Reminiscent of the line from one of the Godfather movies I believe “Just when I thought I was out; they pull me back in” Möbius is now back in Finike.  Multiple factors driving our decision including that Christine needed to go back to Antalya for one or more consultations with her surgeon who did the arthroscopic operation to fix her torn meniscus and we needed to get the new beam for the Davit Arch brought to Möbius from Naval Yachts in Antalya.  As you may recall, Setur Marina here in Finike was our “home port” since last July so we are very familiar with the area and know where to go to get things, who to talk with in our network here to get things done and a good safe spot to have Möbius tied up for a few more weeks while Christine continues her recovery and I get boat jobs done.

Marmaris to Finike

I spent most of the day on Monday going to different marine stores in Marmaris to pick up some of the lines and hardware I need for rigging up our Paravane stabilization system and doing some grocery shopping to stock up for the next week.  Christine had found a lovely little anchorage on the charts that was just about 10 nm (nautical miles) from the marina in Marmaris so we untied from the dock and headed over there on Monday afternoon leaving Marmaris in our wake as per the photo. 
Though I must point out “What wake?” as I am just so pleased with how clean Möbius slices through the water.  Thanks Dennis for the great hull design!
We tucked inside a small bay with this small island just outside and enjoyed the sundown with some wine up in the SkyBridge with views like this.
We had a bit of a rude awakening when a ferry went past the entrance at about 3am which rolled us so bad we almost flew out of bed.  After picking up some of the items that had ended up on the floor we decided that we were wide awake and had a long run ahead of us so might as well just weigh anchor and head for Finike.  We were rewarded with what was apparently a special “Rose Moon” and very flat seas as you can see so made the decision pretty easy.
It was ideal motor boat conditions with glassy flat seas and no wind.

This is a shot of our wake or lack thereof at about 8.3 knots
And this is the bow wave.

It was about 110nm down to Finike and these conditions continued the entire way.  It was the longest continuous voyage we’ve yet taken aboard Möbius and gave us a good chance to test out running the boat for longer and longer runs as we get everything broken in and learn more and more about running this very unique and new to us boat.

I’ve discovered that our fuel flow meters have not been connected correctly so all my previous fuel burn numbers I’ve published are out by at least 40% so for this run I measured the actual volume of fuel removed from the Day Tank and used this to calculate the true fuel consumption.  109nm total distance traveled and we burned 169 liters so an average of 0.64 nm/L or 2.4 USG/nm which is right on my original estimates and MUCH better than the numbers I had been getting from the fuel flow meters.  Just like the oil pressure gauge problems that vexed me in the past, I have once again been tripped up by assuming that the gauges were correct.  Silly me!

The Turquoise Coast of Turkey was on full display for the whole day and this photo is typical of what the rugged rocky and forested coastline looks like.

Total trip time anchor to dock was about 13.5 hours so our average speed was 8.1 knots.  We will continue to play with the various combinations of Mr. Gee’s RPM and the CPP pitch settings to bring the speed up more and more and find the Goldilocks “sweet spot” for speed, fuel economy and ideal loads.

