For this past week, work on our XPM78-01 at Naval Yachts was focussed on the Cabinetry in the Galley and Guest Cabin and aluminium work on the rudder, chain bin, Dolphin watching seats and more. Here is a Show & Tell summary so you can see for yourself.
Let’s begin with these beauties. Can you guess what this is? Will it help if I show you where it is going to go?
Correct!
These are the eXtremely strong padeyes on each of the aft corners for attaching a drogue or perhaps a stern anchor line.
The hole has a 316 SS bushing pressed into it to reduce the wear from the shackle used to attach the drogue.
A drogue is one of the ways of helping control a boat in eXtremely large seas and is the opposite of a sea anchor as this illustration shows.
John over on the Attainable Adventures blog, which is a treasure trove of great information for blue water sailors, has this well done sketch showing the basic operation of a drogue and how it can help control a boat that is roaring down huge breaking waves by slowing it down and reducing the likelihood of the bow digging into the wave ahead at the bottom of the trough and pitch poling over itself. NOT a good thing or an experience we ever hope to have! But having this kind of emergency equipment aboard is one of the ways we implement our strategy of “readiness for the unexpected”. As you might guess from looking at that sketch, trying to slow down almost 45 tons of boat racing down mountainous waves in these kinds of conditions puts an unimaginable amount of force on these systems and requires an equally eXtreme attachment point to attach the boat to the drogue. Hence this design we came up with for the padeye we would use if we ever needed to deploy our drogue.
Peering inside the hull you can see the substantial amount of the padeye that sits inside and will be heavily welded to the frames on this aft corner of the hull. Standing back you can see how this fits into the Aft Deck and Swim Platform layout.
And this is the matching padeye on the other side.
AFT PORT SIDE STANCHIONS:
Uğur also finished off the last of the stanchions to be installed, these ones on the Aft Port side which will be removable as they only go in when the Tender is off the deck.
Uğur has had LOTS of practice with all the other stanchions and their pipe sockets which are welded through the beefy Rub Rails so he soon has these last three stanchion sockets welded into the Rub Rails……. …… and presses the black Delrin sleeves into each one. He has finished fabricating the stanchion posts and they are now test fitted into their respective sockets.
DOLPHIN WATCHING SEATS:
Moving up to the bow, Uğur ticked off another job there with the mounting of the two Dolphin watching seats on either side of the bow pulpit railings. We came up with this hinged arrangement so they can be easily flipped up and out of the way when anchoring. Like this. I am still sketching up different ways of securing the seats when they are folded up. Perhaps in this position where I would need to have a way to secure the hinged vertical leg. Which wouldn’t be neccessary in this position where the leg sits tight against the seat rail but it presents an unattractive safety hazard with the part sticking up above the top rail.
Or I may just use some quick release pins to be able to remove the leg entirely and then come up with a nearby spot to hold it.
Stay tuned to see what emerges as the solution and by all means send in your ideas too.
GUEST CABIN:
Omer continues to apply his craftsmanship to the Guest Cabin and has now finished the slide out couch/bed assembly and moved on to building the headboard of the bed and the bookshelf unit that wraps around the forward Starboard corner of the cabin.
He has fitted this little angled cupboard between the bed and Christine’s desk which will be handy for both Guests and Christine to use. It will have a door on it next. Next he test fit the back of the couch. The space below is to allow the large bottom cushion/mattress to slide all the way inside when it is folded up in couch mode and keep the depth of the bottom of the couch a good size. Then he installed the framing for the top shelf and there is similar framing hidden down at the bottom. The tape indicates that there will be removable access panels there so I can easily access the water manifolds and other systems that are back there if ever needed. The carefully laminated top surface goes in next and spans the whole distance from the desk over to the forward wall that is the WT Bulkhead with the Basement on the other side. Which will look like this. This recess is where the back cushion will fit partially inside and held in place with in couch mode. Half the thickness of the cushion will be inside this recess and have extending out.
With a matching arrangement on the other side. With the couch/bed all fitted in place Omer turned his attention to the L shaped bookshelf unit that wraps around the forward corner of the Cabin. It all starts out being very simple with the cutting of these top and bottom boards after they have been laminated with their Rosewood surfaces. Renderings are so useful in helping with that phantasmagoria I mentioned in the previous posting where the virtual reality blends with the real reality and for those of us doing this every day you see the finished whole all the time no mater if you are looking at a largely empty space or those two L shaped boards in the photo above or this rendering on the left. This helps to visualise both the relative size and shape of this bookshelf. This is the bottom side of the bookshelf with Rosewood on the top and bottom surfaces and then there will be a white shelf in between which you can see in the rendering above.
