Well, it is almost Sunday midnight here in Antalya and I’m just getting started on this Weekly Update post after a VERY busy week at Naval Yachts as we all ramp up towards that tiny light at the end of the tunnel known as Launching the first XPM78 aka Möbius. My apologies in advance then if this week’s update appears a bit rushed but I wanted to be sure to get it posted before I fly out on Tuesday to finally rejoin my Beautiful Bride Christine in Ft. Lauderdale where we’ll be attending FLIBS, the Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show along with Baris and Dincer, the owners of Naval Yachts and most important of all being there for our grandson Liam’s 4th birthday on Oct. 30th.
Without any further ado let’s dive in for a quick swim through all the various jobs that Team Möbius were busy with this past week.
ALUMINIUM TEAM:
Starting with the always busy Dynamic Duo Uğur and Nihat, our tireless Aluminium team, they finished up the Bow Mast with the addition of the four connectors to the Bow Pulpit railings. These ensure that the Bow Mast is well supported and rigid as it can take the brunt of strong winds and waves and we want to be sure that all those antennae, lights and other components mounted on top of this Mast are well supported. There is a support above and below the hinge and the are bolted to the Bow Pulpit with these flanges so that the Mast can be folded down when we leave the boat for extended times in areas during cyclone season as well as making it easier to work on the lights and antennae atop the Mast.
The supports and hinges are now all roughed in and will be cleaned up later along with the rest of the Bow Pulpit, decks, etc.. With the Bow looked after they moved aft to install the hefty hinge plates for the Port side Paravane A-Frames. After marking them out and making sure they matched the ones on the Starboard side, Uğur used the plasma cutter to make quick work out of putting the rectangular slots for each hinge arm to go through the top and bottom of the 10mm/ 3/8” thick Rub Rails. The 50mm/2” thick Hinge arm can then be inserted into this slot and tacked in place ready to be welded top and bottom to the Rub Rails. The other half of the hinge has been tacked together and is test fitted to the bottom hinge arm to check for alignment prior to fitting the mating aluminium pipes of the A-Frame itself. The space on either end of the top toggles makes it easier to install the large 7m/23ft tall A-Frames whenever we have them removed and then insert AL disks that are machined to fill up the space on either side for a nice sliding fit. Over in the Machine Shop they have the 130mm/5” diameter aluminium rudder post set up in the milling machine to cut the tapered sides where it sits inside the tapered profile of the rudder blade. Yigit (left), Uğur (middle), Okan (Ugur’s younger brother) and I spent some time fitting the rudder post into the blade and working out the details for welding these components prior to putting on the outer skin on each side. You can see how the rudder post fits into the internal frames and how it tapers from top to bottom. These two shots will give you a sense of the size and shapes of these two parts of the Rudder assembly. Steering is easily THE most important system on these boats so as you can see we go to eXtreme lengths to make sure the Rudder has an eXtremely high SWAN factor so we can “Sleep Well At Night” knowing it will steer us out of any conditions without breaking a sweat.
GUEST CABIN CABINETRY:
Omer is a one man army as he marches through building all the cabinetry for the Aft Guest Cabin area. You may recall their little “Wayne’s Surprise” from last week’s Update and here is a closeup of these two clever shelves which mount on the back wall of the Pullman Berth. Here is the lower of these two handy mini shelves which anyone sleeping up here can put things like your watch, alarm clock, pens, books, etc. before they tuck in for a blissful night’s sleep.
You can also see the outer frame for the fold down mattress in this shot as they test fit the Pullman Berth cabinet into the rest of the furniture in this Aft Cabin. The rear panel of the Pullman cabinet is removable as you see here to allow for quick and easy access to the wire trays and plumbing behind if it is ever needed. We make sure that ALL such infrastructure is either left exposed in areas like the Basement, Workshop and Forepeak and that any cabinetry which covers these is easily removable. Being the ones who have to do ALL the maintenance on this boat we go to great lengths to make it a joy to work on rather than a chore as is the case with most boats.
Stepping back gives you a view of how all these components fit together with Christine’s Office desk with overhead bookshelves on the far right, pull out sofa bed on the bottom, Library shelves on the upper left and the Pullman upper center.
Just outside the Guest Cabin & Office is the Corridor at the bottom of the stairs down from the SuperSalon and the Head/Toilet is behind the door on the right. The workbench up against the side of the Port/Left hull on the left here will be my little office and clean area for working on things like electronics, 3D printing and such that is best done here rather than in the Workshop. Standing up at the top of the stairs looking aft you can see how this Corridor connects to the WT door leading into the Workshop. The area to the left of that door is starting to be roughed in for the Guest Shower that will go here. Hakan (left) and Omer are laying out the exact location for the wall grid that will go up along the side of the hull on the right. That hull is a busy area with all the plumbing and wiring runs going through here so the grids ensure that the wall panels are spaced well away from this and provide a super sturdy foundation for the removable wall panels to snap into using FastMount clips. More on those details to come as this area is installed.
GALLEY CABINETRY:
Upstairs in the Galley, …………………. Hey! Wait a minute. What do we have in that far cabinet?? Aha!! Those darn CE inspectors show up when and where you least expect it!
Actually this is young George who is here at Naval Yachts for a week with his parents who are about to become the proud new owners of XPM78-02 and so George wasted no time checking out the quality of the workmanship so he can assist the crew when they start building HIS new boat.
His beautiful and +6ft tall Mom Uschi got his quick assessment which was two thumbs up so all is going VERY well with the build.
