by Wayne | Jul 11, 2020 | Boat building, Cabinetry, Electrical, Electrical Systems, Exhaust, Interior, Interior, Naval Yachts, Systems, Tech Talks, The Gardner |
Naval Yachts is a beehive of activity this past week with a big push for launching two other boats in the shipyard. One particularly exciting one for Naval is the the first GreeNaval boat to be launched, their GN60 all aluminium 18m/60ft hybrid electric powerboat whose build began about three years ago just before Möbius. The second boat is a complete refit inside and out of an all steel 16m/54ft sailboat originally built in the 1980’s. Unfortunately this means that most of Team Möbius members have been called on to work on these two boats as they are both due to launch by the end of this month but hopefully they will return soon and progress can resume on our already long delayed launch.
However the remaining Team Möbius members are literally working overtime and weekends so progress on XPM78-01 Möbius is still being made so I have lots for this week’s Show & Tell progress update so let’s jump right into all that.
HOUSE BATTERIES:
Our Lead Sparkie aka Electrician Hilmi had Selim assisting him with pulling some more cables and wires such as these huge cables which connect the 24 FireFly Carbon Foam L15+ batteries to the Main DC Distribution Box seen here and where you may recall they left off last week.
The overall House Battery system is shown here and consists of four individual “battery banks” formed by connecting six of the 4V @ 450Ah FireFly Carbon Foam batteries together in Series, Positive to Neg, which is abbreviated as 6S in electro-speak.
And here is what 6S looks like in reality when six 4V @ 450Ah FireFly batteries are connected in Series.
* NOTE: If you look closely at this photo (click to enlarge) each of these FireFly L15+ batteries are actually TWO 2V cells inside of one case. This is a very smart way to do things because by simply changing how those black covered copper bars are connected, each cell can be either 2V @ 900Ah OR 4V @ 450Ah, your choice. We are choosing to configure each L15+ as you see here so I will always refer to each L15+ as a 4V @ 450Ah battery .
** TINY TECH TALK (feel free to skip over if not interested)
Series vs Parallel connections:
Each of these four 6S banks are subsequently connected in Parallel, Positive to Positive, Neg to Neg, abbreviated as 4P so the total House Battery is 6S4P:
- 6S = 4V x 6 = 24Volts @ 450Ah
- 6S4P = 4 x 450Ah = 1800Ah @ 24V
When connecting batteries in Series the VOLTS of each battery are added together while the amps stay the same so each 6S bank is
- 6 x 4V cells = 24V @ 450Ah.
As per the House Battery schematic above, the four 6S banks are then connected together in Parallel or 4P where the AMPS are now cumulative and the Volts stay the same so the total House Bank is abbreviated 6S4P and totals 4 x 450Ah = 1800Ah @ 24V. Volts x Amps = Watts so that equates to 43.2kW aka a LOT!
Protecting Wires vs Consumers:
Fuses and circuit breakers can be used for two very different purposes depending on WHERE in the circuit they are installed. if they are installed at the very beginning of the power SOURCE such as a battery or inverter, then they are protecting the WIRE from what is known as Overcurrent Protection. If the fuse is instead installed close to where the consumer or appliance is connected then they are protecting the Consumer/Appliance. It is possible to have one Fuse/Circuit breaker do both by installing it at the very beginning of the circuit aka power source but this means that the amps would need to be the SAME for both the total amps carried by the wire AND the total amps required by the consumer. Therefore this only works in the case where the whole circuit is serving just one individual consumer so that the amperage rating of the fuse matches both the limits for protecting the wire and protecting the consumer.
Putting all that theory into practice, let’s take a look at the case of fuses used for Overcurrent Protection of the batteries and their cables. In this photo you can see that Hilmi and Selim have installed these large T-class fuses directly to the Positive output of this 6S bank using a thick copper flat bar.
The batteries are the very beginning of the circuit so these fuses are being used for Overcurrent Protection of each Red 120mm2 / 5/0 AWG cable. If as is often done when wiring batteries, no fuse is used and the Red cable is connected direct to the Positive battery post then there would be NO protection of that cable as it makes it way from the battery to the Positive Bus Bar inside the Main DC Distribution Panel.
With the potential of 24V @ 450Ah a short circuit on this positive battery cable would be VERY bad and a fire all but guaranteed. Hence we use Overcurrent Protection on all our wires and cables.
This adds a degree of expense and complexity but when Safety is involved all other factors take a back seat.
AFT DECK WINCH:
Back in the Workshop looking up at the ceiling right behind the end of the Engine Room Enclosure, we find another job that Hilmi and Selim completed this week by connecting the 24V power cables to the big Lewmar EVO65 winch up on the Aft Deck. This winch will get quite a workout as it is how we lift the Tender off and on the Aft Deck and we’ll cover that more in the coming weeks as the Davit Arch gets built.
As you can see, the motor and gearbox assembly tuck up nicely in this space which will be even more protected with the AlucoBond ceiling panels are put in place.
N2K NETWORK & MONITORING:
On the Starboard/Right side opposite the Winch Hilmi has mounted this Junction box to house some of the connections of the wiring in the Workshop for some of the 24V consumers such as the Maretron Black Boxes and Workshop lights.
Every wire labelled at both ends of course.
Zooming out a bit to get the bigger picture you can see how this newest junction box sets nicely up in the boxed corners that wrap all the way around the perimeter of the Workshop and how well that beautify big overhead hatch brings in all the light and fresh air. The large rectangular AL bracket will soon have the DC Distribution Panel mounted to it and all those large Red/Black/Yellow/Green cables will go in their to connect up to the Positive and Neg bus bars, circuit breakers and fuses.
Speaking of which, that DC Distribution Panel for the Workshop showed up this week so we now have all three of these Distribution Panels, two of which you’ve seen in previous weeks with one up in the Forepeak and the Main one down in the Basement.
All the cable glands have been pre-installed for all those cables you saw in the photo above and keeps each cable both securely mounted with a waterproof connection. You will be seeing more of this panel as it gets mounted inside the Workshop and Hilmi starts connecting all the cables, wires, fuses and circuit breakers.
Panning to the Left to this area above the Fuel Manifolds, these are some of the Maretron BB’s and one of the bluish multi-port N2K blocks on the far Right where the N2K backbone connects with the larger Blue cables such as the one visible on the far Right. The small white wires are coming from the various Maretron sensors for things like temperature, pressure, fuel flow, WIF Water in Fuel, etc..
TRANSDUCERS:
Making a nice transition from electrical to aluminium “hotworks”, I finished up the design for this fairing block for the Aft Depth and Bottom Discriminating sounder and Uğur transformed it to solid 30mm thick aluminium in literally minutes.
The Black plastic transducer I’m holding is a Furuno 520-5PSD Bottom Discriminating Sounder which connects to a dedicated Furuno BBDS1 Black Box and then
sends the data and graphics like this out via Ethernet cable to our boat computers and the TimeZero navigation software. These sounders are most commonly used by commercial fishermen but having all this detailed information about the contours and materials below us is eXtremely valuable to us for checking out the best anchorage spots.
While very powerful, these BD transducers are very sensitive so they need to be well protected where they are exposed on the bottom of our hull from debris and possible groundings. Strangely enough bubbles are the biggest “enemy” in terms of getting maximum performance from this and any depth transducer as they interrupt the pulsed sonar signals being sent and received by the transducer.
This boat-like shape helps accomplish all these tasks; protects the transducer and smooths out the water flowing over the bottom surface of the transducer.
Equally critical is having the bottom surface of the transducer being parallel with the waterline so that the sonar signals are pointing straight down so we tacked the front end to the place on the hull we had strategically chosen and then used the laser level to get the bottom surface eXactly parallel with the “ground”.
Even though we had chosen a spot on the hull that was relatively flat there was still a good sized gap at the Aft end where the bottom plates start their sweeping curves up into the prop tunnel.
However it only took Uğur minutes to quickly cut some small triangular shapes of 5mm AL plate to fill that gap and then start laying down the first passes of weld to make this all integral to the hull.
Uğur will lay down at least one more bead of weld and then we will grind the block to an even more hydrodynamic shape and finish it up with epoxy fairing putty when we are prepping the bottom for the epoxy primer preceding application of the silicone base InterSleek 1100SR Foul Release bottom paint we are going to use.
One additional detail we designed in for an extra bit of safety with anything that is a penetration of the hull is that I had Uğur weld in a matching boat shaped piece of 5mm thick plate to the top of this 30mm thick boat shaped block before he tacked the whole block to the hull where it touches on the far Left/Forward end. Click to enlarge this or any photo to see this 5mm plate and then the thicker 10mm hull plate above it.
Mr. Gee Mounting System
In last week’s Update I outlined the design I came up with for mounting the Gardner and the Nogva to the beds in the Engine room using large anti-vibration mounting “feet”. This week I finished up those design and construction drawings and Uğur got busy the brackets for Mr. Gee’s four “feet” and the two for his best buddy the Red Nogva CPP Servo Gearbox.
For the front Gardner mounts we need to extend or widen the inside of the Engine Beds a bit where the motor mount feet attach and for the Nogva feet we need to add an underhanging mounting bracket to the beds on both sides.
