It definitely feels like Fall here in Antalya with night time temperatures almost down to 10 degrees C / 50F which is a big drop from the 20’s we have had up till now. However we also had a rare rain and some very big winds at the beginning of the week so the air is crystal clear and the views of the mountains and the Med out our 9th floor apartment windows are to die for!
A very full week working on Möbius as Dincer, Yiğit and I spent yesterday (Sat) working on more details such as routing venting and filling plumbing for the 14 different fuel and water tanks, designing up a very nice fuel fill box on the sides of the coaming on the PH (Pilot House) and working through the designs for some of the HVAC Heating Ventilation Air Conditioning systems, plumbing, ducting and heat exchangers. During the week Team Möbius was mostly focused on topping off the tanks with their 6mm plate that gets welded on and then pressure tested. Great fun for Christine and I to now be able to walk around in the cabins with these tank top floors in place now. And the ER Engine Room enclosure walls were tacked in place this week so that space is also now coming into focus and looking eXtremely good. With that preview, let’s jump into the pictures and descriptions so you can see what this all looked like.
As always all aluminium surfaces to be welded need to be cleaned to remove the layer of Aluminium Oxide ensuring all the welded areas are scrupulously clean to ensure great welds. You can see that Nihat has been busy with the wire wheel getting these tank top plates all ready for taking onboard and welded atop all the tank baffles and framing.
Here for example are the tank tops tacked in place in the Basement ready for Sezgin to do the finish welding around all the plate edges and the many slots that weld the plate to the flat bars atop each baffle plate below.
The three large open bays on the right are battery bays for some of the 24 very large 2 volt Gel cell batteries which make up our eXtremely large set of two 24v house banks. There will be plastic boxes linking these battery bays and then 6mm AL tops bolted in place to seal the batteries from water and dirt. Each bay will be also be fully ventilated with in/out vent pipes to help keep the batteries cool when being charged.
Standing in the aft Port side of the SuperSalon where the steps will soon be in place to take you down to the corridor leading aft to the Workshop and Engine room through the WT door in the top right here, you can see that the tank tops are now all set in place in the Guest Cabin aka Christine’s Office.
Here is the GA General Arrangement drawing that will help you visualize all these different spaces on Möbius, stairways, cabinetry and the like. We’ve changed the Galley counter layout a bit but otherwise this is how the boat will be laid out.
** Click to enlarge this or any photo in the blog.
Moving aft into the large Workshop area Uğur is getting ready to erect the first wall of the enclosure that will create the Engine Room. Mr. G, our Gardner 6LXB with thus be fully isolated in this eXtremely well insulated and ventilated space and keep the noise and heat confined to the just the Engine Room. On most boats the whole aft Workshop area would have been the Engine Room but this way I get a much quieter and cooler area to work in even when we are underway and so too does all the equipment that would normally go into the ER such as fuel filtering system, batteries, water maker, boiler and so on.
It is difficult to photograph this area but standing in the aft Starboard/ Right corner of the Workshop looking forward, you can see how these walls create this Engine Room Enclosure.
The Day Tank will be mounted on that WT bulkhead on the far Starboard/Right side of the ER enclosure and then various bits and bobs of boat equipment will be mounted on the enclosure walls and workbenches lining each side such as the Water Maker, diesel fired boiler, hot water tank, Alfa Laval fuel polisher, fuel filters, engine start batteries and so on.
Moving over to the Port/left side you can see where the door will go through into the Engine Room and you can make out the corridor or “wing” the enclosure side walls create leading forward to the WT door you can make out on the far left here which will leads to the corridor alongside Christine’s Office/Guest Cabin which in turn takes you to the stairs up to the SuperSalon.
As you can see in the picture above the ER enclosure creates a similar wing area on the Starboard side. The will be workbenches stretching down both sides of the hull on the outside of these walkways providing a huge amount of working height surfaces for my work tools and machines such as vices, drill press, lathe, 3D printer, grinder, etc. as well as providing lots of places for mounting boat equipment such as Auto Pilot pumps, water pumps, and the long list of other equipment that goes into making this floating village work. Keep in mind that in order to be fully self sufficient we have to create all our own water, deal with all our own sewage, create all our own electricity, navigation, power, communications and so on, so being our own village is not hyperbole in our case.