Meanwhile, over in the Cabinetry shop, Omur and Selim are busier than ever building the next set of cabinetry for the twin fridge and freezers. Omur is a true Master at creating patterns with the grain that are works of art and when doing this with veneer he carefully cuts each piece, tapes the razor cut joints on the exterior surfaces and then lays these onto the lightweight marine plywood and puts them in the heated veneer press. Working with these gorgeous Rosewood veneers requires tremendous craftsmanship and is all done by hand with these simple tools. Each piece of veneer is carefully chosen to have just the right grain pattern for the size of the panel it will form and then cut to rough size with a razor sharp knife. Omur prepares a batch of panels for the veneer press and carefully stacks all the pieces in order to keep their orientation straight. These are two end panels for the cabinet that will hold the pair of 130L fridges and are now ready to head over to the veneer press. On the next workbench over there are these carefully stacked pieces that will soon emerge as some of the 22 different sized drawers in the Galley.
EXCITING NEW THINGS SEEN IN PASSING:
Last bit of excitement this week was seeing this. We can’t have a Weekly Progress Update without a quiz so any guess what Yigit is doing here? Probably an easy one for many of you, this is a test run on the groves which are cut into the 50mm/2” thick rigid foam board on all the floors where the red PEX tubing which carries the hot water for the in-floor heating. We’ll show you this when the installation begins onboard Möbius but you can see how this works. Once all the PEX is nestled into these grooves and sitting just below the top surface of the insulation foam, a layer of 10mm / 3/8” marine plywood goes down and then the finished flooring, which will be some very cool new vinyl planking, is set on top. Much more on all that in the coming weeks.
More exciting new things seen in passing this past week was watching Cihan (left) and Yigit bring this 200L Black Water holding tank system aboard and down into the Basement. There are two of these Black Water holding tank systems, this one going into the Basement is for the Guest Head and the other one goes into the Forepeak for the Head in the Master Cabin. You can now see what that hatch in the floor of the SuperSalon is as large as it is! Last but DEFINATELY not least for the excitement this week, we finally have all the interior materials chosen and what you’re seeing here is the three colours of leather that will go on the wall panels, some of the drawer and door fronts and the ceiling panels.
The stone you may recall from several months ago when we found this fabulous slab of rare green/gold marble and it now has these three colours of leather to compliment it.
Top white leather will go on the ceiling panels, the middle Grey/Green will go on the walls and the bottom Black will go on the ceiling above the Main Helm area to further reduce any reflections and glare on the windows when on night passages.
OK, it is WAY past my bedtime now and I have another super busy day ahead of me tomorrow, my last day here before I fly to Florida, so I’ll sign off for now right after thanking you for making it through another weekly update on the progress of Team Möbius. Please do add your comments and questions in the “Join the Discussion” box below and I’ll be back next week to show you what has happened while I’m away.
Exciting times here at Naval Yachts as the intensity picks up several notches each week as the launch date gets closer. There were several new components which all involved having things fold up and down, hence this week’s title. So let’s dive in shall we and go find out what all happened this past week.
ALUMINIUM WORK:
Let’s start with the largest folding component that was started this week.
Any guesses what these tacked together pieces are? Does it help if I stand back a bit so you can see all of them? How about if I show you how one end is installed? Yup! These are the two hinged folding posts which we will install whenever we want to put the SkyBridge roof assembly up or down. Once the roof is up there are a series of support posts around the forward perimeter which are bolted in place and keep the roof solidly in place so these two folding posts are only used when raising or lowering the roof and the rest of the time they stow in the Workshop.
If you have not seen this unique feature we have designed into this XPM this short animated model shows how it works.
There are two primary use cases for this fold down SkyBridge roof. One is when we are leaving the boat for a longer time to go visit grandkids and such when it is cyclone season where the boat is and we want to reduce windage and streamline the boat. The other instance would be when this folded down roof puts the boat in “Canal” mode by significantly reducing our bridge clearance or Air Draft to be able to explore things like inland canal systems where there are height restrictions. We don’t expect to do this too often but the ability to do so expands our options tremendously and adds a huge safety factor so this feature is well worth it in our opinion.
This week was the first test run at folding the roof up and down to make sure it all worked, nothing was binding or there were any changes needed and everything worked just as designed.
Kudos to our brilliant designer Dennis for creating this very cool feature with us during the design phase and to Dincer and Yigit here at Naval Yachts who helped me modify the folding posts to make them simpler and stronger.
Looking up from the shop floor to show the whole assembly it is easy to see how this works. Very much in keeping with our KISS or Keep It Simple & Safe approach, these two folding posts are all that is needed to put the roof up and down and as you’ve seen they are very components with just a straight length of 60mm/2 1/2” thick wall pipe with a cylinder machined from solid aluminium on each end with a hole for the SS hinge pin. The means of raising and lowering the roof is the epitome of KISS consisting of just two Dyneema lines, one attached to a lifting eye on the aft end and one on the front which then go down to the Aft and Forward Deck Winches. This could be done by a single person in stages but having two people, one on each winch and line would be faster and this method maintains full control over the roof going up and down.
Christine and I are former single handers before we met and were sailing around the world on our own boats, and while we are now “double handing” our way through life and around the world, we have designed the systems on these XPM boats such that the boat can be fully operated by a single person if needed.
Just to be clear this is NOT based on any lack of confidence in our relationship!
However, for multi week ocean crossing passage maker boats such as these XPM’s we remain cognizant of the possibility that one of us could become incapacitated or worst of all lost at sea and such a scenario would return us to being single handed. So we take this VERY seriously and being to run the boat safely and well is a critical component of our design. All part of how we design with “Readiness for the Unexpected” in mind at all times.