To help with your orientation in the real world, here is a shot standing up on the Aft Deck looking straight down into the Engine Room. The two long parallel Mounting Beds you see in the rendering above are what you see here running from top to bottom in this photo. Stern is at the top here so that is the Aft end of the Engine Room Enclosure at the top of this photo and out of sight at the bottom is the WT Bulkhead with the Guest Cabin on the other side. Two large transverse Frames # 18 & 19 rare what you see spanning across between the two beds.
Inside the ER looking Aft I’ve been busy laying out the exact locations for the mounts. Getting the location of these engine and CPP mounts eXactly correct is eXtremely critical to the overall performance of the propulsion system so even though I’ve modeled every component very precisely in Fusion 360 3D modeler, I double, triple check all the numbers and geometry using independent hand sketches and pulling off real world measurements with tape measures, laser levels and machinist squares and then transferring this all to the aluminium with labels and lines on the masking tape I’ve put down along the beds.
The red flange halves up at the top are the zero reference or base plane that I have used for all my models and measurements as this 2 part flange is where the prop shaft connects to the output flange shaft of the Nogva CPP Gearbox. When it comes time to align these mating flanges we have to get them to be less than 0.002”/0.05mm. For reference a human hair is about 0.07mm in diameter so we don’t have much room for error when it comes time to align the Engine/Gearbox with the propeller flange.
Uğur has cut all the 25mm / 1” thick AL plates to size and prepped them for full penetration welds with the large 45 degree chamfers to form a deep V gulley for his MIG welding passes.
I really enjoy working so closely with Uğur and with all the modeling, measuring and marking done and all the plates cut and prepped time now for Uğur to start tacking them in place.
For orientation, the Door into the ER in the upper Left corner and the angled walls of the ER point to the Stern which is on the far Left.
The aft most mount for the Nogva Gearbox required this stringer be cut away where the mounting bracket plates will be and to provide enough room for the MIG gun to access. New stringer plate will be welded back in again after the mounts are all done.
At the opposite front end, the supports for the bed extension required these slots be cut in the stringer under the 25mm thick Mounting Beds.
With all the interfering stringers cut away and slotted, Uğur could start tacking in the mounting plates starting with this vertical brace for the Stbd/Right Nogva Gearbox undermount and get it perfectly lined up with the reference lines I’ve marked on the bed surfaces.
He soon has both vertical braces tacked in place.
and then tacks in the horizontal base mounting plate. My hand will give you a sense of size and scale. Mr. Gee weighs in as a svelte 1400kg/3100lbs and the Nogva CPP adds about another 250kg/550lbs so these mounts need to stand up to several decades of support for over 17-1800kg / 3750-4000lbs of vibrating propulsion goodness so I am over engineering these beyond even my usual eXtremes.
BTW, Mass is also a big help in reducing vibration and noise so there is that added benefit as well.
At the front end of the beds this Stbd/Right side bed extension is also now all tacked up and perfectly leveled ready for one last check with the laser level and straight edges before final welding begins.
Soon all four mounts, none needed for the two in the middle, are all tacked up, checked and ready for welding.
Front Bed eXtensions fully welded ready to be ground flat and flush.
As are the rear two undermounts with the stringer plates now added back in.
And here is a Birds-eye view looking down through the big ER Hatch on the Aft Deck.
Meanwhile, one floor up in the “Fitting Room” in my Workshop, I’ve been busy getting Mr. Gee’s new mounting brackets which we finished building last week, all fitted and installed on Mr. Gee himself as we prep for the big day of lowering him into his new home in the ER onboard Möbius.
These are the Aft two mounts that sit in the middle of the ER Beds. The huge flywheel is also being prepped to mount to those six bolts on the end of the Crankshaft.
Seen from the front side and with the anti-vibration “feet” in place, this is what the finished Aft Mounts look like.
Front Right mounting bracket and foot test fit and good for final torqueing.
On the Front Left mounting bracket I have incorporated this extended base plate where I will soon be mounting the big Jabsco sea water impeller pump that provides all the cool seawater to flow through the heat exchangers for the engine coolant, engine oil and Nogva Gearbox oil before exiting out via the wet exhaust system and back into the seal.
In the photo above, the PTO or Power Take Off drive can be seen on the far Left here and then viewed through the two holes in the vertical mount brackets. I’ll be making up a SS drive shaft that will attach to that PTO end and go through those two holes in the mount and then be attached to the shaft of the Jabsco pump. Should make for a very robust and reliable drive setup for this critical pump.
Mr. Gee’s FLYWHEEL;
Mr. Gee’s feet were not the only thing I’ve been massaging this week, I also finally made the time to finish prepping the purposely “obese” flywheel option that Michael at Gardner Marine Diesel kindly provided for us. This mass helps to further even out the legendary eXtreme smoothness of all low revving Gardner 6LXB engines and make Mr. Gee a real smooth operator to quote Sade Adu’s great song.
Many months ago I had sent this flywheel out to the CNC Machine shop next door to have that recess with the 8 M-12 threaded holes machined and now I needed to remove these no longer needed bolts and bearings that are used for mounting a traditional Gardner gearbox.
The outer circumference of the Flywheel also serves a critical function by having these precise marks that are used for setting the timing of the fuel injection pump. There are three sets of these precision marks and this one is for setting the injection timing of #1 cylinder. I have filled these stamped in marks with fluorescent Green paint to help make them easier to see through the timing window in the outer aluminium Flywheel bell housing.
I sanded these areas down to leave the Green paint just filling up the letters and masked them off before spraying on the primer and topcoats.
As always, all the time in painting comes from the prep work so after months of that it only took a few minutes to spray on the first coat of primer.
Followed the next day by the final topcoat of aluminium paint.
A bit eXcessive for an item that will never see the light of day? Perhaps, but with our last boat having been all steel and Neil Young’s refrain of “Rust never sleeps” echoing in my head, I try to do anything I can to prevent rust happening ANYWHERE on my beloved new boat Möbius! Call me crazy if you like, you’d be in the majority, but I’m a very happy and rust free nutcase!
My anti-rust fetish had me take the time to sand blast the six anti-vibration feet so I could paint them while I had my spray gun out and the aluminium silicone paint mixed up,
And shot them at the same time I was shooting the Flywheel so they are now all ready for installation.
Final step was to insert this aluminium SAE14 Centamax 1600 drive plate into that recess I pointed out earlier and torque down the eight hardened M-12 bolts.
When it is time to connect the Gardner to the Nogva Gearbox, this rubber flex drive which is bolted to the input shaft of the Nogva, will slide snugly into all those matching U shaped grooves in the AL drive plate that is now bolted to Mr. Gee’s Flywheel. This is one more very significant component helping to make Mr. Gee such an eXtremely smooooooooth operator.
This is Exhausting!
The last bit of TLC for Mr. Gee was getting these stainless steel flexible exhaust bellows machined and welded so we can start installing the Halyard exhaust system. These SS woven mesh connectors work really well by absorbing any vibration or movement between the Gardner engine and the dry stack SS pipes running up and over the Gardner on their way to the Halyard Combi Silencer/Separator.
The round SS flange faces up and this is where the first vertical dry stack Halyard pipe attaches.
And the bottom square flange bolts to Mr. Gee’s exhaust manifold. You will be seeing much more of this once we start installing the Halyard exhaust system later this month.
Why Drop Your Drawers When You Can SLlllllliiiiiiiiide Them Instead?
We kept dancing to Sade’s Smooth Operator song throughout the week and that certainly included all the work that Omur and Selim were doing in the Main Cabin and the Galley.
Omur continued installing all the beautiful Rosewood drawers in the Master Bed Platform with their super smooth operating Blum drawer slides.
As you may notice, our Chippies aka Cabinetmakers, went a bit overboard last year when they started building the first drawers for XPM78-01 Möbius and made EVERY surface out of Ro$ewood so my pocketbook and I needed to reign them in a bit and use the very nicely contrasting Beech for the insides and undersides and unseeable surfaces of all the rest of the drawers and drawers they subsequently made.
But as you are seeing here in the Master Cabin, all the drawers in the King Bed Platform are Rosewood throughout.
All the other drawers and doors in the Master Cabin and throughout the rest of the boat have this very lovely contrast of colour and grain between the dark swirling Rosewood and the honey coloured Beech. Thee upper four drawers in this Bureau of Drawers beside the Master Bed Platform show this well.
The upper four are slide out drawers whereas the bottom four where the hull curves in and makes them narrower have fold down doors. The outer faces will soon receive their Gray/Green leather covered fronts.
I covered these AbFab Blum bottom mounted drawer slides ad nauseum last week so I’ll leave you to go check that out if you’d like and just point out that this is a good shot at the underside of one of the Bureau drawers to show how these slides and their cushioned auto-close mounts work.
and here is an interior shot of one of the sliders in one of the bed platform drawers.
Looking rearward to the stairs leading up to the SuperSalon, these are the six drawers along the Starboard/Right side of the Master Bed Platform.
And these are the five drawers on the forward facing end of the Bed Platform.
Last 2 drawers in the Master Cabin are the two Omur in front of Omur located underneath the Vanity Sink at the very front end of this Cabin.
Omur soon has both drawers all mounted as well s the door on the Medicine Cabinet above the sink.
The Rosewood doors along that Starboard side open up into very large storage shelves with hanging lockers and the Washing Machine behind what will soon be mounted Green/Gray leather covered drawers above the BHL Handhold.