Standing in what will be the doorway into the ER you can see the two thick “beds” running down either side of the center Keel plate to provide eXtremely solid surfaces for mounting the Gardner engine and the Nogva CPP servo box. The Gardner fits easily between the inside edges of these bed plates which leaves plenty of room on either side of this massive engine to access all its systems which makes this Captain who will be doing all such work VERY happy!! Turning around to look aft, my hand is on what will be the hinge side of the ER door, you can see the even larger area of the Workshop aft of the ER atop the prop tunnel. The shelf running across the inside of the transom wall in the back with the red bucket on it, is where the hydraulic steering cylinders will be mounted and you can see the hole in this shelf where the rudder post tube will soon be welded in place. There will be stairs up to the WT door on the top left here which takes you out to the Swim Platform.
For those of us who have owned and worked on boats before can appreciate, having so much space and so much surface area for mounting things is truly fabulous. With enough room to space everything out so well it makes access for everything from the initial installation to the ongoing maintenance very easy and eliminates the Harry Houdini like contortions we usually have to do to work on boats. This is not mere convenience as it makes the initial building and then using and maintaining of the boat much less costly, less prone to errors, easier to monitor and see problems right away, as well as much safer. What’s not to like??
Stepping out the WT Workshop door onto the Swim Platform to show you the initial framing of the “plinth” as Dennis tells me it is called, which provides plenty of headroom as you step though this WT door.
If you look at the GA plan drawings above you can see how this is all laid out and how spacious the whole Aft Deck area is.
There will be one or two hatches added to the sides of the plinth to let more light and fresh air into the Workshop when I’m working down there.
Well radiused corners keep this protrusion above the aft deck very safe and creates what we think will be a great spot to sit and take in sunsets or keep and eye on Grandkids swimming off the Swim Platform below.
That catches you up on all the progress for this week of October 22-27, 2018 and I’ll leave you with this shot from our balcony where we have breakfast every morning showing you this view of the mountains to the NE of us which are are particularly spectacular bathed in this sunset light last night with the air so crystal clear after the recent rain and big winds.
Many of you liked last week’s Guided Tour format video so I’ve created another one for this week along with the usual synopsis of the week’s progress in time lapse video form and you can click below to watch these.
Below is the video synopsis progress video:
And below is a short guided tour by yours truly showing you the progress on the tank tops and building the Engine Room Enclosure and the WT door into the Workshop from the Swim Platform.
Thanks for joining us, we really appreciate you taking the time to do so and please be sure to add all your questions and suggestions in the “Join the Discussion” box at the bottom of each blog post. See you next week!
The big visible change this week was putting the plating or “skin” on the skeg that protrudes down at the aft end of the hull to house and protect the propeller shaft and also provide protection for the CPP Controllable Pitch Propeller itself and the rudder. However there was also much work elsewhere that just isn’t as obvious as the finished welding continues unabated on the inside finishing up all the baffles in all the tanks that make up all the area below the waterline. This is also in prep for welding the top plates on the tanks and getting them all in place so that all the 14 individual tanks, water and diesel, can be pressure tested for any leaks before all the access ports are added and then retested.
With Christine away doing more research for her new book series in Beirut and Doha all this week I was able to spend the time to create a guided walkthrough tour of Möbius such as she is right now as many of you have been asking for this. So there are links to two YouTube videos at the end of this post, one the usual time lapse overview of the progress this week and the other a guided tour narrated by yours truly. I am also working at learning a new video editing software that should enable me to do a better job of annotating and creating better videos so let me know what you like and what you do NOT like about the changes you’ll see.
One lovely change was having my cousin Lynda, staying shaded under that fashion setting blue hat, come in to visit us for a week from her home in Biel/Bienne Switzerland. Christine was only here for the weekend before she flew out to Beirut but it was a wonderful visit.
