Summer has definately arrived here in Antalya Turkey and it has been a glorious week both weather and progress wise on XPM78-01 Möbius at Naval Yachts. Our daytime highs are now all in the low to mid 30’s (85-95F), the huge outdoor pool at our apartment is filled and open and we have a lovely breeze blowing through our 9th story apartment pretty much all the time.
You’ll need to scroll way down if you really need to know what this week’s title reference to marbles is all about but for now let’s jump right into this week’s Show & Tell of all the progress Team Möbius has made this past week of June 22-26, 2020.
PLUMBING:
Master Plumber Cihan, sporting his new post-Covid haircut was his usual productive self this past week so let’s catch up wtih some of his work next.
He spent some of his time crammed into this very busy Aft Stbd/Right corner of the Basement where a LOT of his previous work installing all the many hoses for Fuel, Potable, Grey and Black Water meet up.
Exiting Sea Chest in the middle foreground in the above photo where this Medusa like collection of clear hoses now attached to the Flute style manifold.
Here is a better view of all the hoses underneath of Cihan in the first photo above. Black two no the Right are Fuel Fill & Vent lines, flanked by two large White hoses for the Grey Water tank below.
White hose going into the side of the Sea Chest is for emptying Black Water Tank. Large Grey PVC pipe up on the ceiling are Extraction Vent Ducts for the Battery Compartments and the Basement. White tank just visible on the Right above and here on the Left, is a 150L / 40USG emergency fresh water tank that is completely independent of all the 7100L / 1875UG of Fresh water in the integral hull water tanks.
Cihan has this tank plumbed to be filled from the main Fresh Water manifold on the output of the 150LPH / 40GPH Delfin Watermaker as is the case for ALL our built in fresh water tanks that are built integral to the aluminium hull framing and hold a total of 7100L / 1875 USG.
The tank is then plumbed to a second Cold water only faucet on the Galley Sink which sits directly above this aft Stbd Basement corner. Back in the Workshop Cihan was busy installing this SS sink in the Workbench on the Aft Port/Left side. Wherever possible we use PEX tubing and fittings like these for all our water lines as it is SO superior to anything else. Easy to work with and route, continuous lengths with no joint or connections, push-on fittings which in my experience almost never leak and all plastic construction so no corrosion issues. Sink now sealed into the Workbench with Blue PEX tubing all ready for installing the Cold water lines. Faucet installed and ready for connections. Drain lines installed, Hot & Cold SS lines ready for their connections. Here is where this Sink is located back near the air compressor and the sides of the HazMat locker. More PEX goodness with these simple manifolds built from Push-On PEX valves and T’s. Following the Blue/Cold PEX tube and the Red, now sheathed in Black EPDM insulation foam, you can see how easy PEX tubing is to route. The H&C PEX lines continue forward to this tray where they turn 90 degrees to run across the ceiling overtop of the walkway in the front of the Workshop to the WT Door into the Corridor. The go through this penetration at the top of the ER Enclosure on their way to that vertical penetration you see in the background where they will go up to the other SS Sink in the Outdoor Galley inside the Port/Left Vent Box. Labeled layout of the Outdoor Galley to help visualize this area.
Primary purpose of these two Vent Boxes on the Aft Deck is to provide ducting and Mist Eliminators for the Supply & Extraction Air for the Engine Room and Workshop but we also used these as the foundations for the Outdoor Galley. Adding all the hoses for the sink water and drain along with the drain for the Mist Eliminator requires some new access holes be cut into the Sink compartment on that Port Vent Box. Cihan is at least as highly skilled in aluminum work making all our brackets and access ports so he made short work of cutting in the new access ports for these water lines going In/Out of the Upper Front compartment of this Port Vent Box.
This allows him to bring the Hot & Cold PEX lines up to the faucet on the Sink that fits into this compartment. Each PEX line has its own Push-On shut off valve on each end and the hoses from the faucet will connect to these. Not to be left out, this small Blue drain pipe from the Mist Eliminators in the ER Intake Air vent will cross over through that round penetration on the Left and ……… …….. join up with the Hot & Cold PEX lines over here under the Outdoor Galley sink going down into the Engine Room which you saw up in the photos above. The interior of this Port Vent Boxes is divided up into four compartments and it gets a bit busy in here with all the various bits and bobs of plumbing, ducting, sinks, etc. so I thought this labeled shot of the Upper Aft compartment of the Port Vent Box might help keep things straight. Switching from water to hydraulic fluid/oil, Cihan did a great job of running the 28m/60’ of hydraulic hose it required to get from the Accu-Steer pumps at the very aft end of the boat up to this area below the dashboard of our Main Helm where they connect to this Kobelt manual hydraulic steering pump.
The Black Block in the background upper Right corner is for the connection to the small header tank that mounts up inside the Helm Station upper Right corner.
This manual steering pump has a traditional steering wheel which we can slide onto the SS shaft you see here just in case we should ever experience complete loss of …… ……. our doubly redundant Accu-Steer HPU400 powered hydraulic steering pumps which Cihan has also pretty much finished plumbing.
Aluminium Work:
Let’s start with the first Quiz Question for you;
Can you guess what these new aluminium pieces that Nihat and Uğur are working on will become? We will soon have these aluminium stairs to get In/Out of the Basement! Up to now we just had a set of makeshift wooden stairs left over from another job which worked well enough but these new aluminium ones will be much steadier and easier to get in and out. Uğur soon has them all welded and cleaned up and bolted in place up at the top. He also added some nylon “shoes” on the bottom to keep them quiet where they sit on top of the Battery Compartment lid. Everyone on Team Möbius gave them a quick test and thumbs up all around. Seen from directly up above you can see how they sit. Normally there will be an aluminium hinged lid with a gas assist strut and the finished flooring on top so you won’t even know this hatch is there but a quick pull will open up the lid and let you safely climb in and out of the cavernous Basement whenever needed. With the stairs all done they quickly moved on to the next aluminum item on the To Do list. Any guess what this 25mm thick AL plate they have just brought over is about to become? Uğur starts cutting out the different shapes which might give you some clues but this is a tough one to guess at I think. These are the mounting brackets for the six anti vibration mounts, two on either side of the front and two on the rear of the Gardner engine which is not shown here and will be on the Left. Then two for Left/Right side of the Red Nogva CPP Servo box.
This is a quick screen grab from the Fusion 360 3D model I created while designing each of the six mounting brackets. Just showing three Port/Left side mounts and brackets here.
The two sloped 25mm / 1” thick Beds you see top and bottom run lengthwise down each side of the Engine Room as part of the hull and the six flexible motor mounts will connect to each individual mounting bracket bolted to the Gardner and the Nogva CPP.
Zooming to show the Front Gardner bracket on the upper Left which bolts to the front side of the Gardner and then the Rear Gardner mount on the Right. Looking at the other side of the Front Gardner bracket to show the added extension to the Bed for the flexible motor mount to bolt to and the additional 25mm vertical gussets I’ve added below to ensure this is rock solid. At the aft end the flexible mount for the Nogva serves double duty being both a mount to share the load of the overall Gardner/Nogva solid assembly as well as being a thrust bearing to deal with the fore and aft forces transmitted by the propeller shaft as it drives the boat forward and reverse.
As shown here, this bracket needed to be designed to fit below the Beds to provide a solid Base Plate for the mount to bolt to. My hand will help give you a sense of size and scale of these pieces, this one being the vertical gusset for the rear Nogva mounting bracket. As you can see in the model, I’ve kept the shapes all very simple geometry so Uğur had all the individual pieces cut in a few hours on Friday afternoon.
Mr. Gee:
Designing all these mounting brackets took up most of my waking hours this past week as the tolerances are pretty tight and I had to get them all just right so I didn’t get any time to work on Mr. Gee himself BUT I can give you a sneak peek at this beauty which I unboxed for the first time since it arrived direct from Gardner Marine Diesels.
I’ll leave you to ponder just what this strange looking contraption is and tell you all about it next week.
ELECTRICAL:
Our lead Sparkie/Electrician Hilmi was as busy as ever this week too. Seen here and below he has added four more of the little Black LED dimmer controls …….. ………….. inside the lighting junction box in the Upper center here inside the Guest Cabin. Down in the Basement inside the Main DC Distribution Box he has mocked up this layout for the three Shunts that connect to the three Victron BMV712 Smart Battery Monitors which are so critical to a Battery Based Boat.
Now that the layout is finalised Hilmi can now replace the two copper tie strips with full size 50 x 10mm copper bars to provide the necessary ampacity for the 900 Amps from Bank A & B and the total 1800 Amps connecting to the Main Negative Bus Bar at the bottom.
With thanks to several of you who pointed out typos this is the basic schematic of the overall Electrical System on XPM78-01 Möbius where you can see how these three Shunts connect. Hilmi spent quite a bit of time this past week installing all these Red/Pos & Black/Neg cables coming in/out of the Main DC Distribution Box where they connect to either the Lower Negative or Upper Positive copper Bus Bars or to one of the many rotary switches. As with the other Distribution Boxes this Main one in the Basement is quickly filling up with all the individual cables, switches, fuses, circuit breakers and remote relays. The last and perhaps most exciting jobs that Hilmi worked on this week is all the indirect LED lighting strips that go into the toe kicks underneath all the cabinetry and some up along the Blue Horizon Line BHL Handholds throughout the boat. The colours are way off due to the influence of the overhead work lights but you can imagine how great this will look at night and how much of a safety factor this will be whenever we are walking around on night passages with these all fully dimmed.
Every light on the boat is LED and all the interior lights are on full dimmers so we can have the Goldilocks just right brightness at all times.
MASTER CABIN:
Moving on to interior cabinetry let’s work our way from front to back starting with the Master Cabin.
As you may recall from past weekly posts Omur & Selim had finished the Rosewood Hatch Liners and this week they got round to installing them into the inner aluminium hatch frames.
This is one of the matched pairs over our Bed and you can see the one in the Shower & Head in the background. Here’s what it looks like when finished. Same routine for this one overtop of the center Vanity sink at the very front of the Master Cabin against the front WT Bulkhead. Another part you’ve seen being built in past weeks, these Ro$ewood vent grills are now in place on these two steps up to the landing on the Port/Left side of the Master Bed. These two grills supply air to the AirCon/Heating Air Handler under that sits inside the cabinet on the Upper Left here.
GUEST CABIN:
Moving all the way back to the Guest Cabin these “hairs” can mean just one thing; the Guest Shower is getting glassed in. Same method as they did in the Master Cabin Shower, the interior marine plywood walls first receive this first layer of fiberglass mesh and resin to fully seal and tie together the walls, ceiling and floor. This creates the foundation for the next step which is to cover all these surfaces with thin 3mm thick sheets of fiberglass they have laid up in a mold in the Composite Shop with one surface being smooth shiny White gelcoat that becomes the interior finish. Then corner joints are filled and sanded to a nice radius and the whole thing polished to a glass smooth finish.
