It is a much longer story for another time but Christine and I ended up jump starting Valentines Day with an unexpected weekend getaway a few hours drive north of Antalya to the mountainous lake region.

The roads were great fun being small, windy and deserted after a light dusting with some fresh snow.

Temps kept dropping all the way down to –11C / 12F as we went more northward and into this large bowl like area with snow capped mountains surrounding us.  A tad cool for swimming but we were drowning in the natural beauty of this area.

And we soon found this tiny little restaurant on the side of the lake a few blocks from our hotel and with the wood burning stove behind her and a flaming meal of lamb kish in front, I was able to keep my Beautiful Bride warm and smiling as I basked in the joy and never ending awemazement that I’m living and loving every day with this Beautiful woman who is also my Captain, my Best Friend and my wonderful wife.  No clue what I might have done to deserve this great fortune but I don’t need to know anything more than I’m more grateful every day.

I know, I know!  Enough with this distracting romantic frivolity, let’s get to the serious silliness you came for right??

Back at Naval Yachts Team Möbius was missing several key members on the Aluminum and Plumbing this week so there was less progress than usual but the Cabinetry team came through smelling like a rose, sorry, couldn’t resist, and there is still lots to show you so let’s dive right in.

MACHINING WORK:

Starting out with something a bit different this week, Yigit and I took the Rudder, the flywheel off Mr. Gee our Gardner 6LXB engine and the SAE14 aluminium flange for the flexible coupler to the Nogva 168HC CPP Servo Gearbox, over to the Tassot machine shop. 

Well, Okan actually drove these over on the forklift as the Gardner flywheel alone ways over150kg/330lbs!

You may recall Tassot is who we got to do the CNC machining of the work of art that is our Rudder Tiller Arm.  We love their work and working with them so we brought them these next two projects.
The Rudder needs to have a hole cut in it for the prop shaft to slide through when, again not if, we need to remove the prop shaft such as when it it time to replace cutlass bearings.  Normally you would have to remove the Rudder first to clear the way for the prop and shaft to slide all the way aft and out which is a significant task in itself. 
But if you put a hole in the Rudder blade such that when you rotate the Rudder full over to about its 45 degree position the 65mm/2.5” OD prop shaft can slide right through the Rudder then you don’t need to remove the Rudder at all.  We had this feature on our previous boat and saved us a LOT of work over the years so we are doing the same thing with Möbius.

Sounds simple right?  Just drill a hole through the blade of the Rudder.  But in addition to this hole needing to be on an acute angle rather than perpendicular to the blade this hole also has to go through some of the internal framing and part of the Rudder Shaft so this “simple” task quickly becomes quite tricky.

The second bit of machining we need is to machine a slight recess to capture the outer diameter of that SAE14 aluminium flange you see setting atop the Gardner’s solid steel flywheel.  This recess will be about 5mm deep and just large enough outer diameter to perfectly center the SAE flange in the center of the flywheel.  Then they also need to drill and tap the eight M12 1.75 threaded holes for the 25mm long Grade 8 bolts that will secure the AL flange to the Flywheel. 

Piece of cake for Tassot and after a bit of discussion I created this quick hand sketch with all the pertinent dimensions and instructions for them.  I hope to drop by Tassot at some good times next week so I can get some photos to show you how they did both these machining jobs.

NETWORKS 7 MONITORING SYSTEM:

As  I mentioned in last week’s Progress Update post, Captain Christine has taken on the task of designing and planning out our onboard data networks which includes our rather large NMEA2000 aka N2K network, our Furuno networks and our Victron networks. 
And all those being on top of and working together with our more traditional internet based networks.  It is quite the challenge but both Christine & I have geeky genes so we actually find this to be quite fun.  Much like the whole design and build process has been, this is very much a Labour of Love for us. 

Here is an example of the wiring required for just one component which in this case is the “Brain Box” or “Black Box” for our Furuno Nav711C AutoPilot system.  We have two of these for redundancy safety and each one has to be able to talk to two independent hydraulic steering systems which in turn can function either single handed or in tandem so things tend to go exponential as you start working through even “just” the wiring and networking schematics.

