Whew!  What a week this has been.  A shortened work week for Christine and I as we traveled to Kapadokya, as it is correctly spelled in Turkish but Anglophones spell it Cappadocia, with two dear friends, Philip & Nancy who flew in from Switzerland and Australia for a fabulous albeit much too short visit with us.  However you spell it Kapadokya should be pronounced “firkin’’ AWEmazing”!! 

Captain Christine is busy making a special video just for all of you and will post that separately later today.

**UPDATE:  You can watch Christine’s beautiful video of our AWEmazing hot air balloon experience over the equally inspiring landscape of Kapadokya HERE NOW!

***  For more details and photos of our time in Cappadocia including her new video are now available in Christine’s blog post HERE.

But Wait There’s More!  She has also already added a great wide angle shot overlooking Kapadokya on our balloon ride and added this to the “slider” photos at the top of the Mobius.World blog so be sure to check that out too.

For now, I’ll just tease you with a few shots that I managed to grab as best I could with my mouth agape.

Meanwhile back at Naval Yachts Team Möbius put in a very full week and made lots of progress on many fronts so I’ve got lots for you in this week’s Show & Tell.  Grab your favorite beverage and reading spot and join me for this week’s dive into the building of mv Möbius.

Hot Air!

It is going to steal the show anyway, so let me start with the “Hot Air” part of this week’s title as in our awemazing hot air balloon ride early Tuesday morning with Philip & Nancy.
As incredible as it may be, the biggest attraction of Kapadokya is the incredibly unique geography filled with what many call “fairy chimneys” which are tall, cone-shaped rock formations clustered in Monks Valley, Göreme and elsewhere.
My photos won’t hold a candle to Christine’s video so I would recommend you go watch her video HERE right NOW before you go any further to get a much better sense of this experience. 

No rush, it will only take a few minutes for you to watch,  I’ll wait till you come back ………………………..

……………… See what I mean? 

Say after me…………. firkin’’ AWEmazing!!

Now that you have a better sense of this incredible natural wonder of the world in Kapadokya, I encourage you to also click to enlarge the photos above and below so you can check out some of the geography of this region.  Kapadokya is a UNESCO World Heritage site and as they note “Other notables sites include Bronze Age homes carved into valley walls by troglodytes (cave dwellers) and later used as refuges by early Christians.”

Our original reservation for a sunrise hot air balloon ride was for Monday but this was unfortunately cancelled when the aviation authority for the region issued a weather warning.  But we were up at 5am on Tuesday with fingers crossed as they started to luff our balloon and fill it with hot air from these two propane burners while we anxiously awaited word that we would be allowed to take off.
Our pilot Hakan, or “Hakan Solo” as Christine dubbed him as he is a huge Star Wars fan, was absolutely fabulous both as a person and as a encyclopedic knowledge of the area and as you saw in the video, a VERY skilled hot air balloon pilot. 
Hakan received word on his VHF radio that the authorities had approved the balloons to fly and with a few more blasts of propane flames we had lift off!

As you may have noticed we were not the only hot air balloon lifting off and there were a total of 150 balloons in the air that morning.
And as if our senses were not already on overload this “Lady in Red” was but one of about ten Brides and Grooms who were taking advantage of this very popular location for wedding photos.
We only had them for three days in Antalya and three in Kapadokya but the “density” of our experiences that we managed to pack into those few days was eXtreme and we now have even more memories of their visit with us.

Hot Water!

While we were away Team Möbius stayed in close contact with me via WhatsApp and the short video below is what Cihan sent me on Monday to share this significant milestone of the first hot water produced on Möbius and tested at the Vanity Sink in our Master Cabin.

Taking a few steps back, this is where that Vanity Sink lives, front and center of our Master Cabin.  In spite of the rather rough surroundings this solid glass sink is already stealing a lot of attention as it lights up with that LED light above and even more so when you clear out the protective foam behind the sink and the LED strip light in the bottom of the cabinet causes those blues to become electrifying.

