I am still out traveling so a bit delayed in putting together this weekly update for Sept. 17-21, 2018 and thanks for your patience.  Thanks to Yiğit providing me photos from the yard I am able to put together this quick summary of this week’s work on mv Möbius.

Primary focus this past week has been on building the superstructure for the above deck Pilot House and SkyBridge areas and the continuation of final welding of all the tanks, baffles, stringers and components on the interior of the hull.  Let’s start up on deck with the progress Uğur and Nihat are making putting together the jig saw puzzle of pieces of aluminium that make up the Pilot House and Skybridge framing.

As you say last week the upper parts of the frames making up the Pilot House have been tacked in place and followed by the plating of the front overhang where one bank of solar panels will go. 

A justifiably proud Uğur is now working his way along the sides of the upper outside of the Pilot House tacking all these plates in place.  This shot is taken from inside the Starboard corner of the SuperSalon where the Galley will go looking over the aft Port side.

The rectangular opening you can see in the photo above and in this next frame in front of it on the left will be plated to create the vestibule and headroom when you walk through the main watertight door leading from the aft deck and down the stairs into the SuperSalon.

Standing on the forward Port corner of the Pilot House looking aft along the Port side deck you can see how the plating is quickly being tacked in place to form the roof overtop the framing.  The horizontal portion you see Uğur sitting on is a bit like the eaves on a house and in our case provides a nice overhang above the side windows to help provide some shading and reduce rain on the windows.  This area also provides convenient storage for our inflatable kayak while we are at anchor to keep is out of the water when not in use. 

Standing in the Port (left) aft corner of the SuperSalon looking forward as we see Nihat moving one of the MIG welders into the SuperSalon you can see how those side overhangs look from the inside.  This view also shows the vertical window mullion posts which frame each sheet of very thick laminated glass and creates the 360 degree views from within the SuperSalon.  Doesn’t take too much imagination to see how fabulous the views will be from anywhere you are standing or sitting as you look out at the tropical island we are anchored off. 

Moving up above the floor of the Skybridge you can see how the longitudinal stringers you see here and in the photo above have been inserted in their slots in the upper frames ready to have 6mm plates tacked in place to form the floor of the upper Skybridge area.

Next day you can see those SkyBridge floor plates have been tacked in place and Uğur is now fitting the inner plates which will form the lower walls or coaming enclosing the SkyBridge.

With all the framing in place the plating proceeds quickly and you can start to get a sense of how great a space this SkyBridge will be with its unobstructed and elevated views.  There is a full helm station off to the left of this photo and I think this will be my favorite spot to con the boat from in all but the most inclement of weather when we can move down to the helm station in the front of the SuperSalon.

This quick render, click to expand, will give you a better sense for how the aft deck, SkyBridge and Pilot House are laid out.   You can see the doorway on the aft Port (left) end of the Pilot House leading into the SuperSalon., the stairs up to the SkyBridge on the opposite Starboard side and the roof and solar panels that extends out over the aft deck.

Moving back on the Aft Deck looking forward you can see the initial superstructure that extends aft from the end of the Pilot House.  This creates a nicely protected area where the stairs go up on the Starboard (right) side into the SkyBridge and then also create a roof over the aft deck area to provide shade and rain protection for our BBQ area on the aft deck.

Looking a bit more to Port you can see the beginnings of this aft deck roof.  It will also provide a great surface for our third bank of solar panels, the other two being atop the SkyBridge roof/bimini and the roof overtop the front of the Pilot House.

It is difficult to photograph but a tremendous amount of work is taking place inside all the water and fuel tanks that form the entire bottom of the hull below the waterline.  Each of the 14 individual tanks have lots of baffles within them to prevent the free surface effect, the technical term for “sloshing” of these liquids when we are underway.  And each baffle needs to be fully welded along all three edges and on both sides so it adds up to a LOT of miles of welding.

And as with all welds these need to be cleaned both before and after the welding so Mehmet is constantly looking after this.

No video for you this week I’m afraid so this will have to do for now.  I will be out out travelling for another 2 weeks but I will do my best to get this week’s progress update posted over the weekend.

Thanks again for choosing to join us on this adventure and as always, please add y our comments and questions in the “Join the Discussion” box below.