In case you didn’t see last week’s Update, here is the basic schematic for the Maretron monitoring network that Christine has designed and which Hilmi and his Electrical Team are now starting to install. 
Monitoring the status of all onboard systems to know their status and  alert us with visual and audible alarms when something is outside the norm is a critical feature on even “regular” passage making boats and therefore all the more so on eXtreme eXpedition Passage Maker XPMs given the remote locations we prefer and the multi week long passages we are often on.

Therefore there is a very pragmatic and safety oriented side to or DIY approach because by doing all this design, planning and commissioning ourselves we get to have a very “intimate relationship” with all these networks and all the systems onboard which will prove critical when things go wrong, never if, and usually at O’dark thirty in the worst conditions and situation ever and we are hundreds or thousands of miles away from any form of assistance.  I say when the unexpected occurs, not if, because our years of experience sailing the world have taught us that such problems and situations are always an inevitability.  So our approach is to practice what we refer to as “Readiness for the Unexpected” and one of the ways we do that is by knowing everything we possibly can about everything onboard, having the right tools, repair equipment and supplies and spare parts of pretty much everything onboard.

And please let me be clear that DIY does NOT mean Do It BY Yourself so we do welcome and seek out all the help we can, we stay intimately involved in the installation process to be sure that we have the experiential learning by doing factor in our favour.

Another example of the critical nature and eXtensiveness of our monitoring system, this simple little sensor, a Maretron Bilge High Water BHW100 sensor, is one of our 20 bilge water sensors.

These sensors have no moving parts and simply senses the presence of water that reaches that bullseye cross which is about 7mm/ 1/4” up the face of the Yellow plastic sensor.  This in turn triggers a visual and audio alarm on our Maretron N2K View screens to alert us to the unexpected presence of water in the margin plate “gutters” which act as bilges on a boat with all integral tanks from the waterline down.
There is not as much visual evidence of Hilmi’s electrical work this past week and I also apologise for not getting  better angle on this, but with the photos above you can visualise the way Hilmi is mounting these BHW100 sensors right at the very bottom of the V shaped margin plate gutters on Möbius. 
That is a small length of aluminium L-bar you are seeing in the photo above with the end of one leg attached to one side of the V shaped gutters and the other leg attached to the very bottom of the V.  The BHW100 is then simply zip tied to the vertical side of the L-bar with its bottom edge resting on the bottom of the V.  This will alert us if even 1/4” of water somehow finds its way into this gutter.  Given the eXtreme construction of the hull if one of these bilge water alarms goes off it will most likely NOT be seawater that sets it off but fresh water from a hose that has started to leak or has broken, but still something we want to know about ASAP so we can know for sure where and what the problem is and decide on the best corrective measures.

Both of the Cabinetry Teams were hitting their strides this past week so there is LOTS to show you of their latest craftsmanship and we’ll start with Ömer and his team in the Guest Cabin.

GUEST CABIN:

As you may recall from last week’s Progress Update, Ömer’s Team  had pretty much gutted the Guest Cabin after all the cabinetry was fully fitted and the PEX tubing for the in-floor heating was installed.
Believe it or not, this Guest Cabin will soon closer resemble this rendering.  Bookshelves and storage on the far Left with the WT Bulkhead of the Basement on the other side.  Couch and Pull-out Queen bed in the middle, Pullman single berth above on the Right against the Starboard/Right side hull and Christine’s desk on the Right.
Now they are starting to bring the cabinetry Back onboard from the Finishing Shop now that they are all varnished and polished and here they are putting in the drawer cabinet beside Christine’s Desk and the Rosewood wall panel behind her desk.
The shelf unit beside the Couch and the core for Christine’s Desktop go in next. 

That rectangular cut out in the Desktop is a hatch to give me access to the Webasto Air Handler that will be mounted inside.  You can see the plumbing for the chilled or hot water flowing through the Air Handler in the upper Left corner of the rectangular opening.