We much prefer this built in place method rather than building the whole shower as in a mold in the workshop and then bringing that onto the boat as a large single piece. Doing so requires that you put these shower and bathroom units in while the hull is being built and before the decks go on which in our case would have been almost 2 years ago. Doing it this way, we can build them in place at this much later stage of the overall build when all the metalworking and other major construction dust is finished.
SuperSalon:
Up, up, up we go to the ceiling of the SuperSalon which Omur & Selim mostly completed this week. These outer ceiling panels that form the Soffit that runs around the whole outer perimeter of the SuperSalon are now all finished and snapped into their FastMount fittings on the Black Soffit grids. All of the ceilings above the Main Helm station at the very front of the SuperSalon are finished in Black leather to help reduce glare and reflections when we are on night passages so you peer thought the protective plastic covering which has a blue tint to it, you can make out that the forward three ceiling panels over the Main Helm itself and this Soffit Ceiling Panel are all Black leather. The next row of ceiling panels extending over to the Left will also be Black Leather and then they all switch to White for the rest of the way back. Omur came up with this nice L shaped edge treatment of the Soffit panels which adds a nice touch to the overall ceiling we think. The White sockets in the phot above are the female FastMounts where the matching male components here on the Left in this Soffit ceiling panels click into. It is a very slick system that holds the ceiling panels very solidly and quietly in place and yet can be popped out in seconds anything you need to access what’s behind them. The two aft most Soffit Ceiling panels have these Rosewood grills set into them for the eXtraction behind them to pull all the fresh air through from the front of the SuperSalon and out to the Aft Deck. I wasn’t fast enough to get a phot before they upholstered these Soffit panels with their White leather and then covered them with protective blue tinted plastic but you can use a bit of imagination to see how these two aft corners will look when fully finished.
This grill is on the rear Port/Left corner with the Entryway Door out onto the Aft Deck just visible in the Upper Left. Our lead upholsterer is eXtremely good and fast and here are a couple of sequenced photos I grabbed to show how he covers all those Ceiling panels.
Hole in the middle is precut for the LED light that will be installed here and the holes around the outer edges are predrilled for all the FastMount pins to thread into.
The upside down White epoxy covered marine plywood ceiling panel is placed on top of upside down White Leather and the four corners are folded and fastened with SS staples using a very sweet little pneumatic staple gun. Then pop! pop! Pop! before you can blink each edge is folded, stretched tightly around the edge and stapled in place. Pop! Pop! Pop! Pop! Pop! Pop!
Rinse and repeat and one more panel is ready to be taken out to Möbius and snapped into the awaiting ceiling grid. Selim has finished installing the Rosewood Stair Risers leading up to the Entryway Door. Galley on the Left that we’ll be seeing much more of a bit later and the reversed stairs leading down to the Guest Cabin, Ship’s Office and WT Door into the Workshop on the Right. Up in the “doghouse” over the Entryway Door, the Solid Rosewood trim piece is glued into place. The WT doorframe is all nicely brushed aluminium and provides a lovely contrast to the polished Rosewood trim. Forward of the door in the Doghouse the Rosewood Hatch Liner is now in place.
Black corner box visible at the bottom here is one of several “alcoves” we have built into the interior that will house electronics such as network switches and hubs, NUC computers, N2K Multi-Port blocks, routers and so on. I’ll show you more of these as they are installed. Stepping a bit further Aft on the deck will give you a better perspective on this Doghouse on the inside of the Entryway Door and how that Black corner block fits in.
For orientation, the Upper SkyBridge Helm is on the Left side of the Doghouse wall.
Inside, the Galley is on the Right, Main Helm Station at the far forward end of the SuperSalon. Speaking of the Main Helm Station, the two triangular Rosewood ‘Handkerchief” lids on either side of the Helm area are now installed. Flip up lids reveal a LOT of storage space underneath with removable bottoms to access cables and such inside. Same setup on the opposite Starboard side of the Main Helm above the stairs leading down into the Master Cabin. We think these two storage areas will provide easy access to things like binoculars, notebooks, charging stations, laptops, pens & pencils, and the like. This quick render by Yesim several months ago will give you an idea of how the Main Helm area forms the front of the SuperSalon. Taking a step back in the real world, if you can mentally block out all those cables with a nice Black leather covered dashboard angling up to the base of the center window with two side by side daylight readable 20” touch screen monitors, you can visualize what this Main Helm Station will look like. And Omur now has the removable “lid” for that sloped Helm Wall all glued up and it is now up in the Finishing Shop getting its many coats of PU varnish all rubbed to a satin gloss so that should be in place for me to show you next week.
GALLEY:
Every week seems to have things that excite us but this week was all the more so true with what you can read in the other posting about getting Möbius officially registered and flagged in Jersey. AND we also saw another new milestone in our Galley that we are eXcited to show you now.
Of course I’ll need to keep you guessing for a bit longer so here’s your first clue about the eXcitement that’s been cooking up in our Galley this week.
These special tools were involved.
Oh, and your second clue is in this week’s title.
More tools of the trade involved here; a diamond saw.
How about if I add the final clue that you are looking right at it?
As are Omur and Selim in this photo as they unpack the first few slabs from their wooden crates in the background.
Yup, time to start cutting and fitting the awemazing slabs of this Turquoise marble our fabulous Interior Designer Yesim found for us. Yesim has been mostly working from home the past few months as her job works very well for that but she came in a few days this week to help organise and oversee the beginning of the marble work. The majority of the marble is in the Galley and these are most of the slabs laid out in approximate position of the countertops. Omur in the bottom Right is kneeling about where the induction cooktop will sit, Selim in the bottom Left corner is where the “peninsula” sits alongside the walkway as you come down the stairs from the Aft Deck.
Yesim is where the L-shaped settee will be.
The biggest cut-out by far is for our big double SS sink so that was the first order of business which the diamond blade you saw in the clue above made quick work of.
The slabs arrived from the quarry cut to widths and with some edges already having their bullnose edge ground and polished but the smaller details are now being done here in house. The first batch of stone that arrived had some cracks and other defects so Yesim worked with the stone company who were great about it and sent us pretty much an entire new order so we have lots of these beautiful marble slabs of all sizes to chose from and find the Goldilocks just right combination of grain and colour to match together. Selim & Omur have been working for the past month at cutting out these white templates in place atop the Galley cabinets to get the sizes, cut-outs and radius corners all just right and now our Marble Guy is using these to cut and trim each piece, do the cut-outs and radius the edges. He does as much work as he can down on the shop floor to keep the marble dust down there and here is is doing the final shaping of the large radius on this corner and the smaller one on the Left. Pretty soon though, they were able to gingerly carry the biggest single piece with the sink cut-out in it, up to the Galley and set it in place for the first test fit.
The fit is a bit tricky as there are so many elements already in place that the marble has to fit in just perfect such as along all the edges of the Rosewood Garages like the long one you see here.
But the templates worked as they should and this first piece of marble fit Perfect!
As did this second piece that creates the countertop behind the L-shaped settee that will be on the far Left.
Christine and I are super happy with our decision to stop the Garage on this leg short to give us that nice big open portion of countertop on the end. Will make it easier for passing things back and forth from the Galley to the Settee and for the food chopper to work just out of the way of the head Chef.
Work proceeded very quickly and Selim is busy checking that the underlying surface for the last piece is all perfectly flat and level before it is set in place. Here’s that final piece of marble with the far corner now cut out as well as the rectangular hole cut in the opposite corner where some of the wires come up into the Garage for light switches. Omur stays on top of everything throughout the whole process, here making sure that this last countertop is perfectly level and on the same plane as all the other countertops. With the OK from Omur it is fastened down with adhesive and clamped in place so it doesn’t move while the put the awaiting Garage in place on top and pull the light switch wires through the chase inside the Garage. With the wires pulled through the switch opening they can apply the adhesive to the Garage and clamp it into its final position like this. Being sure that this big mitred corner is also just right and clamped into its final position. Difficult to get it all into one shot but this will give you a bit better sense of what the whole Galley layout looks like with all the marble countertops and Garages now nestled into their new homes. As you’ve been seeing all along I have a “thing” for well radiused corners on ALL edges which Omur knows well and so this is how it all comes together with the various levels and layers of Rosewood and Turquoise marble.
Difficult and eXpen$ive to execute?
In the eXtreme!
But views like this show the lifelong dividends this will return.
Test fitting the big deep double SS sinks which also fit in just right. Christine tried this out on her weekly Friday visit and is delighted with the placement of these sinks which we debated for weeks.
Induction cooktop will soon be fitting into that open rectangle on the Right. One last shot as I close out the week. This shot will help you imagine the overall size and scale of things and how each area fits together. L-shaped settee in the bottom Left and steps leading up to the Entryway door to the Aft Deck which you know well by now, on the far Right. I will let all these photos speak for themselves and wish you adieux until next weekend when I’ll be back with the next progress update.
Hope you are enjoying following along as much as I’m enjoying taking you along.
And even though I am woefully tardy in answering the past 2 weeks of comments, PLEASE do add your questions and comments in the “Join the Discussion” box below. I WILL answer them and I do thank you for your patience when it takes me longer than I would like.
As you will soon see, Summer is not the only thing that is officially here. Captain Christine has now officially registered XPM78-01 Möbius with the Jersey Ships Registry in the island Port of Jersey and I can’t resist the chance to start off this week’s update with this riddle:
Can you find the TWO Canadian’s in this photo? While you ponder that question and search the photo above for that missing 2nd Canadian, a few more details on our choosing to register our new boat/home Möbius in Jersey which should provide you with a few more clues to solve the riddle above.
Quick history & geography update;
Jersey is one of the Channel Islands which lie Gulf of St. Malo in the English Channel between the south coast of England and the North coast of France.
Not to be confused with its neighboring island of Guernsey nor with New Jersey in the USA, as per this overview on Wikipedia Jersey, officially the Bailiwick of Jersey (who knew Bailiwick was a real word?!?), is a British Crown dependency[8] located near the coast of Normandy, France.[9] Some other Fun Facts for you about Möbius’ new Home Port, the Bailiwick of Jersey:
Jersey was part of the Duchy of Normandy, whose dukes went on to become kings of England from 1066.
After Normandy was lost by the kings of England in the 13th century, and the ducal title surrendered to France, Jersey and the other Channel Islands remained attached to the English crown.
Jersey has a separate relationship to the Crown from the other Crown dependencies of Guernsey and the Isle of Man, although all are held by the monarch of the United Kingdom.[13]
Jersey is not part of the United Kingdom,[15] and has an international identity separate from that of the UK,[16] but the UK is constitutionally responsible for the defence and international relations of of Jersey.[17]
Population (2019 estimate) is 107,000
Currency is British Pound sterling
Time Zone is Greenwich Mean Time UTC 0:00
OK, all very interesting Wayne but WHY register Möbius in Jersey?