This beautiful waterfall is rather unique coming over the cliffs right into the ocean and doing so right in the center of Antalya right near the old original town center and port. We spent the day driving and walking throughout Antalya and getting to know this wonderful city better and better and liking it more and more.
Meanwhile back at Naval Yachts on Monday morning Team Möbius was hard at it and here is the overview of all their progress this week of October 15 to 19 ……………….
First a quick look at rough rendering to help you visualise this aft portion of the hull to the Skeg and Prop Tunnel in green 12mm / 1/2” plate and the prop and rudder aft of that.
This is where what the framework of the Skeg looked like at the beginning of this week, all ready to be skinned with 12mm / 1/2” plate such as the one you see leaning against the aft end of the skeg here.
First though, the rest of the prop tunnel plates need to be tacked in place as the Skeg plates butt up against these.
Uğur and Nihat use a crank jack with different lengths of angle iron attached to press these carefully curved plates into just right alignment
and then tack them in place.
The other side gets the same treatment
Then the Skeg is plated over and the Skeg is now complete and ready for Sezgin to come in and do all the final welding.
It is difficult to capture in a single photo so be sure to watch the videos at the end to see how all these different surfaces of the hull, the prop tunnel and the foil shaped Skeg all make the transition from one to the next to create these beautiful complex curves. A think of beauty and a testament to the craftsmanship of the plate benders and all of Team Möbius who transformed all of Dennis’s design work in producing the 3D model into this reality.
I climbed up into the Engine Room area to get this shot of what it all looks like from this top down perspective. You can also appreciate how complex the eXtremely robust framing needs to be in this area in particular. This very aft end of the boat will have aluminium floor planks set in place to create a stand-up Workshop area that I can’t wait to start using and enjoying.
Moving forward from the Workshop and Engine room area, past the Guest Cabin and Christine’s office allows us to see the work going on in the Basement area under the SuperSalon floor. As with all the area below the WL it is all tanks and Umit is busy cleaning up all the top surfaces prepping them for the tank top plates which are waiting to be welded in to completely close in all the tanks.
Moving up into the SuperSalon area above and looking down through this large hatch into the Basement you can see some of the tank top plates in position and being tacked in place. The slots all line up with the centerline of the flat bars underneath on top of each baffle so they can be welded together and then the whole perimeter of each plate is welded to close and seal the tanks completely.
Enver on the right and Uğur are carefully positioning each tank top plate and tacking them in place. The three large bays you see running down the centerline of the Basement will become the battery boxes for the 24 individual 2V volt battery cells which make up our 54kWh battery bank. The battery boxes will have the same 6mm aluminium plate bolted on top to keep them sealed up in case any water should get into the Basement and then each box is also vented to keep air flowing through to help keep the batteries cool. This massive amount of lead in these batteries, all 1640kg / 3615 lbs of it, is actually a “feature not a bug” as they go all the way down alongside the keel bar and act as part of our ballast. These are all Gel type batteries so fully sealed and require no maintenance so I don’t imagine I will need to remove their top plates more than once a year or so for annual inspection.
And that’s the week that was October 15 to 19 here at Naval Yachts in Antalya Turkey. As I noted above there are two videos for you this week, the first is the usual weekly update time lapse video, though I have included last week’s videos to make up for not getting them into the last post.
Then there is a longer 15 minute guided tour of both the completed Skeg and full walking tour of the deck, Pilot House and SkyBridge.
Hope you enjoy and thanks again for spending your valuable time joining us.
As I mentioned at the beginning I’ve been learning and using some new software, Cyberlink Power Director 16, to help me improve my videos so please do let me know what you like and don’t like about these latest videos and the changes from the videos in previous posts. You can add these along with any questions or suggestions in the “Join the Discussion” box below.
