Geitbåtmuseet

Activities
This summer, you can rent a newly built geitbåt and explore Valsøyfjord from the sea – row at your own pace, try your luck at fishing, or simply enjoy the silence in a traditional wooden boat. For families with children, there is an activity trail in the exhibition and simple boatbuilding in the boathouse, both open daily.

Café and shop
Take a break in our cosy café with traditional boiled coffee and Nordmørsmusea’s own “Varde” coffee, roasted in Kristiansund on our wood-fired coffee roaster. In the museum shop, you will find a selection of local products, books, and crafts inspired by coastal culture and traditions.

The geitbåt – climbing the waves like a goat
The geitbåt (meaning goat boat, named for its shape and qualities) was built and used in Nordmøre and parts of Romsdal, and belongs to the oldest layer of traditional boats in Norway. A distinctive feature is that the lowest planks are hewn to shape, and both rigging and sail have remained largely unchanged for several hundred years. From a technological-historical perspective, the geitbåt is essential for understanding the development of Norwegian boatbuilding, both forwards and backwards in time. For this reason, the geitbåt and the museum represent an important knowledge base both nationally and in a wider Nordic context.

Husasnotra
Husasnotra is the museum’s year-round training and production facility, where traditional craftsmanship is passed on through the “næming” programme – a three-year, practice-based specialisation for skilled craftspeople with a journeyman’s certificate. Here, historical building techniques are learned through hands-on work, practice, and close guidance. This is what we call embodied knowledge: knowledge passed on through doing, not just theory.

Much of the work takes place on Nordmørsmusea’s historic buildings, while boats and buildings are also constructed and restored on commission. The word “husasnotra” appears in old Icelandic texts and likely referred to a navigational tool used to find one’s way home, linked to “house” in the sense of a constellation.