Christine & I are taking the weekend off to celebrate our 5th First Kiss-iversary and Christmas with a 3 day road trip up the coast to see more of the beautiful area we live in.  Last night we had a gorgeous sunny day for our 2 1/2 hour drive up the coast to the little coastal town of Kos where we last stayed with some good friends on their sailboat four years ago.  Today we drove down the coast a bit to spend some time in the ruins at Myra, near the down of Demre, which quite appropriately is where the real Saint Nicholas spent most of his life and was laid to rest.  So I’m writing this up as we enjoy our 2nd night away, this time in the Orange Capital of Finike, another coastal town where we have stayed four years ago in the marina. 

I will write up a separate post for those of you interested in this traveling aspect of our lives here in Turkey, but for now I’ll get you up to speed on the progress for the week on building XPM78-01 aka Möbius so let’s jump right into that.

IMG_20181217_134252As per this week’s title the most prominent progress was finishing the proboscis of Mobius as you can see her proudly displaying here,


IMG_20181217_133817

  and here with this topside view in spite of some fool’s hand getting in the way.


I wasn’t fast enough to get pictures while they were fabricating this nose section but the top and bottom are made from the same 10mm/3/8” thick plate as the rest of the Rub Rails and the front curved section was formed out of some of the 25mm/1” thick plate that was used to form the stem to stern keel bar and other robust frame members.
IMG_20181217_134326

Here is what the fishies will see.

The bottom edge of the Rub Rails and nose now awaits Segin’s magic MIG welding touch to finish off this part of the hull.


IMG_20181217_134358As per the title this nose, complete with flaring nostril will quite literally lead the way as we eXplore the world aboard this awemazing XPM boat.
IMG_20181221_125144Stepping back a bit you can see that the boys have been busy cleaning up the foredeck area with their brass wire brushes and give us a better sense of how safe and strong it will be working the anchor and ground tackle from up here. 


The vertical Samson Post will soon be capped off with a machined aluminium dome and a sturdy lengthwise running cylinder will run through the post making it quick and easy to secure the snubber rope lead through that big “nostril” from the anchor chain once we have the anchor set.  This snubber line runs out about 3-5 meters in front and is secured to the anchor chain to act as a shock absorber as Möbius pulls and tugs with the waves while we are anchored.  This prevents shock loading compared to if the chain were to be taking up these loads and makes for a much quieter anchor.


IMG_20181221_125258Doing an about face and looking aft you can see the rest of the well sloped anchor deck and the rest of the foredeck and the Pilot House which have also been cleaned up now that all the welding of the Rub Rails have been finished. 
Next up that large opening into the Forepeak storage area will be framed in for the hinged all aluminium hatch to keep it all nice and dry and make it easy to get lines, fenders, anchors and such in and out of this eXtremely spacious storage area.


IMG_20181221_125344Dropping down to deck level you can see part of the 24m/78 ft long bead where the Rub Rail is welded to the deck.  We may lay in another bead to increase the radius of this weld and it will then be ground down a bit to ease the edge a bit further and finish off this feature.


IMG_20181217_165715Moving aft we catch Sezgin up on top getting ready to lay down more weld as Nihat and Uğur (not seen here) have now finished bending this last length of the Rub Rail to the hull and making the transition corner onto the aft transom surface.


IMG_20181219_112644Team Möbius works with speed and precision and they soon have the aft Port corner all finished up…..


IMG_20181221_124456as you can see in this closer up view looking forward along the Port side Rub Rail.
IMG_20181221_125056Returning to the Forepeak we see that the interior is getting similarly finished off and cleaned up.  This shot is taken from the outer aft corner of that big Forepeak hatch we saw earlier and you can see how well the pipe capped stringers work as a very strong and safe steps for climbing in and out of this storage area.  The two access port frames have now been welded to the tops of what will be our Gray Water holding tank for our Master Cabin sinks and shower. 
Once the lids are bolted down with their gaskets in place all these tanks will be pressure tested again to ensure there are no leaks and they will be ready for plumbing to be connected for the various hoses to fill, pump-out and drain these tanks as well as fittings for the Maretron and Hart level gauges so we have constant and very accurate tank level measurements.


IMG_20181221_124739Moving aft on the other side of the Forepeak bulkhead/wall which is now at the far end of this picture, we can see that similar progress has been made finishing up the access ports into these water tanks that form the floor of our Master Cabin. 
That beautiful swirl pattern on the surrounding hull sides, frames and stringers is exciting to see as this indicates that these areas are now ready for the 50mmm thick EPDM foam to be glued in place.  Our previous boat Learnativity taught us the huge values of having  really well insulated boat and we are taking this to the eXtreme with Möbius.  Our goal is to turn Möbius into a giant Thermos bottle for us to live eXtra comfortably in no matter what latitude we are in from ice outside to ice in our drinks. 