As a Canadian I am amongst the few who qualify to register our boat with the British Registry of Ships in Jersey and fly the Jersey Red Ensign flag.
When traveling under the Jersey Red Ensign flag we have the full support of British consular services and British Royal Navy protection worldwide.
VAT-free temporary importation into EU for non-EU residents
Renewal every 10 years with no annual charge
OK, back to the riddle. Did you find the second Canadian in this photo?
The second Canadian is the flag!
You would have to know your flag history MUCH better than I do to have spotted this, but the flag I am holding is the Canadian Red Ensign used from 1921 to 1965 …… …… until the current Red Maple Leaf flag was adopted in 1965.[1] The Maple Leaf flag also replaced the Canadian Red Ensign as the civil ensign of the country. Way more than you ever wanted to know about Canadian flags I’m sure but for Christine, who came up with the whole idea, and I this is the perfect Goldilocks just right flag for us to sail under on Möbius.
Getting back to where I started this latest tangent, to complete the formal registration of XPM78-01 Möbius in the Bailiwick of Jersey we needed to send them photos to prove that we had “marked and carved” as it is officially called, the transom of the boat with the correct sized and placed letters of the boat’s name and Port of Registration.
Earlier in the week Christine rode her bicycle over to a printer she had discovered last year and they printed out a set of vinyl self adhesive Black block letters of Möbius and Jersey. Meanwhile, I did a quick layout of our Official Number and Gross Tonnage on a piece of 5mm aluminium plate to be my guide as I used my fabulous little Milwaukee cordless router to carve these numbers. I gave it a quick sand blast, painted over all the numbers with some Black spray paint and then sanded the surface to reveal just the numbers.
Asper the requirements of the Jersey Ship’s Registry, “the official number and the tonnage calculation should be permanently carved or marked on a small plaque which should be fixed onto the main beam or on a readily accessible visible permanent part of the structure inside the vessel. A plaque is usually approximately 20cms x 10cms and should contain the official number and tonnage figure.” And there you go XPM78-01 Möbius is officially ship # 749887.
On her weekly Friday inspection Christine brought along the vinyl letters and while everyone else was at lunch we carefully laid out and applied the letters on the Aft Transom. These vinyl letters are just a temporary stand in while we await the arrival of the CNC waterjet cut aluminium letters but were enough for us to take the required pictures to send to the Port of Jersey Registrar. In my youth I once had a job putting decals and lettering on semi trailer tankers so I knew the trick about spraying the surface with some water and dishwashing liquid so you can float the letters onto the aluminium plate and still adjust their position to line each one just right and we soon had the job done.
We called in some cheap labour to do a bit of final cleanup. And soon had our boat all officially named and ready for some photos to prove it. First photos we needed are to prove the height of the letters of the boat name and at 160mm/6” tall we are well above the minimum 100mm requirement and that’s all the photos we needed and Christine has sent these on their way to Jersey and they will mail us the official paper Registration document.
With the stern of Möbius backed up against the aft wall of the shipyard it wasn’t easy to get a shot from the rear like this but I managed to climb up onto a little ledge on the wall and squeeze off this shot to send to the Jersey officials. Lucky me; in my eyes and heart I’ve got the most Beautiful Bride AND the most beautiful Boat there is!
Our new “baby” is born! Please join us in welcoming XPM78-01 Möbius to the world.
Displacing a mere 66.83 Gross Tons, little # 749887 in the British Ships Registry and our newest boat and home has officially arrived.
Did I happen to mention that this is an eXciting new milestone for both of us?!!
We are eXtremely grateful to be continuing to enjoy both wonderful summer weather and full work weeks here in Antalya and at Naval Yachts this past week. As per the title of this week’s progress update Team Möbius has been working on everything from floors to ceilings as you will soon see in this week’s update.
It is Saturday June 20th as I sit here writing this and we are under an unusual lockdown for the weekend where everyone other than students are asked to not go out between the hours of 9am and 4pm while all the students are busy writing their annual exams. We’re not sure of the exact story but apparently the concern is that it has been typical in the past that lots of students and their families like to celebrate once the exams are over, which we can all relate to, and so they are trying to reduce this and people’s exposure for this weekend and next when there are more exams.
However for Christine and myself this is hardly any hardship and we welcome and applaud Turkey’s continued vigilance and caution to help keep their already low numbers to stay that way. The apartment complex we live in has three 12 story buildings with only two apartments on each floor so it is not very densely populated. I’ve just snapped the photo on the Left from our 9th floor balcony and as you can see the swimming pool opened for the season last week so we now have that to enjoy as well. Otherwise we are busy as usual working from home on all the “administrative” aspects of building a new boat so Christine has just successfully gotten Möbius officially registered and flagged and I’m focusing on designing and modeling the mounting system for Mr. Gee and the Nogva CPP propulsion system inside the Engine Room so that Uğur and Nihat can start building those on Monday morning.
So with that as a brief introduction please join me for a tour of all the progress that Team Möbius has made this past week.
FLOORS:
We’ll start this week’s Show & Tell up in the Forepeak where Uğur and Nihat have been busy putting in the framing for the flooring in there. Framing is a bit complex in terms of shape but simply made by welding lengths of aluminium L-bar around the perimeter of where the composite grate flooring will sit.
Standing at the Aft end of the Forepeak looking towards the Bow. Exit Sea Chest on the Right, Chain Bin on the Left. Standing in the front looking Aft at the WT Bulkhead with the Master Cabin on the other side. Nihat and Uğur are a great team and in no time flat they have all the L-bar framing welded in place, cut the composite grating cut to size and set into their frames.
The added step on the upper Left protects the large PVC ball valves that control the Black and Grey water exiting to either the shoreside pump-out or the Exit Sea Chest seen here in the bottom Left corner.
Black Water tank in the Upper Right corner, DC and AC cables crossing the WT Bulkhead in the cable tray up top and miscellaneous plumbing runs for Black, Grey and Potable (fresh) water below. Climbing up onto the Foredeck and looking back down into the Forepeak to get this overall shot of the whole floor inside the Forepeak. They also put in the little step in the lower Right corner which serves double duty to both protect the wiring in the cable tray underneath and provide a final step as you climb out which Captain Christine tested out yesterday and is VERY pleased to have.
The Forepeak is where we will store most of our ground tackle such as shore lines, fenders and the like so when we are anchoring or docking we access this area quite a lot and being able to get in and out quickly and safely was a top priority as we designed it and it is already eXceeding those design goals. Looking at the Starboard/Right side you can see another way in which we have built in an easy and safe design for getting in and out by welding 40mm/ 1.5” pipe to the edges of all the longitudinal stringers in the Forepeak to create a build in ladder or set of steps to clamber in and out with great handholds the whole way.
Now having the additional grated first step at the bottom and that little one at the top you can just see in the bottom Right corner here has really worked out well.
When the stringers were first being CNC cut, we had all the little moon shaped cut-outs done create super secure hand holds everywhere and these also give us hundreds of perfect spots to hand lines, clip on fenders and tie things to. This is going to be a fabulous space to work in and such a joy to have so much storage space compared to any other boat we have had.
While they were working up in the Bow and Anchor Deck area they also polished off another To Do list item by welding in the slats on the two fold up Dolphin Seats. Uğur ran the testing program and gave it full marks as did Captain Christine when she came for her weekly Owners Inspection on Friday. We will probably sew up some cushions that can be tied onto these for even more comfort and we can already imagine the joy of having these seats live up to their name as we watch our frequent Dolphin visitors frolic in our bow wave as they always love to do. Moving back to the Port/Left Aft Deck they also quickly installed the last of the three eXtremely robust fairleads into the Rub Rails. These are super helpful to run shorelines though and take them over to the huge Lewmar 65EST winch in the center of the Aft Deck. However most often we will use these two fairleads with Dyneema soft shackles tied to turning blocks for our Tender Davit Arch system. More on that as we get to building it.
ENGINE ROOM SEA WATER STRAINERS
Making the transition from their aluminium work up at the Bow, Uğur and Nihat joined forces with Cihan the plumber down in the Engine Room to finish installing the two bit sea water Strainers on the large Intake Sea Chest.
Last week they had finished welding in the dual 70mm / 2.75” ID aluminium pipes coming off the Sea Chest with flanges for Cihan to now start mounting these two Vetus strainers. Next week they will build and install the common manifold that both SW Strainers will T into and will run parallel above the long AL pipe closest to the ER wall. You can see the side outlet on the Right Strainer where the AL pipe connecting it to the manifold will attach. Same flange comes out of the bottom Strainer towards the wall where it will T into the manifold.
Standing in the entry door towards the Front Stbd corner of the ER provides this perspective of how this all fits together.
Mr. Gee will soon be mounted to the 25mm/1” thick Engine Beds running on either side of the equally thick center Keel Bar that runs the full length of the boat.
ER exhaust duct just visible in the Upper center with the curved Duct for the exiting air vent from the Workshop on the Left of it.
The two big PVC ball valves enable us to switch from a Sea Strainer that clogs to a new clean one with one simple 90 turn of one of those Blue handles. Strong, Simple, Safe & Efficient, the priorities we design, build and sail by.
STEERING:
Cihan spent most of his time again this week putting in all the hydraulic plumbing for the Kobelt Steering system. This schematic from Kobelt in one of my former home towns, Burnaby/Vancouver British Columbia will let you see how all the Kobelt steering components are interconnected. All quite simple but takes some time and ingenuity to figure out how best to route and run all these big hydraulic hoses throughout the boat and Cihan is a wizard at doing all this.
Looking down the Stbd side steering cylinder where it connects to the solid AL Tiller Arm you can see what the reality of the schematic above looks like in reality. These lines are the ones you see in the center of the schematic where the lines connect to #5 Safety & Bypass Valve. Cihan has been getting his exercise going back and forth between Möbius and the swaging machine in the workshop as he makes all the high pressure hydraulic hoses like these with all their different end fittings. Sitting atop the center Keel Bar Looking up at the underside of the Upper Rudder Shelf to get this overview of how the hoses connect to the cylinders and that #5 Safety & Bypass valve. Up above on top of that shelf Cihan has just about finished installing the hydraulic hoses for the two Accu-Steer HPU400 24Volt steering pumps.
#11 AutoFill Valve on the far wall with the Blue Hydraulic Oil Tank on the Right. Four of the 500Bar/ 7250Psi ball valves mounted on the bracket Cihan has installed on the Aft Transom wall. These will be normally open like this but allow us to switch either cylinder out of the system if there was a leak and still maintain full steering capability. One of the big jobs Cihan took on this week was routing these three hydraulic hoses from the very Aft end of the Workshop here all the way up to the manual hydraulic steering pump in the Main Helm station.
