Sheesh! Half way through the month of August already!
Time for a brief update on what’s been happening with us and Möbius over the first two weeks of August.
Weather here continues to surprise us with how ideally cool it is. This past week has seen the daily temperatures drop a few more degrees from their previous norms of about 32C / 90F down to about 28C / 82F as I sit typing this at about 3pm on Sunday. Evenings and mornings are even cooler and with the constant Meltemi winds blowing through the boat sleeping is very comfy and mornings are starting to feel downright chilly! Not sure why this area is experiencing such relatively cool summer when the rest of Europe, the UK and many other parts of the world are seeing record high temperatures but we’ll just enjoy and be grateful that we’ve got such ideal conditions.
Here is what else we’ve been up to the past two weeks.
Update from Kalymnos Greece
Christine and I have settled into a nice rhythm here onboard Möbius and in this lovely south end of Kalymnos Island that I showed you around in the last post. If you did not see that post, this map will help orient you as to where the small island of Kalymnos is at (red pin) in the bigger picture of this Eastern end of the Med. This satellite view of the island of Kalymnos (click to enlarge any photo) will help you see how arid and mountainous it is. Möbius is the south harbour at the Red pin. To give you a sense of scale, the coast road allows you to circumnavigate the whole island in just 68 km/42 miles. So not too big which suits us just fine.
Christine Update
Christine continues to be very dedicated to getting her knee back to full working order and goes for a swim each day where the surprisingly brisk ocean water is the perfect medium for her physio exercises. Progress is slower than she’d like but improving. This is but one of may swimming spots she gets to chose from every day. And almost all of them have a beachside taverna so she gets to enjoy a Freddo Cappuccino and water in the shade when she finishes her exercises. Thanks to her E-bike that she got before we left Turkey she is able to get to pretty much any of the swim spots on this end of the island in less than 10 minutes and with no strain on her knee, so all good. The town itself is small but lively with daily arrivals of Turkish Gullets and other sail boats as well as lots of ferries that bring people to and from the surrounding islands or as far away as Athens. Makes for good people watching including this very salty dog of a Captain. As with most small towns though there are some less savory characters like this one who manage to sneak in when no one is watching. In addition to swimming, Christine loves to use her E-bike which she calls her “Freedom machine” to explore further afield and she has been super impressed by how well the “pedal assist” of her trusty E-bike allows her to climb even the steep hills that are the norm everywhere on the island once you leave the waters edge. Her explorations down random little roads and alleys continue to produce finds like this old church. Which can often reveal surprise treasures such as this interior of the building above if you go up the stairs and push the door open. When not out swimming or exploring, Christine is hard at work in her office every day here aboard Möbius as she starts doing the heavy mental lifting of creating a whole new set of characters and timelines for the newest book she is writing. Stay tuned for more on that as it develops.
Wayne’s World
Meanwhile I am kept very busy with the combination of remaining boat jobs on the list and fixing the inevitable gremlins that pop up. Our Kabola diesel boiler suddenly stopped earlier this week after working flawlessly every day for the past year and a half so trying to sort that out. For now I’ve just turned on the 220V element in the Calorifier (hot water tank) for daily dishes and showers.
One of the unfinished boat jobs this week has been finishing building the paravanes so we can test them out when we next head out to sea. As you may recall from previous posts, Paravanes are passive stabilizers which work by “flying” about 6m / 20’ below the water. These help keep the boat level by resisting forces trying to roll the boat from side to side. As the boat rolls, one of the paravanes or “fish” or “birds” as they are sometimes called, resists being pulled upward while the other paravane dives down and sets up for its turn to resist being pulled up as the roll forces go to the other side.
The paravanes themselves, are suspended from Dyneema lines (super strong synthetic rope) that hang off of long booms extending out from each side of the boat at about 45 degrees. Here is a paravane in action from another boat.
If you’d like more details on our Paravane setup check out THIS blog post and THIS one from back in June when I was rigging the booms and starting to build the paravanes.
Before we left Finike in Turkey I had finished shaping and painting the 20mm / 3/4” plywood “wings” for the two paravanes and bolting in the T-bracket where the line goes up to the boom. Now I needed to cut these two aluminium plates to act as vertical fins that will help keep the paravane tracking parallel to the hull. Pretty straightforward to cut with my jig saw and shape with my angle grinder. Now just need to drill holes for the bolts that will attach the vertical fins to the T-bracket and the paravane wings. Like this. The holes along the top of the T-bracket are where the line going up to the boom attaches and provide adjustments for the angle the paravane will slice through the water at different speeds and conditions. Final step was to bolt on these two zinc weights that weigh about 15kg / 33lbs and create the nose of the paravane. This forward weight ensures that the fish will dive down quick and smooth when not being pulled upward. When the boat rolls the other way, the line pulls up which straightens out the fish and immediately start resisting the roll. Rinse and repeat! Here is the finished pair of paravanes all ready for testing, though I will probably put on another coat of epoxy paint for good measure.