Difficult to fit it all into one photo but this shot standing in front of the Vanity sink provides this perspective looking down those doors on the far Left and along the Bureau of Drawers and the Bed Platform on your way to the hanging locker on the Left just before you start up the stairs to the SuperSalon.
Speaking of which this view looking straight down those stairs from the SuperSalon lets us see that Omur has also now installed all the solid Rosewood nosing on each of these stair treads.
The solid Rosewood nosing and intake air grills for each of the stair treads came back from the Finishing Shop with their multiple coats of PU varnish all rubbed out to a beautiful matt sheen.
Omur soon had these all fully installed and awaiting the installation of the final flooring which will be planks of click-lock high end vinyl.
MAIN HELM STATION:
Upstairs Omur and Selim continued to make good progress installing the Main Helm Station which we saw them begin the previous week. The hinged Dashboard is now back from the Upholstery Shop along with the mounting panel for the two 19” touch screens and the cut-outs for the switch panels are in the angled wall on the Right side of the Helm Chair.
I was finally able to get a photo of Sinan our Mater Upholsterer standing beside the latest round of ceiling panels for Möbius as well as the three Black Leather covered Dashboard pieces.
This is the basic layout that Captain Christine has come up with and is now in place. Kobelt Throttle/Pitch control levers bottom Right, Furuno Jog Lever to its Left and then the Gray cover is hiding the Furuno 711C AutoPilot Head.
Above the Jog Lever is the Maxwell Windlass Chain Up/Down switch with the round Kobelt Pitch Angle gauge to its Right and the ACR Pan/Tilt Searchlight control in the Upper Right corner. The empty hole beside is waiting to be filled by the Vetus Bow Thruster Joystick that has not yet arrived.
The hole on the far Left corner will have a smooth radius ring on it and will allow the Standard Horizon RAM4 VHF mic cord to coil up in the space below.
Vertically mounted on the Right wall is the Nogva Clutch & PTO control switches and the empty rectangular cut-outs will soon have the switch board mounted to control all the exterior flood/search lights and the High Water Bilge controls system.
Up on top of the Right side angled wall, that Black Kobelt panel is the Kobelt control station to give control to either the Main or the Flybridge Helms OR give control to this Kobelt 7176 WalkAbout Controller which we are eXtremely eXcited to try out soon. This is a corded remote control which can plug into a receptacle here at the Main Helm or up in the SkyBridge Helm and the 10m/33ft cord then allows us to “walk about” almost from stem to stern with this remote. It is eXtremely multi-functional as the two levers on the sides control the Pitch of the prop and Throttle of the Gardner and then up on top we can control the rudder, the bow thruster and the CPP Clutch. With this in hand we can pretty much control the whole boat while standing anywhere on the boat from the very aft end of the Swim Platform to up on the Bow.
In addition to giving you an overview of the whole front end of the SuperSalon and the Main Helm, all those wires hanging down from the ceiling indicate that Hilmi and Selim have been here putting in all the power cables for the LED lights overhead.
Most of all though, Christine and I are already fantasizing about sitting in our super comfy Llebroc Helm Chair up here and gazing out through these 360 degrees of windows as we head out towards our next great destination.
Come on Team Möbius, we are counting on you to get us there ASAP!
SuperSalon gets Superer!
It is a hard area to photograph well but the “doghouse” overtop of the Entryway from the Aft Deck into the SuperSalon is shaping up very nicely thanks to Ömür’s hard work.
This shot is looking straight up while standing on the Entryway Stairs. Omur now has the very nicely done Rosewood Hatch liner installed and Sinan has finished the first of the intricate snap in White leather covered ceiling panels on the Right here. More to follow soon.
Here is a different perspective on that same area looking in through the Entryway door on the Aft Deck. The Black Corner Box running across the upper ceiling area will have a snap In/Out panel to give us access to the various electronic gadgets that will live inside.
The SkyBridge is on the other side of the far right side here and …….
…… if I now climb up to the SkyBridge you can see this same Hatch liner from up here and get better oriented.
Walking a few steps forward in the SkyBridge and looking back at this same Hatch you can see where the SkyBridge Helm Chair will set in that space to the Left of the Hatch. We have oriented this Hatch lid like this to make it easy for us to pass things back and forth from the Galley and the SkyBridge and to make it easy for us to talk back and forth when we are in these two areas.
GALLEY:
Can you guess where these three little drawers are bound for?
Well, I guess the heading of this section makes that easy to guess that they go HERE on the “peninsula” in the Galley that runs parallel with the walkway as you come down the stairs from the Entryway door.
One of the main themes Christine and I prioritized as we worked through the design of XPM78-01 Möbius is what we refer to as “Diversity” by which we mean having a lot of different options for different aspects and areas onboard. in the case of the Galley that means a lot of diversity of size and shapes of drawers and doors so have a look around and see how this design diversity is manifesting itself in the Galley.
BTW, the tall skinny area in the middle of this set of different sized drawers will also be a pull out “drawer” that has no sides and just a series of shelves to store things like spices and condiments and utensils that you can easily access from the side.
Drawer Diversity continues over here on this set of drawers on the Window side of the Galley countertops forward of the double sink.
And yet more different sizes and shapes of drawers here on the other “peninsula” running along the back of the Dining Settee on the other side.
A bit difficult to see through all the construction but you can see how all the Garages atop the Turquoise marble countertops are also different sizes and depths for yet more diversity of our storage. Our hope is that having all these different options will allow us to optimize all these storage areas and enable us to find the Goldilocks just right spot for everything we want to store in our Galley.
Also eXciting for us to see the big double sink be permanently set into the marble countertop. And yes we heard all your questions and recommendations for a undermounted sink instead and we may well agree with you for the next boat, but we are very happy with this top mount and thing it will work well for us.
The large main faucet has a removable spray head with a very effective magnetic holder to keep it in place when not being used. The smaller faucet on the far Right is just for cold drinking water which comes from its own 150 Liter tank that is completely independent of all other water tanks for an extra bit of safety should it ever happen that all six of our integral water tanks should be somehow contaminated.
Highly unlikely as they are all filled from our 150L / 40 USG per hour Delfin Watermaker, but just in case ………………
Whew! Even when shorthanded the rest of Team Möbius still makes great progress and we get closer and closer to Launch Date!
Oh, and one last bit or eXciting news, look what we just received!
Holy Pinocchio!
It is NOT a Fake News lie that XPM78-01 Möbius is now a “real boy” as she is fully and officially registered in Jersey and the British Ship Registry!
I realise that this might seem like “just a piece of paper” to many but to us this is such a big milestone that makes our dreamboat seem all the more real and tantalizingly close.
Thanks as always for joining us on this grand adventure and PLEASE add your questions, comments and suggestions in the “Join the Discussion” box below.
Till next week, same time, same Bat station this is your cub reporter Wayne and Christine’s Loving Owners Representative signing off.
-Wayne
by Wayne | Jul 5, 2020 | Boat building, Cabinetry, Electrical, Electrical Systems, Hull, Interior, Interior, Plumbing, Steering, Systems, The Gardner |
It would seem appropriate to say that this week’s XPM78-01 Möbius Progress Update is brought to you by the letter I as in Independence. First, Christine and I want to send out our very best wishes to all our Canadian and American friends and family as they celebrate their respective July 1st Canada Day and July 4th Independence Day.
All the more so given these extraordinary and challenging times all countries are facing right now. Whatever your nationality, citizenship, residency or location right now we sincerely hope you are all finding ways to navigate this current storm and are staying strong, healthy and positive.
Thanks to Christine’s friend Victoria Allman for the fun Canadian fireworks flag image and to Tenor.com for the neat little GIF of the USA fireworks flag.
With each passing week, the progress that Team Möbius makes, while it never seems to go fast enough, does move us closer and closer to our very own Independence Day when Möbius splashes at last and we return at last to a life afloat and at sea which is THE best form of independence which Christine and I have ever known.
Here at Naval Yachts, as June passed into July this past week, we saw a bit less progress than usual as several members of Team Möbius were pulled away to work on other boats in the shipyard. However progress was made in every area that did get worked on so we still have lots to show you and let’s get on with that now.
ELECTRICAL TEAM
Seems only appropriate to start of this week’s Progress Update with our very own “Sparkies” aka Electrical Team of Hilmi who is now has Selim working with him on wiring. Hilmi was one of the team who was called away to work on other boats this week but for the three days he was working on Möbius with the added bonus of having Selim’s able hands to assist, good progress was made.
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Down in the Basement here with the Main DC Distribution Panel which is continuing to fill up with cables large and small. The astute will notice eight large cables coming out of the sealed battery compartments in the foreground here through that large oval penetration which will eventually be fully filled with special sealant to make it completely waterproof
This week they have been working on the BIG cables at the very heart of our Battery Based boat; the House Battery Banks and the cables which connect the 24 FireFly L15+ 4V @ 450Ah to the bus bar and shunts in that Main DC Panel on the Left here. These Red/Positive and Black/Negative cables are eXtremely large at 120mm2 or “five aught” 5/0000 AWG size each which is about the size of a good sized thumb.
There are four individual 24 volt battery banks, each consisting of six 4 Volt @ 450Ah cells connected in Series, which is abbreviated as “6S”. Thus their voltages are all added together to create a 24V @ 450Ah battery bank and then these four banks are wired in Parallel so their Amp Hours are all combined to create an overall House Battery Bank of 24V @ 1800Ah or 43.2 kilo Watts.