GALLEY CABINETRY:
Not to be outdone Omur and Selim have been eXtremely busy working up in the Galley on the somewhat complex set of cabinets with over 18 drawers so let’s check that out next. Yigit is aboard frequently monitoring the progress and helping me keep the thousands of little details all straight. Yigit also looks after much of the ordering of all the materials and equipment from our many suppliers so his phone is his constant companion. The cabinet in the upper area is the six drawer unit that goes in where Yigit is standing.
Quick jump to the virtual world of renderings to refresh the layout of the overall Super Salon with the Galley in the upper right corner.
Selim on the far left is standing inside what will be the forward corner of the Galley cabinets as he and Omur start getting this cabinet perfectly aligned with the others and precisely leveled.
Notice how the white epoxy painted boards under the bases of each cabinet have been painstakingly leveled using all those little wood wedges. These foundation boards also raise the cabinets up to the same height as the 40mm/ 1.6” rigid foam insulation which will eventually cover the entire floor and have the PEX tubing running through it for the in-floor heating. Here we are looking down inside the cabinet that will have the double sink installed in the far right side. The cut out on the back is to provide me access to the quite large volume area that is underneath the side decks. In addition to all the tank vent and fill hoses you can see we will have other equipment in this area such as the air handlers for the AirCon system so having access all along this large volume area goes towards our goal of low and easy maintenance. Next piece of this jigsaw puzzle is the cabinet on the left here for the induction cooktop and Smart Oven (combo microwave, convection, grill ovens). Fits perfect! For those of you who have been following for some time this will now help you visualise and understand why there is that white-stepped connector framing between the upper corner of the Guest Cabin down below and this far end of the Galley where the stove and oven fit in.
The cupboard in the middle here is sized for a standard dishwasher or a two drawer dishwasher to slide into but we prefer hand washing so this will instead be filled with two large drawers for pots and pans and the like. Looking across that dishwasher cabinet to the “peninsula” cupboard opposite shows the 7 drawers it contains. The tall skinny one in the middle will be like a drawer with no sides and pull out to reveal a set of shelving racks to provide easy access from either side to containers of things like spices. Maybe something like this for example. OK, Galley cabinets are all in place, time to move on to the adjoining L-shaped settee and dining area so they get started putting down the foundation frames and shimming them to be on eXactly the same level as the other cabinetry.
This is about how this area will look when standing over on the far Port/Left side looking across. The table is on a pedestal which has some very cool hardware I found that allows it to move in all three axis: Z up/down, X fore/aft and Y left/right. This gives us total flexibility to have this table at just the right height and position to use as a dining table, coffee table or additional Queen Bed. But WAIT! There’s more!
Look what showed up late Friday evening as I was leaving the shipyard!
Without cheating by zooming in, can you guess what this sturdy crate contains?
It arrived via air freight direct from Vancouver if that helps?
Yup, all of the many components that make out our rock solid steering system along with the controls for the Gardner engine and the Nogva CPP servo gearbox. As per the label here this all comes from Kobelt which is based in one of my old home towns of Vancouver not far from where I did some of my teacher training at BCIT many decades ago. I worked closely with our designer Dennis and Lance and his team at Kobelt for over two years to design the Goldilocks just right steering for our XPM78-01 so you can imagine how happy I was to see this big beautiful crate full of steering goodness finally arrive.
Even though it was very late and Yigit and I were the only ones still in the yard, I just couldn’t resist taking a peek inside a few of the boxes so I’ll share two with you.
This is one of the pair of double acting 75mm/3” ID hydraulic cylinders that will move the rudder and steer the boat. Each one is sized to be able to fully steer the boat in all conditions so a double redundant system. And then check out one of the pair of Accu-Steer HPU400 hydraulic pumps which will provide all the hydraulic pressure to run those cylinders. These are massively strong and weigh in at 44kg/95 lbs each and are an integral part of what I’m sure is going to be an awemazing steering system in our XPM78-01 Möbius.
Much more to follow on the whole steering system in upcoming Weekly Updates as the installation begins and I will also be posting some Tech Talk articles where we can dive into all the details of the whole steering system design.
And th-th-th-that’s all for this week that was October 7 to 11 2019.
We really do enjoy sharing this whole adventure with you and want to thank all of you who take the time to read these. Special thanks to those of you who contribute comments and questions in the “Join the Discussion” box down below and hope that more of you will do the same.