It is GREAT to be back together with Christine after our various trips to see family & friends in the US and Canada as well as each of us looking after some professional things with two author conferences for Christine in Florida and a keynote for me in Sao Paulo Brazil. Thanks to Dincer we were able to spend several hours on Saturday walking all through Möbius catching up with all the progress that our fabulous Team Mobius had made while we were gone and you saw all that in last week’s post. This week work continued up on top as window frames went into the Pilot House and the two “wings” that extend aft from it to the Aft Deck were welded up. Meanwhile down on the bottom the last of the hull plating started to go in place sheathing the framing for the keel and prop shaft skeg. Lots to show you so let’s start up top.
This quick render looking from the aft Starboard corner of the Aft Deck will help you see how this area will look when finished. Note how we have extended the thick glass of the side windows aft to create those two wings which along with the cantilevered roof creates a very well protected space when going in and out of the door over on the far left Port corner that leads down the stairs into the Super Salon and similarly protects you when going up the circular stairs on the Starboard corner taking you to the SkyBridge. The two large red boxes house the Engine Room vents which have been designed such that even in a full roll over there would be no down flooding of sea water. We have also shaped these to provide spots for the BBQ, deep sink and countertop as well as storage for wash down hoses.
Here is what the real thing looks like which gives you a good sense of how the Port wing protects that WT door into the SuperSalon.
A bit closer look at the opposite Starboard side wing with its plating tacked in place. The two holes are where the thick tubular legs of the large arch come down and tie into the frames under the deck.
These two aluminium wing boxes will be home to some additional ducting and fans providing lots of fresh air down into the Guest Cabin and Christine’s Office as well as waterproof spots for the wiring that goes up through the arch tubes for all the antennae, Radar, GPS and many other components that will be mounted on the top of the arch.
Inside the SuperSalon Uğur and Nihat continued tacking the window frames for the 30mm / 1” thick glass in place.
Looking at the window frames from the outside you can see how they get welded to the 10mm thick mullion bars to create these eXtremely stiff and strong H shape beams. Note too the wide surface area where the glass will be adhered to similar to the way many of the glass high rise buildings are constructed. This type of construction provides the assurance that these windows can easily handle gale force conditions and safely deal with direct hits from possible large side waves. These glass window areas are engineered to significantly exceed the strength and impact resistance of these areas if they were covered wtih aluminium plate.
While all this was happening up on top of the decks work began on this aft area on the bottom of the hull. A very critical and busy area of the hull with the rudder and the skeg that extends down from the prop tunnel. The Skeg is eXtremely strong as it is the lowest part of the boat and would be most likely to take the brunt of bottoming or striking something. You can see how it is shaped in section to be a carefully engineered foil shape to provide very clear water into the prop and also protect the prop, prop shaft and rudder.
This is what the framing looks like at the aft end of the Skeg where the prop tube exits. That vertical plate is part of the 25mm thick keel bar that runs from the bow all the way to the very aft end of the Swim Platform and you can see how the frames bars extend down the full height of the Skeg and wrap around the prop tube.
All this is 25mm plate which is capped off with the 50mm / 2” thick shoe plate that tapers to a point just ahead of where the prop blades will be.
This shoe is what the boat will rest on when we are hauled out from time to time and also provides critical protection to the prop from anything we happen to run over such as logs or ice or lines in the water and will also be the first point of contact when, never if, we hit rocks or coral or bottom out. Over on the Port (left) side the first of the 12mm / 1/2” Skeg plates has been fitted and tacked in place.
More of the 12mm plates awaiting their turn to be tacked onto the framing and you can see how complex the compound curves are on these plates as they make al the transitions from hull bottom to prop tunnel to Skeg. The plate standing up against the Skeg has the elongated cut where the prop tube protrudes and all the oval slots for welding this plate to the vertical frame plates underneath.
If you look closely (click to enlarge) you can see the edge of the 12mm Skeg plate as Uğur watches it being pulled tight against the thick frames by that yellow hook going to a chain block on the other side.
Looking forward along the Starboard side of the Skeg shows how more of the 12mm plates have been fitted and tacked in where the hull bottom makes the transition to the prop tunnel.