OK, back to the build. This is how the roof looks when it is folded down into “Hunkered Down” or “Canal” modes. Almost fully folded down for the initial testing you can see how the rear hinge point doubles as the primary support for the whole roof assembly. Here is a short video of the first lowering of the roof and you can now see where the Fold-a-Boat reference in the title comes from.
Continuing with the Fold-a-Boat theme Uğur fabricated another new folding component this week.
This one should be easier to guess I think? Here it is folded down for testing and ……… Here is a close up of the tacked up hinge.
Got it figured out?? Correct! This is our Bow Mast as we’ve been calling it where an assortment of components will live such as forward facing LED flood lights, spot light, assorted antennae, one of multiple GPS heads on board, possibly a video cam and so on.
The bottom pipes of the Bow Mast penetrate all the way through the upper surface and the deck plated below to allow the wiring for all those components to be routed directly into the WP junction box in the Forepeak.
Next week Uğur and Nihat will make up two short horizontal stiffeners that will tie the Bow Mast pipe to the nearby Bow Pulpit pipes. These will have flanges to bolt these two components together and still allow the Bow Pulpit to be removed if ever neccessary. If you look closely you will see two other new additions this week, these air vents to help keep the Forepeak well ventilated. Another example of KISS, just a 180 bend of 40mm/1.6” thick wall pipe that runs through the double deck plate into the Forepeak. One side vent will be the intake by extending down all the way to just a bit above the bilge and the other side will be exhaust by staying up in the hotter air up in the ceiling. This will take advantage of some passive convection to help circulate the air in and out and prevent things stored in the Forepeak from getting too damp and moldy. When at anchor the huge Forepeak hatch can be opened up so these vent pipes are only really needed when we are out on passage and can provide some ventilation without allowing any wave water to get into the Forepeak. It doesn’t fold but Uğur finished up the Sampson Post by installing the cross bar and the top cap. With the Bow Pulpits and Dolphin watching seats in, Sampson Post finished, Bow Mast installed and hatch mounted, the Forepeak area is shaping up nicely. More Fold-a-Boat parts ready to be installed. These are the lower half of the hinges for the Paravane A-Frames on each side, each about 50mm/2” thick solid AL. These hinge plates fit down through cut outs in the beefy Rub Rails and run down the hull frames below and are welded throughout to create a hinge that will easily transfer the loads from the Paravanes to the hull. Those massive hinge plates are keeping another new addition to the Möbius family company. That is the 130mm/5” OD aluminium rudder post which has just come off the lathe and is headed to the milling machine next for the angled faces for the tapered sides of the rudder blade. More on that as the rudder is being built. The Engine Room Vent Boxes on the Aft Deck were fully welded to the deck plates so they are now permanently attached and ready for outfitting with doors and counter tops as they also create our outside Galley and BBQ. More on those as they get built.
PROP SHAFT INSTALLATION
More excitement this week as the installation of the propeller shaft and log tube begins. The beautiful big bronze four blade 1 meter diameter CPP Controllable Pitch Propeller is hiding under the clear plastic but you can see the 65mm/2.6” diameter prop shaft extending out with the red flange coupler on the other end. This flange bolts to the matching flange you can see on the end of the red Nogva Servo Gearbox sitting on the pallet.
The aluminium tube in front of the prop shaft is the prop log tube which will be inserted into the aluminium prop shaft tube that is an integral part of the hull framework.
Here is a shot borrowed from the Norwegian Nogva company web site of our CPP prop and you can see that in this case I am not being hyperbolic when I say this is an eXtremely big and beautiful propeller! The other end of the CPP Servo Gearbox bolts to the grey SAE1 aluminium flange which is in turn bolted the aft end of Mr. Gee our Gardner 6LXB engine. The large black and grey disk you see here is the Centamax flex coupling that provides a safety cushion to transfer the torque output from Mr. Gee’s flywheel to the Nogva prop shaft. The prop log tube you saw in the first photo has now been inserted into the prop tube in the hull so we can measure the exact fore and aft location as this is what will determine the position of the CPP itself when it is inserted into this prop tube. Once we get the position dialed in exactly and the prop tube perfectly centered the 10mm gap between these two aluminium tubes will be pumped full of ChockFast which is a special epoxy like compound explicitly made for this purpose. Looking through the Nogva prop tube we see the light at the end of this tunnel in the Engine Room and you can see the machined surfaces on the inside of the tube for the cutlass bearing to be inserted which supports the spinning prop shaft and keeps it well lubricated with sea water. Yusuf’s head will give you a better sense of size and proportion and the large machined diameter on the end is where the aft end of the bronze CPP prop fits inside with just a small clearance to keep them from touching. The machined end of the bronze prop hub fits inside about half way to leave a 20mm/ 3/4” gap for the seawater to flow through those holes as it exits from being pumped through the length of the tube from the sea water pump in the Engine Room.
This setup is designed to function as a Rope Guard by having no part of the prop shaft exposed which makes it more difficult for any errant line or fish net to get wrapped around it.
Much more on all this fascinating detail in future posts as we show you the whole installation of the entire propulsion system. But now let’s move on to …………………….
GUEST CABIN CABINETRY
I will keep the Fold-a-Boat theme and the guessing game going so what’s your guess on what this is the beginning of? Will this rendering and the clue that you are looking right at it help you guess?
Hint: It was laying down in the first photo above and will be vertical like this when installed in the Guest Cabin. Getting warmer??? Our talented interior designer Yesim will help you see the size. Last clue, this is the beginning of the folding part which sits inside the frame you saw above and will be hinged at the bottom. The triangular gussets are just to hold the four sides square until the 20mm / 3/4” marine plywood bottom is attached. Last chance and clue. The plywood strip at the top is a template with the slots for the AirCon grills sketched on it.