For those of you too young to remember the title refers to a popular commercial in the 1970’s and 80’s for the leading edge of cassette audio tapes made by Memorex which were being touted as so good at capturing audio that they came up with the catchy marketing question; “Is it live or is it Memorex”. Here is a little video clip of one of the many versions of this long running ad campaign featuring Ella Fitzgerald.
And if phantasmagoria is not in your vocabulary I would like to help you add it because it is a word which articulates what I believe is becoming a more and more common state of mind defined as “A dreamlike state in which images both real or imagined blur together”. I’m experiencing this more and more as my day to day working on the design and building of Möbius involves constantly cycling between the visions for this boat I’ve had in my head for so long, the virtual worlds of 3D models and renderings and the real world of the ever evolving boat.
Then to add yet another dimension to all this phantasmagoria I’m experiencing, Naval Yachts recently had a scale model of our XPM78-01 built to be part of their booth at the Cannes Boat show last month. If you click to enlarge this photo you can see the model of the XPM in the clear case on the right and one of the GN60 on the left. After seeing a few pictures of this model in a previous post many of you wanted to see and know more about it so I thought I would post this short overview of this very nicely done model now that it is proudly on display in the reception area at Naval Yachts. They only gave the poor model maker less than a month to build this from scratch and get it shipped to Cannes in time and I think he did a very good job. He was given the whole 3D model, drawings and some renderings to work from and he captured a lot of the intricate details in the model which was all done by hand, no 3D printing involved. A look into the Outdoor Galley just behind the aft end of the Pilot House with the SkyBridge above. This is what the birds flying by the Starboard side will see as they are peering into the Helm up in the SkyBridge.
or this view of the Starboard side a bit further forward. Good overall view from the bow with our “Sidewinder” anchor setup and the Dolphin watching seats which Uğur just welded in this week and you can see in the Weekly Update post to follow. Finally, this perspective of the Aft Deck and Swim Platform.
I thought a bit of video might be a nice way to finish so created this little “simulated Drone fly by”. My apologies in advance for the poor quality I didn’t have my stabilised holder with me so it is a bit shaky but I hope you enjoy it none the less.
Thanks for joining us and please leave your questions, comments and suggestions in the “Join the Discussion” box below.
The week of August 20-24th was a big holiday here in Turkey as this marks the five day Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia and pretty much all businesses, schools, banks and government agencies were all closed.
We found this Q&A on the hajj pilgrimage to be very informative and provided a very good overview of the history and details of this important set of events and customs in the Muslim world. There is a lot of historical overlap with the Christian and Jewish history as the rites of hajj are believed to trace the footsteps of the prophets Ibrahim and Ismail, or Abraham and Ishmael as they are named in the Bible.
As you can see in the picture above of the cube shaped Kaaba in the upper right area in the center of the the Grand Mosque in the Saudi Arabian city of Mecca it must be an amazing experience to be part of the re-enactment of the various activities around Mecca itself. Things were much more subdued and more life as usual here in Antalya. As we read up on the history and details of this week long series of events we wondered how those who lived in very densely populated urban areas such as here in Antalya follow some of the typical practices of this week. In urban areas this is a time when families gather for this holiday week and the final days of hajj coincide with Eid al-Adha, or the festival of sacrifice, celebrated by Muslims around the world to commemorate Ibrahim’s test of faith. During the three-day Eid, Muslims slaughter livestock and distribute the meat to the poor. As we understand it some of the meat stays with the family that owns the animal’s owners and the rest goes to the community who look after distributing it to the less fortunate in the area.
This all traditionally takes place on the Tuesday of the week which happens to be the day of the weekly fruit and vegetable market where Christine does most of our grocery shopping each week. But this week they shifted the market day to Monday and sure enough as we were bicycling over to the Mediterranean beach near us last Tuesday we rode by the big covered area where the market is centered and could see that people had brought quite a few sheep to this area in the back of their trucks.
We stopped to check it out and were able to catch just the end of the whole process which as you can see was mostly down to the skinning and butchering of the sheep and then distributing this to community organisers and people in the area. Very fascinating and we will be sure to get there earlier next year so we can experience the whole event and buy some very fresh lamb to enjoy afterwards.
Christine and I used this pause in the building of Möbius as an opportunity to explore more of the areas around Antalya and thought you might like to see some of the sites we visited.