Next week I’ll finish the rigging and get the lines attached from the ends of the booms to each paravane.
Not too bad a spot to be in and we are eXtremely grateful for just how fortunate we are to be here.
I’ll be back with more as our time races by here in Kalymnos and hope you enjoy these briefer updates. Let me know by sending your comments and opinions in the “Join the Discussion” box below and I’ll be back with more as soon as I have it. -Wayne
14 Comments
John T Poparad II on August 14, 2022 at 1:46 pm
Please keep up the Wayne’s World part of these posts. I am especially interested in the performance data, ongoing maintenance as well as the breakdowns and improvements. Looking for how real world meets expectations. And what the steady state looks like.
Thank for the quick and generous feedback John. I certainly share all the same interests and you can count on me sharing all the real world data as I collect it. Once we get back to cruising again in a month or so I’ll be sharing the data as I have it.
I’ve seen paravanes at a distance and have always wondered what the connection looks like where it attaches to the boat. i.e. What keeps it from grinding on itself and making noise and having wear ? Actually just making the connection should be trivial, but how to do it so that you don’t have those problems ? Just make it big and heavy and smooth ?
Hi Jz. There are two primary connections to the boat for the paravanes: A-frame to the hull and paravanes to the boom. I think you’ll find pictures of these in those previous blog posts I linked to and I’ll do my best to include more in upcoming posts about the paravane system. For the A-frame is is as you noted “big, heavy and smooth” with thick hinge like components machined out of solid AL block and then large SS pins through them. In operation there is really no movement between these parts so they just need to transfer the forces between the A-frame and the hull. The pins and holes got a good coating of Tef-Gel to help keep the dissimilar metals getting along. Therefore I would not expect to see much wear over the years but I’ll keep my eyes on it obviously.
The fixed length line of Dyneema attaches to the paravanes via a SS shackle with a nylon sleeve on it to help reduce chafe on the line and then up at the boom I’m currently thinking of keeping it simple by using a “soft shackle” method of just wrapping the Dyneema around the 150mm AL tubes of the A-frame itself. I’ll post more about all this in an upcoming blog once I get the rigging done.
I just love looking at Christine’s pictures, sorry Wayne I know your stuff is very important, but the scenery and the swimming holes are just beautiful!
Easy to miss things with my overly verbose and long postings Jz. I’ll add some more details on the connections I’m using for the paravane system on Möbius when I put up the next post about finishing off the rigging. Let me know if these help answer your questions and give you a clearer picture of how the whole system works.
Thanks for your thoughtful questions and comments.
Delightful being able to “sit next to you, so to speak as I enjoy your description today. I’m curious about using a shackle instead of a shackle and block at the end of the paravane arm as I’m thinking the block would help to reduce chaff? My only experience with deploying paravanes was delivering a trawler from Anacortes to Ventura, finding good reduction in the boat’s roll motion. We’re big fans of our Brompton e-bikes, finding in my case, the bike appears to knock about 40 years off my age on hills. All the best, Sean
Glad to have you along as a “seat mate” any time Sean!
I’ll provide more details of the way I end up rigging the paravanes which I hope to finish off this week. The line from the end/top of the boom down to the paravanes is a fixed length line and so my current thought is to use no hardware and simply wrap the Dyneema around the large diameter AL pipe of the boom and then straight down to the SS shackle that attaches to the vertical paravane T-bracket.
I don’t have any previous experience with paravanes, just lots of research and learning from those who do so I’m sure my rigging will go through several iterations and evolve over time a we use them. I’m going to likely use a second retrieval line that will both make it easier to retrieve the paravanes and bring them onboard to stow and will also provide an additional safety line in the case of the main fixed length line failing and seeing the paravane head down to see Neptune.
There will be photos and explanations of all this in the future post about the paravane rigging which I hope to finish this week so see what you think of that and let me know your concerns or questions about how I’ve done this.
Keep up the good work Wayne! – With those Planes deployed – do the cables ‘Sing’ in the water, and create un wanted noise? I know some ‘Sonar Guys’, that use what looks like strips of tape – like the tassels on the leather jackets of some Bikers, on the cable. This breaks up the cavitation, and noise.
Great question that I share with you Pat. Most of the others who have tried using Dyneema or other synthetics for the line that the paravanes hang on, report it working well and much better than either multi strand SS wire cables or chain. The noise factor is one of the things I’m most interested in learning about in our first trials of the paravanes so I’ll be able to let you know how well or not it works.