BINGO! This is the Pullman Berth which folds up into this cabinet mounted on the Starboard/Right side which forms the wall you see in the rendering above. The memory foam mattress frame you see above will have a SS hinge pin between it and the bottom sides of the cabinet to allow the bed to fold down. Similar to a Murphy Bed but on boats and trains usually called a Pullman Berth which refers to pull down/out beds that were found in Pullman railroad cars, starting the mid 1800’s.
This is what that strip you see running across the inside of the cabinet above looks like and when I asked Omer, Yesim, and Hakan what this was for they explained that this was their “surprise” for Wayne & Christine. There will be two of these, the lower one you see above and the second half way up from that. There is enough space left between the face of the mattress and the inside of the panel for these and their idea is that this will be a handy little shelf for anyone sleeping here to put their watch, alarm clock, pens, etc. How can you not just LOVE working with creative fun people like this??!!
GALLEY SETTEE
Heading for the home stretch of this week’s lengthy progress update we’ll finish with one last guessing game for you. What do you think Omur and Selim are working on here?? You can see it clearly in this plan view render And as with the previous one you are looking right at “it” here……………………..
Correct! As the close readers will have known since they read the sub title, they are working on the L-shaped settee that wraps around our multi function table. This is the beginning of the seat back wall that sets up against the Starboard/Right hull windows. The cut out is for an access hatch to the large volume behind this wall where the side deck frames sit. Our Master Craftsman and Cabinetry Captain Omur continues to amaze with his execution of the large radius corners we designed into every exposed corner of the cabinetry. And my infamous “blue horizon line” continues to run through this seating area as well, seen here on what will be the top surface of this upside down seat cabinet………….. ……… like this. Even more breathtaking for me in this shot of the longer seat that runs under the windows. The devil and the delight is in the details right? A bit hard to make out but this confluence of transitions is masterful where all the different radius edges meld and merge vertically and horizontally here where the seat bottom, horizon line and end wall all intersect. Many of you have asked about the “biscuit joints” being used to glue two or more pieces of the cabinetry together with a super strong joint with all its pieces perfectly aligned. So here is a short sequence showing how this is done. A special power tool with a circular carbide blade cuts these slots along the faces to be glued together and glue is inserted into them A rugby/football shaped “biscuit” which is made from highly compressed wood is inserted in each slot. Then the second board which has matching slots is set in place with no choice but to be perfectly aligned. While it awaits being clamped tightly while the glue dries. A carpentry version of KISS; simple, smart, quick and accurate. What’s not to like? Selim has built a level platform for test fitting all the settee components and making sure everything fits and measures just right before they are taken for their fitting onboard. He is always reluctant to stop long enough for me to get a shot of him but I succeeded here in having Omur show how the simple access panels in the seats work, no hinges or hardware required. Turning the tables, Omur and Yesim insisted that this other model standing around doing nothing should pose to show how this area will also serve as a bed, either single like this or full size when the pedestal supporting the table is pushed down. All the cabinetry is being build in modules so the can be easily moved onboard so the settee seat bases are on the right here while Omur and Selim prepare the back wall panels, one against the Galley cabinets and the other off to the far left below the SuperSalon windows. All cabinets rest upon the carefully leveled white foundation boards and you can see how this works for these settee cabinets. Last photo for this week, this long view looking aft shows the proportions of the whole Galley and Settee cabinetry. Whew! Like I said at the beginning the intensity picks up several notches each week as the launch date gets closer and this “brief” overview of this week’s progress shows that very clearly.
And thank all of you for your intensity at getting through all these lengthy updates. As with the build itself this blog is very much a labour of love and I’m humbled and delighted that you have once again take the time and energy to make it to the end of yet another Weekly Progress Update from Mobius.World.
Thanks! And please keep sending in your comments, questions and ideas in the “Join the Discussion” box below.
It is late Sunday night over here in Antalya so I’m off to get a wee bit of sleep before it is time to head back to the shipyard. I will be back with next week’s update so do stay tuned.
For this past week, work on our XPM78-01 at Naval Yachts was focussed on the Cabinetry in the Galley and Guest Cabin and aluminium work on the rudder, chain bin, Dolphin watching seats and more. Here is a Show & Tell summary so you can see for yourself.
Let’s begin with these beauties. Can you guess what this is? Will it help if I show you where it is going to go?
Correct!
These are the eXtremely strong padeyes on each of the aft corners for attaching a drogue or perhaps a stern anchor line.
The hole has a 316 SS bushing pressed into it to reduce the wear from the shackle used to attach the drogue.
A drogue is one of the ways of helping control a boat in eXtremely large seas and is the opposite of a sea anchor as this illustration shows.
John over on the Attainable Adventures blog, which is a treasure trove of great information for blue water sailors, has this well done sketch showing the basic operation of a drogue and how it can help control a boat that is roaring down huge breaking waves by slowing it down and reducing the likelihood of the bow digging into the wave ahead at the bottom of the trough and pitch poling over itself. NOT a good thing or an experience we ever hope to have! But having this kind of emergency equipment aboard is one of the ways we implement our strategy of “readiness for the unexpected”. As you might guess from looking at that sketch, trying to slow down almost 45 tons of boat racing down mountainous waves in these kinds of conditions puts an unimaginable amount of force on these systems and requires an equally eXtreme attachment point to attach the boat to the drogue. Hence this design we came up with for the padeye we would use if we ever needed to deploy our drogue.