I first came to Turkey for about a month back in 1982 on my BMW R100RS and my wife Diana on her R80T motorcycle, when I was teaching at the Canadian DND or Department of National Defense schools in Germany. One of my most vivid memories was visiting the famous travertine terraces on the hillsides of the town of Pamukkale.
As you can see Christine and I were not the only ones wtih this idea so the pools were a bit crowded but we were able to find places to get some of these more open shots.
Christine found us a great little pension hotel right in the middle of the town of Pamukkale which is about a 3 hour drive North East from Antalya and we had a fabulous time cooling off in these other worldly pools and exploring some of the ruins and the museums from the past Roman and Ottoman empires.
These naturally formed pools are most alien looking but oh so very beautiful.
Above and behind the rock faces with all the travertine terrace pools were these remains of the Roman baths from a few years back and there were also a series of museums with artifacts from this area as well as an ancient pool area where the original mountain mineral stream still runs through and you can swim along some of its length and cool off.
The next day we drove about an hour and a half South and West to another geographical wonder that is a crater formed Lake Salda in Burdur province.
Ruby and Barney enjoyed being back on a beach and being able to cool off in the crystal blue waters and we did too as it was a very hot day.
The sugar like white sand combined with the mineral rich waters gives the lake this very ocean like appearance in spite of it being a relatively small crater lake in the middle of the mountains.
About an hour’s drive West from Salda took us to Christine’s real find of the trip, the Sagalassos Lodge & Spa. This is the view looking south from our room.
We enjoyed time in the pool and later the included and delicious Turkish buffet, while Ruby and Barney enjoyed their air conditioned room and well pillowed bed.
Next morning after enjoying the included breakfast at the Lodge and when it was a bit cooler we drove a few kilometers up the small gravel road from the lodge to see the archeological site of the ancient city of Sagalassos which is one of the best preserved ancient cities in Turkey.
Human settlement goes back to 12.000 BC. Other parts of its history are unknown until 334 BC. when Alexander the Great arrived and sacked the city.
In 518 AD city was struck by a horrifying earthquake. It was rebuilt, but then another earthquake happened in the 7th century. It destroyed the city’s water resources so it was abandoned.
As is so often the case in our experiences wtih such sites in Turkey, we were the only ones there other than the 40 or so archeologists from several universities who were all busy working at digging out more items, cleaning and cataloging them and putting them back in their original locations and structures.
In spite of being hit by several major earthquakes in the past, this Roman fountain and square have been put back together and was impressive to walk around. The original mountain sprint still feeds and fills the trough at the base of these arches and columns.
We hiked up the hill to the right of the town square to see the theatre which has not faired quite as well since the earthquakes and has not yet received the attention it deserves but was still impressive to see. Being in such places I always find it fascinating to think that I am sitting on the same spot where some theatre attendee sat hundreds of years ago.
While much work remains to be done they have already pieced many of the major items such as this column and arch back together.
As awemazing as all this was, the most special moment for me was reading this small plaque. One of many spread throughout the site, explaining that this site has been excavated and restored by the Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium. Mildly interesting to most but I know this University VERY well by its native name of KU Leuven because it is where my dearest and unfortunately departed friend Professor Erik Duval was the head of the KU Leuven Human Interface Department. A very moving experience for me. I miss you my friend.
Last week Christine and I took advantage of our fabulous location here in Antalya Turkey to take a break from building our eXtreme eXpedition Passage Maker boat Möbius and go on some land based eXpeditions.
After a 5 minute drive from our home and Naval Yachts, we met Dincer and Baris, our two awemazing builder brothers, at the base of our local mountain and took the gondola ride up to the top.
Christine isn’t the biggest fan of heights but everyone else was all smiles. Dincer on the left and Baris on the right.
About half way up here and you can see the whole Antalya Free Zone to the left of the cable right in the middle here. Directly to the right on the other side of the cable is the breakwater and then the cable cuts through the Free Zone harbour.
We are on the far Western end of the city of Antalya so you can see the rest of this large city stretching out as far as you can see towards the top of the photo.
Off to the West on the other side is beautiful forested coastline on the D400 coastal highway that winds all the way from here to Istanbul if you kept going. The marina you see here is very new and mostly for the local commercial fisherman and local boat owners.
Turning to look North you are treated with views like this of the mountains which surround us.
We enjoyed a leisurely lunch with Dincer and Baris at a little Gözleme making restaurant
All this about 5 minutes drive from our apartment and from the Naval yard so you can see more reasons why we made this choice to locate here and build Möbius with Naval Yachts and Dincer and Baris. After this lovely luncheon outing it was back down the gondola and back to work for all of us!
