A Letter From Our Master Builder: On Sustainability

As an artisanal manufacturer crafting highly bespoke vessels, our small yet exceptionally skilled team of 12 craftsmen and women – which I lead – chooses to produce no more than three boats per year and we remain committed to preserving this exclusive approach without compromise.  

This means that J Craft is genuinely “handmade”, and one of the important things this influences is our intimate awareness of the environmental impact we have in manufacturing these boats and how best to mitigate this. 

And while we are talking about the handmade let us, for a moment, consider what in the 21st century are the key factors that uphold the integrity and authenticity of this term. To truly be designated as handmade, at J Craft we believe a product must be crafted through extensive manual labour, ensuring each piece is meticulously constructed by skilled artisans.

A handmade product should reflect a deep personal touch, with a focus on quality and uniqueness rather than mass production. This inevitably involves not only a high level of craftsmanship but also a commitment to customisation, authenticity and, importantly, sustainability.  

Sustainability is at the heart of everything we do at J Craft, reflecting our commitment to both our products, processes and, of course, our people. Our Torpedo model is built to last across generations, designed to be a cherished family heirloom and a timeless memory maker. As an artisanal manufacturer, we pride ourselves on crafting these exceptional vessels entirely by hand. 

Each Torpedo involves more than 8,000 person-hours of work, constructed from the keel up on the Swedish island of Gotland in the Baltic Sea. Unlike many mass-produced items, where parts are outsourced to various locations and assembled on a single site, we avoid such practices. Instead, we ensure that more than 90 per cent of the value we add to our Torpedo is Swedish-made and sourced, reducing the environmental impact associated with long-distance transport and minimising our energy and CO₂ footprint. We like to say that instead of our Torpedo being ‘made in Sweden’, she is ‘made OF Sweden’!

In choosing materials, we prioritise the latest technology while focusing heavily on reducing environmental impact. We emphasise the sustainability of materials throughout their lifecycle, including their eventual disposal, with a strong commitment to biodegradability and recyclability. Our production process maximises the use of green energy, both in manufacturing and daily operations.  

Additionally, we support apprenticeship programmes on Gotland to preserve and advance Swedish and Scandinavian shipbuilding traditions, tracing these back to the Vikings more than 1,000 years ago. 

Our choice of core materials also reflects our environmental ethos, with a focus on energy footprint, longevity and recyclability. Our GRP (Glass Reinforced Plastic) products are manufactured using PET, under vacuum, employing injection resin, which contains minimal solvents, benefiting both the environment and our workforce.  

We also ensure our mahogany is cultivated from purpose-grown sources, avoiding rainforest deforestation. Our propulsion system, Volvo Penta’s IPS, offers more than 30 per cent better fuel efficiency compared to most other systems on the market. We are currently working with Volvo Penta to introduce a diesel-electric hybrid drive, which will allow our Torpedoes to operate on electric power alone for extended periods. We hope to offer this system soon. 

Being a proudly Swedish company, with the vast majority of the Torpedo components sourced and produced in Sweden, J Craft adheres to some of the strictest environmental standards globally, underscoring our dedication to sustainable practices.