Can’t wait to show you the final result once the Master Cabin is fully completed and all the protective plastic, cardboard and painters tape comes off.  We can’t wait to see it ourselves!
The ever productive Cihan had a very busy week and can you guess from this photo what his next project was?
Correct!  He is mounting our two SS “Shower Towers”.  This one is in the Master Shower and mounts at a 45 degree angle in the corner on the far Left.
And this one is in the Guest Cabin Shower.  In addition to their great looks in our eyes, one of the many reasons for choosing this “Shower Tower” style is that all the plumbing is contained within the unit itself rather than being hidden behind the shower walls.  The first photo above shows this quite well.

One of our five primary principles for our XPM is lowest possible maintenance so this factors into all our decisions and being able to easily remove this whole shower tower in the future provides me with great access to all the hoses, mixing valves, etc.  The only thing inside the walls are the continuous runs of PEX tubing for the hot and cold water lines.
Back in the Workshop, Cihan was busy getting many other systems fired up for the first time including this Webasto IsoTemp 75L / 20USG Calorifier that holds all our DHW or Domestic Hot Water and he adjusted this mixing valve to set upper limit of the hot water coming out of this unit.
This cut-away demo unit shows how this IsoTemp unit has multiple sources to heat the water inside;

1.   SS loop filled with heated water from our Kabola KB45 diesel boiler.
2. A second (not shown) SS Loop connected to the engine coolant on Mr. Gee (Gardner 6LXB engine)
3. 230V electric heating element (small U loop in the middle)
   We expect to use the first option above, this Kabola KB45 as our primary source of heating our DHW as it is so quiet and efficient but we will take advantage of the “free” heat from Mr. Gee whenever he is running and then perhaps use the 230V heating element on the few occasions when we are plugged into Shore Power.
   Hilmi was working on the KB45 this past week as well and he has now finished the electrical connections for the Kabola with the mounting of the white Siemens thermostat you see on the upper Left corner.
   It is showing just 23C / 74F as this is the ambient temperature in the Workshop but we expect to fire up the Kabola in the next few weeks once we have some diesel in one tank and will show you that when we commission this unit.
   Our DHW also flows through the In-Floor heating PEX lines so Cihan was checking for any leaks and also bleeding the air off of these manifolds in the Basement where the circulation pumps push hot water through the three independent loops of PEX tubing inside the floors of each of the three cabins; Guest, Master and SuperSalon.
   These SS manifolds came as very complete units with build in temperature gauges on both the Upper Supply Manifold and lower Return Manifold as well as three RED flow meters along the top of the Supply manifold, three White flow adjusters on the bottom Return Manifold and bleed valves and drains on the ends of both manifolds.
   Cihan is also testing all the various plumbing system for proper operation and checking for any leaks and had a problem with this diaphragm switch on the High Water extraction system under the floor on the Port/Left side of the Workshop so he has the floor grate out right now.
   Back up front in the Master Shower & Head, Serkan has been busy with multiple jobs including gluing the Corian countertop in the Head/Bathroom.  They use this clamping system very often of cutting lengths of wood that they bend into place and use the force to push in this case from the ceiling down to the Corian countertop below. 

While they are at it, they used longer sticks to clamp and glue a composite water tank access hatch in the floor.

Let there be Light!

Our “Sparkie” aka Electrician Hilmi was as busy as ever this past week and very “illuminating” as he installed and connected most of the light switches onboard and Möbius now has her own interior lights on rather than all the industrial construction lights we’ve been using.

Apologies for the strange colour in this photo but Hilmi now has all our indirect LED strip lighting working such as these in the Corridor from the Engine Room to the stairs up to the SuperSalon with the Guest Cabin entrance on the middle Right.
However the real eXciting illumination for me is that he has also been installing these super bright LED fixtures on the ceilings of the Workshop, Engine Room, Basement and Forepeak.

Check out THIS example along the Starboard/Right side of the Workshop and see how light and bright it is in there now with nothing but these three LED lights overhead.
Even brighter over here on the Port/Left side of the Workshop overtop of my very long, and VERY messy, Workbench. 

I don’t expect too many of you to understand but this makes my little heart go all aflutter as I can now see so clearly what I’m doing as I work here. 