Hence the big cables to carry all those amps with as little voltage loss as possible.
I’ve put together these two schematics for those interested in some of the details of the House Battery Bank setup and the overall Electrical System on the Left here.
As per the reminder in this Victron Installation Guide for the three Victron BMV712 Smart Battery Monitors, it is very important that the lengths of each of the cables connecting the battery banks to the negative side shunt and the Positive Bus Bar be the same length. This is something I see missed on many boats and it creates problems over time as the voltage drop will be different if the cable lengths are different and this leads to battery imbalance which can shorten their lifespan.
Last week, Selim & Hilmi connected all these battery cables to their respective terminals inside the Main DC Distribution Box as you can see here. 60mm x 20mm Positive Bus Bar running horizontally across the top and same size for the Negative Bus Bar on the bottom. High amperage T-Class fuses visible on the Positive Bus Bar, two Remote Battery Switches with their Yellow manual knobs visible in the background.
Barely visible in the photo above on the bottom Right end of the Negative Bus Bar, they have also mocked up the layout for the three Shunts that provide all the data to the BMV712 Smart Battery Monitors that tracks volts, amps, battery temperature and uses this information to calculate SoC State of Charge, Amps In/Out, etc. The final installation will use properly sized copper bus bars for all the interconnections between the Shunts and the Negative Bus Bar.
With all the cables terminated on the Bus Bars, Hilmi & Selim have routed them down through that large oval penetration you can see in this and the photos above to take them inside the three WT battery compartments which are integral with the hull and sit on either side of the massive Keel Bar than runs like a spine from Bow to Stern.
This makes it easy for them to layout all six of these big cables to determine the length of the furthest connection/longest cable and then they can cut all of them to this same length.
I laid out the tools of the trade here and those tiny little Red wire cutters make quick work of cutting these huge cables cleanly in one go. Then the Blue hydraulic swaging tool is used to crimp the copper lugs to the hundreds of strands of thin copper wires that make up each cable.
With the lugs fully crimped on each one gets an additional layer of shrink wrapped insulation which is lined with adhesive that melts with the heat used to shrink each tube and creates a permanently sealed cable connection. There will be a T-Class fuse at each Positive Battery post so the Z shaped 30 x 5mm copper bars will attach to the battery post on one end and the fuse on the other and then the cable lug bolts to the other end of the fuse.
Time ran out for this week so this is where the cables are now and next week I’ll show you what it looks like once all the cables and fuses are attached.
Once all the batteries are connected to the Main DC panel, a rather exciting milestone will be looming on the horizon; Möbius will have power!
Moving back to the Aft end of the Workshop, they have also been working on the 24 volt power cables going to the two Accu-Steer HPU400 hydraulic steering pumps.
These are very powerful continuous run pumps that can draw up to 60 amps so they require some very large power cables to bring a steady supply of those amps all the way from the DC Distribution box up by the Day Tank.
Fairly straightforward job and Hilmi soon has it all buttoned up with the labels covered in clear heat-shrink which should help them last for decades. As those of you who have done any amount of electrical work on your home, car or boat can attest, it is SUCH a big help to have every wire fully and clearly labelled so this is a very important “little detail”.
PLUMBING:
Cihan our super industrious Plumber was also in high demand this week but he was able to get a lot done in the two days he was working on Möbius. Quite an exciting milestone as he was completing the installation of these two large Vetus Sea Water Strainers coming off of the big Intake Sea Chest in the front Starboard/Right corner of the Engine Room.
The pipes coming out of the Sea Chest are all thick walled aluminium which have those two huge PVC Blue handled Ball Valves mounted with flanges in between them and their entry into the bottom of each Strainer. However, Cihan switched over to 316 Stainless for the outlets from the strainers which T into becoming the manifold.
These SS Ball Valves in the foreground give you the reason for the switch to SS for the manifold so that the entire manifold is all 316 SS and there will be no problems with corrosion due to dissimilar metals. You can manage SS to AL joints with isolators and anti corrosion paste but using all SS makes for my favorite kind of maintenance: NONE! 
Cihan had our talented machinist Yunus machine the Stainless Steel flanges that bolt to the composite bodies of the Strainers and once he had them in position, Cihan could tack the SS pipes in place.
Cihan works VERY quickly and I didn’t get back to the Engine Room in time to get a shot of all the SS nipples tacked to the body of the manifold but this is what they soon looked like when they were all fully welded in place and cleaned up.
These two large SS Ball Valves on the Left end of the manifold are for the Sea Water pump for the Gardner and our Fire Hose setup.
These three smaller Ball Valves on the beginning end of the manifold supply sea water to the AirCon Chiller coolant pump, the Delfin Watermaker and the Aft Deck wash pump.
Looking into the ER from the entrance door this is what the whole Intake Sea Chest, Strainers and Manifold system looks like.
Looking straight down into the Engine Room from up atop the Aft Deck this birds-eye view makes it easy to see the layout of the whole Engine Room.
If you are wondering what that big gaping space is in front of the Red bundled up Nogva CPP Servo box is, that is Mr. Gee’s soon-to-be new home!
Bottom of this photo is the forward WT Bulkhead with the Guest Cabin on the other side. Entry door into the ER just visible in the Upper Right corner and the Exit Sea Chest on the bottom Right.
And for a bit more orientation this the view looking forward at that big Hatch in the Aft Deck looking down into the Engine Room. The ER Vent Box on the Left will double as one half of our Outdoor Galley and will have a SS sink set into its Turquoise marble countertop. There is a near identical Vent Box on the Right side of the Hatch hidden from view by the Hatch Lid and this one will have more marble counter with the electric grill/BBQ set into it.
Spiral staircase up to the SkyBridge visible in the upper Right corner and the WT Entryway Door into the SuperSalon is visible behind the Left/Port Vent Box with the Galley on your Right as you go down those stairs.
Almost starting to look like home!
GALLEY:
Speaking of Galley and looking like home, Captain Christine (and me too!) were excited to see this show up in the Galley this week. Christine is a researcher par excellence and she spent a LOT of time researching all the equipment for our Goldilocks Just Right, Just for Us Galley and settled on this awemazing “smart” induction cooktop by Bosch, complete with that built in extraction fan system in the middle.
I will be able to show you more details as this gets installed but if you look closely inside that rectangular opening above my fingers (click to enlarge any photo) you can just make out a very large “squirrel cage” variable speed fan which pulls all the air and small children or pets, through the two large slots in the AL vent you see in the photo above.
This connects to a large 150mm/6” round duct in the cabinetry behind the cooktop which channels the air up to this second extraction fan mounted inside the Lower Wing box just aft of the top corners of the Galley and SuperSalon and puts all the extracted air out onto the Aft Deck.
For even more air extraction power when needed, there are two of these large axial fans feed by the Rosewood grill you see here in the Soffit Ceiling panels at the Aft end corners of the SuperSalon which help keep the breezes flowing from front to rear of the SuperSalon.
Below that extraction air grill Selim is finishing the Rosewood Nosings for the Entryway stairs.
In addition to looking AbFab these Nosings provide the Goldilocks just right amount of a lip for your feet to sense and prevent any slipping. Additional Safety, one of our primary design principles for the XPM, comes from the indirect LED strip lighting that radiates from the underside of each nosing.
Looking straight up above the Entryway Stairs, Omur has finished the slightly tricky installation of this Rosewood Hatch Liner. This Hatch sits to your Left when you are conning the boat from the Upper SkyBridge Helm station which is on the other side of the wall to the Right here.
The Black box is one of several alcoves for electronics. This one will house things like a network switch, an N2K multi-port block and other components which feed the Upper Helm Station.
On the Galley side of these stairs there is a cavernous storage area which Selim is putting the finishing touches on here as he readies the Blum hinges for its door.
Moving into the Galley itself, can you guess what these two Ro$ewood beauties are for?
That was an easy one, they are two of the ten doors on the Galley countertop Garages. Omur is now fitting the recessed invisible hinges.
I’ve used these type of hinges in many of my past cabinetmaking and jewellery boxes and they are the Goldilocks solution when you want an extremely rigid hinge that is completely hidden from view.
Having done all the hard work of mortising the slots for these invisible hinges when he was first building these Garages, it only takes minutes for Omur to screw each hinge into their respective slots.
Et Voila! Nothing but Rosewood, glass (soon) and marble, not a hinge to be seen.
MASTER CABIN:
Fortunately both Selim and Omur were working onboard Möbius the whole week so they made great progress on cabinetry throughout the boat so let’s go check out what they were working on in the Master Cabin.
Any guess why these boxes are eXciting for me to see arrive?
Yup! Fresh off the plane from Austria, these are all the undermount drawer slides for all the many drawers we have on Möbius. Like the hinges you saw above these full extension drawer slides have zero sag even when drawers filled with heavy items are pulled all the way out. They also become invisible once they are installed as they mount on the underside of the drawers. These slides also have Blum’s “Servo Drive” which push them into your fingers with an initial push and then soft close when you push and let go.
Being that our home is very “mobile” we will also have positive mechanically locking latches on every drawer and door but these Blum slides also use these nifty locks to keep all the drawers securely closed.
OK OK, so I’ll stop obsessing but trust me, you’ll be impressed too when you try out Blum hardware.