The summer weather has been beautiful and quite hot with more and more humidity creeping in this month, so Christine had cold mountain streams calling her name and on Saturday morning we drove about 60 km east and bit north to Köprülü Kanyon.
The roads were great and we were there in about 90 minutes after leaving the apartment.
The air temp was a bit cooler as we wound our way along the riverside and soon found what Christine was longing for, cool mountain streams.
This canyon is the most popular for river rafting so we knew were were getting closer when we started seeing more and more of this.
If you click to enlarge this shot and look a bit more closely you will see all the rafts full of people about to head down the river.
Soon after we came to this very skinny old bridge and knew we were getting close. It was definately a one car only width but has been there for centuries by the looks of it and we had no problems getting across.
Hard to tell from this distance but the river current is very fast so it takes on this slightly muddy green colour in the main parts with all the sediment it is carrying down from its mountain origins.
Once across the bridge and down the road on the other side of the river, we knew we had arrived when we came to this beautiful swimming hole.
We hadn’t reserved a place to stay yet so we kept driving down the road following the river as Christine’s research said that there were supposed to be several places with little cabins to rent that were also offering full “pension” or meal services.
Sure enough we found this little spot and they had a room for us so this was home for the night.
Don’t think we can get too much more on the river than this do you?
This is where we had our dinner that night and breakfast the next morning.
Total bill for room, dinner and breakfast? 300TLY or about US$50 This is actually relatively high but given the area and that it is high season now, it was a bargain and we were delighted with our stay.
Our room had a lovely little balcony overlooking the river that was just what the doctor ordered after the warm drive up.
But pretty soon that swimming hole was calling our names so we changed into our swimsuits, left Ruby and Barney on the balcony with their food and water and we walked to the swimming hole which was about a kilometer or so back up the river.
Turning 90 degrees to the right looking across the river you can see how narrow the river is here as you are looking at the road on the other side just behind that picnic shed.
As we walked along the river to get here there were families all along the banks and at several camping spots along the way. Lots of BBQ’s grilling up some tasty smelling meats and lots of laughter.
So when we got to our swimming hole we found more of the same with lots of people of all ages and origins enjoying this idyllic pool of mountain fresh water. Best we could tell some of the people were from Antalya and up here like us to cool off and enjoy this very different mountain river environment, others, mostly from Russia and former Soviet block countries, had come in on tour busses for the weekend of river rafting and swimming,
This was yet another example for us of why we so enjoy living in Turkey. As we relaxed and took it all in there was everything from wee babies to people even older than us and every age in between and most seemed to be groups of families and friends. There were about as many men as women and you could see every sort of bathing attire possible from the skimpiest of string bikinis to other ladies fully covered in bright beautiful and colourful outfits. Everyone was laughing and playing together wonderfully oblivious to any such differences. We were all there to enjoy this beautiful setting and cool off in this pristine water.
Christine was a bit hesitant but we soon both dove right into one of the deeper spots, about 1.5m/4 feet deep and BOY was it ever refreshing! Or as Christine would have worded it; VERY VERY cccccccccccccold!
The water It was literally numbingly cold and that soon helped to make it quite wonderfully refreshing and invigorating.
It didn’t take long to warm up again though once we were out of the water so we jumped back in several times over the few hours we were there enjoying this newest bit of Turkish delight we had found.
We strolled back to our cabin to rescue the poor little abandoned puppies, enjoyed some reading time out on the balcony and then headed back to the river side for dinner.
The evening air was delightfully cool with the river babbling in the background so we had a very restful sleep followed by a delicious breakfast here on the river again and then enjoyed the drive back down this side of the river and back to our apartment in Antalya. Gold star goes to my Beautiful Bride for finding this new bit of paradise for us to enjoy.
Not a bad few days, up the gondola for lunch one day and then up this river the next. More examples of why we are so delighted to be here and enjoying this whole experience so thoroughly.
A quick post to refer you to a 2016 article in Yachting World magazine which Christine came across with an article about a fascinating fellow ex sailor now eXtreme eXploration passage maker David Cowper who recently completed one of the most challenging passages through the Northwest Passage. Cowper, a Brit, has completed three circumnavigations by both sail and power and in 1990 was named Yachtsman of the year. Quite rightly so I would say with feats such as being the fastest to sail single-handed around the world in both directions before he made the transition from sail to power in 1984. Well worth the few minutes it will take you to read the full article.