Such eXcessive insulation might seem overly expensive and very time consuming to install but it pays us compounding dividends of by keeping heat in/out of the boat which dramatically reduces our energy requirements for heating and cooling systems.  Add to this the significant joy of a library quiet boat under all conditions and you can understand why this is an easy decision for us.

IMG_20181221_125624Moving down to the shop floor off to the side of where Möbius sits, I can finally reveal the answer to the riddle I left you with a few postings ago asking if you could guess what that stack of aluminium rectangular extrusions like my wrinkled hand model is showing you were for. 


IMG_20181221_125559Can you guess what these are for now?


IMG_20181221_172605How about now?



IMG_20181221_172614Bingo!  Uğur and Nihat have begun to fabricate the structure for the bimini/roof overtop of the SkyBridge.  In addition to providing the oft needed protection from the sun or rain when we are up top, this strong and light structure will create the framework for mounting eight full size solar panels. 


Arch up   downThese solar panels, shown in dark blue in this quick render, will be sealed in place to the dark green bimini framework and create the majority of this roof surface.


The magenta coloured parts you see here, show another neat “convertible top” feature whereby the whole bimini roof structure is articulated with the hinged arch structure so that they can both be lowered down when we convert Möbius to “Canal Mode”.  This reduces our air draft or height above the water is low enough to allow us to eXplore most of the areas in the world with large canal systems that typically have many low bridges over them.  I will show you more of those details in future posts as the construction and mounting of this bimini progresses.


Aft Deck Stbd cornerTo further assist with your orientation and getting a good mental model of Möbius, the red vertical structures on the Aft Deck act as Vent Boxes for the Engine Room as well as providing space for our BBQ, sink and storage for wash down hoses, propane bottle and maybe some fishing gear. 
The blue area between the two Vent Boxes is the large hinged hatch overtop of the whole Engine Room for installing or removing the Gardner and CPP. 


If you click to enlarge these renderings, or any other photo, you can also see the Wing Boxes which flank both of the aft corners of the Pilot House and enable the thick glass side windows to extend all the way aft to create a very well protected space on both sides.  The WT door into the SuperSalon is on the Port/Left side and the staircase up to the SkyBridge is on the Starboard/Right side.

8BD4228C747A8FC76018B7D98BF61379Saving the best for last perhaps, while I don’t have a video for you this week, thanks to Antoine who is the Captain and Owner’s Representative of the big steel boat “Legacy” which you have seen sitting right in front of Möbius in previous posts, I’ve got something special to leave you with; Drone Photos! 


Antoine just received the new DJI Mavic Air Pro drone that they will use when they are out chartering guests around the world aboard the fully renovated mv Legacy and so he was doing dome practice runs with the drone inside of the Naval Yachts shipyard and took these shots of Möbius.

07A487A8A51288E2023EE7AF2F1BF2F4Here is a great shot Bow on that will give you a good feel for the shape and scale of the Foredeck, Anchor deck and front of the Pilot House.
C52D581B5BC3806FF677DC64D80D63BDA Port side view of the front half to put this area into perspective.
FAA026C5F4301EE539DA7822C29AB032The area at the bottom here where the air hose is coiled up is where the aft hinged fame with 3 more solar panels will sit and when propped up while we are anchored, creates a huge air tunnel to funnel all the fresh breezes coming over the bow down through the dark open vent area you can see at the far upper end of this space here. 


0F65E4CA85A7974E96B5CE722995A8B0Spinning around 180, here is a good shot of the SkyBridge area behind this vent which is what the bimini top will soon be covering, and at the very far end the integral roof overtop toe Aft Deck and Vent Box area you saw earlier keeping us shaded and dry when outside in those areas.
A5EF9BF940227B54B0166953124814BCAnd lastly for today this bird’s eye view looking straight down onto the Aft Deck with the big ER hatch opening, the plinth on the aft Stbd/Right corner of the aft deck for plenty of headroom when going off the Swim Platform into the Workshop.


Thanks so much for sharing these with us Antoine and look forward to more as you master piloting your new drone.


IMG_20181222_174949And tha-tha-tha-that’s alllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll for this week folks! 

It is wine o’clock as the sun sets here in Kos and I’m back to join Captain Christine and the pups for sundowners.
Thanks for choosing to come along for this ride and we’ll be back wtih more next week. 

As always, we encourage you to add all your questions, suggestions and comments in the “Join the Discussion” box below.