Progress Update on Christine and XPM Hulls #2 & 3

We rented a car for Tuesday morning and drove down to the hospital in Antalya for Christine’s checkup and to get the stitches removed.  Typical of our experiences with Turkish medical treatment at least at this hospital, it took less than 20 minutes from the time Christine walked in with no appointment to when she was back out front of the hospital stitches removed and an A+ report card from her surgeon.  She is still not getting off the boat too much yet but the swelling is way down as is the pain and she is able to walk more and more around the boat so a full recovery is looking more and more likely.  Doc said she could go swimming as of today (Sunday) so we will probably go for our first swim of the year when I get this blog posted.
While we were in Antalya, we asked Naval Yachts if we could stop by the Free Zone to see how the two new XPM builds are going and this is what XPM78-02 “Vanguard” is looking like.
And this is what XPM85-01 is looking like while still upside down getting all the hull plates welded on.  She is due to flip right side up next month which is always a very big milestone in a build and we could not be more excited for her owners Andrew and Lili.
A view of Vanguard from the rear Port quarter.  Those with detailed eyes will perhaps notice that the owners have decided to paint the hull so you can see the first coat of primer has been applied to the hull sides.
One of the major differences between our XPM78-01 and this second version is that it will be a twin engine/prop boat.  These are the partially completed skegs that house the prop shafts.
No change here on the Swim Platform with the doghouse for entering into the Engine Room and the same stairs on boat sides leading up to the Aft Deck.
With twin JD engines the Engine Room will be much more traditional with a full beam layout but this comes at the expense of the Workshop we have in Möbius with the smaller central ER for Mr. Gee.  The Basement has also been eliminated on Vanguard so the ER will also have most of the systems equipment located within as well.
Up above on the Aft Deck the cantilevered roof is much longer and more substantial than on Möbius which will provide more shelter underneath and space for solar panels above.
These are the drawings and renderings for one of the two guest cabins, this one located at the very front near the forepeak.
Construction of the furniture for this cabin has begun and this will be the cabin for the Owners’ young son.
Shower and toilet in the cabin’s Head.
Probably the biggest single difference between Möbius and Vanguard is that they have replaced the Basement underneath the floor of the Salon with this spacious Master Cabin.  To get the additional 1.2m of  headroom needed, the tank tops have been lowered and the whole Salon has been raised.  Provides a significant increase in the sleeping area but comes at the expense of storage so all part of the compromises of designing and building a boat that best matches her owners.
The additional height is easy to see when you notice how the bottom of the Salon windows now sit about 40cm above the deck where they are almost flush on Möbius.
Another very visible difference with the addition of these tall bulwarks that run down the entire length of both sides of the deck.  Will make for a much safer feeling that many prefer when traversing these side decks.
Seen from the Aft Deck of Vanguard, the stern of XPM85-01 shows how it too will be a twin engine boat and the two prop tunnels are easy to see now.
A worm’s eye view underneath the XPM85 shows how the upside down framing is supported by the steel structure attached to the concrete floor of the shipyard.
Still a long way to go and a LOT of welding but they are off to a good start as you can see looking up into what will be the Engine Room of the XPM85.
Looking aft from the bow, the plates for the sides of the hull are being held in alignment by all these sacrificial AL bars.  The plates are pushed/pulled into alignment and then these bars are tack welded to hold the plates in position for the MIG welders to sew together all the seams.
Same “crash bulkhead” bow design and central anchor snubber nose cone.
As exciting as it was to see all the progress on these next two XPM hulls, what really got our hearts racing was finding this completed new beam for the Davit Arch on Möbius!  We are ever so appreciative of Naval Yachts getting this replacement beam fabricated in record time.  All thanks to Dennis’ even speedier redesign and testing of this new beam so our thanks to all.  I’ve arranged for a bonded truck to bring it from the Free Zone to Finike this coming week and with any luck I’ll be able to show you the new and improved Davit Arch installed and working on Möbius in next week’s update.

Paravane Progress

We have decided to go with passive rather than active stabilization, at least for the foreseeable future and will use a pair of A-frame booms that can be lowered to about 45 degrees off each side of the Aft Deck.  The aluminium booms have been installed for some time now so this week I was finally able to do the rigging to raise/lower the booms.
As with most of the other rigging on Möbius I am using synthetic rope most commonly known as Dyneema or Amsteel.  As incredible as it sounds this new age line is stronger than multi stand stainless steel wire and is SO much easier to rig and replace.  It is easily cut with this “hot knife” and I just wrap the location of the cut with grey PVC tape and then slice through the line with the red hot blade.  This leaves a very nicely fused end on the line so it does not unravel and is easy to handle.
This is the setup that will raise and lower the booms from vertical when stowed to about 45 degrees when deployed. Very simple setup with the end of the line attached to the bracket on the left which is about half way up the 6.2m/20ft long boom pole and then over through the black turning block and down to the winch below.

Deploying the paravane booms is a simple matter of slipping the line on the winch to lower the boom until ……

…….. the fixed length support line at the end of the boom goes tight.
Looking up from deck level where it is easy to reach and turn the winch handle.
Easy to see from this view from the dock.  One side all done.
Both sides done and this is what it looks like with both paravane booms fully extended. 
I grabbed this shot from some posts on the Trawler Forum boat “Hobo” to show what it will look like with the paravanes or “fish” as they are often called deployed when underway.  Each paravane/fish is suspended by a 9m length of Dyneema from the ends of each boom such that they “fly” through the water about 6m/20ft below the surface and about 5m off the sides of the hull. 
As the boat tries to roll, one vane resists being pulled up while the other one “dives” down and sets up to resist as the roll goes over to the other side.  A bit like the tight rope walker’s pole works.  Paravanes also have the benefit of working at anchor as well so no more being tossed out of bed in a rolly anchorage!
Some of my fellow Canadian boaters have come up with this design for a DIY paravane and I’ll be using this to build the first pair for Möbius. 
Plywood is surprisingly difficult to find here so Christine and I spent a few hours when we were in Antalya searching and finally finding a shop in the industrial zone that had some left over 20mm / 3/4” marine plywood left over and kindly agreed to cut the two pieces I need to build our paravanes.
When finished our paravanes will look very similar to these also off mv Hobo. 

White epoxy painted plywood with aluminium plate for the fin and line attachment.  We will use Dyneema rather than SS chain as shown here.

That’s the story for the week of June 13-19 here in Finike and hope your week was similarly productive.  Thanks for taking the time to join us here and please do add any and all comments or questions in the “Join the Discussion” box below.  Hope to have you here with us again next week.

-Wayne