and made again — one part, or a set that belongs together. One person handles the whole chain, you get one price and one date, and the dimensioned drawings are yours afterwards whatever you decide to do with them. The work goes into a named period ashore, and you get the date before you commit.
AshoreSame-day reply. Measuring on board around the inner Oslofjord normally within a week.
How I work
One chain, one responsible party
Work like this usually falls between three suppliers: one who measures, one who draws and one who makes. Each has a sound explanation for why the result is not what you asked for, and the explanations point at each other. Here the same person holds the calipers, draws the model, runs the machine, tries the part and answers when it does not fit. That is no more expensive than coordinating the three yourself. It is cheaper, because nothing is lost between the handovers, and because whoever took the measurement is the one who has to live with it.
The measuring is the work
A worn original no longer carries the dimensions it was built to. The job is to separate wear from design: where material has corroded away, where a hole has gone oval from use, which dimensions were round numbers in inches to begin with, and which ones have moved. You get it written down — what was measured, what was interpreted, and the uncertainty attached to each figure. That drawing has value on its own, whether or not the part ever gets made: it will still exist in ten years, even if the original does not.
The part does not have to be plastic
3D printing is one way to get from a drawing to a finished part. It is not always the right one, and on a protected vessel it is usually the wrong one. In that case what you get is a casting pattern a bronze foundry can work from, or a dimensioned drawing a machinist can work from. The outcome for you is the same: the part exists again, and it sits where it belongs. What it is made of is decided by where it has to sit and what it has to take — not by whichever machine happens to be standing in my workshop.
The paperwork comes with it
Most people who commission work like this have to account for it to somebody else: a board, a county authority that gave the grant, an insurer after a loss, or an auditor. So every commission ends with a file — dimensioned drawings, which material was chosen and why, measured figures with dates, photographs before and after, and a revision number that lets the next part in the series be ordered without measuring anything again. If the documentation has to go into a grant application, say so up front and it will be written so it can be attached.
The rotation is the calendar, not a caveat
I am offshore in rotations, weeks at a time. For work of this kind that is not a drawback, it is a way of planning. A restoration, a slipway booking or a research cruise is settled months ahead, and a commission here is given a production slot in a named period ashore, with a date — not a place in a queue that reshuffles according to who calls loudest. You are told which period the part will be made in before you order, and that date holds. If you need it tomorrow, this is the wrong place, and you will be told so in the first reply.
From first contact to the part fitted
01
You send what you have
A photograph of the original with something in frame for scale — a rule, a bank card — and a sentence about where the part sits and what happened to it. If you have old drawings or a sister object, say so. The answer is yes or no, and a date. If I am ashore it comes the same day. If I am offshore, the return date is at the top of the page, and the answer comes on that day.
02
Assessment and measuring — 4,900 kroner, fixed
The first step is a commission in its own right, not a free quote. The original is measured, and you get a dimensioned drawing, a note of what was measured and what was interpreted, a recommendation for how the part should be made and in what material, and what the rest will cost. The drawing is yours whether or not you order anything further. If you do order, the 4,900 is deducted.
03
A quote with a fixed price and a fixed date
One figure, one delivery date tied to a named period ashore, and a list of what is included and what is not. Half is paid on order and reserves the production slot, the rest on delivery. If the scope changes along the way you get a new price before the work continues — not afterwards, on the invoice.
04
A first piece, and one more round
The first piece is made and tried — against the original where an original still exists, and in the water where the part is going to live in water. You get photographs and measurements before anything is finished. One revision round is included in the price, because it is nearly always needed: holes come out a few tenths tight, and a clearance that held on screen turns out to be too fine in the hand.
05
Fitting where the part belongs
The part is tried in place. In the inner Oslofjord — Drøbak, Vollen, Son, Nesodden, Oslo — I come aboard and do it myself. Otherwise the part is sent with fitting instructions and you report back with a photograph. If it does not fit, it is remade at no cost. That is not a guarantee in small print, it is part of the job, and it is priced in from the start.
06
The file
The commission closes with the documentation: drawings, material choice with the reasoning, measured figures with dates, photographs before and after, a revision number, and the files themselves. If you have said the vessel, the object or the part is not to be shown publicly, it is not shown — that is agreed in writing before the work starts. The next part in the same series is ordered against the revision number, with nothing measured again.
What I do not take on
I do not take pressure housings, load-bearing or certification-critical equipment, or safety and rescue gear. I do not take work that has to be finished while I am offshore. I do not take runs that really belong in an injection mould — past a couple of hundred identical parts I become more expensive than you deserve, and I will say so. I have no CNC and I do not print in metal: if the part has to be metal, I make the pattern or the drawing, and you get the name of whoever should cast or machine it.
The list is here not out of modesty. It is here because everything I say yes to, I have to be able to try myself, in the water, before you get it. A part I cannot try is a part I cannot stand behind — and then you are better served by somebody else. It is also why the list is short enough to be any good: I do few things, and I have done them more than once.
[Insert the most recent concrete no: which job was turned down, why, and who the customer was sent to instead. One sentence, with a name. Nothing buys trust more cheaply than turning down money — but it has to be a refusal that actually happened.]
Send what you have
Measurements, a photo with something familiar beside it for scale, or just the broken piece in the post. You get a price and a date back.