Uğur and Nihat work their way around each edge using this jack to get the two adjoining plates perfectly flush with each other and then tack it in place and move on to the next spot.
Turning around to look aft helps to see how these three curved surfaces of the hull bottom, prop tunnel and Skeg all merge together. In the bottom left of this picture you can see the hole in the top of the prop tunnel plate where the rudder post tube will soon be fitted.
Climbing up into the Engine Room and looking down on the Skeg area provides a good view of the foil shape of the Skeg. Those two long sloped surfaces on either side of the Skeg are where the mounts for the CPP gearbox and the Gardner engine will be attached and you can see the upper radius of the prop tunnel and its frame near the top of this shot. The framing along the outside of the engine beds is for two more water tanks.
While all this was happening on the shop floor, can you guess what showed up on the other side of our building?
Something very closely related to all the work you’ve just seen above.
Something we have been working on with a team in Norway for over a year now. Let’s take the top off that big box to see what’s inside and see if that helps you guess?
That’s right our Nogva CPP propeller system has arrived! I’ll explain much more about this in future posts as we install it but basically these CPP props have blades which rotate to change the pitch to anything from neutral where the blades are lined up with their rotation so that there is no thrust forward or back, and then can be rotated from there to either provide more and more forward pitch/thrust or reverse.
The big deal for us going with a Controllable Pitch Propeller system is that it allow us to dial the just right pitch for any speed and any sea conditions. This in turn lets us have the just right load on Mr. G, our Gardner 6LXB engine which keeps him VERY happy and very efficient. A CPP also gives us eXcellent control when maneuvering in close spaces, fuel docks, etc. as there is no shifting from forward to reverse, just feathering back and forth and being able to hold the boat in a fixed position in varying conditions. We’ll explain and show you more when we get to installing this in Möbius.
As with all important systems on Möbius, and the propulsion system is certainly up at the top of that the critical systems list, we always provide for redundancy and self reliance as we go through the “What if this fails?” scenarios. As part of that we carry all the spare parts, hardware and tools to be able to fix, repair and rebuild all our systems. This is one of the four spare propeller blades I ordered along with all the seals, bearings, etc. for our CPP system. We hope to never need or use these and it certainly adds to the costs of building a bullet proof boat, but well worth it for the confidence is gives us to know we can get ourselves out of just about any situation and that we are fully following our approach of “Readiness for the Unexpected” no matter where we go.
The other exciting progress is on the new shipyard being built for Naval Yachts a few blocks over from where we are now. If all goes as planned we should be moving in next month! Very exciting for all of us here.
Those are all full height sliding doors you are looking at here and if you look closely down the right side of the building you can see the office building section at the other end.
Dincer kindly took me on a tour of the buildings and this is now looking at the inside of those sliding. The bay you see here is the “small one” though only relative to the double wide bay to the left here which is where Möbius will soon be taking up residence.
Here is a look from the 2nd floor of the office building looking at that double bay and the yellow crane truck and people will give you a sense of scale for this fabulous new facility Naval Yachts will soon be occupying.
Möbius’ new home will be up against that white wall you see here with lots of space for another ship that will be on the right side of this bay with plenty of room between, in front and behind for machines and materials.
A deservedly proud Dincer showing me some of the the 2nd floor office spaces with large windows into the yard area. Gives you another sense of scale as the shop floor space you are seeing through the window here!
Reversing the view above, now standing back by the sliding doors this is those same windows Dincer is standing in above and shows you more of the size of these two bays. Can’t wait to move into these fabulous new facilities and be able to start using all the new equipment that is arriving every day as well.
This is where all the work on fitting out and finishing Möbius will take place over the next 14 months or so.
Congratulations Dincer, Baris and everyone at Naval Yachts for this awemazing progress on your new facilities and on Möbius.
I have not had time to put together another video walkthrough for this past week but will work on doing it this week and have it for the next update. In the meantime, here is a short video collage of the work of the past week.
Thanks again for joining us and as always please be sure to add your questions and suggestions in the “Join the Discussion” box below.