He started by exiting the center Steering Pump area to take the hoses over to the Port/Left hull under the HazMat locker you see above. Then they come up along the side of the HazMat locker on the far Left and start making their way along the upper Ceiling box…….. ………. along the lower cable tray on the Port side of the Workshop towards the WT Door out of the Workshop into the Corridor beside the Guest Cabin.
BTW, that cable tray is for the N2K and Ethernet data cables so having these share a tray with the hydraulic hoses is no problem.
Through the penetration in the Frame into the area behind my Office Desk wall. Down the side decks behind the Fridge & Freezer cabinets in the SuperSalon. And finally ending up here in the Main Helm.
And why are there hydraulic steering hoses going up here you ask? This should give you a clue to the answer. As will this aluminium bracket that Uğur & Nihat have fabricated and are starting to install inside the Main Helm. Exactly! This is the Kobelt Manual hydraulic steering pump that is one of many levels of backup we have for our steering system. In the unlikely event that both Kobelt steering cylinders and both Accu-Steer pumps should all fail then we can insert a steering wheel onto the SS shaft of this pump at the Main Helm and steer the boat the good old fashioned way.
Another one of these systems that we hope to never need to use but we SWAN Sleep Well At Night knowing it is there just in case.
ELECTRICAL:
Our ever busy Sparkie aka Electrician aka Hilmi, had another productive week so let’s see if we can find him.
First sign of Hilmi’s work we find over on the forward Stbd side of the SuperSalon in this Junction box that he has reopened to install four of the 11 LED Dimmer Controls. three dimmer controllers mounted on the top and one on the lower Left corner. All interior lights are LED and are on dimmable for use while on night watches, including the interior LED lights in the ceilings and the indirect lighting in the toe kicks and BHL handrails that run throughout the boat. Hilmi & Yusuf found some of this new style of LED strip lights so we tested them out and REALLY like them! Difficult to capture but what is new and different is the continuous round strip of translucent silicone that runs along the thin edge. If you look close or click to enlarge you can see the two round translucent silicone edges facing each other here. This was as dark as I could make the Master Cabin but you can see what we like so much about this new style where the light is a perfectly even strip of soft diffused light along the entire length. No spot dots of lights as in other LED strip lights so they provide a very even and very soft light. Being all silicone construction, these strips are eXtremely flexible as you can see here. This also makes mounting them very easy as we can simply press fit these pliable strips into the grooves that have been cut into the upper edge of all the Rosewood hand rails and toe kicks around all the cabinetry. Similar grooves run under the edge of the nosing on all the stair treads which bath all the stairs in very soft safe light at night. Very easy to cut these to any length you want with a utility knife and then solder the +/- 24V wires to the two little copper dots you can see on the inside of the bottom Right end here. Terrible colour with all our work lights on but hopefully you get the idea of how diffuse the light is inside the BHL Blue Horizon Line Handholds on the Left here where we have temporarily pressed a short LED strip in the upper groove. Hilmi was also busy down in the Basement this week filling up this Aft Battery Bank compartment with the last six FireFly L15+ Carbon Foam batteries.
The Grey PVC pipe is the extraction vent for all these battery compartments which are integral to the bottom of the hull. This thick walled composite catchment tray goes in first and fits between the L-bar frames welded to the compartment floors which sit atop the upper edge of the central Keel Bar. Then the six batteries can be easily lowered into the catchment tray. Each L15+ FireFly Carbon Foam battery “only” weighs 43kg/94lbs which is relatively light compared to many of these large Traction style batteries so a single person can move them around quite easily. In the Main DC Distribution Box in the background above, Hilmi has started to install the three shunts for the Victron BMV712 Smart Battery Monitors and this is the design I’ve given him to install these shunts onto the solid copper Negative Bus Bars.
Shunts A & B monitor each of the two 900Ah @ 24V battery banks and then Shunt C monitors their combined 1800Ah capacity.
On the opposite side of the Main DC Box is this AC Shore Power & Transfer Box which Hilmi has now fully wired with the switches for the two shore power inlets, fore & aft and the 120V inverter selector switches.
Having all four voltages; 12 & 24V DC and 120 & 220V AC onboard provides us with complete flexibility but does require careful installation and management to do well.
GUEST SHOWER:
Having lost Omer who was our lead cabinetmaker for the Guest Cabin, Office, Head/Shower, Corridor and Ships/Wayne’s Office there has not been too much progress there of late but fortunately he had completed almost all of the work in there before he left to work for another shipbuilder.
But Omur and Selim did manage to finish the marine plywood walls, floor and ceiling in this Guest Shower so it is now all ready for the Composite/GRP Team to come in and cover all this with a seamless epoxy and fiberglass surfaces. Red/Blue Hot/Cold PEX lines ready for the installation of the Shower Towers and the floor is framed to provide access to the tank access port on the Left and the Shower drain on the Right.
A removable solid teak floor will set atop this with water draining off all sides onto the sloped composite floor and out to the Grey Water tank or Sea Chest.
MASTER HEAD & SHOWER:
Up front in the Master Cabin you can see how the Heads and Showers are finished. Shower in the foreground and Head/Toilet in the background with all their walls, floor and ceiling already glassed in.
Wood template is being prepped here to go to the glass shop where they will cut a piece of 15mm/ 5/8” thick clear glass that will form a separation between the Shower and the Head areas. The Rosewood Hatch Liner has now been installed inside the inner AL frame of this big 700mm / 28” overhead hatch that brings in LOTS of light and fresh air.
As you can see in the photo above, the glass partition helps to bring in both light and fresh air to both the Shower and the Head areas. Frames are all clamped in place. And look like this from up on the Foredeck.
The groove around the outer perimeter provide the space for the inner leg of the rubber hatch seal system which wraps around the 8mm thick AL edge of the inner hatch frame. Looking down the side of one of these hatches you can see how the inner and outer AL frames create a gutter to trap water and drain it out through one of the two holes in their bottom which you can see in the middle here.
SuperSalon CEILINGS:
Most of Omur and Selim’s time this week was spent working on the ceilings in the SuperSalon. Each of these 10mm/ 3/8” thick plywood panels will be covered in White leather and use FastMount fasteners to snap in place to the Black ceiling grid.
The two sets of 5 circular holes seen here are where the air diffusers will be installed that bring fresh air into the Main Helm up front and the Lounge, Dinette and Galley aft. For those not familiar with it, the FastMounts are a fabulous product out of NZ that create super easy snap in/snap out panels which we are using for all the ceiling and wall panels throughout the boat.
Two part system with these Male halves mounted to the inner surface of each ceiling panel.
With a matching Female socket threaded into the Black ceiling grid above.
Just as quick and easy to install as they are to snap in/out and give complete access to what is behind them.
Almost all the ceiling panels in place, just a few at the very Aft end which they finished installing on Friday.
Smaller Soffit panels down each side are also removable and finished in White leather. They have trimmed the corners around the Plinth where you walk through the Entry Door from the Aft Deck with these generous 50mm / 2” radiused corner moldings. Which made a quick trip to and from Naval’s Upholstery Shop to get their matching White Leather applied. Doesn’t take too much imagination now to see how the ceilings will look once all these panels are also covered in their White leather with the contrasting Black epoxy in the adjoining spaces between each panel.
Have I mentioned that we are LOVING the way the whole look and feel of the interior is now coming into view?
These three ceiling panels over the Main Helm also just returned from the Upholstery Shop covered with their Black Leather and quickly snapped in place. The three panels behind these will also be covered in Black Leather to further reduce light reflections at the Main Helm on night passages.
Selim finished off the upper stair before week’s end so they are now all framed and insulated and ready for their Rosewood Risers and trim. And to finish things off in the SuperSalon for this week, Omur has started to fit the sloped top of the angled Stbd/Right side of the Main Helm. This will be hinged at the top to provide easy access to the electronics and storage areas inside.
Mr. Gee Gets His Head(s) Screwed on Tight!
Not to be left out I was able to give Mr. Gee our Gardner 6LXB main/single engine a bit more TLC this past week.
If you were with us last week you saw me install the two fully rebuilt cast iron cylinder heads onto the Cylinder Block and this week I was able to get put in all the nuts and fully torque both of Mr. Gee’s heads down nice and tight. Most of the nuts on Gardner engines do not use any washers but I do use the appropriate strength thread locker on all of them for that wee bit more assurance that they won’t ever come lose yet can be easily removed if needed. Having two individual heads side by side, you need to first clamp a straight edge along the edge of both to ensure that the exhaust/intake manifold sealing surfaces are fully aligned before tightening the Heads to the Cylinder Block. With both heads fully torqued down it was time to install the new valve train. Push rods go in first and connect the valve lifters sitting atop their cam lobes on the camshaft down below. Next up are the Valve Rocker Arms which transfer the Up/Down movement from the Pushrods over to the Intake and Exhaust Valves on the opposite side.
The Gardner 6LXB has three shafts that run down the center of each head with two Rocker Arms hinged on each. You can see one of these shafts lying at an angle at the far end here. The shaft in the center is on its way to slide through the two Rocker Arms in the foreground. Here is how that looks from the other end with that first shaft now in place supporting the two Rocker Arms. Looks like this closer up.
Spring in between to keep each Rocker Arm up against their outer thrust surfaces. All these little soldiers all in place and ready for the initial valve clearance adjustment.
Easy to see how simple this age old valve arrangement works with the Up/Down movement of the Push Rods down the Right side being transferred by the Rocker Arm in the center to Open/Close each Valve on the Left. One additional and rare feature for the valves are these two shiny Aluminium levers which when rotated push up on the underside of each Intake Valve to hold them open and not allow any compression in the cylinders and are therefore called Compression Release Levers.
Why would you want to do that you might ask? Several reasons but the two most important to me are;
1. With no 15:1 compression to resist, this enables me to easily turn the engine over by hand for doing adjustments or to build up a bit of oil pressure before starting to name but two examples.
2. But THE best and most important reason is that this also makes it possible for me to HAND START this engine!
Hand crank starting used to be a very common feature on early cars, trucks and tractors of which I have restored quite a few so I know first hand. And some of you may recall seeing scenes in movies or documentaries of people starting their Model T or other cars in the early 1900’s by turning a crank they inserted up front. In smaller gasoline engines the compression was small enough that you didn’t need a compression relief system but in larger engines and especially diesel engines which have much higher compression ratios the resistance from the internal compression was too high to turn by hand so they had this kind of compression release system which enables a well fed highly intentioned person to get the engine spinning over fast enough to then flip the compression back on and Umph Umph Umph each cylinder fired and you were off to the races.
Seriously folks, I am NOT joking with you or pulling your leg about this.
Need more proof, well check out this illustration of what will soon be Mr. Gee’s Hand Starting system! indeed this is a VERY serious safety feature for Christine and I in our single engine boat.
In fact when I first told Christine about this ability to hand start a Gardner before we found and bought Mr. Gee, her words were “You had me at Hand Crank Start. I want a Gardner on MY boat!” and the rest as you are seeing is history. More proof? OK, here is a photo of the Gardner Hand Start system “in the wild” courtesy Michael at Gardner Marine Diesel.