David’s current boat mv Polar Bound is a custom designed pilot/lifeboat like 48 foot all aluminium with eXtremely thick plate up to 15mm with very close and heavy inner framework supporting it, is self righting, very heavily insulated, sealed collision bulkhead compartment up front, thick keel bar from stem to stern, huge integral fuel tanks below the waterline and stocked with spare parts for everything.
Sound familiar?
And what powers this eXtreme eXploration power boat though ice and around the world? A Gardner of course!! In David’s case it is the 8 cylinder version of the same Gardner LXB family as will be powering have in Möbius.
Certainly not the boat or the life for most people but we certainly resonate with many aspects of it, though probably with a bit more time in tropical climates than David does.
But when it comes to boats we are in heated agreement with David that the combination of eXtremely thick and strongly framed aluminium powered by an eXtremely efficient and reliable Gardner is the just right Goldilocks combination for these kinds of eXtreme eXploration Passage Makers.
Congratulations David! We follow humbly and proudly in your wake.
Wow! This family of unique new eXtreme Passage Makers I’ve been writing about seems to be gaining new members every day.
I had no sooner finished writing up yesterday’s “Canadian Kissin’ Cousins” posting about the recently announced Tactical 77 when Andy, one of our most enthusiastic followers reminded us of thenew “Circa 24 meter (78ft) Expedition Yacht” which Circa Marine has recently announced and has on their drawing boards/screens.
As many of you reading this would know, Circa Marine in Whangarei NZ is the very talented engineering firm and shipyard which worked with Steve Dashew to design and build all of the FPB series of boats which totals about 20 boats all together I think.
With the Dashew’s recent decision to very deservedly retire themselves so they can finally spend time enjoying their very own FBP78-1 “Cochise” and their decision to also retire and end the Dashew/SetSail/Circa alliance, Circa is now developing their own version of these new type of passage makers.
Christine and I were fortunate to spend a day with the great people at Circa back in November 2016 when we sailed our previous boat down there and they were extremely generous in answering the hundreds of questions we put to them as we made our way in and around the FPB78’s and FPB70 they were building at the time. As we discussed the four different size FPB’s they had built, 64/115/78/70 we got the distinct impression that the FPB70 was their favorite and they had many of their own ideas they’d like to incorporate in the future. Of course we didn’t know then and neither did they that the FPB series was going to end and so not too surprising to us that they have decided to create their own new Circa version and take advantage of their deep experience in building these kinds of boats. Clearly these boats will benefit from what is now about 20 years of experience in building these types of boats, let alone many other boats they have been building for even longer and that this new Circa 24 will be an incredible boat.
Looks like our intuition when we were visiting them was right and like us Circa has decided that the 24m or 78ft size is the sweet spot or Goldilocks just right size for these kinds of boats and owners so we take that as great validation for our coming to the same conclusion with Möbius several years ago. This makes sense as well in that the FPB70 was the last of the FPB’s to be designed and therefore the one which benefited the most from what is almost 2 decades of gathering such a plethora of real world data from all the previous boats, all those years and hundreds of thousands of nautical miles of owner experiences and all of Circa’s experience in building these boats. Steve was extremely diligent at collecting and curating all this data, sharing it so generously and articulately on the SetSail blogs and learning from it all and the results certainly show this evolutionary journey. Everyone from Steve to all the talented people who worked with or at Circa over all those past 20 years certainly deserve a great deal of credit and a huge amount of gratitude for developing this new style of boat and putting them on the marine world map.
New Zealand is certainly a hot spot in the marine world in general and especially so for these new kinds of eXtreme Passage Maker style boats and the “family tree” has very deep roots there. Back in the early 2000’s, prior to the FPB’s, Kelly Archer another very talented Kiwi, had designed and built his personal boat “Ripple” which obviously caught Steve’s eye at the time and Steve and Kelly went on to have a long partnership designing and building the FPB’s.
Oh, and I might add that Kelly chose to put a horizontal version of the same Gardner 6LXB main engine in Ripple. Brilliant!
No coincidence then that we found our own “just right” designer for Möbius in New Zealand when we met up with Dennis Harjamaa at Artnautica Yacht Design. Dennis had designed AND built a boat for himself based on the same DNA I’ve been outlining of long, lean, low all aluminium low maintenance boats for couples with the shared passion for crossing oceans in extreme safety, comfort and efficiency. These boats known as the LRC58 and there are now four of them out exploring the world and a fifth beginning it’s build phase at Aluboot in the Netherlands. Good article here on the three LRC58’s which Dickey Boats in NZ have built and you can follow along with Rob at Artnautica.eu while he was building his LRC58-3 “Britt” at Aluboot.