Peering inside the hull you can see the substantial amount of the padeye that sits inside and will be heavily welded to the frames on this aft corner of the hull. Standing back you can see how this fits into the Aft Deck and Swim Platform layout.
And this is the matching padeye on the other side.
AFT PORT SIDE STANCHIONS:
Uğur also finished off the last of the stanchions to be installed, these ones on the Aft Port side which will be removable as they only go in when the Tender is off the deck.
Uğur has had LOTS of practice with all the other stanchions and their pipe sockets which are welded through the beefy Rub Rails so he soon has these last three stanchion sockets welded into the Rub Rails……. …… and presses the black Delrin sleeves into each one. He has finished fabricating the stanchion posts and they are now test fitted into their respective sockets.
DOLPHIN WATCHING SEATS:
Moving up to the bow, Uğur ticked off another job there with the mounting of the two Dolphin watching seats on either side of the bow pulpit railings. We came up with this hinged arrangement so they can be easily flipped up and out of the way when anchoring. Like this. I am still sketching up different ways of securing the seats when they are folded up. Perhaps in this position where I would need to have a way to secure the hinged vertical leg. Which wouldn’t be neccessary in this position where the leg sits tight against the seat rail but it presents an unattractive safety hazard with the part sticking up above the top rail.
Or I may just use some quick release pins to be able to remove the leg entirely and then come up with a nearby spot to hold it.
Stay tuned to see what emerges as the solution and by all means send in your ideas too.
GUEST CABIN:
Omer continues to apply his craftsmanship to the Guest Cabin and has now finished the slide out couch/bed assembly and moved on to building the headboard of the bed and the bookshelf unit that wraps around the forward Starboard corner of the cabin.
He has fitted this little angled cupboard between the bed and Christine’s desk which will be handy for both Guests and Christine to use. It will have a door on it next. Next he test fit the back of the couch. The space below is to allow the large bottom cushion/mattress to slide all the way inside when it is folded up in couch mode and keep the depth of the bottom of the couch a good size. Then he installed the framing for the top shelf and there is similar framing hidden down at the bottom. The tape indicates that there will be removable access panels there so I can easily access the water manifolds and other systems that are back there if ever needed. The carefully laminated top surface goes in next and spans the whole distance from the desk over to the forward wall that is the WT Bulkhead with the Basement on the other side. Which will look like this. This recess is where the back cushion will fit partially inside and held in place with in couch mode. Half the thickness of the cushion will be inside this recess and have extending out.
With a matching arrangement on the other side. With the couch/bed all fitted in place Omer turned his attention to the L shaped bookshelf unit that wraps around the forward corner of the Cabin. It all starts out being very simple with the cutting of these top and bottom boards after they have been laminated with their Rosewood surfaces. Renderings are so useful in helping with that phantasmagoria I mentioned in the previous posting where the virtual reality blends with the real reality and for those of us doing this every day you see the finished whole all the time no mater if you are looking at a largely empty space or those two L shaped boards in the photo above or this rendering on the left. This helps to visualise both the relative size and shape of this bookshelf. This is the bottom side of the bookshelf with Rosewood on the top and bottom surfaces and then there will be a white shelf in between which you can see in the rendering above.
GALLEY CABINETRY:
Not to be outdone Omur and Selim have been eXtremely busy working up in the Galley on the somewhat complex set of cabinets with over 18 drawers so let’s check that out next. Yigit is aboard frequently monitoring the progress and helping me keep the thousands of little details all straight. Yigit also looks after much of the ordering of all the materials and equipment from our many suppliers so his phone is his constant companion. The cabinet in the upper area is the six drawer unit that goes in where Yigit is standing.
Quick jump to the virtual world of renderings to refresh the layout of the overall Super Salon with the Galley in the upper right corner.
Selim on the far left is standing inside what will be the forward corner of the Galley cabinets as he and Omur start getting this cabinet perfectly aligned with the others and precisely leveled.
Notice how the white epoxy painted boards under the bases of each cabinet have been painstakingly leveled using all those little wood wedges. These foundation boards also raise the cabinets up to the same height as the 40mm/ 1.6” rigid foam insulation which will eventually cover the entire floor and have the PEX tubing running through it for the in-floor heating. Here we are looking down inside the cabinet that will have the double sink installed in the far right side. The cut out on the back is to provide me access to the quite large volume area that is underneath the side decks. In addition to all the tank vent and fill hoses you can see we will have other equipment in this area such as the air handlers for the AirCon system so having access all along this large volume area goes towards our goal of low and easy maintenance. Next piece of this jigsaw puzzle is the cabinet on the left here for the induction cooktop and Smart Oven (combo microwave, convection, grill ovens). Fits perfect! For those of you who have been following for some time this will now help you visualise and understand why there is that white-stepped connector framing between the upper corner of the Guest Cabin down below and this far end of the Galley where the stove and oven fit in.
The cupboard in the middle here is sized for a standard dishwasher or a two drawer dishwasher to slide into but we prefer hand washing so this will instead be filled with two large drawers for pots and pans and the like. Looking across that dishwasher cabinet to the “peninsula” cupboard opposite shows the 7 drawers it contains. The tall skinny one in the middle will be like a drawer with no sides and pull out to reveal a set of shelving racks to provide easy access from either side to containers of things like spices. Maybe something like this for example. OK, Galley cabinets are all in place, time to move on to the adjoining L-shaped settee and dining area so they get started putting down the foundation frames and shimming them to be on eXactly the same level as the other cabinetry.
This is about how this area will look when standing over on the far Port/Left side looking across. The table is on a pedestal which has some very cool hardware I found that allows it to move in all three axis: Z up/down, X fore/aft and Y left/right. This gives us total flexibility to have this table at just the right height and position to use as a dining table, coffee table or additional Queen Bed. But WAIT! There’s more!
