Many of you will be familiar with Turkish Map Fold style books if not by name perhaps by having one of these as a map when traveling. 

Turkish Map Fold 2Turkish Map Fold
Team Möbius got our Arch on Möbius in place this week and the all the many functions we have been able to incorporate into the design of this arch it reminded me of the Turkish Map folded books and maps I’ve had and always been fascinated with.  Seems only appropriate that our Turkish built boat would have a Turkish Fold style Arch and hence the title for this week’s update.

You may recall seeing this little animation in an update a few weeks ago and show is always better than tell so I’ll use it again to help you understand how our folding mast works.  Burak kindly put this together for us as we were testing out different configurations and dimensions of this whole system. 


The video makes it all look very simple, and it is remarkably simple but getting the geometry just right so everything fits and clears and the roof ends up in just the right spots when fully up and fully down was tricky and hats off to Dennis, Yiğit and Burak for getting this to all work out so well.

We have gone to this significant amount of work to design and create this folding Arch & SkyBridge roof in order to give us two very significant features or modes:

1.  Canal Mode where by lowering our Air Draft, the distance from the Water Line to the top most part of the boat we will be able to cruise in areas such as the canals or small inland rivers and water ways which have low fixed bridges you have to be able to pass under.   Our Air Draft with the Arch and roof folded down will be about 4.2m/13’ 6” compared to about 6.4m/21ft to the top of the raised Arch, and then the Paravane poles add about another 2m/6.5’ on top of that.

2.  Hunkered Down Mode where we can dramatically reduce our windage, the side area, when we are in areas during cyclone and hurricane season.  Christine and I have spent quite a bit of time in such areas both together and when we were single handing so we have first hand experience with the power and the danger which these severe weather patterns possess such as the 285 km/h winds we saw when Cyclone Winston hit us when we were hauled out on Learnativity in Fiji in 2016.  By dropping our height and essentially eliminating our SkyBridge and putting plywood or Lexan storm coverings over all the Pilot House glass we stand a much better chance of surviving such forces of nature with the least amount of damage possible.

IMG_20190123_113739You saw some of the components of this arch being prepped last week as Sezgin and his TIG welder made quick work of welding all the many joints where the various diameter pipes all connected.
IMG_20190130_122551Those have all now been lifted up onto the SkyBridge for assembly into the finished arch.  Here is one side of the vertical legs of the Arch being stood in place.
IMG_20190130_150553and tacked to the upper half of the big hinge plates on either side.
IMG_20190129_135357Uğur and Nihat finished cleaning up the upper arch member with brass wire wheels….
IMG_20190130_150519….. and set it atop the two vertical legs, got everything all squared up with the laser level and tacked in place.
IMG_20190130_150433Stepping back on the Aft Deck you can see how the vertical pipe legs of the Arch continue below the hinge plates to transfer most of the loads down to the eXtremely strong hull framework and make this arch essentially part of the hull itself.

The vertical pieces under the Aft Deck roof are temporary braces to maintain its location prior to having its supports down to the Engine Room Vent boxes a bit later.
IMG_20190130_150239Looking up from the ground will give you another perspective on the Arch in place as it awaits fitting the SkyBridge roof structure and testing out the whole folding mechanism.
IMG_20190130_150647This view from the forward Port corner of the SkyBridge provides a good perspective of the size and scale of the Arch.  The rectangular opening in the middle is where the comfy Captain’s chair will sit to create the upper Helm Station and the circular stairs you’ve seen in previous weeks is over to the left in this picture and leads down to the Aft Deck.
IMG_20190130_150841Moving aft and standing just behind the Arch provides another view of the SkyBridge layout.  The rectangular holes in the bottom of the Arch top plate creates room for me to work on the many items mounted up here such as Radars, AIS, GPS and many antennae.  There ware slots in the pipe which you can see in the photo above where all the wiring will be very safely carried down inside the Arch tubes to the electrical panel that sits down below the deck where the Port Arch legs attach.
IMG_20190131_110010With the Arch all tacked up we could carefully fold it down for the first time and tweak the alignment and fit to get everything just right.
IMG_20190131_104205This is about how the Arch will sit when it is fully folded down with the SkyBridge roof fame attached.
IMG_20190131_131334From a distance and slightly under water level it looks like this.

Next up we will lift the SkyBridge roof fame you saw being made a few weeks ago, lifted up and fasted to the Arch so we can test out the whole Turkish Map folding system.
IMG_20190128_115039Never being ones to rest, Uğur and Nihat were also busy folding up the 6mm aluminium plates that will become the two large Engine Room vent boxes on the aft deck.
IMG_20190129_113133This is the ER vent box on the Port side …..
IMG_20190129_113232…. and this is the Starboard side vent box.

The cut out area is where our BBQ will be mounted as these two vent boxes will serve double duty as our outdoor Galley with sink, cutting board and storage to join the BBQ.
Arch up   downThis rendered view will help put this all into perspective with the two ER Vent boxes in red.  Mist eliminator vent grills will be on the inside surfaces to keep salt water and humidity out and inside each box is a set of baffles to direct air in and out of the ER and others to bring fresh air into the Guest Cabin and Christine’s Office.
IMG_20190129_112853The other exciting development this week was the arrival of this truckload full of ……….

………….. can you guess???
IMG_20190129_113359The busy little worker ants they are, Naval people appeared out of nowhere …..
IMG_20190129_113744…. and within minutes they had the full load moved from here ……..
IMG_20190129_114215……. to here.

Did you guess what all these bags are full of?
IMG_20190129_114256Correct!  It is all our EPDM foam insulation.  Most of this is 50mm/2” thick which covers all the interior hull plates, underneath all the deck plates and in the interior walls …….
IMG_20190131_150323….. with some 10mm / 3/8” for covering the aluminium stringers and frames so let’s show you how this all works.
IMG_20190131_131448We experimented and consulted with the manufacturer of the EPDM foam and came up with a 3 stage process. 

First the horizontal stringers are have lengths of 10mm EPDM fully wrapped around them and glued in place with a special contact cement.
IMG_20190131_150512Second, more lengths of 10mm EPDM are cut, fitted and
IMG_20190201_103445…… glued to the frames.
IMG_20190131_150447With all the stringers and frames covered the 3rd step in the overall process is to cut, fit and glue the 50mm EPDM to the aluminium surfaces.
IMG_20190202_150459Here is a small test area in the aft Port corner of the Workshop with all three steps completed between four frames and two strips on the ceiling. 
IMG_20190202_150548This is a very laborious process as there is a LOT of intricate fitting to the different shapes, sizes and openings that need to be carefully and completely covered.  It is important that the adhesive covers every bit of the aluminium and foam so there are no air bubbles trapped underneath to ensure that no moisture can get in and that there are no thermal bridges created between the aluminium components and the interior spaces and cabinetry.


You will be seeing lots more of this process as it progresses over the coming week and I can explain more about why we are going to such pains to put in this type of insulation and why we believe insulation is one of the most significant factors in making these kinds of eXtreme Passage Makers so comfortable and so efficient in both eXtremely hot and cold areas in the world.

Mert & Yigit foot to foot

Saving the best bit of progress for last here is this week’s boatload of cuteness to let you know that the Dinc twins Mert and Yiğit also continue to grow and develop eXtremely well.

I hope you are enjoying seeing this all unfold as much as we are and that you will continue to follow along with the whole process of building our just right, just for us Goldilocks boat. 

See you next week!