Christine and I are finally back together and back home in Antalya after a long and great set of trips, most of which were on our own and took us from Fort Lauderdale Florida to La Habra Heights California to Vancouver and Vernon British Columbia and Sao Paulo Brazil. Even better we were both able to spend time with friends, family and grandchildren (they are in their own class of their own!) and we also both spend some time pursuing more professional passions. Christine was gone for 5 weeks attending and presenting at two different author conferences and I was away for three weeks finishing with a very special keynote in Sao Paulo for an organisation, LACLO the Latin America Conference on Learning Technologies which my dear and much too soon departed friend Erik Duval, along with Xavier Ochoa and myself had initiated back in 2006. I was deeply honoured to be asked to do this keynote and even more so to be able to do so in memory of my dearest friend Erik.
I landed back in Antalya at 3am on Friday and Christine flew in at 6pm and we have been reveling in being “We” again, being back with Ruby and Barney (our two pups) in our fabulous apartment here in Antalya and then spending several hours yesterday visiting our “baby” Mobius to catch up with all the great progress which Team Mobius at Naval Yachts had accomplished in our absence. It was especially dramatic for Christine having been over 5 weeks since she had been on board and here is an overview for you of all the progress the team made during the week of September 1-5, 2018
The majority of progress picked up from what you saw last week with the continued assembly of the above deck structure of the Pilot House which creates the the interior space for the majority of our living areas, the Galley, Dining, Lounge and Helm station and our SkyBridge up on top of the Pilot House. But enough typing, let’s go take a look.
These two quick renders of the model will help orient and visualize what you are seeing in the photos below. This aft Port side view shows how the Pilot House and SkyBridge and you can see the cantilevered roof that extends aft from the end of the Pilot House over the aft deck. This roof provides nice protection from rain and sun over the aft deck area which has those two vertical vent boxes you see aft of the Pilot House which also hold our BBQ, sink and countertop area. And you can see the 3 large solar panels on top along with the eight panels on top of the SkyBridge bimini roof.
If you look a bit closer (click to enlarge) at the area behind the Pilot House you will see how the sides extend back to create very good protection for the WT door entrance to the SuperSalon on the Port (left) side and the circular stairs you can just see on the Starboard side which take you up to the SkyBridge. This render of the Port bow will give you a bit better sense of how the Pilot House roof extends out past the front windows to keep them shaded and out of the rain and how the area in front of the SkyBridge provides a great spot for those three large solar panels
Meanwhile, back in the real world, here is how things are shaping up. Looking from the Port corner of the aft deck area you can see how that cantilevered roof is mostly roughed in. The two vertical supports are temporary braces just to keep everything lined up while all the parts are tacked in place.
Looking at the aft wall of the Pilot House with that beautiful swirl pattern, you can see the opening on the Port (left) side where the WT door will go that provides the one entrance to the steps taking you down into the SuperSalon area and the cut out on the opposite Starboard side is where the circular stairs will take you up to the SuperSalon.
Looking here from the Starboard corner you can see more of the initial superstructure of the aft deck.
Note how the sides of the aft corners of the PH roof extend back to create two side wings to provide this eXtremely well protected area when going in/out of the SuperSalon and up/down the SkyBridge stairs.
On the deck directly below these two side wings will be two boxed in aluminium storage areas/seats and the same thick tempered glass from the side windows will extend back as well to seal in this whole area.
Dropping down a bit you can see the very beginning of the framing for those two side wing boxes on the right here and how the glass will be framed in between the top of these boxes and the upper roof wings.
You can also get a very clear sense of just how transparent the inside of the SuperSalon will be with that 360 degrees of glass windows surrounding you.
It gets even better when you step down into the Super Salon and get this eye level view out the front and side windows. As you may recall from interior renderings in previous posts, the main Helm station is front and center with the Lounge area on the Port (left) side and the Dining area on the Starboard side. The Galley is on the Starboard aft corner not seen here and you can see the cut out in the front Starboard side for the stairs leading down into the Master Cabin. The large square opening in the middle is for accessing the voluminous Basement area below this whole floor area.