More beautiful Blum goodness here in the Master Head/Bathroom “medicine cabinets”.
Now you see ‘em…………………….
…………………. now you don’t!
Are you sensing a theme here?
One last bit of hardware happiness for you with a feature that may be new to many of you. These Blum hinges also have a very handy soft close feature that is now adjustable. See that little black button just above my thumb? That allows you to set the little soft close spring on that lever to the Left of my thumb to be either Off or On. With two or more hinges on any door this gives you a full range of degrees of “anti-slam” soft closing by turning on any number of soft close hinges for that door.
OK, enough for today’s tour through Hodgins Hardware Heaven.
Omur and Selim were busy installing these latch catches on the bottoms of these drawers in the Master Cabin.
Which will soon be installed in these four spaces in the Bureau of Drawers on the Stbd/Right side of the Master Cabin.
With the sloping hull sides behind this Bureau the two lower rows get a bit narrow so these will have down opening doors rather than drawers. All these drawer and door fronts will be covered with Green leather panels to set them off nicely from the solid Rosewood edging.
Forward of the Bureau of Drawers is this bank of tall cabinets. As throughout the rest of the boat, the Blue Horizon Line or BHL Handhold wraps around the room and all the vertical surfaces below this “horizon” are Rosewood and all above are Green/Gray leather.
The two Upper cupboards on the Right are Wardrobes for hanging clothes and the third one with the Vigo sink in it will soon have the Bosch Washer inside. The last upper cupboard is sized for a matching dryer if there should ever be the desire to have one but we have always preferred to use Mother Nature as our clothes dryer since we were children and continue to do so.
MAIN HELM:
Upstairs from the Master Cabin, Omur and Selim also made some more exciting progress as they worked on the cabinetry for the Main Helm so let’s go up there now.
Yesim’s quick render above helps to show the overall layout with the two 19” touch and daylight readable monitors in the middle, the angled “dwarf wall” on the right of where the Llebroc Helm Chair will be and the two triangular “handkerchief” storage areas on either side.
And here is what the real world version looked like at the start of this week.
Selim gave me a hand to test fit this first mock up of the Zig-Zag dashboard we think will work really well.
It has this narrow “kick-up” where the monitor mounting board will hinge.
So that the base of these monitors will set down at an angle like this.
I am going to KISS or Keep it Simple & Safe by panel mounting the two monitors into a Black leather covered mounting panel that will be hinged at the bottom edge so we can change the angle to eliminate any reflections as well as swing it down anytime we need to access any of the connections on the back.
Of which there are plenty for these eXtremely high spec monitors that we can hardly wait to start using.
As you can see here, all those cables will be fully hidden and kept out of any UV coming through the front windows and yet be low enough that they don’t block any of your line of sight when standing or sitting in the Helm Chair as their top edge is kept very low. We also tested this setup and angles for any reflections in the surrounding glass and were able to eliminate them by this placement.
Omur had my little sketch of the Monitor mounting panel above turned into reality and all corners radiused, sanded and taken over to the Upholstery Shop.
Where the Black leather was stretched over and glued in place.
Ready to be trimmed and then have the monitors mounted inside.
Back onboard, Omur had the Zig-Zag dashboard all glued up and test fitted with its SS piano hinge.
Which makes it easy to unlatch and lift up to access wiring and the manual hydraulic steering pump underneath.
For any longer term maintenance of more likely trying out new Helm configurations, the whole dashboard can be swung up completely out of the way and exposing the whole back side where the electronics and wiring will be.
With the Monitor mounting panel in place on its hinges you can start to get a feel for the whole Helm.
Another example of all our work at modeling and designing this critical Helm space is this little angled wall on your Right as you sit in the Helm Chair. Plenty of space inside for cabling and electronic goodies.
Which cleans up rather nicely when you snap the top into place.
Alas though, that beautiful top was not to last for long.
Sadly and feeling almost sacrilegious in doing so, Omur soon had that beautiful Rosewood top panel cut out for all the switch boards which fill most of this surface.
As you can see here.
This is for another boat that Naval is building but will give you an idea of what the switch panel will look like that fills those two lower cut-out in the photos above.
And now the real fun begins laying out all the components to be installed on the Dashboard. Fortunately Christine had taken charge of this layout and had it all mapped out for the major components you see here.
Working to the Left from the bottom Right corner; Kobelt Throttle & CPP Pitch controller with round Pitch Gauges hidden behind, Furuno NFU Jog Lever, Furuno 711C AutoPilot head. Top Right corner is the ACR 360 degree Pan/Tilt searchlight joystick. Not seen here but to the Left of the ACR joystick will be the Bow Thruster Joystick and the Maxwell Anchor Windlass controller.
Thanks to all of Christine’s planning and drawings, this “meeting of the minds” with Yusuf the lead Sparkie in the foreground, Hilmi in the back and the man in black, Hakan our Master 2D cabinetry CAD man on the Right all went well.
And we soon had the basic layout in place.
Omur and I spent a few minutes doing the exact layout to get the size and location of each cut-out just right and he soon had those all cut, sanded and the Dashboard headed over to the Upholstery Shop on Friday to receive its Black Leather covering to match the Monitor Panel.
Mr. Gee:
Last but never least, while I didn’t get much time to work on him directly I spent a lot of time this past week finishing the designing of the six mounting brackets for the anti-vibration mounts for Mr. Gee and his partner in propulsion, the Nogva CPP Controllable Pitch Propeller Servo Gearbox.
If you have not yet seen last week’s Progress Update you may want to go back to it now for a more detailed coverage of those mounts and brackets and this is the basic layout of the Port/Left side mounts on the sloping 25mm / 1” thick AL beds welded into the Hull. Two forward mounts are for the Front & Rear of Mr. Gee and then an underhanging bracket for the mounts on the Red Nogva CPP Servo Gearbox. Stbd side is the same.
Once I had the design fully modeled and triple checked for accuracy and fit, I printed out a set of drawings for Uğur to start cutting the 25mm/1” thick AL plate these mounts are all made from and he soon had this pile of gleaming aluminium parts on the bench.
Being so thick, you need to have very deep V shaped grooves where the plates join and will be welded so as to get full penetration of the weld and basically end up with a single piece of aluminium.
This is the Right Rear mount on Mr. Gee and they need to fit quite precisely so Uğur and I spent several hours going back and forth fitting each plate that bolts to Mr. Gee.
I extended this Front Left plate aft about 300mm/12” in order to provide a mount for the Jabsco Sea Water impeller pump so it required a bit more work to cut in all the notches to have it clear all the bosses on the solid aluminium cylinder block of Mr. Gee.
My workshop/Office and Mr. Gee are all up on the first floor of the shipyard and it didn’t seem to be worth it to drag a welder up there so Uğur and I made lots of trips up and down while tacking up each mounting bracket down on the shop floor below Möbius and then bringing it upstairs to test fit and measure alignment on Mr. Gee.
This is the Rear Right mount and it is now fitting just right.
Left Rear mount is a mirror image of the Right side and we soon had it all tacked, aligned and ready to be welded.
Moving on to the Left Front mount with the extended base plate for the Jabsco pump we positioned each piece to the lines we had scribed into the aluminium while they were clamped in alignment to Mr. Gee upstairs.
on the Left here is the original Gardner mount which I was going to reuse but it had stress cracks in the corners, one of which you can see on its far Left corner where I ground it out to weld. However these are cast aluminium and the new welds just cracked soon after being applied due to the different expansion rates between the cast AL and the AL welding rod. Hence the decision to design and build all new brackets.
Uğur and I have worked well together since we began this build over two years ago and we continue to enjoy doing so and soon had that Front Left mount all tacked up and fitted.
If you are wondering what the big holes are for, the PTO Power Take Off on Mr. Gee which is that cylinder you see to the Left of the mount, will soon have a drive shaft coming off of it to turn the Jabsco impeller pump and hence the holes for this shaft to fit through If you look again at the original Gardner front mount in the previous photo you will see that it has the same hole in it as Gardner used this PTO to drive their alternators.
Here is the shaft’s view through those holes to the PTO.
The Front Right mount is much simpler and this is one of the anti-vibration mounts that we are using to check heights and fit before welding.
All four mounting brackets all tacked and ready to be fully welded into single solid motor mounts.
As usual, it is all in the prep work and the actual welding goes very quickly.
Uğur was only available for three days this week but by Friday he had all the mounts welded and ready for me to clean them up, do the final fitting and filing and paint them.
Here is a good example of how those big V grooves allow the first weld to fully penetrate these thick plates.
Then the second pass fills in that U shaped groove from the first weld and leaves you with a flat and solid top weld.
Same routine for the Front mounting brackets. L-bar on the Right one still in place to hold that vertical piece perpendicular while being welded.
By Friday noon, a justly happy and proud Uğur could pose with this Rear Right mount all done and in place on Mr. Gee.
All four mounting brackets all welded up and I think even Mr. Gardner would approve. I then spent Saturday morning cleaning them up, putting good radii on all the edges, chamfering all the bolt holes, etc. and had them all ready to be painted.
I sprayed them with the same silicone based “liquid aluminium” paint to match what I used on Mr. Gee himself.
And this was the final result.
Tomorrow (Monday) I’ll get busy bolting the to Mr. Gee and he will be all the more a “real boy” as per last week’s Jiminy Cricket reference and able to stand on his own four feet!