Your idea of using some tassels along the length of this line to reduce the noise sounds like a good one so I’ll try that if they turn out to be overly noisy as we start using our paravanes. Stay tuned for more reports from the sea and let me know what you think as I report on their performance, noise, etc.
I’m going to be very interested to see how the use of Dyneema for the lines going from the end of the boom down to the paravanes work out. Particularly for noise both from the in the water portion and out. General consensus of those who are using Dyneema or similar synthetic report good success and significant improvement over chain or SS wire so seems to be the current favorite. I’ll wait to see what the real world testing shows and see if any noise reduction is needed. I suspect noise will vary based on conditions both above and below the water so will make it all the more interesting and I’ll report more once we get back out and start using the paravanes.
Christine and I have settled into a nice rhythm here onboard Möbius and in this lovely south end of Kalymnos Island that I showed you around in the last post.
If you did not see that post, this map will help orient you as to where the small island of Kalymnos is at (red pin) in the bigger picture of this Eastern end of the Med.
This satellite view of the island of Kalymnos (click to enlarge any photo) will help you see how arid and mountainous it is. Möbius is the south harbour at the Red pin. To give you a sense of scale, the coast road allows you to circumnavigate the whole island in just 68 km/42 miles. So not too big which suits us just fine.
Christine continues to be very dedicated to getting her knee back to full working order and goes for a swim each day where the surprisingly brisk ocean water is the perfect medium for her physio exercises. Progress is slower than she’d like but improving. This is but one of may swimming spots she gets to chose from every day.
And almost all of them have a beachside taverna so she gets to enjoy a Freddo Cappuccino and water in the shade when she finishes her exercises. Thanks to her E-bike that she got before we left Turkey she is able to get to pretty much any of the swim spots on this end of the island in less than 10 minutes and with no strain on her knee, so all good.
The town itself is small but lively with daily arrivals of Turkish Gullets and other sail boats as well as lots of ferries that bring people to and from the surrounding islands or as far away as Athens. Makes for good people watching including this very salty dog of a Captain.
As with most small towns though there are some less savory characters like this one who manage to sneak in when no one is watching.
In addition to swimming, Christine loves to use her E-bike which she calls her “Freedom machine” to explore further afield and she has been super impressed by how well the “pedal assist” of her trusty E-bike allows her to climb even the steep hills that are the norm everywhere on the island once you leave the waters edge.
Her explorations down random little roads and alleys continue to produce finds like this old church.
Which can often reveal surprise treasures such as this interior of the building above if you go up the stairs and push the door open.
As you may recall from previous posts, Paravanes are passive stabilizers which work by “flying” about 6m / 20’ below the water. These help keep the boat level by resisting forces trying to roll the boat from side to side. As the boat rolls, one of the paravanes or “fish” or “birds” as they are sometimes called, resists being pulled upward while the other paravane dives down and sets up for its turn to resist being pulled up as the roll forces go to the other side.
The paravanes themselves, are suspended from Dyneema lines (super strong synthetic rope) that hang off of long booms extending out from each side of the boat at about 45 degrees.
Here is a paravane in action from another boat.
Before we left Finike in Turkey I had finished shaping and painting the 20mm / 3/4” plywood “wings” for the two paravanes and bolting in the T-bracket where the line goes up to the boom.
Now I needed to cut these two aluminium plates to act as vertical fins that will help keep the paravane tracking parallel to the hull.
Pretty straightforward to cut with my jig saw and shape with my angle grinder.
Now just need to drill holes for the bolts that will attach the vertical fins to the T-bracket and the paravane wings.
Like this. The holes along the top of the T-bracket are where the line going up to the boom attaches and provide adjustments for the angle the paravane will slice through the water at different speeds and conditions.
Final step was to bolt on these two zinc weights that weigh about 15kg / 33lbs and create the nose of the paravane. This forward weight ensures that the fish will dive down quick and smooth when not being pulled upward. When the boat rolls the other way, the line pulls up which straightens out the fish and immediately start resisting the roll. Rinse and repeat!
Here is the finished pair of paravanes all ready for testing, though I will probably put on another coat of epoxy paint for good measure.
Not too bad a spot to be in and we are eXtremely grateful for just how fortunate we are to be here.
![Kalymnos set in larger map_thumb[1]](https://mobius.world/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Kalymnos-set-in-larger-map_thumb1.jpg "Kalymnos set in larger map_thumb[1]")
Please keep up the Wayne’s World part of these posts. I am especially interested in the performance data, ongoing maintenance as well as the breakdowns and improvements. Looking for how real world meets expectations. And what the steady state looks like.
Thank for the quick and generous feedback John. I certainly share all the same interests and you can count on me sharing all the real world data as I collect it. Once we get back to cruising again in a month or so I’ll be sharing the data as I have it.
