Christine and I flew back into Antalya Friday night after our much needed and awemazing two weeks of Gramma & Grampa time with additional time with friends and family, picking up bits & bobs of boat equipment and meetings with experts and suppliers of marine technology.  I went to check out all the progress on Saturday morning and with thanks again to Yiğit for all his photos during last week, here is the latest progress update for your enlightenment and entertainment.

Now THAT’s a bow! 

Notice anything new and different?

Yup, Möbius now has her bow thruster tube in place ready to be fully welded into the hull and have the 24v 220kgf bow thruster assembly fitted.
Earlier in the week it started out like this with a 300mm / 12” ID x 15mm wall aluminium tube.  Bow thrusters are one of those things we spend a LOT of $$ to install and hope to never use, but when you DO need it you are SO glad you installed it. 
We always build our boats able to be single handed and with a boat of this length and windage crosswind in a narrow channel or marina can quickly take over control so that’s where the bow thruster earns its keep.  With a hull as eXtremely strong as ours we don’t worry so much about ourselves so much as who or what we might hit if this were to happen.  Pro active insurance you might call it.
Uğur has marked out the odd shaped hole where the round tube intersects the compound curved hull plates and has his plasma cutter at hand for the cutting.

If you look closely (click to enlarge any picture) you’ll see a small hole inn the center where you insert a SS rod through a matching hole on the opposite side and use this to center a rotating compass like tool with a permanent pen to trace this complex shaped hole.
In the flash of a plasma arc he’s got this Port/Left side cut and the sparks are flying as he cuts the matching hole in the opposite side.
And as Goldilocks herself might exclaim, WOW!!! that’s a hugey hole in my boat!

You can also see where the matching arc was CNC cut in the 25mm / 1” thick keel bar that runs from bow to stern down the centerline of the hull.
After cleaning up the slight slag left from the plasma cutter the tube slides right in and is checked for alignment.
My thumb will give you a sense of scale. 
Seen from inside the Forepeak, this is where the flange for mounting the motor and prop assembly will be fitted next and then the whole tube can be welded inside and out to the hull and faired aft to help smooth the flow of water over this opening when underway. 
Remember these big chunks of 50mm / 2” thick aluminium you saw being cut to look like this last week?
Well, they now look like this and after being carefully aligned with the laser to ensure the centerline of the hinge pin holes were perfectly aligned, they were spot welded in place and await Sezgin’s skilled hands to well around this top edge of the Rub Rails and same on the bottom.
Continuing with the theme of new aluminium fittings here is a quick overview of some of the progress.

Up on the Aft Deck, standing near the entry door to the SuperSalon and looking aft we can see the two large Vent Boxes which I’ve pushed into approximate position as they await having the vent ducts cut into the deck before they are welded overtop.
Stepping sideways and up on the SkyBridge staircase can you spot what’s missing from this picture?

That’s right another hole has been made whole with the addition of that eXtremely big hatch door over the Engine Room.
In both of the photos above you can also see that the two 450mm / 18” square hatch frames at the ends of each Vent Box are now all fully welded into the hull and ready to bring in lots of light and fresh air into the Guest Cabin/Office.

Moving aft to ask if you can see anything else new this week?

Correct!  These two big and new 700mm / 28” hatches have also been cut and welded to the deck. 
I am particularly excited about these as they located overtop of the VERY long workbenches running down either side of my Workshop and will make working in this full headroom area an even great joy.

Down on the shop floor and resting atop the partially completed Day Tank is the ducting for the Engine Room Intake Air which extends down from one of the Vent Boxes we saw above on the aft deck which carries fresh cool air through a mist eliminating grill in the side of the Vent Box down to almost floor level in the Engine Room ensuring a plentiful supply of cool fresh air for the mighty Gardner engine and continual exchange of air within the ER.
Putting the cooler intake air down at the bottom of the ER and then having this extraction air vent, seen upside down here, up at ceiling level on the opposite side of the ER ensures that there is a good thermal flow of air in and out of the ER.
Making more holes whole this is the 110 mm / 4.3” ID x 15mm wall pipe creating the intake Sea Chest in the Engine Room, tacked in place awaiting being fully welded inside and out of the hull.
Here it is seen from within the ER awaiting the sea water manifold to be fabricated and welded to the side of the tube.