And before I seem to blink twice, another month zooms by and we are already a week into July! How is THAT possible??
In any case, hope you enjoyed this week’s Show & Tell and that all our Canadian and American friends enjoyed a safe and well distanced Independence Day.
Thanks for joining and be sure to leave your comments and questions in the “Join the Discussion” box below.
See you next weekend.
-Wayne
by Wayne | Jun 28, 2020 | Boat building, Cabinetry, Electrical, Electrical Systems, Fuel System, Hull, Interior, Interior, Navigation, Plumbing, Steering, Systems, The Gardner |
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.
-Wayne
by Wayne | Jun 20, 2020 | Boat building, Cabinetry, Electrical, Electrical Systems, Interior, Interior, Plumbing, Steering, Systems, The Gardner |
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.
![IMG_20200620_134827[3]](https://i2.wp.com/mobius.world/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/IMG_20200620_1348273_thumb.jpg?resize=404%2C304&ssl=1 "IMG_20200620_134827[3]")
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.
See you again same time, same place next week.
-Wayne
by Wayne | Jun 14, 2020 | Boat building, Cabinetry, Electrical, Electrical Systems, Exhaust, Interior, Interior, Plumbing, Steering, Systems, The Gardner |
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.
-Wayne
by Wayne | Jun 9, 2020 | Boat building, Cabinetry, Electrical, Electrical Systems, Fuel System, Hull, Interior, Interior, Plumbing, Steering, Systems, The Gardner |
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
![Omer with router[3]](https://i1.wp.com/mobius.world/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Omer-with-router3_thumb.jpg?resize=404%2C304&ssl=1 "Omer with router[3]")
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.
Here it is with the door closed. and the 4 switches labelled and ready for action.
FYI: The Gray box on the WT Bulkhead on the Left is the ELS control for the Lewmar 55EVO EST winch. These models are quite new and very smart as the now have “Autoshift” which engages first gear when you first start and then when the load increases it will automatically switch to the next gear.
One way you know Hilmi is here is by spotting his ever present and unique “work light” that he uses wherever he is working. In this case we are looking up above at the underdeck mounting of the Lewmar 55EST winch motor which is now fully wired up and just waiting for the foot switches to be installed up above on deck.
Continuing to look up and over on the Right side of the DC Distribution Box we see that Hilmi has now installed all the high amp cables to the Maxwell VWC4000 Windlass. It too now awaits the hand held remote switch to become fully operational.
Oh, and see that little white PPR pipe at the top? That is one of the compressed air outlets in the Forepeak.
Looking down and forward in the Forepeak we find more of Hilmi’s handiwork getting the Vetus 2024DE Bow Thruster wired up.
We have not had a Vetus brand bow thruster in any of our previous boats but we are very impressed and happy with the build quality of this one which bodes well for equally good performance. As we do in many other places you can see how Vetus uses solid copper flatbar rather than cables in places where you have tight quarters and want to guarantee great connections for the high amps flowing through things like these 24V contacts.
Back in the Basement, Hilmi continues to work on the busiest of all the DC Distribution Boxes, this being the Main one where the four groups of 24V FireFly Carbon Foam battery groups all come together.
The two rows of high amp switches are now mounted and wired on their rails with the upper Negative Bus Bar and lower Positive Bus Bar awaiting all the big cables and fuses that will be attached to them.
These are some of the 120mm2 / AWG 5/000 cables coming from the four groups of batteries that sit in their integral AL compartments below on either side of the Keel Bar.
Hilmi is again adding short lengths of clear shrink wrap where he will insert the ID labels for each cable and seal them with his heat gun.
Similar to the ones we just saw on the Vetus bow thruster, these are some of the solid copper connectors Hilmi is using to connect some of the huge cable lugs to some of the switches and shunts. These are much faster to install and are pretty much fail safe compared to cables with crimped on lugs.
Here for example of how Hilmi has installed these copper jumper bars to get from the high amperage positive connections on these two Remote Battery Switches. The two “spacers” bolted in the middle of each bar are ceramic isolators so there is no chance of contact with the metal case.
Now these copper connector bars lead down behind the Negative Bus Bar………….
…….. and exit below where the four large Red cables can be easily connected and stay protected from any contact. In both photos you see how he has covered all the exposed surfaces with Black shrink wrap for even more protection from any accidental contact with tools and such. Trust me, you do NOT want to experience what happens when you ground against 900+ amps of 24V DC! And yes, ask me how I know!
It’s the little details that add up to making an installation go from good to GREAT and here is but one example where Hilmi has put in clear adhesive lined shrink wrap over these connections to some other copper connector bars to prevent any corrosion for the next few decades.
S is for SANTOS, SHOWERS & SWITCHES:
Moving from electrical to carpentry, let’s go see what’s been happening in the Master Cabin.
This is what is left of the quickly dwindling stack of Santos/Ro$ewood veneer over in the Cabinetmaking Workshop next door to Naval’s main Shipyard. More than enough for what is needed to complete the interior with just enough left over for me to take with us for future projects.
More of those “little details” here too with the care being taken to route out this recess for the wiring of one of the dimmable LED overhead lights in the Master Cabin shower door jamb.
And more over here on this wall for 120 & 240V receptacles on the Right and a 12V + 24V connector on the Right. This wall with then have a leather covered panel snapped in place using those White female FastMount sockets.
Looking up this is one of the wood hatch liners that Omur and Selim have been working on for the past few weeks. Solid Rosewood edging top and bottom and then the curved interior surfaces will be laminated with Rosewood veneer………
…… like this.
Here is what it looks like from the Foredeck up above.
With the hatch liners in place Selim can mark the plywood ceiling panel where it needs a bit more trimming for the White leather that will be wrapped around all edges of the finished ceiling panels.
Here is what it soon looks like with all the White Leather covered ceiling panels have snapped in place and Hilmi has all the dimmable LED lights wired and ready for a quick installation of the lamps when they arrive.
The outer carcases of the “Medicine Cabinet” has been installed on the Head wall above the sink countertop on the far Left.
These angled stairs leading up to the little landing on the Port side of the King bed are being used to mount the two grilled vents for the incoming air being drawn in by the Air Handler inside which then either cools this air in AirCon mode or heats it and blows it out another long skinny vent up near the ceiling.
Over in his workshop, Omur has the Rosewood vent grills glued up.
Since the first time I ever smelled fresh cut Teak I’ve been intoxicated by that heavenly scent so I was delighted to spend some time in the cabinetmaking shop as they started re-sawing some solid Teak planks into thinner strips.
Can you guess what for??
These will soon be transformed into the solid Teak removable floor panels in all the Showers and the Master Head. Stay tuned for more as those get built and in the meantime pardon me if I head back there for another round of deep breathing.
S is for SUPER Salon & “Seiling” Panels!
Over the past few weeks we’ve been following Omur and Selim’s progress on the ceiling inside the SuperSalon. Here you can see that they now have all the bare plywood ceiling panels snapped in place all the way forward overtop the Main Helm and then all down the sides where these smaller panels form the bottom of the Ceiling Soffits.
Now they are busy putting in the framing for the grid that will cover the rest of the ceiling. These plywood panels have now been unsnapped and sent over to the Upholstery Shop to be covered with White leather.
More Black epoxy covered plywood strips are then glued and screwed to the overhead AL frames to create a grid for all the FastMount connectors to thread into.
One example of these Ceiling Grid strips being installed.
This ceiling grid with FastMounts design creates a Goldilocks Just Right situation for me in the future as I have easy access to any of these spaces above the ceiling panels to be able to get in for any maintenance, running new wires for future gear and so on. Then I just snap the leather covered ceiling panels back in place and have that beautiful finished ceiling like the one you saw in the Master Cabin a bit earlier.
One of the last jobs that Yigit was able to get done on his last day at Naval on Friday was this layout for all the 15mm / 5/8” PEX tubing for the In-Floor heating in the SuperSalon.
Early on , Yigit came up with this technique of using circles that are the diameter of the max bending radius of these PEX tubes and moves them around in a complex Rubik’s Cube like game trying to get a continuous loop of PEX through all the areas you want while going around all the furniture bases, hatches, and other obstacles. As soon as Omur and Selim have finished the ceiling they will move down to putting in the PEX lines below the floor. Hot stuff!
Mr. GEE!
As usual I didn’t manage to find enough time to make as much progress on our Gardner 6LXB “Mr. Gee” this past week as I’m the “slacker” on Team Möbius, but I did manage to make good progress none the less and he is growing up to be quite the “real boy” as Jiminy Cricket might have said because he now has all his Pistons installed!!
To get there, this cast iron Cylinder Block needed to be lifted atop the cast AL Crankcase. So with the cylinders all freshly honed to perfection as you saw me do last week I carefully lifted the Cylinder Block with my 2 Ton lift and carefully lowered it onto all the studs protruding from the top surface of the Crankcase.
All the nuts you see here at the base of the Red Cylinder Block were then given some Loctite and the nuts were torqued down in the Gardner specified sequence.
Last week I had been able to prep all these beautiful brand new from Gardner pistons complete with all new and modern rings and wrist pin.
So I had all six of these little fellas waiting in the wings for their final journey into their respective cylinders.