Look what showed up late Friday evening as I was leaving the shipyard!
Without cheating by zooming in, can you guess what this sturdy crate contains?
It arrived via air freight direct from Vancouver if that helps?
Yup, all of the many components that make out our rock solid steering system along with the controls for the Gardner engine and the Nogva CPP servo gearbox. As per the label here this all comes from Kobelt which is based in one of my old home towns of Vancouver not far from where I did some of my teacher training at BCIT many decades ago. I worked closely with our designer Dennis and Lance and his team at Kobelt for over two years to design the Goldilocks just right steering for our XPM78-01 so you can imagine how happy I was to see this big beautiful crate full of steering goodness finally arrive.
Even though it was very late and Yigit and I were the only ones still in the yard, I just couldn’t resist taking a peek inside a few of the boxes so I’ll share two with you.
This is one of the pair of double acting 75mm/3” ID hydraulic cylinders that will move the rudder and steer the boat. Each one is sized to be able to fully steer the boat in all conditions so a double redundant system. And then check out one of the pair of Accu-Steer HPU400 hydraulic pumps which will provide all the hydraulic pressure to run those cylinders. These are massively strong and weigh in at 44kg/95 lbs each and are an integral part of what I’m sure is going to be an awemazing steering system in our XPM78-01 Möbius.
Much more to follow on the whole steering system in upcoming Weekly Updates as the installation begins and I will also be posting some Tech Talk articles where we can dive into all the details of the whole steering system design.
And th-th-th-that’s all for this week that was October 7 to 11 2019.
We really do enjoy sharing this whole adventure with you and want to thank all of you who take the time to read these. Special thanks to those of you who contribute comments and questions in the “Join the Discussion” box down below and hope that more of you will do the same.
For those of you too young to remember the title refers to a popular commercial in the 1970’s and 80’s for the leading edge of cassette audio tapes made by Memorex which were being touted as so good at capturing audio that they came up with the catchy marketing question; “Is it live or is it Memorex”. Here is a little video clip of one of the many versions of this long running ad campaign featuring Ella Fitzgerald.
And if phantasmagoria is not in your vocabulary I would like to help you add it because it is a word which articulates what I believe is becoming a more and more common state of mind defined as “A dreamlike state in which images both real or imagined blur together”. I’m experiencing this more and more as my day to day working on the design and building of Möbius involves constantly cycling between the visions for this boat I’ve had in my head for so long, the virtual worlds of 3D models and renderings and the real world of the ever evolving boat.
Then to add yet another dimension to all this phantasmagoria I’m experiencing, Naval Yachts recently had a scale model of our XPM78-01 built to be part of their booth at the Cannes Boat show last month. If you click to enlarge this photo you can see the model of the XPM in the clear case on the right and one of the GN60 on the left. After seeing a few pictures of this model in a previous post many of you wanted to see and know more about it so I thought I would post this short overview of this very nicely done model now that it is proudly on display in the reception area at Naval Yachts. They only gave the poor model maker less than a month to build this from scratch and get it shipped to Cannes in time and I think he did a very good job. He was given the whole 3D model, drawings and some renderings to work from and he captured a lot of the intricate details in the model which was all done by hand, no 3D printing involved. A look into the Outdoor Galley just behind the aft end of the Pilot House with the SkyBridge above. This is what the birds flying by the Starboard side will see as they are peering into the Helm up in the SkyBridge.
or this view of the Starboard side a bit further forward. Good overall view from the bow with our “Sidewinder” anchor setup and the Dolphin watching seats which Uğur just welded in this week and you can see in the Weekly Update post to follow. Finally, this perspective of the Aft Deck and Swim Platform.
I thought a bit of video might be a nice way to finish so created this little “simulated Drone fly by”. My apologies in advance for the poor quality I didn’t have my stabilised holder with me so it is a bit shaky but I hope you enjoy it none the less.
Thanks for joining us and please leave your questions, comments and suggestions in the “Join the Discussion” box below.
The models of the GN60 and XPM78 that were at the Cannes Boat Show last month made it back here and are now gracing the reception area of Naval Yachts. A great welcome to all visitors and I’ll get more shots of these models for you in an upcoming post.
On the other side of these Naval offices inside the shipyard itself, It was another very busy week for Team Möbius here at Naval Yachts with lots of progress made by the teams working on the cabinetry, plumbing and aluminium so let’s jump right in and start by checking into what the Aluminium works team was up to this week, which will also reveal the meaning of this week’s title.
We have finally been able to extract Enver (foreground) and Okan from their hectic work getting Legacy all finished so they picked up on the fabrication of the two large Vent Boxes which sit just behind the aft end of the Pilot House. Like many components on the XPM, these Vent Boxes are very multi functional with their primary purpose being to provide venting in and out of the Engine Room as well as venting for the Workshop, the Aft Cabin and the Corridor area beside the Aft Cabin.
The flat bars tacked to the sides are to ensure that the AL plate stays flat while the internal baffles are being welded in place.
In addition these two Vent Boxes will also create our outdoor Galley with an electric BBQ which goes in the lowered area you see here on the Starboard/Right side Vent Box.
Peering inside the Stbd Vent Box you can see some of the various compartments which contain the different vents. The large rectangular opening seen here in the middle is for the exiting air being extracted from the Engine Room enclosure via that rectangular duct in the bottom right corner which in turn connects to the same size duct inside the ER. This warm air exits out a grill that will soon be installed on the top side of this section. The Port side Vent Box has two venting functions, primary being the supply of clean, cool, dry air for the Engine Room which is the upper area in this photo and then the bottom area is where air is extracted from the Guest Shower.