However, knowing what I’m doing is another matter all together!
Same story inside the Engine Room as Hilmi mounts more of these eXtremely bright industrial LED light fixtures overhead of the Stbd side of the ER.
I took a few photos when it was dark out just before leaving last night to show just how bright these working spaces are now.  This is peering down into the ER from up on the Aft Deck.
And here is what it looks like at night peering through the ER entry door.  In addition to these overhead lights I will also be putting in some LED strip lights underneath the two lengthwise AL Engine Beds to light up the voluminous bilge area down there where of course everything seems to end up. 

Ask me how I know?!!
More exciting milestones thanks to Hilmi such as having these three Victron BMV7122 Smart Battery Monitor Gauges lit up for the first time.  Next week I will get round to configuring them with all the right settings which only takes a few minutes.

We have 24 FireFly Carbon Foam L15+ 4 volt @ 450Ah cells which are wired 6S4P meaning that there are four sets of six cells wired in Series (6S) to create four 24V @ 450Ah groups.  Two sets are then wired in parallel to create Bank A and Bank B which are each 24V @ 900Ah and then these two Banks are paralleled to create the overall House Battery Bank of 24V @ 1800Ah

Here is how that looks schematically.  Two of the three BMV’s thus report on the condition of Bank A and Bank B and the third monitors the total 1800Ah House Battery.
Some smaller but no less important jobs Hilmi ticked off this week included this 120V + 230V waterproof connection underneath the Upper Helm Station on the SkyBridge.
This push button switch for the monster Lewmar 65 EST winch on the Aft Deck that will be most often used to raise/lower the Tender Davit Arch.  This switch is being mounted on the Aft side of the Starboard Vent Box which also houses the 230V Kenyon Frontier electric Grill/BBQ.
And running ethernet CAT7 cables in the ceiling of the Workshop.  We have ethernet cable running throughout the boat for all the networking and connections between all our many electronic gadgets which we depend upon so highly and this also helps “future proof” the boat for adding more later.

AlucoBond Goodness:

Of course all those LED lights are working so well because Nihat and Uğur spent several days this past week mounting all the White AlucoBond panels on the walls and ceilings of the Workshop and the Engine Room.

These AlucoBond panels are working out eXtremely well as they create a super tough White powder coated surface of the outer 0.5mm layer of aluminium with a 4mm thick mineral core which is all non-combustible to meet and exceed all fire regulations.
In addition to the ceilings and walls of the ER and Workshop, they also installed the AlucoBond on the interior of the Doghouse where you enter the Workshop from the Aft Swim Platform. 

First they install the supporting framework for the AlucoBond panels using 30mm aluminium L-bar and flat AL plates welded to the frames and stringers of the hull and Doghouse framing.
Then they use SS self tapping screws to secure each AlucoBond panel to the AL frames.
The AlucoBond can be easily bent to create corners for places such as the panel around the Hatch in the forward end of the Doghouse.
The AlucoBond is easy to work with using standard carbide tools such as jig saws, router bits and circular saws.

This makes creating cut-outs such as this one on the Left for the filler tube on the 55L / 14.5USG AL hydraulic oil tank for the Kobelt steering system.

Where edges of cut AlucoBond exist we cover them with U-shaped rubber edging which you can see if you click to enlarge this photo.
Even before the protective film with all this Black & Red printing is removed you can see how well these White AlucoBond surfaces reflect the light from just these four LED lights in the ER.

Swim Platform Step& Storage Box

Stepping over the high sill of the Watertight door from the Swim Platform into the Workshop was a bit of a nuisance so Uğur quickly solved that problem by fabricating this Step/Storage box.
An eXtremely KISS design (Keep It Simple & Safe) so I didn’t bother firing up Fusion 360 to create a model and drawings for Uğur as there are basically just two pieces of 5mm AL plate; one welded into the Swim Platform and Stbd side Stair and the other for the hinged top that creates the Step Tread.
A small strip along the back for the SS piano hinge to bolt to and a small U-channel on the far Right side to act as a gutter for water run off.