While we of course carry a full compliment of spare parts such as bearings and brushes for our massive 24V Gardner starter there is still always the outside chance of a catastrophic failure of any starter which I could not repair at sea or some complete loss of DC power which would render us quite literally “dead in the water”. So having this ability to hand start Mr. Gee if we needed to is an eXtremely big deal and could be a life saving feature so we count this as one of our top safety items onboard XPM78-01 Möbius.
I’ll leave it at that for now and go into more details once I start restoring and installing the Gardner hand start system on Mr. Gee so stay tuned for that riveting entertainment to come.
And with that I’ll sign off for this week and go enjoy the rest of this wonderful summer evening with my Beautiful Bride aka Captain Christine. A very big and sincere thanks to YOU for joining us and congratulations if you made it this far! I know I am seriously “brevity challenged” but you know where the Page Down key is on your keyboard or how to swipe down to get here quickly if need be.
Another full 5 day work week, well six really as some work is being done today (Saturday) as well so lots accomplished and lots to show you in this week’s Möbius Progress Update so let’s just jump right into the Show & Tell.
Now THIS is EXHAUSTING!
If I give you the clue that this week’s title is in reference to one of the last big ticket bits of kit that we need to complete the building of XPM78-01 Möbius, can you guess what 66kg/146lb worth of mechanical goodness is inside this latest crate to arrive at Naval Yachts this week? Does it help you guess if I remove all the outer shrink wrap? OK, I’ll give it away with this shot of pure boat jewelry.
Yup, our exhaust system finally arrived from Halyard in the UK. I only say finally because I first met with Oliver from Halyard’s HQ in the UK back in October of last year so it has taken us eight months of working very closely together to come up with the Goldilocks Just Right exhaust system for XPM78-01 Möbius. Oliver and his whole team of engineers and designers have been excellent for Yigit and I to work hand in hand with making all the right compromises, decisions and trade-offs which are always a part of designing any system due to the large number of variables and conditions we strive to meet. Here is a quick sketch from Halyard showing all the components they built for us in Green which arrived this week in the crate you see above.
The flexible 76mm/3” ID exhaust connection to Mr. Gee is shown in Black in the bottom Right and then following from there here are the components:
* SS 76mm/3” ID Vertical “dry” riser
* SS 76mm/3” ID Horizontal “dry” riser
* SS 127mm/5” Spray Head or Wet Elbow connected with silicone hoses on both ends
* Halyard GRP Silencer/Separator
One of Yiğit’s renderings provides another perspective where you can see the 2D outline of Mr. Gee to see where the Halyard exhaust system connects to his Red exhaust manifold on the Aft end of the engine. This is an example of one of many models as we tried out different options and layouts, this one being the vertical position of the Halyard Combi Silencer/Separator that mounts in the Forward Port/Left corner of the Engine Room up against the vertical intake air duct shown in Purple here. Another part of the evolution of the design we worked out with Oliver and his team was to change the exhaust gas outlet on the Combi to be at a downward 45 degree angle for a better routing of this hose down and across the WT Bulkhead to where it exits the Engine Room Enclosure. This early render of the Engine Room Enclosure and the Stbd side of the Workshop shows how the rubber exhaust hose coming out of the Combi goes down and out the Stbd ER wall and then passes under the Orange Day Tank on its way out the angled aluminium exhaust pipe through the hull about 300mm/12” above the Waterline. Gardner engine is shown here as the Blue box just to give its basic volume, ER Intake Air Duct in Purple on the Front Port corner of the ER and the Cyan coloured cylinders on the Stbd side of Mr. Gee are the two Seawater Strainers from the Intake Sea Chest in the Stbd corner of the ER. This is arguably the most important component in any and certainly our wet exhaust system, the SS Spray Head or “mixing elbow” which is what I had in my hand in the give away clue up above and to my eyes Halyard’s execution of this is pure boat “porn” or jewelry as we sometimes refer to such works of art and engineering. Looking at Halyard’s cutaway illustration here shows how the still dry exhaust gas only enters the elbow on the far Left and then has sea water pumped through the smaller ID hose on the top where it is then injected into the exhaust gasses flowing out the large rubber exhaust hose on the Right. This water serves two critical functions as it both quiets the exhaust gas sounds and cools the gasses down so low that they can easily now be routed through certified rubber exhaust hoses which are much easier to work with and place compared to hot SS exhaust pipes.
The small angled fitting on the Right is an exhaust gas temperature monitor that notifies us and set off an alarm if the temperature ever rises which would mostly be due to a reduction or stoppage of the sea water coming in. If the wet exhaust sea water should ever stop, usually due to the sea water impeller pump or drive belt failing, the temperatures inside the “wet” side of the exhaust system would immediately soar and start causing all sorts of severe damage to the rubber hoses and the Combi itself. And yes, this is another place where I can say “Ask me how I know?!”. So in addition to this wet exhaust gas temperature sender which will put that data onto the N2K and Maretron monitoring system, I also always install at least one temperature alarm sensor on the outer surface of the rubber exhaust hose just aft of this internal sensor for both redundancy and possibly an earlier warning of an increase in the wet exhaust gas temperatures.
Here is the real deal and if I hold it at this angle looking into the end where the wet exhaust gas plus water exits you can see now the water is very evenly injected into the exhaust gasses through all those semi-circular holes around the circumference. The way this works is that there are actually two SS pipes here, the large 127mm/5” outer pipe I have in my hand and then the smaller inside pipe we are peering into here. This creates a space or jacket between the inner and outer walls of these two pipes. The sea water, enters through that small SS pipe in the upper Left side, fills and flows through this space or jacket between the two pipes and is then forced through all those semi-circular holes much like the spray head on your garden hose or shower.
Cheaper systems just have the sea water enter directly from the sea water hose but this does a very poor job of mixing the water with the gasses so while not easy or cheap to execute this double walled injection system that Halyard has made works eXtremely well and reduces both noise and temperatures of our wet exhaust system very effectively and efficiently.
For those of you who might want to do a deeper dive into marine diesel engine exhaust systems THIS TONY’s TIPS article from Seaboard Marine will give you a very good overview of the various types and how they work.
This 2D drawing from Halyard’s catalogue shows the Side In/Top Out style we are using, with the noted change that our outlet is angled down 45 degrees.
The Combi Silencer/Separator was shipped upside down as you see here so that is the nice thick GRP base plate that I’ve got my hand on is up on top here but will give you an idea of its size and shape which you’ve been seeing in the renderings above as well.
For those not familiar with these Combination Silencer/Separators they are very simple in operation and eXtremely efficient. The now wet exhaust gasses + seawater coming out of the Spray Head enter the Combi Silencer/Separator through the 127mm/5” ID angled side inlet pipe “A” in the drawing below, where it expands inside the large cylindrical GRP chamber. From there, the seawater is separated out as it flows out the bottom pipe at “C” which in our case connects to a rubber hose going directly into the Exit Sea Chest that sits right below the Combi while the now cooled and silenced exhaust gasses exit through the upper Outlet “B” and are then routed over to the exhaust pipe exit from the hull via rubber exhaust hose.
I went with this Combined style of wet exhaust for many reasons, the two biggest by far being that this style requires no “Lift” of the sea water which the more common Lift Muffler design has which creates much lower power robbing back pressure for Mr. Gee and in a Good/Better/Best rating, these Combi styles are the Best as they have the highest degree of quieting of the various different wet exhaust styles.
You’ll be seeing lots more of all this as the installation starts in the next week or so.
STEERING:
Uğur and Nihat are still working on other boats so no progress this week on their aluminium related work but the ever productive Cihan had another very successful week as he continued with his installation of the Kobelt Steering system so let’s go catch on with that next.
This simplified schematic of our Kobelt Steering system which Christine created shows how the major components are connected together electrically and now Cihan is working on all their hydraulic connections as shown in this schematic we developed with Kobelt. You can see the two 7080 cylinders connected to the Tiller Arm at the top Left and the two HPU400 hydraulic pumps below them.
If you have not yet seen last week’s update you can go back to that to see the initial work that led to this point with the physical mounting of the two big Kobelt 7080 hydraulic cylinders and they are now both connected to this massive Tiller Arm which we was CNC machined out of a single block of AL which is also now fully installed onto the Rudder Shaft you can see poking out the top here. Now it was time for our Master Plumber Cihan to start connecting all the hydraulics together. These eXtremely robust base mounts for the outer articulated ends of each cylinder have now been fully welded in place and the cylinders are loosely connected for now while Cihan works his hydraulic magic to connect everything together starting with the hoses at each end of each 7080 cylinder. Up above on top of the Aft Workbench which runs the full width of the Aft end of the Workshop along the entire Transom Wall on the far Left, the two Accu-Steer HPU400 24V continuous running pumps are mounted and ready for their hydraulic and electrical connections. Cihan has mounted the horizontal AL bracket to the Aft Transom Wall and has bolted four of the high pressure ball valves to this so they are now all ready …… ….. for their hoses to be connected.
All the hydraulic hoses are 1SN DN13 rated for 160Bar/2320PSI With the neccessary ends swaged on in house.
In the center of the schematic above is this Safety & By-pass valve which Cihan has bolted to a this small bracket to put it close to the Tiller Arm on the Left and make for the shortest overall hydraulic hose lengths. Some more simple L-bar brackets welded to the underside of the Aft Workbench to hold and organise all the various hydraulic hoses he has made up. As per the hydraulic schematic above the hydraulics for each cylinder are interconnected to provide the maximum flexibility of our steering where just one pump and on cylinder exceeds the steering requirements in any conditions and can do so using either the high speed or low speed option. However to add more power and flexibility we also have the ability bring both pumps and both cylinders online at the same time. This gives us the option to double the speed and halve the time it takes to move the rudder from lock to lock which is a total of 90 degrees as our Rudder can turn up to 45 degrees to either side.
Cihan was clever enough to fabricate two 4-way connectors to help organise all these hose connections and you can see one of these 4-way junctions just to the Left of his elbow. If you look closely or click to enlarge, you can see that the second 4-way connectors sets atop the first one.
Here he is a bit further into the installation and viewed from the side so you can see how he has stacked the two 4-way connectors atop each other. The Yellow plastic blocks are clamps which safely hold all the hoses in position with no chafing or movement once they are all clamped down. Two pairs of those hoses need to connect to the two Accu-Steer HPU400 AutoPilot pumps and you can see these coming up from below to connect to their respective high pressure 150 Bar ball valves that we saw Cihan had mounted up above.
And that pretty much finishes off the initial installation of the hydraulic hoses for the Accu-Steer pumps and Kobelt cylinders. Next up are the long hoses that need to go all the way up to the Main Helm where the manual hydraulic steering pump where our Emergency Steering Wheel can be connected if ever needed. More on that next week.