Thanks to all our “Giant Teachers”:
Since I was very young I’ve always been fascinating by the way in which we humans are able to continuously learn, innovate and advance by “standing on the shoulders of giants” which Wikipedia nicely describes as:
“… expresses the meaning of “discovering truth by building on previous discoveries”.
This concept has been traced to the 12th century, attributed to Bernard of Chartres. Its most familiar expression in English is by Isaac Newton in 1675: “If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of Giants.”
Christine and I are retired teachers as are most of our siblings so we have that in our DNA as well and we see these “giants” as the great teachers in our lives. We do our best to be very highly motivated learners and we certainly want to add our deep gratitude and appreciation for the many giants whose shoulders we humbly stand upon, learn from and leap forward.
Currently we find ourselves standing upon the shoulders of several other such giants and teachers such as Dennis at Artnautica and Dincer and Baris here at GreeNaval who have been instrumental in transforming our vision into the reality that is Möbius and we can’t wait to launch her and join this growing family of eXtreme passage makers out exploring the world one nautical smile at a time.
Let’s begin with these beauties. Can you guess what this is?
Will it help if I show you where it is going to go?
Correct! 
John over on the Attainable Adventures blog, which is a treasure trove of great information for blue water sailors, has this well done sketch showing the basic operation of a drogue and how it can help control a boat that is roaring down huge breaking waves by slowing it down and reducing the likelihood of the bow digging into the wave ahead at the bottom of the trough and pitch poling over itself. NOT a good thing or an experience we ever hope to have! But having this kind of emergency equipment aboard is one of the ways we implement our strategy of “readiness for the unexpected”.
As you might guess from looking at that sketch, trying to slow down almost 45 tons of boat racing down mountainous waves in these kinds of conditions puts an unimaginable amount of force on these systems and requires an equally eXtreme attachment point to attach the boat to the drogue. Hence this design we came up with for the padeye we would use if we ever needed to deploy our drogue.
Peering inside the hull you can see the substantial amount of the padeye that sits inside and will be heavily welded to the frames on this aft corner of the hull.
Standing back you can see how this fits into the Aft Deck and Swim Platform layout.
Uğur also finished off the last of the stanchions to be installed, these ones on the Aft Port side which will be removable as they only go in when the Tender is off the deck.
Uğur has had LOTS of practice with all the other stanchions and their pipe sockets which are welded through the beefy Rub Rails so he soon has these last three stanchion sockets welded into the Rub Rails…….
…… and presses the black Delrin sleeves into each one.
He has finished fabricating the stanchion posts and they are now test fitted into their respective sockets.
Moving up to the bow, Uğur ticked off another job there with the mounting of the two Dolphin watching seats on either side of the bow pulpit railings.
We came up with this hinged arrangement so they can be easily flipped up and out of the way when anchoring.
Like this. 
I am still sketching up different ways of securing the seats when they are folded up. Perhaps in this position where I would need to have a way to secure the hinged vertical leg.
Which wouldn’t be neccessary in this position where the leg sits tight against the seat rail but it presents an unattractive safety hazard with the part sticking up above the top rail.
Omer continues to apply his craftsmanship to the Guest Cabin and has now finished the slide out couch/bed assembly and moved on to building the headboard of the bed and the bookshelf unit that wraps around the forward Starboard corner of the cabin.
Next he test fit the back of the couch. The space below is to allow the large bottom cushion/mattress to slide all the way inside when it is folded up in couch mode and keep the depth of the bottom of the couch a good size.
Then he installed the framing for the top shelf and there is similar framing hidden down at the bottom. The tape indicates that there will be removable access panels there so I can easily access the water manifolds and other systems that are back there if ever needed.
The carefully laminated top surface goes in next and spans the whole distance from the desk over to the forward wall that is the WT Bulkhead with the Basement on the other side.
Which will look like this.
This recess is where the back cushion will fit partially inside and held in place with in couch mode. Half the thickness of the cushion will be inside this recess and have extending out.
With the couch/bed all fitted in place Omer turned his attention to the L shaped bookshelf unit that wraps around the forward corner of the Cabin.
It all starts out being very simple with the cutting of these top and bottom boards after they have been laminated with their Rosewood surfaces.