I’ve seen paravanes at a distance and have always wondered what the connection looks like where it attaches to the boat. i.e. What keeps it from grinding on itself and making noise and having wear ? Actually just making the connection should be trivial, but how to do it so that you don’t have those problems ? Just make it big and heavy and smooth ?
Hi Jz. There are two primary connections to the boat for the paravanes: A-frame to the hull and paravanes to the boom. I think you’ll find pictures of these in those previous blog posts I linked to and I’ll do my best to include more in upcoming posts about the paravane system. For the A-frame is is as you noted “big, heavy and smooth” with thick hinge like components machined out of solid AL block and then large SS pins through them. In operation there is really no movement between these parts so they just need to transfer the forces between the A-frame and the hull. The pins and holes got a good coating of Tef-Gel to help keep the dissimilar metals getting along.
Therefore I would not expect to see much wear over the years but I’ll keep my eyes on it obviously.
The fixed length line of Dyneema attaches to the paravanes via a SS shackle with a nylon sleeve on it to help reduce chafe on the line and then up at the boom I’m currently thinking of keeping it simple by using a “soft shackle” method of just wrapping the Dyneema around the 150mm AL tubes of the A-frame itself. I’ll post more about all this in an upcoming blog once I get the rigging done.
-Wayne
And if the connection is a hinge, then still of aluminum ? Or dissimilar metal w/ stainless, etc ?
I just love looking at Christine’s pictures, sorry Wayne I know your stuff is very important, but the scenery and the swimming holes are just beautiful!
Thanks Wayne. I must have missed your earlier info about the frame attaching to the boat with a big hinge. Thanks for posting.
Easy to miss things with my overly verbose and long postings Jz. I’ll add some more details on the connections I’m using for the paravane system on Möbius when I put up the next post about finishing off the rigging. Let me know if these help answer your questions and give you a clearer picture of how the whole system works.
Thanks for your thoughtful questions and comments.
-Wayne
Delightful being able to “sit next to you, so to speak as I enjoy your description today. I’m curious about using a shackle instead of a shackle and block at the end of the paravane arm as I’m thinking the block would help to reduce chaff?
My only experience with deploying paravanes was delivering a trawler from Anacortes to Ventura, finding good reduction in the boat’s roll motion.
We’re big fans of our Brompton e-bikes, finding in my case, the bike appears to knock about 40 years off my age on hills.
All the best,
Sean
Glad to have you along as a “seat mate” any time Sean!
I’ll provide more details of the way I end up rigging the paravanes which I hope to finish off this week. The line from the end/top of the boom down to the paravanes is a fixed length line and so my current thought is to use no hardware and simply wrap the Dyneema around the large diameter AL pipe of the boom and then straight down to the SS shackle that attaches to the vertical paravane T-bracket.
I don’t have any previous experience with paravanes, just lots of research and learning from those who do so I’m sure my rigging will go through several iterations and evolve over time a we use them. I’m going to likely use a second retrieval line that will both make it easier to retrieve the paravanes and bring them onboard to stow and will also provide an additional safety line in the case of the main fixed length line failing and seeing the paravane head down to see Neptune.
There will be photos and explanations of all this in the future post about the paravane rigging which I hope to finish this week so see what you think of that and let me know your concerns or questions about how I’ve done this.
Thanks,
Wayne
Keep up the good work Wayne!
– With those Planes deployed – do the cables ‘Sing’ in the water, and create un wanted noise? I know some ‘Sonar Guys’, that use what looks like strips of tape – like the tassels on the leather jackets of some Bikers, on the cable. This breaks up the cavitation, and noise.
Pat
Great question that I share with you Pat. Most of the others who have tried using Dyneema or other synthetics for the line that the paravanes hang on, report it working well and much better than either multi strand SS wire cables or chain. The noise factor is one of the things I’m most interested in learning about in our first trials of the paravanes so I’ll be able to let you know how well or not it works.
Your idea of using some tassels along the length of this line to reduce the noise sounds like a good one so I’ll try that if they turn out to be overly noisy as we start using our paravanes. Stay tuned for more reports from the sea and let me know what you think as I report on their performance, noise, etc.
Wayne
Fun stuff: The tassels are “vortex generators”. I’ve seen them used in air flow a lot for various purposes. Whole ‘nuther subject.
I’m going to be very interested to see how the use of Dyneema for the lines going from the end of the boom down to the paravanes work out. Particularly for noise both from the in the water portion and out. General consensus of those who are using Dyneema or similar synthetic report good success and significant improvement over chain or SS wire so seems to be the current favorite. I’ll wait to see what the real world testing shows and see if any noise reduction is needed. I suspect noise will vary based on conditions both above and below the water so will make it all the more interesting and I’ll report more once we get back out and start using the paravanes.