ELECTRICAL:
Hydraulics are not the only type of connections being made aboard the Good Ship Möbius this past week as Hilmi, seen in the background here, continues his relentless work installing the nautical miles of electrical wire, cables and now network cables. As you can see by the large coils in front of the Workshop WT door he is now pulling some of the very long runs of cable and so “Mr. Swiss Army Knife” Mummy has been lending his very skilled helping hand.
For the most part Black cables are 120 and 220V AC and Grey are 12 and 24V DC. Last weekend Hilmi finished wiring the Forward DC Distribution Box in the Forepeak which feeds all the high amp 24 Volt consumers up there such as the Maxwell VWC4000 Windlass, Lewmar 55EST Evo kedging winch, Vetus 2024DE Bow Thruster. Plexiglass safety shield now installed and job well done Hilmi! Down in the Basement where the Main DC Distribution Box is located Hilmi has also been busy connecting the large 24V DC cables to the Positive and Negative solid Copper Bus Bars and now starting to add things like the shunts for the Victron BMV712 Smart Battery monitor.
Two of the three shunts you can see bolted to the Negative Bus Bar on the Right with their two large 120mm2/AWG 5/0000 Black cables attached that go down to each of the four 24V @ 450Ah Battery Banks located directly below in their aluminium compartments which are integral to the hull.
Captain Christine whipped up this spiffy illustrated schematic that shows how these three shunts are all interconnected along with the data connections for monitoring all five of the Victron MultiPlus Inverter/Chargers, three 220V and two 120V. Close up shot of one of those BMV712 Smart Shunts so you can see the additional connections that come off of each shunt and go up to their BMV712 gauge heads up in the Main Helm. There are three of these BMV712 Smart Battery Monitors and their respective shunts; two for monitoring the two 24V @ 900Ah Battery Groups A and B and then a third to monitor the whole House Battery Bank which is 24V @ 1800Ah. Such detailed monitoring is critical to our existence because Möbius is a completely DC or “Battery Based” Boat whereby all of our four electrical voltages, 12 & 24V DC and 120 & 220V AC, originates from our 24 Volt House Battery Bank. So we make battery and electrical system monitoring a top priority and it all starts by our monitoring the 24 the FireFly L15+ Carbon Foam batteries which makeup our huge House Battery Bank.
The latest addition to our Victron Blue Wall down in the Basement is one of two 70Amp Victron Orion 24V to 12V DC to DC converters which are the source for all our 12 Volt consumers that include some electronics and some pumps that are only available in 12 volt models. Our primary voltages are 24V DC and 220V AC but we have both 12 volt and 120 volt outlets positioned where needed throughout the boat so that any voltage you want is readily available. We really like the options and flexibility this affords us so that we don’t need to replace any of our existing equipment and purchase new items no matter what voltage they require. Also nice for all our family and friends when they are visiting us so that they too can plug in any of the electrical bits and bobs they want to use. Stepping back a bit to show you this Orion’s new home. This spool of cable showed up onboard Möbius this past week and it isn’t like any of the other cables onboard so far so any guesses as to what this is for? Yup, this is our CAT7 cable that we will be using for all our Ethernet based data. And as this schematic which Captain Christine put together will help you see just some of our Ethernet cables, we do have a LOT of data to move throughout the boat. So yes, you are reading that label correctly, this is 305m/1000ft of CAT7 cable!
Most of you are probably familiar with and using CAT5 or CAT6 Ethernet cable which still works just fine but we try where we can to “future proof” Möbius and this is one example.
What’s the difference you ask? This chart shows some of the difference and yes, there is now CAT8 cable which we might have used but could not get delivered to us here in time. The differences that matter to us are that we can have little to no loss with long runs and most importantly CAT7 has significantly more and better shielding so we get less “noise” and interference with our data transmissions if they happen to be near such interference from other devices. We have routed all our data cables in their own cable trays and kept these well distanced from the other cable trays carrying AC and DC wires but the added shielding of CAT7 should eliminate any last bit of noise that might try to sneak aboard.
CAT7 is quite different internally with the added shielding and you need to use special connectors that have the connections for the shielding in place so you can’t use standard RJ45 connectors. But Christine was able to source all the CAT7 male and female end connectors we needed with lots of spares along with the new crimping tool so we can make up our own CAT7 cables as needed for future expansion. Best thing is that the CAT7 connectors still have the exact same form factor as RJ45 so they snap into our RJ45 based wall plates to replace the old ones.
Let the CAT7 cable running begin!
Here is some coming out of the ceiling above the Corridor outside the Guest Cabin. More overtop the Ships/Wayne’s Office More in these bookshelves…….. More in this little “Internet Alcove” by the stairs…… More in the Workshop ………………………
Well, you get the idea, more CAT7 EVERYWHERE!
Stay tuned for much more in next week’s update. Let’s move on to something else quite electrifying to me …… Ro$ewood cabinetry.
MASTER CABIN
Next door in the Cabinetry Shop Omur is now busy making up more vents for the Extraction Fans in the SuperSalon. Which soon emerge looking like this and ready for cleanup and machining the outer frames to size.
Then they head up to the Finishing Shop to receive their 5 coats of PU Poly Urethane varnish which transforms them into beauties like these two down in the Master Cabin. These are two of the many more ventilation grates that Omur has been busy making for the various air Intake/Return and Output/Supply vents for Hot & Cold AirCon, Air Handlers, Extraction Fans and so on. These two are destined for the air supply to the Air Handler located inside,,,,,,,, ……. the cabinetry on the Port side of the Master Cabin bed. One Rosewood grill on each of the two stair risers, the upper one of which we see here.
SUPERSALON
Upstairs in the SuperSalon continues to live up to its name more and more with the passing of each week and here we find Selim starting to fit the Rosewood risers for the stairs leading up to the WT Entry/Exit door from SuperSalon to the Aft Dec. Earlier in the week they had installed the foundations for the stair treads by leveling and gluing them to the AL stairs. Selim added the spacers for the stair risers we saw him installing above. Climbing up those stairs and turning around to look back inside the SuperSalon we spot another new addition this week. Can you see it? Good eyes! This little box in the top front corner of the Plinth overtop the stairs will soon house a bunch of the electronics that feed the Upper Helm Station in the SkyBridge which is on the Stbd/Right side of this Plinth and photo. All the surfaces in here will have snap in place FastMounted leather covered panels including one that will go over that rectangular opening you see here to make it easy to access items such as some network switches, N2K multi-port blocks, second boat computer and all the cables and wires that feed through ……………….. ………. this penetration at the very top Right corner heading into the Upper FlyBridge Helm Station on the Right. Back down inside the SuperSalon Selim has been busy all week doing the final leveling of the rigid foam board below the floors so that it is all flush and level for the 12mm / 1/2” marine plywood floors. Once these are all leveled they will then route all the U-shaped grooves that will hold the 15mm / 5/8” PEX tubing for the In-Floor Heating system.
And if you peek through that big hatch in the floor you can see the Main DC Distribution Box that Hilmi has been working on down in the Basement. Back to the Cabinetry Shop to catch up with the Hatch Liners Omur and Selim have been working on for the past few weeks. These two are soon headed for the Finishing Shop before going to their final destination inside the AL Hatch frames in the Master Cabin. Progress continues in the Galley as well with the gluing up of the infamous BHL or Blue Horizon Line Handhold that wraps around the marble countertops which are out at the waterjet CNC cuter right now. And they have now finished putting in all the Black Ceiling Grid components so it is now all ready for them to install the FastMount sockets that the ceiling panels snap into so please join us again next week to see that.
Mr. GEE!
Easy for most of you to guess what we’ve left for the last section of this week’s Möbius Progress Update but can you guess what these studs are all getting cleaned up and ready for? eXactly! Mr. Gee is ready to have his head(s) bolted on once I got ALL these different studs all fully cleaned up, threads redone and threaded into the cast iron Cylinder Block. Studs all torqued down into the Cylinder Block, Head gaskets in place and rubber O-ring water jacket seals pressed in place. Cylinder Heads all rebuilt with new valves, valve guides and reground Head to Block surface so time for the Front Head to “Fly” into place. All those studs make it easy to line up the head just right and start lowering it in place. Front Head in place so time for the Aft Head to join it. Et Voila! Mr. Gee grows closer and closer to a working engine and ready for his next 50+ years of uninterrupted service as XMP-78 Möbius’ source of propulsion. Front head already has its compression release shaft in place with its aluminium handle poking out between the two heads so time to install the one in the Aft Head. These levers allow you to hold the exhaust valves open so there is no compression in those three cylinders and makes it easy to turn the engine over and even, are you ready for it ………………. HAND START the engine! Lots more on that whole story and installation in the coming weeks so I’ll leave it at that for now. Just for show I put the sand blasted AL Valve Covers in place just in time for inspection by the Captain. Several years ago when I was first Waynesplaining to Christine that we would be able to hand start Mr. Gee, she smiled even more than she is here, held her hand up to quiet me and said “You had me at Hand Cranked, I want a Gardner in my boat.” She is getting closer and closer to getting that wish.
Yiğit’s Presence Lingers On
Last week we had to say goodbye to our Project Manager Yigit as he headed off for his compulsory stint in the Turkish Navy and so before he left Antalya we had him over for dinner on Sunday for one more chance to spend some time with this eXtraordinarily talented young man who is also our dear friend. Ruby and Barney love “Uncle Yigit” even more than we do it seems as he has been our dog sitter for many weeks over the past 2+ years so it was a chance for all of us to squeeze in a bit more time together. Being the sweet and thoughtful man he is, two days later a package showed up at our door with a surprise gift from Yigit inside that is just so Yigit and so perfect.
His and Hers Captains Caps! So we just had to head into Naval Yachts on Saturday to take some photos to send to him, so Yigit, thanks and these are for you…………
In front of the Main Helm Up on the Foredeck And testing out the “Dolphin Seats” at the Bow.
Thank you SO much Yigit! Your presence and talents are missed more and more every day by everyone on Team Möbius and most of all by Wayne & Christine.
Well, that’s a wrap for the week that was June 8 to 12, 2020 so I’ll just add my thanks to all of you for joining us here for this week’s update and for joining us on this grand adventure. Hope you’ll be back again next week and PLEASE let me know what’s working and what’s NOT with these posts as well as any and all questions and suggestions you have along the way.
As they used to say on Sesame Street, “This week is brought to you by the letter S” as the week featured Steering, Sea Chests, SuperSalon, Solenoids and some Sadness. We are now back to full 5 and even 6 day work weeks as there are no national holidays here in June and the weather continues to be spectacularly Summery so we enjoyed a very productive and joyful week, with a bit of melancholy sadness thrown in for good measure here in Antalya and aboard the Good Ship Möbius.
S is for Sadness
Our first S is for Sadness as we had to say goodbye to two key members of Team Möbius this week.