Moving over to the far aft Starboard side of the PH we see how the window frames are now being tacked in place. All the thick (30mm) plates of laminated window glass will be flush fitted on the outside of these frames so that even if struck by some monster side wave they have all the strength of that underlying aluminium hull framing.
Looking from the inside here and you can see how this construction creates the eXtremely strong H type beams that tie the upper frame members of the PH and roof into the lower frames and become and integral part of the whole hull.
These are but two of the four side windows in addition to the two even larger rear windows you will look out of when in the Galley which makes both these cooks eXcessively eXcited!
But wait! There’s more!! Let’s climb up to even higher heights and go check out the SkyBridge above this shot.
This is the view looking from the front of the SkyBridge overtop of the wedge shaped area which will ultimately be covered by 3 large solar panels. These solar panels will be mounted on a frame that is hinged just in front of the short front wall or coaming you see at the bottom of this picture. This hinged bank of solar panels can thus be locked down flush with the tapered triangular sides when we are on passage and then propped up horizontal when at anchor creating an eXtremely efficient wind tunnel capturing all the breezes blowing over the bow and direct them down into the SuperSalon.
There will be a “demister” grill in front of that rectangular area with the 5 vertical bars and then the fresh air is routed down into a vent plenum box below and directed out through three 300 mm/12” “eyeball” vents in the ceiling of the SuperSalon, similar to the vents above airplane seats or the dash of many cars.
This open area of the SkyBridge may well be the most popular spot on the boat given its height above the water and completely unobstructed views. We will leave this as an open space with loose lounge chairs, table, etc. so that we an try out lots of different configurations and then build in seats and table in the future once we discover how we end up using this area. Or we may just stay wtih movable furniture so we can adjust it to be just right for different views in anchorages around the world. All such furniture will have tie downs to keep them all secured when we are underway of course.
The alcove at the aft end of the SkyBridge off to the side where the stairs enter creates the upper Helm station which will have a super comfy Helm chair and a large area off to the Port side for books, charts, laptops, etc. and plenty of space in the dashboard area in front for screens, controls, switches, etc.
We will also have an upholstered cushion to cover that flat area on the right of this photo as this will likely be another favorite spot to sit up higher still for even better views of the world outside.
This is your view when sitting down in this upper Helm station and it doesn’t take too much imagination to visualize the views from up here. You can also see that the sight lines forward over the bow and off to the sides are eXcellent thanks to spending so much time with Dennis positioning eye level cameras within the 3D models to ensure these critical lines of sight.
Similarly when looking aft there is eXcellent visibility when looking aft. The cut out behind the upper Helm station provides full headroom as you come up the circular staircase.
That concludes the progress update for this first week of October and next week I will make some more videos to take you on a tour of all these new spaces that are being transformed from virtual 3D models into aluminum framed reality. Thanks for taking the time to join us, hope you are enjoying following us through this awemazing process and please be sure to add any comments, questions and ideas in the “Join the Discussion” box below.
I am finishing up my last week of being on the road and very much looking forward to being back in Antalya and back with Team Möbius at Naval Yachts and back with our already beloved Möbius. Thanks again to Yiğit, our brilliant new Engineer and CAD whiz at Naval for taking pictures of the progress on Möbius while I have been away. I’m as excited as you are to see these as right now this is the only way I am able to keep up with all the work they are doing back in the Antalya Free Zone. So here is the quick update for you on the progress during the week of Sept. 22-28, 2018 on the good ship Möbius.
Work continues to be focussed on the same two primary areas as last week; fully welding up the miles of places that have been previously tack welded on the interior of the hull, the tank baffles in particular and then work continues on assembling the above deck Pilot House framework or super structure and then sheathing all this with aluminium plate.