With apologies for being too oily and busy to take any photos during the process, I was able to insert all the pistons and connecting rods into each cylinder and compress the three rings so the piston could slide down into its cylinder bore and the big end connecting rod bearing could wrap itself around the crankshaft pin below.
It was then a simple matter of putting on the bottom half of the Con Rod bearing caps and torqueing down all four nuts on each Con Rod in the right sequence and in stages to the factory specified torque.
And I’m delighted to report that I can still spin Mr. Gee’s crank easily and smoothly by hand so all is well inside Mr. Gee.
Gardner LX engines use this slightly different method of ensuring that all the connections between the cooling water jackets in the Cylinder Heads are VERY tightly sealed to the matching holes into the water jackets in the Cylinder Block.
Very strong and simple as is the norm with Gardners, these fat little O-rings have short aluminium tubes that I inserted through the rubber O-ring and into the hole in the Cylinder Block below. These AL tubes have a trumpet flair on their upper end so when the head is torqued down it will further seal these water jacket connections as these tubes and rubber O-rings are compressed.
This coming week I hope to be able to finish restoring the Cylinder Heads and get them mounted atop this Cylinder Block surface so stay tuned for that.
Whew! Another busy and productive week for Team XPM78-01 Möbius here at Naval Yachts!
Thank you SO much for joining me again for this adventure and PLEASE be encouraged to add your questions, comments and ideas in the “join the Discussion” box below.
Till next week,
-Wayne
Our Lead Sparkie aka Electrician Hilmi had Selim assisting him with pulling some more cables and wires such as these huge cables which connect the 24 FireFly Carbon Foam L15+ batteries to the Main DC Distribution Box seen here and where you may recall they left off last week.
The overall House Battery system is shown here and consists of four individual “battery banks” formed by connecting six of the 4V @ 450Ah FireFly Carbon Foam batteries together in Series, Positive to Neg, which is abbreviated as 6S in electro-speak. 
And here is what 6S looks like in reality when six 4V @ 450Ah FireFly batteries are connected in Series. 
Putting all that theory into practice, let’s take a look at the case of fuses used for Overcurrent Protection of the batteries and their cables. In this photo you can see that Hilmi and Selim have installed these large T-class fuses directly to the Positive output of this 6S bank using a thick copper flat bar. 
Back in the Workshop looking up at the ceiling right behind the end of the Engine Room Enclosure, we find another job that Hilmi and Selim completed this week by connecting the 24V power cables to the big Lewmar EVO65 winch up on the Aft Deck. This winch will get quite a workout as it is how we lift the Tender off and on the Aft Deck and we’ll cover that more in the coming weeks as the Davit Arch gets built.
As you can see, the motor and gearbox assembly tuck up nicely in this space which will be even more protected with the AlucoBond ceiling panels are put in place.
On the Starboard/Right side opposite the Winch Hilmi has mounted this Junction box to house some of the connections of the wiring in the Workshop for some of the 24V consumers such as the Maretron Black Boxes and Workshop lights.
Zooming out a bit to get the bigger picture you can see how this newest junction box sets nicely up in the boxed corners that wrap all the way around the perimeter of the Workshop and how well that beautify big overhead hatch brings in all the light and fresh air. The large rectangular AL bracket will soon have the DC Distribution Panel mounted to it and all those large Red/Black/Yellow/Green cables will go in their to connect up to the Positive and Neg bus bars, circuit breakers and fuses.
Speaking of which, that DC Distribution Panel for the Workshop showed up this week so we now have all three of these Distribution Panels, two of which you’ve seen in previous weeks with one up in the Forepeak and the Main one down in the Basement.
All the cable glands have been pre-installed for all those cables you saw in the photo above and keeps each cable both securely mounted with a waterproof connection. You will be seeing more of this panel as it gets mounted inside the Workshop and Hilmi starts connecting all the cables, wires, fuses and circuit breakers.
Panning to the Left to this area above the Fuel Manifolds, these are some of the Maretron BB’s and one of the bluish multi-port N2K blocks on the far Right where the N2K backbone connects with the larger Blue cables such as the one visible on the far Right. The small white wires are coming from the various Maretron sensors for things like temperature, pressure, fuel flow, WIF Water in Fuel, etc..
Making a nice transition from electrical to aluminium “hotworks”, I finished up the design for this fairing block for the Aft Depth and Bottom Discriminating sounder and Uğur transformed it to solid 30mm thick aluminium in literally minutes.
sends the data and graphics like this out via Ethernet cable to our boat computers and the TimeZero navigation software. These sounders are most commonly used by commercial fishermen but having all this detailed information about the contours and materials below us is eXtremely valuable to us for checking out the best anchorage spots.
This boat-like shape helps accomplish all these tasks; protects the transducer and smooths out the water flowing over the bottom surface of the transducer.
Equally critical is having the bottom surface of the transducer being parallel with the waterline so that the sonar signals are pointing straight down so we tacked the front end to the place on the hull we had strategically chosen and then used the laser level to get the bottom surface eXactly parallel with the “ground”.
Even though we had chosen a spot on the hull that was relatively flat there was still a good sized gap at the Aft end where the bottom plates start their sweeping curves up into the prop tunnel.
However it only took Uğur minutes to quickly cut some small triangular shapes of 5mm AL plate to fill that gap and then start laying down the first passes of weld to make this all integral to the hull.
One additional detail we designed in for an extra bit of safety with anything that is a penetration of the hull is that I had Uğur weld in a matching boat shaped piece of 5mm thick plate to the top of this 30mm thick boat shaped block before he tacked the whole block to the hull where it touches on the far Left/Forward end. Click to enlarge this or any photo to see this 5mm plate and then the thicker 10mm hull plate above it.
In last week’s Update I outlined the design I came up with for mounting the Gardner and the Nogva to the beds in the Engine room using large anti-vibration mounting “feet”. This week I finished up those design and construction drawings and Uğur got busy the brackets for Mr. Gee’s four “feet” and the two for his best buddy the Red Nogva CPP Servo Gearbox.
To help with your orientation in the real world, here is a shot standing up on the Aft Deck looking straight down into the Engine Room. The two long parallel Mounting Beds you see in the rendering above are what you see here running from top to bottom in this photo. Stern is at the top here so that is the Aft end of the Engine Room Enclosure at the top of this photo and out of sight at the bottom is the WT Bulkhead with the Guest Cabin on the other side. Two large transverse Frames # 18 & 19 rare what you see spanning across between the two beds. 
Inside the ER looking Aft I’ve been busy laying out the exact locations for the mounts. Getting the location of these engine and CPP mounts eXactly correct is eXtremely critical to the overall performance of the propulsion system so even though I’ve modeled every component very precisely in Fusion 360 3D modeler, I double, triple check all the numbers and geometry using independent hand sketches and pulling off real world measurements with tape measures, laser levels and machinist squares and then transferring this all to the aluminium with labels and lines on the masking tape I’ve put down along the beds. 
Uğur has cut all the 25mm / 1” thick AL plates to size and prepped them for full penetration welds with the large 45 degree chamfers to form a deep V gulley for his MIG welding passes.
I really enjoy working so closely with Uğur and with all the modeling, measuring and marking done and all the plates cut and prepped time now for Uğur to start tacking them in place.
The aft most mount for the Nogva Gearbox required this stringer be cut away where the mounting bracket plates will be and to provide enough room for the MIG gun to access. New stringer plate will be welded back in again after the mounts are all done.
At the opposite front end, the supports for the bed extension required these slots be cut in the stringer under the 25mm thick Mounting Beds.
With all the interfering stringers cut away and slotted, Uğur could start tacking in the mounting plates starting with this vertical brace for the Stbd/Right Nogva Gearbox undermount and get it perfectly lined up with the reference lines I’ve marked on the bed surfaces.
He soon has both vertical braces tacked in place.
and then tacks in the horizontal base mounting plate. My hand will give you a sense of size and scale. Mr. Gee weighs in as a svelte 1400kg/3100lbs and the Nogva CPP adds about another 250kg/550lbs so these mounts need to stand up to several decades of support for over 17-1800kg / 3750-4000lbs of vibrating propulsion goodness so I am over engineering these beyond even my usual eXtremes. 
At the front end of the beds this Stbd/Right side bed extension is also now all tacked up and perfectly leveled ready for one last check with the laser level and straight edges before final welding begins.
Soon all four mounts, none needed for the two in the middle, are all tacked up, checked and ready for welding.
Front Bed eXtensions fully welded ready to be ground flat and flush.
As are the rear two undermounts with the stringer plates now added back in.
And here is a Birds-eye view looking down through the big ER Hatch on the Aft Deck.
Meanwhile, one floor up in the “Fitting Room” in my Workshop, I’ve been busy getting Mr. Gee’s new mounting brackets which we finished building last week, all fitted and installed on Mr. Gee himself as we prep for the big day of lowering him into his new home in the ER onboard Möbius.
Seen from the front side and with the anti-vibration “feet” in place, this is what the finished Aft Mounts look like.
Front Right mounting bracket and foot test fit and good for final torqueing.
On the Front Left mounting bracket I have incorporated this extended base plate where I will soon be mounting the big Jabsco sea water impeller pump that provides all the cool seawater to flow through the heat exchangers for the engine coolant, engine oil and Nogva Gearbox oil before exiting out via the wet exhaust system and back into the seal. 