Ömer
Our week began with the very noticeable absence of Ömer, who as you’ve been seeing in every post here since the cabinetry work began, has been our Master Cabinetmaker in charge of all the cabinetry for the Guest Cabin, Guest Head & Shower, Corridor and stairs and the Ship’s/Wayne’s Office. Ömer’s range of craftsmanship was as eXtensive as it was impressive and he was always pushing himself to go that extra nautical mile to find the Goldilocks “Just Right” combinations of details and features no matter if they were buried deep inside the infrastructure for the cabinetry that almost no one would ever see or the beauty that was on full display with the matching grains and curves throughout his areas.
Sad too that we did not know that Omer was being sent over to another shipbuilder in the Antalya Free Zone so we did not have the chance to tell him how much we will miss him and to thank him all the more for the huge contribution he has made to making our boat not only so beautiful but also our home. Hopefully we will be able to see him and thank him in person before we leave.
As much as we will miss his talented touches I think I will miss more Ömer’s ever present smile whenever we spoke and the pride which radiated from him as he would be showing me his latest results.
Çok teşekkür ederim Ömer, seni özleyeceğiz. (Thank you so very much Ömer, we will miss you.)
Yiğit
And our week ended with even more sadness, at least for Christine and me, as we had to also say goodbye to Yiğit who has been our Project Manager from the first day he started at Naval Yachts over two years ago soon after he graduated as a Naval Architect in Istanbul. Yiğit took to his new work like the proverbial fish to water and had such a full range of talents from being an wizard of 3D modeling to having a very keen engineering and design sense.
I worked more closely with Yiğit than anyone else at Naval Yachts and our professional relationship soon blossomed into a personal one as Christine and I got to know this brilliant young man both inside the shipyard and out.
Yiğit became our in house dog sitter as Ruby and Barney soon fell for his charms as well and they stayed with him both in our apartment and over at his for all of the times when Christine and I flew back to Canada, the US and the UK. Upon our returns, it always seemed that they would much rather have stayed with “Uncle Yiğit” than have to be back with their “parents” with all their rules and restrictions.
Fortunately Yiğit had informed us several months ago that he was going to be called up for his mandatory one year of military service where he will become a Lieutenant in the Turkish Navy. They will be very reluctant to let him leave once they discover what a rare combination of talents he has so I won’t be surprised if this one year of mandatory service turns into a much longer Navy career.
Originally Yiğit thought he was going to be called up in April but the silver lining of this Corona virus “cloud” we are all in has been that this was postponed and we were able to keep him until the end of this week. So on Friday afternoon we were able to have a small going away celebration on the aft deck with all the others on Team Möbius to both thank him and and toast the beginning of this eXciting new chapter in his life.
As we said to Yiğit then, we are as happy for him as we are sad for ourselves and we topped off our little going away event by teaching everyone how to sing “For he’s a jolly good fellow” and three throaty “Hip Hip Hurray” to send him on his way.
Not sure how we are going to manage without you Yiğit, but thanks to the wonders of modern technology we will be able to stay in close touch with you and to have you come join us aboard that boat that is as much the result of your efforts as ours.
Bon Voyage Yiğit as we all embark on our newest adventures in life.
Sana yeterince teşekkür edemiyoruz Yiğit ve seni şimdiden özlüyoruz. (We can’t thank you enough Yiğit and we are missing you already.)
OK, with those teary goodbyes, let’s move on to this week’s Show & Tell session so you can see the latest results of the tremendous progress of Team Möbius for this first week of June 2020.
S is for STEERING SYSTEM
Seems fitting to continue with the example of some of Yiğit latest contributions as he worked with Uğur, Nihat and myself on the latest eXciting new progress; starting to install the Kobelt Steering System. This photo is taken standing out on the Swim Platform though the WT Door into the Workshop as Uğur starts applying all the measurements on the drawings Yiğit has prepared for ….. ….. the precise location of these two works of art and engineering in all bronze and stainless steel. These are the two large Kobelt 7080 bidirectional and balanced 12” hydraulic steering cylinders. Back in 2017 & 2018, Dennis, our designer from Artnautica Yacht Design in Auckland NZ and I had worked extensively with the engineers at Kobelt in Vancouver British Columbia to come up with the Goldilocks just right steering system for XPM78-01 Möbius. No easy task to meet all of our eXtreme requirements and use cases but this is the critical geometry we eventually created which Yigit then used to create the 3D models and refine the actual installation. Right up there at the top of our priorities it can be compellingly argued that steering is THE most important system on the boat. We have multiple ways of generating and controlling the electrical systems onboard and we also have alternatives and backups for propulsion, but other than when we are anchored we are “dead in the water” without our steering system.
This early cutaway rendering will help you visualize how the steering cylinders and Tiller Arm work to turn the Rudder. And this sectional view shows how the two Jefa Self Aligning TWIN-PETP roller bearings work to provide almost frictionless rotation of the Rudder. All non conductive plastics also means these eXtremely efficient roller bearings also electrically isolate the whole rudder assembly from the rest of the hull making it very easy to manage and prevent any electrolysis or corrosion from the dissimilar metals involved. At the risk of doing what my kids used to call TMI, Too Much Information Dad!, this sectional drawing shows how the upper Jefa roller bearing then has a ball bearing thrust washer on top with a locking ring to secure it to the Rudder Post and prevent any vertical movement.
OK, with all that as background, first thing Monday morning Uğur and Nihat started their work on the Steering System by completing the installation of the rudder which has been long in the making.
This is what those drawings above look like in reality. This is the top of the 127mm / 5” diameter solid AL Rudder Post where it exits the top of the welded in place 12mm/ 1/2” thick AL Rudder Tube atop the Rudder Shelf which runs the full width of this aft end of the hull.
For those curious, the large hole at the top is where the emergency tiller pipe is inserted and the long groove is the keyway for the SS key that locks the Tiller Arm solidly to the Rudder Post.
Largest White plastic atop the AL Rudder Tube is the top of the outer race of the upper Jefa self aligning roller bearing you can see in the two section drawings above.
Above that is the thrust ball bearing and the Black anodized lock ring at the top is affixed to the Rudder Post with three SS set screws, one of which you see here on the Right. Dow below, the Rudder is now in its final position. The small vertical pipe below is temporarily pushing the Rudder up tight against the bottom Jefa rudder bearing while Nihat and Uğur are installing the upper bearings and lock ring.
Zooming in to see how this White Delrin thrust bushing protrudes just below the edge of the bottom end of the Prop Tube where it is welded to the Prop Tunnel plate.
To the delight and amazement of the others, the Rudder is easy to turn that you can almost do it by blowing hard on the trailing edge. Those Jefa roller bearings are eXtremely effective and will make steering all the easier.
With the Rudder Post bearings all in place and locked down the two halves of the massive Tiller Arm were attached with the 16mm / 5/8” SS key in that groove you saw above and then the whole Tiller Arm could be clamped to the Rudder Post with the four large SS bolts.
Now that the Tiller Arm is in its final position the bronze & SS Heim Joint end of the first Steering Cylinder was secured to the Tiller Arm with the hardened 25mm / 1” diameter steel pin.
With that end of the cylinder locked in position the bronze base or foot on the opposite end could now be positioned to establish the critical geometry you see in that dimensioned drawing above. In normal conditions the forces on these cylinders is not too high but in storm conditions or when surfing down big waves they can become eXtreme so getting the geometry precisely correct and having eXtremely solid attachment of that bronze base foot is critical. If you look closely at this bronze base above and in this section drawing of the Kobelt 7080 cylinder, you can see that this end is captured in a spherical ball joint that takes the brunt of all these thrusting forces and yet allows the cylinder to move as they move the Rudder up to 45 degrees in either direction. This also explains why there is a grease nipple at the top for periodic lubrication of this high load joint. The Rudder was locked into its zero or straight ahead position and then using Yiğit’s drawings and dimensions and the every so handy laser level, Uğur and Nihat were able to determine the eXact position of the bronze base and its mounting bracket. Now that the height and position of the base was known for sure, more of Yiğit’s drawings were used to quickly fabricate these two mounting bases from 20mm / 3/4” thick AL plate. Having a 20 Ton press at hand makes it pretty quick and easy to put in the two angled bends on each end and then weld this gusset down the center for added strength and rigidity. Back to the Rudder Shelf the mounting brackets could now be set in place for their final positioning and then welding. We checked all the measurements several more times with the laser and tape measure and then Uğur quickly tacked the mounts in place on the Rudder Shelf. And we checked again. Here is what the whole setup looks like with both side mounts tacked in place. The centers for all four hardened mounting bolts were carefully punched in the AL plate and the clearance holes drilled in several stages. Now the bolts could be inserted and temporarily snugged up for one more check that all the dimensions, angles and geometry were in that Goldilocks just right zone. With the vertical heights all locked in we then tried out different thicknesses of SS shim washers to position the flat bearing surfaces of the Heim Joint ends in their slots in the solid AL Tiller Arm to get them precisely centered with no vertical movement. And Voila! Möbius has her steering cylinders all in place and Cihan is already getting started at putting in the hydraulics to make them work as evidenced by the Kobelt four way valve here in the foreground. But we’ll leave that till next week’s update.
S is for SUPPORTS:
A relatively small but very gratifying job that Nihat & Uğur checked off this past week was welding in the two support poles for the cantilevered roof overtop the Aft Outdoor Galley & BBQ. This roof is sturdy enough and only carries the weight of three of our 340W solar panels but we wanted to add a bit more rigidity to the whole structure and perhaps even more importantly these support poles serve double duty as eXtremely secure hand holds whenever you are walking or standing anywhere in this Outdoor Galley area and the boat is rocking in either seas while underway or from the wake kicked up by boats zooming past you in an anchorage. Very KISS design to connect them to the outside of these Engine Room vent boxes on the Aft Deck which also do double duty as the countertops for the Outdoor Galley with a sink on one side and an electric BBQ grill on the other. They used a short length of L-bar for the attachment point to the underside of the roof which will later be filled with EPDM insulation and covered with AlucoBond sheeting with some LED lights for night time cooking. Here is what the Outdoor Galley looks like from the Port/Left side of the Aft Deck with its new support poles all welded in. And from the forward Starboard/Right side.
Electric BBQ grill goes into the opening on the lower surface on the far Left here.
S is for SEA CHESTS
Can you guess what the next project that Uğur is starting here? It involves two of these monster PVC ball valves and if you click to enlarge this (or any other) photo you can probably figure it out by looking at Yiğit’s 2D drawing on the Left. Or I’ll make it even easier with this full shot of the drawing Uğur is using. This is the top view. These are the dual sea water strainers for the main sea water intake sea chest in the Engine Room. These Vetus units are very well built and eXtremely rugged with their thick plastic cylinders and thick clear plexiglass lid for easy viewing to check for any clogs or debris that might be starting to fill up the inner strainer basket. In the case of a clog, no tools required you just flip that one’s ball valve off and the other one on and continue on while you then can take the time to undo those six knobs to remove the lid, clean out the strainer and put it back together all good to go for the next time.