The top surfaces of these Vent Boxes will be finished with Corian covered countertops and there will be a deep sink in that bottom area. Both Vent Boxes also have areas inside that will serve as storage cabinets with hinged doors for things like deck washdown hoses, electrical outlets, BBQ equipment, etc..
Once they had the internal baffles all tacked in place the Vent Boxes were taken onboard to their respective new homes and then tack welded to the deck for final fitting.
The large rectangular hatch in the deck between these Vent Boxes opens up along the whole length of the Engine Room so that the entire engine and CPP servo gear box and be taken in/out. It is hinged and dogged down so this will also provide lots of daylight and fresh air for me when I’m working on the Gardner or the Nogva CPP. What a luxury THAT will be!
Moving back on the Aft Deck helps to see how this area all fits together. This cantilevered roof with temporary supports for now, will provide plenty of shade in sunny weather and then lots of shelter from the rain as well.
You can also see how this roof and those two Wing Boxes on either side of the Pilot House create a very well protected area for the stairs up to the SkyBridge and the entry door into the SuperSalon. There will also be three full size 360-380Wp solar panels mounted on top,
Not to be outdone Uğur was as busy and productive as ever and he started building a whole new component which was very exciting to see happening. Can you guess what it is? Does an end view help guess? Getting warmer?
If you guessed Rudder, pat yourself on the back.
Sorry, no free T-shirts just yet, but we do have the Mobius.World logo all done so maybe T-Shirts are next? If you also look at two photos up and then this one, you can see how Uğur has fabricated a set of horizontal frames which will be welded to either side of this center plate. That plate gives you a good idea of how bit his rudder is, a bit more than a meter square which should give us eXcellent steering capabilities in all conditions. Uğur is very precise and yet fast so he soon has all those frames tacked together and to the center plate. The series of angled 10mm/ 3/8” plates in the foreground form the top surface of the rudder with the holes where the solid 127mm / 5” OD rudder shaft will soon go and be welded to all the frames. This top surface is angled like this to clear where it sits inside of the prop tunnel in the hull.
Once the rudder shaft is machined and fully welded to each frame and the center plate the curved outer surface plates will be fully welded in place to create a very strong yet light rudder. Two features some of you will appreciate are that the shaft only extends into the rudder for about 2/3rds of the length and the bottom third is purposely made to take the brunt of the damage in case of a grounding and leave the rudder still very functional.
Second feature is a hole that will be bored all the way through the rudder body when it is hard over at 45 degrees and lined up so that the prop shaft can be removed without having to remove the rudder. Removing the prop shaft is not a very common occurrence but it sure does help when you do. Ask me how I know?!! Still no T-Shirts for the winner but one more Quiz for you today. Can you guess what this bit of hardware is going to be used for?
Hint: It is related to the title of this week’s post. Here is the other half it mates with if that helps?
Hint: They create a very solid hinge point. Does it help if you see how it will be assembled? BINGO!! These are the hinge pivots for raising and lowering the SkyBridge roof. Here’s what it looks like on the other side. If you have not seen it previously, this short animation shows how this works and allows the whole roof to be lowered and raised. A VERY cool setup which our brilliant designer Dennis (Artnautica NZ and EU)worked out with us. Yigit has now perfected it even further.
We have since changed those forward two hinged support rods with a simpler design by mounting them on the outside. These two hinged supports can be quickly installed when we want to raise or lower the SkyBridge roof and normally be stored down in the Workshop.
Uğur had the crane in and out so fast that I missed it but here are a few shots of how it looks now that it is set in place for the very first time. Looking aft from the bow. Here is a view that the fish will see looking up from underwater. The eight framed openings in the roof will eventually be filled with eight of our 360Wp solar panels which will be bolted and adhered in place to do double duty as the roof’s outer surface. There will also be venting in the front edge to keep breezes flowing over the undersides of the solar panels to keep them cool and efficient.
Now up on the Aft Deck looking up, if you look closely (click to enlarge any photo) you can see how the rear hinge points connect the roof to the Arch.
My first time seeing this roof in place when standing up in the middle of the SkyBridge floor. Stairs on the left and Helm Station on center with nice big hatch to the right so Christine and I can talk to each other when on different levels, pass up coffee and meals and add more fresh air into the SuperSalon in any weather as this hatch is now fully protected. This is your view when seated in the SkyBridge Helm chair with great sightlines over the first three meters or so of the bow. A few steps forward to the front of the SkyBridge provides you with this vantage point with most of the foredeck now fully in view. The large angled bay set into the PH roof you can see here, will be home to three of our solar panels mounted on a single rack which hinges at along the bottom edge here. This enables the whole set of solar panels be lowered down and locked to the very front edge here when on passage and then once on anchor easily unlocked and raised up so the panels are flat and then form a huge wind tunnel to capture all the breezes blowing over the bow and direct them through a mist eliminating grill and then down into a plenum overhead in the center of the SuperSalon ceiling where they are controlled by five 100mm / 4” adjustable round diffusers which you may recall from a posting a few months ago.