Renderings are so useful in helping with that phantasmagoria I mentioned in the previous posting where the virtual reality blends with the real reality and for those of us doing this every day you see the finished whole all the time no mater if you are looking at a largely empty space or those two L shaped boards in the photo above or this rendering on the left.
This helps to visualise both the relative size and shape of this bookshelf.
This is the bottom side of the bookshelf with Rosewood on the top and bottom surfaces and then there will be a white shelf in between which you can see in the rendering above.
Not to be outdone Omur and Selim have been eXtremely busy working up in the Galley on the somewhat complex set of cabinets with over 18 drawers so let’s check that out next. Yigit is aboard frequently monitoring the progress and helping me keep the thousands of little details all straight. Yigit also looks after much of the ordering of all the materials and equipment from our many suppliers so his phone is his constant companion.
The cabinet in the upper area is the six drawer unit that goes in where Yigit is standing.
Quick jump to the virtual world of renderings to refresh the layout of the overall Super Salon with the Galley in the upper right corner.
Selim on the far left is standing inside what will be the forward corner of the Galley cabinets as he and Omur start getting this cabinet perfectly aligned with the others and precisely leveled. 
Notice how the white epoxy painted boards under the bases of each cabinet have been painstakingly leveled using all those little wood wedges. These foundation boards also raise the cabinets up to the same height as the 40mm/ 1.6” rigid foam insulation which will eventually cover the entire floor and have the PEX tubing running through it for the in-floor heating.
Here we are looking down inside the cabinet that will have the double sink installed in the far right side. The cut out on the back is to provide me access to the quite large volume area that is underneath the side decks. In addition to all the tank vent and fill hoses you can see we will have other equipment in this area such as the air handlers for the AirCon system so having access all along this large volume area goes towards our goal of low and easy maintenance.
Next piece of this jigsaw puzzle is the cabinet on the left here for the induction cooktop and Smart Oven (combo microwave, convection, grill ovens). 
Fits perfect! For those of you who have been following for some time this will now help you visualise and understand why there is that white-stepped connector framing between the upper corner of the Guest Cabin down below and this far end of the Galley where the stove and oven fit in.
Looking across that dishwasher cabinet to the “peninsula” cupboard opposite shows the 7 drawers it contains. The tall skinny one in the middle will be like a drawer with no sides and pull out to reveal a set of shelving racks to provide easy access from either side to containers of things like spices.
Maybe something like this for example.
OK, Galley cabinets are all in place, time to move on to the adjoining L-shaped settee and dining area so they get started putting down the foundation frames and shimming them to be on eXactly the same level as the other cabinetry.
This is about how this area will look when standing over on the far Port/Left side looking across. The table is on a pedestal which has some very cool hardware I found that allows it to move in all three axis: Z up/down, X fore/aft and Y left/right. This gives us total flexibility to have this table at just the right height and position to use as a dining table, coffee table or additional Queen Bed.
Look what showed up late Friday evening as I was leaving the shipyard!
It arrived via air freight direct from Vancouver if that helps?
Even though it was very late and Yigit and I were the only ones still in the yard, I just couldn’t resist taking a peek inside a few of the boxes so I’ll share two with you. 
And then check out one of the pair of Accu-Steer HPU400 hydraulic pumps which will provide all the hydraulic pressure to run those cylinders. These are massively strong and weigh in at 44kg/95 lbs each and are an integral part of what I’m sure is going to be an awemazing steering system in our XPM78-01 Möbius.
David’s current boat mv Polar Bound is a custom designed pilot/lifeboat like 48 foot all aluminium with eXtremely thick plate up to 15mm with very close and heavy inner framework supporting it, is self righting, very heavily insulated, sealed collision bulkhead compartment up front, thick keel bar from stem to stern, huge integral fuel tanks below the waterline and stocked with spare parts for everything.
And what powers this eXtreme eXploration power boat though ice and around the world? A Gardner of course!! In David’s case it is the 8 cylinder version of the same Gardner LXB family as will be powering have in Möbius.
I had no sooner finished writing up yesterday’s 
With the 
New Zealand is certainly a hot spot in the marine world in general and especially so for these new kinds of eXtreme Passage Maker style boats and the “family tree” has very deep roots there. Back in the early 2000’s, prior to the FPB’s, Kelly Archer another very talented Kiwi, had designed and built his personal boat “Ripple” which obviously caught Steve’s eye at the time and Steve and Kelly went on to have a long partnership designing and building the FPB’s. 
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