This also gives you a good shot of the output port on the side. We are removing all these original threaded flanges and replacing them with the AL flanged plates made in house here as you’ll see below. Here is a rough approximation of how the horizontal ball valve will go on the horizontal pipe coming out of the sea chest which would be on the far Left in this photo and then make a 90 degree bend up into the bottom of the sea chest. With this setup, any debris, seaweed, fish (yes it happens) will be restrained (sorry, couldn’t resist) by the SS wire mesh strainer and then the clear seawater comes out the flange fitting on the far Right side of the Gray strainer body.
The main feed pipe coming off the big 100mm/4” vertical sea chest pipe will be welded on as you’ll see in a few minutes but all the other connections are made with flanged joints which start out with simple discs like this one I’m holding, cut from 10mm AL plate and machined on the lathe. It was faster and easier for Nihat to use this carbide hole saw to cut out the center opening rather than do it on the lathe. Then they were drilled for their bolt holes and tacked to their respective spots on the pipework that connects them all together. What do you think?
Sturdy enough? Down in the Forward Stbd/Right corner of the Engine Room this is where they are bound for. Just trying out the layout to make sure everything is going to fit. Pretty much a foregone conclusion as Yigit has fully modeled this in 3D but there’s always a chance that some little detail has been missed in the real world. But not this time and it was all systems Go for installation now. When I bring you in a bit closer you can see that there is a log going on in this area and fitting in both those huge valves so you can easily reach and turn the handles and keeping the two strainers positioned well out of the way took some planning and Uğur is now double checking that it all works out. Knowing everything fits and works, it was one last trip back down to the shop floor below the boat for final cleanup of all the bits and pieces while they were easy to get at. And then their final trip back to the Engine Room to be welded into the awaiting sea chest. Next week we’ll see the mounting of the valves, strainers and sea water manifold that feeds all the consumers such as the water maker, chiller, engine heat exchanger and exhaust sea water pump to name but a few.
S is for SOLENOID VALVES:
Moving onto Cihan’s world of Plumbing, can you guess what these solenoid valves are for that he is about to start installing throughout the boat.
Hint; there are 12 of them. If you were with us last week you might recall seeing Cihan working with these which are the electrically controlled solenoid valves for the high water pump evacuation system in each side of each compartment between the five bulkheads in the hull. Might be a bit hard to make out but the somewhat dirty white hose second from the Right here is the high water suction hose for this compartment on the Port/Left side of the Corridor/Ships Office/Guest Cabin compartment. The smaller clear hose on the far Right is for the “regular” diaphragm bilge pump. We designed these XPM’s to have all the area of the hull below the waterline constructed of a series of criss-crossing plates a bit like an egg crate which all serve as tanks for fuel and water. All the bright pink “floors” here are actually the tops of the tanks with all the neccessary Green tank access hatches for inspecting and cleaning them out periodically over the life of the boat. But the truly awemazing thing about this type of hull design is that even if the hull was to be breached/pierced in some spot, it would only expose ONE of these relatively small tanks to the sea water and that would be the only area that could flood. With the base level “floors” thus being tank tops there are essentially no traditional bilges just a series of V-shaped “gutters” running down each side where the outer edges of the tank tops are bent down to form what is called Margin Plates” so that these tank top plates intersect the hull plates at a perpendicular 90 degrees for maximum strength.
Here is a close up inside one of these V-shaped Gutters with a different view of that same “dirty white” high water suction hose in the photo above. The flat rectangular little Yellow piece with the Blue wire coming out is a solid stage water alarm switch that turns on whenever water touches it. This first sets off both an alarm light and buzzer and then turns on the diaphragm bilge pump connected to the smaller 25mm/1” ID clear hose you saw above which slurps up any water that collects in this gutter.
If the water were to somehow continue to rise, a similar High Water alarm would go off and we would now go and activate the solenoid valve that Cihan is now installing which would open that valve up and the high volume “crash pump” would start evacuating all this water overboard.
Remember that “dirty White” High Water suction hose? Well that’s it in the upper Left here where it connects to its solenoid valve along with the hose from the opposite side of the hull. We find these two solenoid High Water valves down in the forward Stbd corner of the Basement with one going directly to the suction hose down in the bottom of this Gutter and the top hose going through a penetration in this WT Bulkhead to be the High Water suction hose for the Gutter in the Master Cabin on the other side. Aha! Two more up in the Forepeak, which in this case is more of a traditional bilge as you can see the two High Water suction hoses going down to the bottom of the hull on either side of the massive 25mm/1” thick Keel Bar that runs like a backbone or spine down the entire length of the hull.
Yellow motor on the Right here is the Vetus Bow Thruster. Hmmmmm…………..
Any guesses what Cihan is now up to up in the Forepeak?? Maximizing his time while he was down in the Forepeak mounting those two High Water solenoid valves you see on the lower Right here, Cihan also plumbed the sea water intake manifold coming off the intake Sea Chest on the Left. That clear 25mm/1” ID hose first goes through the squat little “pump saver” filter you see here and then delivers sea water to a SPX Deck Wash Pump that is hiding behind that White plastic wrap in the upper middle here which is behind the traditional diaphragm Bilge Pump with the Red ring.
White unit on the bottom is the VacuFlush Vacuum Generator and the white Poly tank you can just see the bottom of up above here is the Forward Black Water Tank for the Master Cabin Head.
PLUMBING:
Different kinds of plumbing are found from stem to stern and therefore so too is Cihan so here is a quick tour through some of the other areas he was working on this past week.
Back on the Stbd side of the Workshop Cihan was finishing up the fuel filter system on the front of the Day Tank. We’ve been following his work here for the past few weeks so you’ve seen most of this but can you spot what’s new? If you look closely (click to enlarge) on the far Left side of the Day Tank above you’ll be able to see that he was able to finally find some clear fuel approved hose to put in here for the visual sight “glass” of the level of fuel in the Day Tank. As does every tank onboard, there is a Maretron fuel level sensor as well as a Hart Tank Tender mechanical tank level measurement system in the Day Tank so those provide two other ways to check the Day Tank fuel level but adding this visual sight gauge guarantees that you always know for sure that these other gauges are correct and you know exactly how much fuel is in there. Once we have fuel onboard we will calibrate this sight glass and add markings for volume in increments of about 10 or 20 litres or so to make it easy to know the volume of fuel in the Day Tank.
As required there are shut off valves top and bottom (not in place yet) as you only open these to take a reading and otherwise keep them closed so there is no chance of any fuel escaping if the sight “glass” should ever break.
Sliding 2 meters aft of the Day Tank we manage to catch Cihan as he is installing the manifolds and control valves for the two water transfer pumps you can see in the background on the bottom of this Workbench.
These Jonson SPXFlow Ultra Ballast F4B-11 impeller pumps are real workhorses I’ve used on previous boats with great success. They can pump in both directions, are self priming up to 4m/13’ and move a lot of water with a flow rate of about 50LPM/13GPM.
We are using them to enable us to transfer water To/From any of the 8 different water tanks which hold a total of about 7100L / 1850 USG and lets us keep the boat trimmed well on passage as we use up fuel and to also compensate for things like when the weight of the Tender is off the Port deck and in the water. Probably eXcessive in the eXtreme but we’ve added a FleetGuard FS1000 fuel filter to supplement the one that is already on the Kabola KB45 diesel water heater. No such thing as fuel that is too clean you know! Two more transfer pumps getting some of Cihan’s attention for their manifolds and control valves. These two brutes are the 24V gear pumps for transferring diesel fuel To/From any of the XX fuel tanks which in total can hold up to 14,500L / 3860USG.
These are the valves for the Outlet side of the pumps. And these are for the Inlet side. We spent a good bit of time coming up with the best layout for all the fuel related items which you can now see the results of when I step back a bit to show the whole Central Fuel Station.
FleetGuard filters on the Day Tank, Transfer Pumps below the Workbench, Fuel Control Manifolds (3) above on the Right and little MiniMe R2D3 Alfa Laval centrifuge hiding in the background on the Right side of the Day Tank. Over on the opposite Port side corner of the Workshop Cihan has now got the Air Compressor all setup and mounted. Including the relay, pressure gauge and regulator on the end of the compressed air tank below and the three stage air filtration system up above. A compressed air line runs the entire length of the boat with multiple T’s in every compartment all the way up to and including the Forepeak. A ready supply of high pressure compressed air is SO handy to have onboard for everything from powering some of my pneumatic tools, to filling up inflatable kayaks and SUPs as well as blowing out any fouled sea chests and cleaning up parts I’m working on in the Workshop.
We will also sometimes use this compressed air setup as a “Hookah” system with 35m/100’ compressed air lines running off the Swim Platform with SCUBA regulators on the ends for exploring under the boat or being able to work on the underwater portion of the hull for extended times for repairs or regular cleaning of the bottom, all with no tanks or other gear on your back. Christine and I have had this kind of Hookah setup on our previous boat and it was one of the best bits of kit we had onboard. In addition to enabling extended times to work on the hull at anchor, this kit also becomes a high value component of our overall Safety System by allowing me to work under the boat if we run into trouble on a passage. Like what you ask? Oh, I don’t know, maybe your rudder falls off, or you hook a fishing net, little things like that. Ask me how I know!
S is for SPARKIE
Sparkie is the term for Electricians which I picked up from my times exploring New Zealand on previous boats and Hilmi is our very talented Head Sparkie who’s work you’ve been seeing for many months now. Electricity would be in close competition to Plumbing for which one is more ubiquitous and spread throughout the entire boat and so like Cihan, Hilmi’s work is similarly found everywhere.
Starting up in the Forepeak Hilmi has been busy wiring up this DC Distribution Box that manages all the high amp 24V consumers up her such as the Maxwell VWC 4000 Windlass, Vetus 2014DE Bow Thruster, Lewmar 55EST Winch and various smaller consumers such as Deck Wash pumps, Black Water pumps and more. As with most things we have gone multiples over on things like these bus bars made from double layers of 10mm x 40mm solid copper flat bar. However, when you’re have things like the Bow Thruster which could pull up to 720A @ 24V and when you consider that the wire run from the Main DC Box in the Basement to this Distribution Box in the Forepeak is about 10m / 33’ and we want to keep our Voltage Drop below 3%, then is really isn’t too eXcessively eXtreme at all.
These are the four Circuit Breakers and Switches that are externally available when the door is closed.
Black box peeking up from behind the copper negative bus bar on the bottom Right is the relay for the Maxwell Windlass. Here is what the completed Forepeak DC Distribution Box looks like with its plexiglass safety shield now in place.
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![Omer with router[3]](https://mobius.world/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Omer-with-router3.jpg "Omer with router[3]")