Yigit, Hilmi and I met to decide on the best placement of the Air Handler’s control box.
And the Air Handler is now waiting for Cihan’s return to get hooked up.
The fully finished Rosewood Desktop could now be set in place and glued to its core using thick strongbacks wedged down tight with vertical posts pushing against the overhead AL frames while the glue set.
The base of the Couch goes in next with its interlocking slats that allow this base to be pulled out to twice its size to become the Queen Bed could now be fully assembled.
If you look closely or click to enlarge (works on any photo) you can see how these Birch slats have interlocking tongue & groove connections on their sides with every other slat connected to either the stationary Couch Base or the pull out section which is on the Right in this photo.
This is the far Right side of the pull out section with the toe-kick underneath.  The horizontal recess is for the Blue Horizon Line insert, hence the rougher look.
Once the Bed was in place Omer and Muhammed could put the Headboard shelf in place.
Like this.

If you peer through the bubble wrap you can get a better view of how the bed platform works with the pull out partly extended here.
All the finished parts are quickly covered up as soon as they have been fastened in place to protect their lustrous varnish surfaces while the rest of the furniture is mounted. 

Next up is the grid that supports the back of the Couch and the Pullman Berth bed that will be mounted above.
Omer built the back of the Couch to include these two storage compartments in them and then also double as my access ports to the plumbing and wiring behind.  The whole unit slides into the white epoxy grid you see in the photo above….
… and looks like this.
Closer view of these lovely storage compartments behind the upholstered Couch Back.  The back side of these openings will have a snap in place finished plywood panel that I can remove to gain access to the plumbing and wiring behind. 
The front side will have a similar lift out panel to provide full support for the cushion back and give you access to the items stored inside.

MASTER CABIN CABIN:

Picking up where we left off last week, the Master Cabin is a very busy place as we catch Şevki here working on the complex King Bed cabinetry while Omur and Selim are busy working on the Head and Shower which are just out of side on the far Right here.
The grain matching of all the Rosewood is eXquisite as usual and these panels frame the space on Christine’s side of the bed and the Port/Left hull.
We designed this bedside space with a raised floor that is being framed in here that serves double duty by providing easy independent access for Christine getting in/out of bed and making the bed but can also double as a “Storm Bed” on occasion. 
When we are in particularly rough seas and stormy conditions it is especially important that whoever is off watch has a very secure bed to sleep in and this spot will provide an ideal Storm Bunk with the two sides to hold you safely in place without having to hold on or be thrown back and forth. 
We will carry a narrow 56cm/22” wide memory foam mattress to convert this space into a Storm Bed on the few occasions we need it that along with the 30cm/12” of added and padded height provided by the memory foam mattress on the Left side and being close to the Pitch Center of the boat, this will be a very secure and comfy bunk where you can sleep peacefully while Mother Nature rages outside.
Access up and down from this raised floor/Storm Bunk is easy with these two spiraling steps.
The two lift out panels in the floor provide ready access to the large volume of storage underneath as well as easy access to the Air Handler that will keep this Master Cabin at the just right Goldilocks temperature in any climate from the equator to the poles.
Making the transition over to Shower/Head area, Şevki is adding the outer Rosewood panel that provides the U channel for the bottom of the etched glass shower wall which will slide in here.
And now over to Omur who is pepping the floor of the Shower for the fiberglass that will soon cover all the floors, walls and ceilings of the whole Shower/Head enclosure.  This will provide a fully sealed non-stop surface throughout that is easy to clean and completely waterproof.
But I’m getting ahead of myself here so let’s rewind back to Monday where we find Omur and Selim putting the 10mm/ 3/8” marine plywood wall panels in place on the epoxy white grid along the Port/Left hull.
Full access for me to all the plumbing and wiring runs behind the walls. 

Note the tall white blocks on the floor to raise it up high enough to provide plenty of angled slope for those two Black drain pipes for the lift out Teak floor panels in the Shower and Head.
Here you can see the raised floor now in place.

Those circles around each drain pipe are where Omur has dished out the plywood to ensure that the water runs along the glassed in floors and heads straight for the drain.
Fresh out of the Finishing Department, the white lacquered cabinet for the sink now slides into its new home.