In the photo above, the PTO or Power Take Off drive can be seen on the far Left here and then viewed through the two holes in the vertical mount brackets. I’ll be making up a SS drive shaft that will attach to that PTO end and go through those two holes in the mount and then be attached to the shaft of the Jabsco pump. Should make for a very robust and reliable drive setup for this critical pump.
Mr. Gee’s feet were not the only thing I’ve been massaging this week, I also finally made the time to finish prepping the purposely “obese” flywheel option that Michael at Gardner Marine Diesel kindly provided for us. This mass helps to further even out the legendary eXtreme smoothness of all low revving Gardner 6LXB engines and make Mr. Gee a real smooth operator to quote Sade Adu’s great song.
Many months ago I had sent this flywheel out to the CNC Machine shop next door to have that recess with the 8 M-12 threaded holes machined and now I needed to remove these no longer needed bolts and bearings that are used for mounting a traditional Gardner gearbox.
The outer circumference of the Flywheel also serves a critical function by having these precise marks that are used for setting the timing of the fuel injection pump. There are three sets of these precision marks and this one is for setting the injection timing of #1 cylinder. I have filled these stamped in marks with fluorescent Green paint to help make them easier to see through the timing window in the outer aluminium Flywheel bell housing.
I sanded these areas down to leave the Green paint just filling up the letters and masked them off before spraying on the primer and topcoats.
As always, all the time in painting comes from the prep work so after months of that it only took a few minutes to spray on the first coat of primer.
Followed the next day by the final topcoat of aluminium paint. 
My anti-rust fetish had me take the time to sand blast the six anti-vibration feet so I could paint them while I had my spray gun out and the aluminium silicone paint mixed up, 
And shot them at the same time I was shooting the Flywheel so they are now all ready for installation.
Final step was to insert this aluminium SAE14 Centamax 1600 drive plate into that recess I pointed out earlier and torque down the eight hardened M-12 bolts.
When it is time to connect the Gardner to the Nogva Gearbox, this rubber flex drive which is bolted to the input shaft of the Nogva, will slide snugly into all those matching U shaped grooves in the AL drive plate that is now bolted to Mr. Gee’s Flywheel. This is one more very significant component helping to make Mr. Gee such an eXtremely smooooooooth operator.
The last bit of TLC for Mr. Gee was getting these stainless steel flexible exhaust bellows machined and welded so we can start installing the Halyard exhaust system. These SS woven mesh connectors work really well by absorbing any vibration or movement between the Gardner engine and the dry stack SS pipes running up and over the Gardner on their way to the Halyard Combi Silencer/Separator.
And the bottom square flange bolts to Mr. Gee’s exhaust manifold. You will be seeing much more of this once we start installing the Halyard exhaust system later this month.
We kept dancing to Sade’s Smooth Operator song throughout the week and that certainly included all the work that Omur and Selim were doing in the Main Cabin and the Galley.
Omur continued installing all the beautiful Rosewood drawers in the Master Bed Platform with their super smooth operating Blum drawer slides.
As you may notice, our Chippies aka Cabinetmakers, went a bit overboard last year when they started building the first drawers for XPM78-01 Möbius and made EVERY surface out of Ro$ewood so my pocketbook and I needed to reign them in a bit and use the very nicely contrasting Beech for the insides and undersides and unseeable surfaces of all the rest of the drawers and drawers they subsequently made.
All the other drawers and doors in the Master Cabin and throughout the rest of the boat have this very lovely contrast of colour and grain between the dark swirling Rosewood and the honey coloured Beech. Thee upper four drawers in this Bureau of Drawers beside the Master Bed Platform show this well. 
I covered these AbFab Blum bottom mounted drawer slides ad nauseum last week so I’ll leave you to go check that out if you’d like and just point out that this is a good shot at the underside of one of the Bureau drawers to show how these slides and their cushioned auto-close mounts work.
and here is an interior shot of one of the sliders in one of the bed platform drawers.
Looking rearward to the stairs leading up to the SuperSalon, these are the six drawers along the Starboard/Right side of the Master Bed Platform.
And these are the five drawers on the forward facing end of the Bed Platform.
Last 2 drawers in the Master Cabin are the two Omur in front of Omur located underneath the Vanity Sink at the very front end of this Cabin. 
Omur soon has both drawers all mounted as well s the door on the Medicine Cabinet above the sink.
The Rosewood doors along that Starboard side open up into very large storage shelves with hanging lockers and the Washing Machine behind what will soon be mounted Green/Gray leather covered drawers above the BHL Handhold.
Difficult to fit it all into one photo but this shot standing in front of the Vanity sink provides this perspective looking down those doors on the far Left and along the Bureau of Drawers and the Bed Platform on your way to the hanging locker on the Left just before you start up the stairs to the SuperSalon.
Speaking of which this view looking straight down those stairs from the SuperSalon lets us see that Omur has also now installed all the solid Rosewood nosing on each of these stair treads.
The solid Rosewood nosing and intake air grills for each of the stair treads came back from the Finishing Shop with their multiple coats of PU varnish all rubbed out to a beautiful matt sheen.
Omur soon had these all fully installed and awaiting the installation of the final flooring which will be planks of click-lock high end vinyl.
Upstairs Omur and Selim continued to make good progress installing the Main Helm Station which we saw them begin the previous week. The hinged Dashboard is now back from the Upholstery Shop along with the mounting panel for the two 19” touch screens and the cut-outs for the switch panels are in the angled wall on the Right side of the Helm Chair.
I was finally able to get a photo of Sinan our Mater Upholsterer standing beside the latest round of ceiling panels for Möbius as well as the three Black Leather covered Dashboard pieces.
This is the basic layout that Captain Christine has come up with and is now in place. Kobelt Throttle/Pitch control levers bottom Right, Furuno Jog Lever to its Left and then the Gray cover is hiding the Furuno 711C AutoPilot Head.
The hole on the far Left corner will have a smooth radius ring on it and will allow the Standard Horizon RAM4 VHF mic cord to coil up in the space below.
Up on top of the Right side angled wall, that Black Kobelt panel is the Kobelt control station to give control to either the Main or the Flybridge Helms OR give control to this Kobelt 7176 WalkAbout Controller which we are eXtremely eXcited to try out soon. This is a corded remote control which can plug into a receptacle here at the Main Helm or up in the SkyBridge Helm and the 10m/33ft cord then allows us to “walk about” almost from stem to stern with this remote. It is eXtremely multi-functional as the two levers on the sides control the Pitch of the prop and Throttle of the Gardner and then up on top we can control the rudder, the bow thruster and the CPP Clutch. With this in hand we can pretty much control the whole boat while standing anywhere on the boat from the very aft end of the Swim Platform to up on the Bow.
In addition to giving you an overview of the whole front end of the SuperSalon and the Main Helm, all those wires hanging down from the ceiling indicate that Hilmi and Selim have been here putting in all the power cables for the LED lights overhead.
Most of all though, Christine and I are already fantasizing about sitting in our super comfy Llebroc Helm Chair up here and gazing out through these 360 degrees of windows as we head out towards our next great destination. 
It is a hard area to photograph well but the “doghouse” overtop of the Entryway from the Aft Deck into the SuperSalon is shaping up very nicely thanks to Ömür’s hard work.
Here is a different perspective on that same area looking in through the Entryway door on the Aft Deck. The Black Corner Box running across the upper ceiling area will have a snap In/Out panel to give us access to the various electronic gadgets that will live inside.
…… if I now climb up to the SkyBridge you can see this same Hatch liner from up here and get better oriented.
Walking a few steps forward in the SkyBridge and looking back at this same Hatch you can see where the SkyBridge Helm Chair will set in that space to the Left of the Hatch. We have oriented this Hatch lid like this to make it easy for us to pass things back and forth from the Galley and the SkyBridge and to make it easy for us to talk back and forth when we are in these two areas.
Can you guess where these three little drawers are bound for?
Well, I guess the heading of this section makes that easy to guess that they go HERE on the “peninsula” in the Galley that runs parallel with the walkway as you come down the stairs from the Entryway door.
Drawer Diversity continues over here on this set of drawers on the Window side of the Galley countertops forward of the double sink.
And yet more different sizes and shapes of drawers here on the other “peninsula” running along the back of the Dining Settee on the other side.
A bit difficult to see through all the construction but you can see how all the Garages atop the Turquoise marble countertops are also different sizes and depths for yet more diversity of our storage. Our hope is that having all these different options will allow us to optimize all these storage areas and enable us to find the Goldilocks just right spot for everything we want to store in our Galley.
Also eXciting for us to see the big double sink be permanently set into the marble countertop. And yes we heard all your questions and recommendations for a undermounted sink instead and we may well agree with you for the next boat, but we are very happy with this top mount and thing it will work well for us.
The large main faucet has a removable spray head with a very effective magnetic holder to keep it in place when not being used. The smaller faucet on the far Right is just for cold drinking water which comes from its own 150 Liter tank that is completely independent of all other water tanks for an extra bit of safety should it ever happen that all six of our integral water tanks should be somehow contaminated. 
Holy Pinocchio!
![IMG_20200620_134827[3]](https://i2.wp.com/mobius.world/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/IMG_20200620_1348273.jpg?ssl=1 "IMG_20200620_134827[3]")
![Omer with router[3]](https://i0.wp.com/mobius.world/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Omer-with-router3.jpg?ssl=1 "Omer with router[3]")
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