As you may have seen in lots of previous posts, almost all of the area inside the hull below the waterline consists of 14 individual tanks to hold our voluminous quantities of fresh water and diesel fuel. Each of these tanks then requires a full set of baffles which are aluminium plates welded to each frame plate to create a tight grid of spaces for these liquids and prevent the “sloshing” or what is technically referred to as the Free Surface Effect that would happen as the boat moves. Imagine a tanker truck that is half full of milk or fuel braking suddenly or going around a sharp corner; if the whole inside of its tank was open the liquid would exert tremendous forces on the truck when it all sloshed up against the front or side of the truck’s tank and would likely tip it over.
This photo shows an example of one of the grid like set of baffles in one of our tanks and if you consider that inside each compartment formed by these baffles there are at least six rows of welds, each about 1m/3’ long, down each side and along the bottom of each baffle plate. Count how many such compartments there are in this picture alone (about 25)and multiply by 6 you are looking at 150 m/ 492 ft of welding for just this one small part of the boat!
Peering into one of these compartments you can see some of these welds on the baffles and there are more where the hull plates on the bottom have welds and then there are welds you can’t see underneath the rows of flat bars running along the top edge of each baffle plate. These flat bars are where the tank top plates will be slot welded in place when we are ready to close up all the tanks and create more miles of welding to do.
This is the world that Sezgin and Mehmet live in pretty much every day and my hat is off to them for their perseverance and quality of work.
And lest you think that the bottom of the boat is the only place where there is a lot of welding going on, let’s jump up on deck and check out the Pilot House which is now coming together.
Standing on the Starboard (right) forward corner of the Pilot House looking aft through the Super Salon you can see our Energizer Bunny Mehmet working away to clean up some of the initial welds this week on the plates that have gone on top of all the Pilot House topside framing which creates the ceiling inside the Super Salon and the floor you stand on when up in the SkyBridge above.
Here is a fun fish eye shot Yiğit took standing in the aft Port (left) corner of the Super Salon where the stairs down from the aft deck door will take you.
You are looking forward all the way through the Super Salon through all the frames for the 360 degrees of glass windows and you can also get a good look at all the welds now in place to fasten the floor plates to all the stringers and frames.
As was done on the stringers on the hull plates the welds here are done in alternating lengths on either side of the stringer to reduce the warping in the floor plates above from the heat of welding.
A more accurate view of the ceiling/floor of the Pilot House and another look out through these window frames that helps you understand why we have come to call this the Super Salon.
Shorter in length but eXtremely important welds where the upper frames of the superstructure join up wtih the lower frames that were part of the initial hull building process before the boat was flipped upright. With their top members now welded in place these frames now become a continuous single piece that is eXtremely strong as an integral component of the whole hull and transfers the loads evenly throughout.
The window frame plates will soon be welded onto the outer edge on the right to create a full I beam profile.
Looking up above the window posts we can see some of the detailed folding and welding of the I beam top frames on the lower left and the stringers and folded plate that makes up the outer shape of the Pilot House roof.
Stepping out onto the back of the aft deck you can see how the cantilevered roof that extends back from the end of the Pilot House to provide very nice protection from sun and rain when we are BBQing outside behind the Pilot house. The vertical supports are just temporary braces to hold everything in alignment while they are being assembled and before the plating is welded on.
This quick rendering shows how this aft deck area will look when we are done. The two vertical boxes you see behind the Pilot House serve multiple purposes as Vent Boxes for the Engine Room below as well as fresh air vents down into Christine’s Office and Guest Cabin. The vents receive their fresh air through demister grills on the inside surfaces of these Vent Boxes which filter out any water or mist that is in the air and these vents are positioned such that even if the boat were to do a full roll over they would not allow any down flooding of seawater into the Engine Room.
These same Vent Boxes also create our BBQ area with sink and counters on the outside and aft deck wash down hoses and taps on the inside.
And that’s where things are at back at Naval Yachts as of Friday Sept. 28th. Christine and I fly back into Antalya on separate flights on Friday Oct. 5th and can’t wait to be back home and back with our pups and back with Team Möbius. So I’ll be able to bring you the next update in person and show you more of the great progress being made on this XPM eXtreme eXpedition Passage Maker.
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