Then tack-tack-tack goes Uğur ’s MIG gun and the Step is all framed up.
Bend a thin strip around the two outside edges of the hinged lid and mount the SS piano Hinge.
We have enough of the EPDM edge trim we are using for the Deck Hatches to use here to make this Storage box fully waterproof as the Swim Platform is often quite wet when we are underway with following seas and such as well as regular rainy days.

Et Voila!!  We now have an eXtremely easy step In/Out of this doorway and a very handy Storage box on the Swim Platform for shower supplies, snorkel gear, etc.  Thanks Uğur!

Nogva CPP Enters the Scene

Hmmmm……………

What are Cihan and Nihat up to after ours in the dark up on the Aft Deck with the ER Hatch wide open?
And what is THIS dropping out of the sky into the beautifully bright Engine Room?
Aha!  It is Mr. Nogva CPP Servo Gearbox coming in to join forces with Mr. Gee our Gardner 6LXB main engine.

With a CPP (Controllable Pitch Propeller) we don’t have a transmission per se as there is no forward/reverse gearing.
Instead, by simply rotating the four propeller blades in synch we can smoothly change from “neutral” to Forward to Reverse and the push of a lever.
The Nogva Servo Gearbox bolts directly to the massive aluminium flywheel housing on Mr. Gee as both have a standard SAE1 flanges and bolt patterns.
so it was very quick and easy to bolt these two best buddies solidly together so that they form a single massive propulsion unit.
Hussein works for a big shipyard next door where he specializes in engine/gearbox/prop shaft installation and alignment so he comes over when he gets off work at around 18:30 and he and I work on this installation and alignment.

He helped me get the Nogva dropped in place and bolted to Mr. Gee and then I stayed on a bit later into the evening to get everything all ready for the next and eXtremely important step.
Getting the Nogva dropped in place and bolted up to Mr. Gee was very quick and easy, now comes the slower part of aligning the output flange of the Nogva Gearbox which you can see at the top of this photo.
The prop shaft and flange are fixed in place vertically and athwartships (Left/Right) by the bearings which center it inside the AL prop log tube at the bottom.

So alignment involves moving the output flange to line up precisely with the matching flange that mounts on the forward end of the 65mm / 2.6” prop shaft.  I took this shot looking forward towards Mr. Gee to show that we are already reasonably close and now need to move the Gardner/Nogva buddies over to the Port/Left side a bit and down a bit.
Here is a side shot to help show how these two flanges meet up.  Adjusting the angle and height of the Gardner/Nogva assembly is accomplished by adjusting the height of their respective “feet” or “flexible mounts”.
Click to enlarge this photo and you can see how the Noga foot/mount at the bottom center can be adjusted Up/Down by turning the two large nuts on the vertical threaded shaft of the mount/foot.  The similar rear foot on Mr. Gee can be partially seen in the very bottom Right corner of this photo.  More on all that in next week’s update.

For the observant and curious wondering what that blue articulated hose with the little Red “hats” is, here’s your answer; it is the Tides Marine dripless SureSeal.
The prop shaft has to pass through the aluminium shaft log tube and out through the aft end where the 4 bladed 1m diameter propeller sits so that puts a very large hole in the boat that needs to be dealt with and hence this seal between the prop shaft and the prop log tube.

The little Red “hats” as they are called are used to protect the SureSeal rubber lip seals from being damaged as you slide them onto the prop shaft.  These simply pull out and are split to remove from the shaft when done.

In next week’s Möbius Progress Update I will pick up from here which is where I left off late last night (Saturday here) so do stay tuned for the next episode of “As the Prop Shaft Turns”.

Let me end where I began, with Hot Air.  You have become accustomed by now to all MY hot air so be sure to treat yourself to some truly inspiring Hot Air by clicking HERE to watch the video Christine has just posted that condenses our 90+ minute Hot Air Balloon ride in Kapadokya down to just six minutes.  Trust me, you’ll be glad you did.

Thanks so much for joining me here again this week and PLEASE consider contributing your questions and suggestions in the “Join the Discussion” box below.

-Wayne