Sightlines are eXtremely important for safety and navigation, especially when docking or other close quarter manoeuvres so we worked very hard wtih Dennis to be able to get them just right and with full visibility around the entire perimeter of the hull. For example, if I move over to the Starboard/Right side of the SkyBridge I can see the entire length of those massive Rub Rail edges. Moving to the aft corner of the SkyBridge and leaning out let me get this shot to show how those rear hinge pins work. The arm coming out to the left is the support rest for the Paravane A-Frame pole when it is stowed vertical. Looking straight up provides this closer look at how the hinge pins work. The center hinge pin itself has been machined from solid 316SS with a close sliding fit into the aluminum cylinders on the outside. A bit of TefGel when they are finally assembled will keep these hinges well lubricated and corrosion free and can be easily checked on annual services or as needed. Inside Möbius, Cihan was busy putting in more PEX lines for hot and cold water. Here he is in the Master Cabin starting to put in the Red PEX tubing you see in the foreground into the hot water manifold on the left of the hull with the four red handled ball valves. Zooming in on that manifold you can see that he has one of these Red PEX lines already on the manifold and mostly wrapped in black EPDM insulation foam which makes it difficult to see at first. A short while later both hot and cold manifolds have their respective PEX lines connected and the outgoing hot lines just need to have the final insulation added below the red handles similar to what you see on top. Sorry for the poor lighting but up in the SuperSalon Cihan is installing the white PPR/PVC lines for the AirCon air handlers. There will be one 18k BTU air handler on each side of the SuperSalon. Last but definately not least Omur, Selim and Omer had another super productive week in the Cabinetry shop and aboard Möbius so let’s go take a look at what they’ve been up to.
Omer is responsible for the cabinetry in the Guest Cabin and this was the status of the pull out Queen bed unit on Monday morning and we can watch it progress through the week. This recent rendering will show you about what the finished Guest Cabin will look like when you are standing over on the far aft Port/Left side where the shower will be. We are looking towards the forward corner on the Stbd side here to show the couch/pull-out bed, Christine’s desk on the far right and the bookshelves above both. Omer is demonstrating how these thick strong slats which form the foundation of the bed have these sliding tongue and groove pieces which alternate with one attached to the wall side and the other to the pull out section of the bed. Fresh out of the shaper here are all those slats ready for sanding and then mounting. The first slat is attached to the seat frame ………… ……. and soon joined by the whole Slat family with the Rosewood pull out end ready to …… …….. head off to be test fitted onboard in the Guest Cabin. Looking through the entry into the Guest Cabin we can see it fits just right and …. ….. works just right as well. I have built this style of pull out extensions in other furniture before and it works very well. Very strong, no hardware required, simple to operate, what’s not to like? I sometimes rub the tongues with some hard wax to allow them to slide even easier but the fit is purposely loose so often not needed. With the pull out bed fitted Omer heads back to the workshop to start preparing the next parts for the couch assembly so let’s go find Omur and Selim and see what they are working on. We find Omur setting up the shaper ….. …… with a 50mm / 2” radius cutter he will use to turn this laminated Rosewood into a fully rounded corner. Given the size of this cutter and the length of the board this is best done with two people so Selim lends a hand.
Over in the middle of the shop, they have setup this temporary platform as they start to assemble all the cabinets for the Galley. This is looking at the back sides of two of the Galley Cabinets which form the corner against the Starboard side windows with the settee running along the back of the cupboard on the right here. Zooming in on one of the renders they have on the easel will remind you how the Galley cupboards in the upper right corner and the other areas of the SuperSalon are arranged. Moving counter clockwise from the bottom right: Stairs coming down from the WT Entry door with the Galley on your right hand side, L shaped dinette forward of that with stairs down to the Master Cabin in the upper left corner, Main Helm center left, then Lounge with the four unit fridge/freezer cabinet just right of bottom center and then the stairs which take you down to the Corridor to the Workshop and the Guest Cabin.
Back to the Cabinet shop looking from the right side of that same mock up above, the long edge extending to the right is the edge paralleling the windows and the far right end of this is about the middle divider of the double sinks you can see in the render above. All the spaces under the countertops are filled wtih different size drawers as we much prefer drawers to shelves. Moving in a bit closer to show you some of those drawer sizes and layouts. And of course catch a glimpse of one of those eXtremely beautiful solid Rosewood rounded corners. Sitting upside down another Galley drawer unit gets its toe kick panels attached. The tall skinny opening is a single drawer with no sides that will have a series of racks inside for storing spices, cans, jars and the like to give you ready access to these often used items from either side of the drawer. Something like this perhaps? Still upside down and seen from the opposite side this is the panel that will be on your right hand as you descend the stairs into the Galley. There will be dimmable LED indirect lighting in the grooves above these toe kick recesses and throughout the whole interior. With the cupboards all assembled they too get moved aboard for fitting.
This Rosewood is literally costing us a fortune but we expect to live aboard this boat for most or all of the rest or our lives and being surrounded by this beauty every day will add to our joy of living, loving and learning so we think it is a great investment in ourselves. What do you think? Standing up in the WT door looking down and towards the bow, all three Galley cabinets are now onboard and ready for outfitting. All the interior cabinetry sets upon these epoxy covered solid wood foundations. which Omur and Selim painstakingly level to within 1mm By using these little wedges and then filling the space underneath with epoxy filler to secure to the floor. With the foundations all leveled and waiting for the epoxy to dry Omur whipped up this ingenious little pattern to precisely replicate the angles and dimensions of …. …. the aluminium stairs which that one cabinet intersects. Exacting and time consuming in the eXtreme but this kind of craftsmanship produces this degree of fit and finish which makes it SO rewarding for both these craftsmen AND lucky us. Whew! I’m tired just typing this all up and reliving this past week so I’ll finish for now and thank all of you who have made it this far for joining us in this grand adventure. You are encouraged to add any comments, questions or suggestions in the “Join the Discussion” box below and while it does sometimes take me a few days to respond I do my best to do so to each one and learn much in the process, so thanks in advance for your contributions.
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