Note too that the forward wall of the ER has now been fully filled with a double layer of EPDM foam making it 100 mm / 4” thick to keep all the heat inside the ER and moving up and out those vents you saw above.
Last week you saw this eXpecially large Forepeak hatch being installed and here is what it looks like now when open. 
Stepping back you can see how this hatch fits into the overall foredeck and the sloped anchor deck area safely surrounded by the solid 40mm pipe railings at the bow.

The center hatch opening with the white board in it for safety is overtop the vanity sink in the Master Cabin and the matching 700mm / 28” hatch on the Left/Port side is overtop of the shower.
We are eXpecially delighted with the way our placement of this hatch because we can leave it open when anchored even when raining AND we have made the two outer walls of the shower out of etched glass so it will also help flood the whole Master Cabin with the glow of all the natural light coming through.
We aren’t quite finished enough to show you all the interior but to help you visualise our awemazing shower, here is a sneak peak at an early rendering of the Master Cabin which our brilliant interior designer Unzile is creating with us.  I’ll be bringing you much more on all that in the coming weeks but let’s continue with this week’s tour for now.

We saw this being built last week and here is the door into the Engine room is now all in place ready for one more hinge to be added in the middle and then be insulated and fitted with its fire proof glass window.
Stepping aft a bit in the Workshop you can see how we’ve hinged the door such that it can open all the way to sit tight against the aft side of the ER Enclosure to keep it well out of the way and provide full access to the passageway on the left that leads to the WT door into the corridor outside the Guest Cabin leading to the stairs up to the SuperSalon. 
On the opposite Starboard side of the Workshop we see more additions such as the other big hatch, more perforated wire trays and the outline of the Day Tank at the far end.

The workbench and shelving which bolt to those frames on the far right here and same as opposite side above, have been removed for now to make it easier to move things in and out of this Workshop area.
Here are some of the 11 meters of Workbench that have been removed and stored under the hull while work on the interior goes on.

Did I mention that I have ELEVEN meters of Workbench in my full headroom Workshop???

Looking down at the aft side of the ER Enclosure the AL plate that seals this opening has been cut and fitted prior to being gasketed and bolted in place.  This gives easy access to the prop shaft “dripless” seal which cam be easily seen and inspected from within the ER but when you need to replace the seal every few years, it is very nice to have such ready access.  A feature we’ve designed in throughout all the systems on this boat.
Moving up to the front of the boat we find this find this beautiful sight of the now fully insulated Master Cabin. 
The black foam on the sides and ceiling is the 50mm thick EPDM and the white on the forward WT bulkhead where the Forepeak begins is the acoustic insulation to keep our Master Cabin nice and quiet with the help of another 50mm of EPDM on the opposite side inside the Forepeak.

Zooming in a bit you can see the beautiful big hatch that sits directly overtop of the vanity sink and see all the pass through ports where pipe and cables pass through this WT bulkhead into the Forepeak.
Way more than enough insulation you say?  No way we say. 
Check out this newest arrival at Naval Yachts and the next layer of acoustic insulation that we will form the layered sandwich between interior bulkhead walls and the outer plywood skin for mounting the cabinetry.  More on this in the coming weeks.
Jumping down into the Basement we find more of these beautiful AL fuel fittings on the pass through this WT bulkhead into the Guest Cabin …..
……. which looks like this on the other side.
More delightful sights for my eyes of progress in the basement with all these fuel tank access port lids all bolted down ….……
…… sealed and pressure tested.
Jewel like to my eyes are these freshly machined barb fittings ready to be welded onto the tanks for their vent and fill hoses.
More works of art to me are these fuel hoses now fitted to their beautiful blue AN-12 push on fittings and matching JIC fittings in their aluminium SAE5 flanges bolted to the tank tops.
Seemingly impossible to my wandering eyes but the view gets better the more I look up to see those hoses leading up to their respective SS ball valves on the supply and return manifolds.
Which in turn wind their way along the super highway of hoses taking them ……
up to the Day Tank and Alfa Laval centrifuge in the Workshop through these pass throughs on the WT Bulkhead.

Whew!  Now THAT is what I call an eXtremely good progress update and you can see why I’m so excited to be back onboard Möbius here at Naval Yachts.  I’ll give your weary eyes and brains a short rest until I head to the yard in the morning to join the rest of Team Möbius and capturing it all as best I can for next week’s update.  I’ll do my best to also shoot some video next week and try to put together another walking tour that so many of you have been asking for.

In the interim, thanks again for joining us on the adventure of designing and building the good ship Möbius and the first of what will likely be many XPM78’s to follow.  And please be sure to add all your comments, suggestions and questions in the “Joint the Discussion” box below.