VacuFlush head/toilet goes at the far end and you can see the two hot water pipe connections on the wall above for Christine’s much anticipated towel warmer.
While at the other end, this surprisingly complex shaped corner wall panel is now fitted to provide the mounting surface for ….
…. this SS Shower Tower unit might recall seeing for the first time last week. 

Between this fabulous shower with multiple massage jets, the seat the heated towel rack and the Bidet, I think I know where to look anytime I can’t seem to find my Captain. 

Hmmmm, maybe I need to add in a remote VHF handset here so I can hail her here when I can’t find her?
Any guesses what this will be once Omur finishes fabricating it over in his Cabinetry Workshop?
Gold star if you guessed that it is another of Captain Christine’s highly anticipated features of “her” shower, a seat!  Meanwhile I’m excited to have the ready access provided by the hatch on the front side for working on the plumbing and wiring behind.
She might be a fully licensed commercial 100 Ton Captain but she’s still my shy Bride.  I tried to get her to pose shaving her legs on her new shower seat but best I could get was this faux shower scene.  However I have a VERY vivid imagination so I was smiling too!
That pretty much covers’ this week’s progress in the Master Cabin so lets head out and up those steps to the Super Salon.
On our way though, let’s take a detour over to the Cabinetry Shop for one more quiz this week that is related to the SuperSalon. 

Can you guess what Selim is carefully positioning in the heated veneer press here?
A clue and a second part of the quiz; any guess what this tool is for?
That’s a glue spreader for applying the hot melt glue used to laminate the Rosewood veneer to the Poplar Marine plywood substrate.
Jumping back aboard Möbius and looking at the Main Helm station let’s me show you where that mystery part they are working on above will go. 
Omur & Selim were making up the angled wall panel with its long side running athwartships / side to side along those two white vertical supports and then continuing at an angle along the half height wall on the Right above the stairwell.  I’ll be able to show you the real thing and make much more sense next week as this goes in place.

OK, one more quiz for this week.  Where do you think this Rosewood beauty goes?
Multipart quiz for this part; why does it have these angled notches?
on both sides of that big rectangular opening?
Oh, I see.  So you are learning your way around the XPM78-01 quite well if you guessed that this is the wall panel along the outer Stbd/Ride side of the stairs between the Master Cabin and the SuperSalon.
Which looks like this when Omur is finished fitting it just right. 

And you just gotta love this craftsman’s attention to detail with these grain pattern matches.  Or at lease I do!
And those angled notches?  Those are more examples of Ömür’s attention to detail as these provide the just right access for your fingers to slip behind the edges of the 43” monitor so you can move it to the just right position on its six way adjustable mounting system.
To finish it off this is the back panel with the recess for that monitor mounting system to set flush into.  This whole back panel will be hinged along its Left side so you can open the whole thing up to access that significant volume behind which you can see two photos up above.
This is our view every day as we climb up those stairs to the SuperSalon.  While this Ro$ewood might be off the charts expensive our decision to go with it seems to be a better investment decision every day. 

And the stairs aren’t done yet and none of this has been varnished yet so hang on to your jaws folks, you ain’t seen nothin’ yet!

NEW ARRIVALS:

As has become the norm of late, we’ll finish up with this last section on New Arrivals and the final quiz for this week;

What is this??
Full marks to those of you who might have been able to guess that it is the hydraulic steering pump for the Castoldi jet drive in the Tender.

This final box full of parts showed up this week with all the steering components for the Tender.
More of a “New Departure” rather then new arrival was all the shuffling of boats inside Naval Yachts this past week. They needed better access to several of the projects so five different boats needed to be moved out and then moved back into new positions.
With the big power Cat above “Twinity” outside the GreeNaval GN60 Hybrid on the left here was next up for the boat mover and then the steel monohull sailboat “Caledonia” was next.
And then they were all moved back inside, new floor mounts were set in place as the hydraulic rams on the boat mover lowered them back down and everyone but Möbius was in their new home.  We stayed put and will do until we head for the Free Zone Harbour a few blocks away and it is Launch Day!

And that my Faithful Followers, is the week that was February 3-9, 2020.  Hope your week was fun and rewarding in its own way and I’ll see you back here next week I hope.

-Wayne