Canakkale snipIt is Eid al-Fitr here in Turkey right now which is a major 4 day holiday celebrating the end of Ramadan, the Islamic holy month of fasting so it as a three and a half day week with a half day on Thursday.  After 30 days of dawn to sunset fasting you can imagine the joy and celebration going on over this long weekend.  It is a time when families traditionally get together to mark the start of Eid with a lavish meal and we are delighted that Dincer and Baris have made the journey up to their original home town of Çanakkale which is at the far western end of the Sea of Marmara with Istanbul over on the far Eastern side.  Enjoy your family time Baris & Dincer!


People who have jobs involving a lot of physical labour are exempted from the fasting so our crew were still able to have their tea breaks and lunch and keep up their fabulous progress on Möbius.  I’ve talked in previous postings about our use of the “empty ends” design for Möbius which allows us to have as long as possible waterline for maximum hull speed and efficiency but keep the interior just right sized for us by leaving the two ends of the boat, bow and stern, relatively “empty” non living space for storage, propulsion and other systems equipment.  This week the focus was on framing in these two empty ends of the boat by erecting the frames at both ends and connecting them up with stringers and baffles for the tanks.  The week may have been short on days but it was long on progress with TWO exciting milestones; the final Frame was erected on the jig and our first 2 hull plates were tacked in place!  Many more milestones to come but I’m getting ahead of myself so let’s jump right in and let the pictures do all the talking as I take you through all the progress from June 11th through 14th, 2018.

IMG_20180611_153741As you may recall from last week’s post, this is what the aft end framing looked like. The Engine Room Enclosure begins at Frame #17 seen at the left and the rest is all for my amazing Workshop.  All the frames are in, the longitudinal stringers have been installed in their matching slots and everything is precisely tacked in position.



IIMG_20180611_184620f you click to enlarge this photo you can see the lengthways running engine beds up at the top which have been fabricated from very beefy 25mm plate flanked by two large water tanks on each side within the hull as elsewhere on the boat. 


IMG_20180611_184728All of which set the stage for THIS!


IMG_20180611_184745The very first hull plate is lifted into position


FirstPlateand Umit tacked it in place to the stringers and frames. 


IMG_20180612_103409Frames are notched where the lengths of plate meet up to allow for a continuous weld which will be done once all the plates have been tacked in place.


IMG_20180612_182303The next day a second 6m/20ft length of 6mm plate could be tacked in place in front of the first.


IMG_20180612_182312and I can now sight down these two hull plates and use my AI (Augmented Imagination) to visualise the sleek slender shape of our hull.  It is difficult to see in these pictures with just these two upper plates but there is a nice compound curve to these plates as they move aft and begin the narrowing of the hull aft.

IMG_20180613_173428This subsequently set the stage for positioning the aft transom plate and tacking it in place.


IMG_20180613_173325The rectangular opening on the right will have a watertight door on it and is our HazMat locker for safely storing things like fuel, welding gas, propane and anything else that we want to keep safely outside of the boat but in a dry secure space.

The opening where Enver and Umit are standing is another WT door in and out of the Workshop and Engine Room areas.


IMG_20180613_173923Here is a shot looking aft inside what will be the Workshop and Engine Room enclosure with the HazMat locker on the left, entrance door on the right.  Keeping in mind the boat is upside down right now you can join me in imagining this great space.

Umit who is about 190cm/6.2ft will give you a sense of scale in this space and you can start to see the prop tunnel shape when those upper curves in the frames are plated in.


IMG_20180611_153524Moving forward to the mid sections of the hull, the tank assembly which you saw lifted into place a few weeks ago is now being framed in and the margin plates installed which form the top of the tanks where they intersect the hull plates.


IMG_20180611_153629On the right here we see the bulkhead which separates our Master Cabin on the left from the Galley and Basement areas to the right.  There is a “void” in here to form an air space between the fuel tanks in the floor on the right and water on the left and here you see the stringers being tacked into place.  Up at the very top, soon to the very bottom when we flip the hull right side up, you can also see the big thick 25mm Keel Bar which travels all the way from stem to stern and forms a super strong backbone for the whole boat.


IMG_20180611_154056I have previously noted some of the various ways which wedges are used to put aluminium pieces into perfect alignment and here you see that same Keel Bar and this wedge being used to align this joint which will soon be fully welded to form a single bar.


IMG_20180611_154139Panning over and out a bit above our Master Cabin shows more of the stringers and baffles forming the underfloor integral tanks.


IMG_20180611_154133Looking aft you can see how the gridwork of baffles and frames for all the integral tanks are mostly in place now.


IMG_20180611_154238What you can’t see as well are the nautical miles of welding in place along all every edge of these baffles.  This is one of the spools of AL wire for one of the MIG welders and they go through several of these a day now.  All of this just a warm up act for the truly long lengths of weld which will begin once the hull plates are tacked in place and this giant jig saw puzzle of a hull has been fully assembled.


IMG_20180612_103502Continuing our way forward this is Frame #4 on the left which is the WT Bulkhead separating the forward end of our Master Cabin from the Forepeak storage area and you can see Uğur up on top tacking the margin plate in place.


IMG_20180612_125557Back up on top this forward looking shot shows the framing pretty much complete under our Master Cabin and a view of the Forepeak area where we are headed next.


IMG_20180613_173715Back on the ground and looking towards the bow we see all  four frames that make up the bow. 


IMG_20180614_115922If you’ve really been paying attention to these posts this is the first time we’ve seen Frame #1 in place which is the last frame to be added so another welcomed milestone this week is having ALL the frames now in place which is overly exciting for your reporter here!

Next week when everyone is back and fully fed, the framing in will continue as will the addition of more plates so the hull will soon take on more and more of its shape for you.


For now though, here is this week’s compilation of sped up video clips I took throughout the week.

My sincere thanks for taking the time to join us on this journey and be sure to add your questions and suggestions in the comments box below.

– Wayne