I double checked the calendar and it is indeed just the beginning of May but it sure feels like summer here in Antalya today.  We’ve been having fabulous weather all year actually with an eXtremely mild Winter season that saw very little rain and very mild temperatures.  But Spring has been off the charts in terns of great temperatures, low humidity and no rain.  Today, Sunday May 9th, is a real scorcher and as I sit and type this aboard Möbius at 14:00 the temperature is a toasty 34C / 93F with a little bit of wind and crystal clear skies.  No complaints from any of the crew aboard the good ship Möbius, that’s for sure.

While the lack of visual progress to show you continues as we work our way through the final jobs remaining to fully configure and test all the many systems onboard XPM78-01 Möbius, the amount of work required to play this real world version of Whack-A-Mole is relentless and non stop.  That combination conspired to prevent me from putting together an update for you last week and I thank all of you who wrote to ask if all was well and thank all of you for your patience.  In this Progress Update I’m going to combine the past 2 weeks into this one, so please grab a comfy chair and beverage and join me for a Show & Tell of what’s been happening from April 26th through May 5th, 2021. 

All Hands on Deck!

In addition to all the configuration and testing, there is also a long list of those “little jobs” that add up to be quite a large amount of work all together and we knocked off more of these the past 2 weeks as well and here are a few examples.

Here we find Captain Christine, ably abetted by our two four legged crewmembers, Barney (Left) and Ruby, finished whipping the Dyneema lifelines she had previously spliced in place and which are working out eXtremely well.
The Rosewood Dinette table came back from being refinished and is once again mounted to the vertically adjustable pedestal with the XY sliders that allow us to move the table 200mm / 8” fore/aft and side to side which enables us to always have the table in its Goldilocks position for any situation.
There had been some small depressions on the top surface of the table which while minor, were also very visible and took away from the otherwise superb finish on all the woodwork so the Finishing crew quickly refinished it and as you can see it is now flawless.
There are a LOT of valves, circuit breakers, hoses, electrical connections, etc. that number in the hundreds and so labeling everything is a must and makes it easy to know what’s what and how to operate all these systems.  These 3 fuel manifolds provide a good example.
You may recall a few weeks ago that the two cleats on the Swim Step were upgraded from AL pipe to solid and the heat from welding those in required that the TreadMaster be removed and now it has been replaced.
The light Grey TreadMaster is also proving to be as good or better than we had hoped.  The top priority is to provide a great non-skid surface in any conditions and the tight sharp diamond pattern of the TreadMaster eXcels in this department and locks even bare wet feet in place everywhere.
Second priority is to provide a more bare feet friendly surface especially when in hot sunny climates so that you don’t have to do your “walking over red hot coals” fire dance when you are on deck.  While not comparable to the tropics, today’s high temperatures and intense direct overhead sunlight gives us a reasonable test and we are happy with the results. 

For a baseline, as of a few minutes ago, 14:30 Sunday May 9th, here is the temperature on the fully shaded Aft Deck area which my trusty IR temperature gun clocked at 32.4C / 90F.
And out on the Stbd side decks that have been getting the most direct sun right now, the TreadMaster is at about 50.5C / 122.9F.  Definately not cold, but I can stand in place on these decks without too much discomfort and when walking it is quite comfortable.  As in life, everything is relative right and compared to our previous boats, with painted on non-skid on both fiberglass and steel decks, this is a HUGE improvement, so we’re happy with these results.

Love Thy Dock Neighbor!

You’ve seen in previous postings that we have some very interesting and varied dock neighbors here in the Antalya Free Zone with over 30 different boat builders producing a wild and wide range of boat sizes and purposes.  Most of these boats are in a similar situation as we are, brand new being launched for the first time so that all the in-the-water testing and finishing can be done.  Then once finished, they are off to their new home bases scattered around the world so boats are leaving and new ones arriving on almost a daily basis.  Here are some recent examples of our recent neighbors:

On our Port side we have this 34m/112ft steel “Phi Phantom”.  This is a support boat for a much larger superyacht so this is all function with huge flat decks and even larger bays below with that monster articulated crane to get all the “toys” off/on this boat and the superyacht.  They also carry all the fuel, supplies, parts and maintenance crew.
These kinds of support boats are often called “over the horizon tenders” as that’s where they are to stay out of sight of the high paying passengers on the superyacht or a “phantom boat” such as this one that is to stay similarly ghost like or invisible to the superyacht it supports.
On our Starboard side we have this Bering 77 I showed you a bit in my last posting. 

At 77 feet long overall, she is 1 ft shorter than Möbius but otherwise MUCH larger at more than twice our weight, much taller, much wider and quite a bit slower than Möbius (8 kts vs 11) but still a Goldilocks boat for the right owner and use case.
Down the dock a few more meters is this little fella who showed up last week and is the basis of my “Love thy neighbor” heading for this section.

Why you ask?  Look a little closer at some of her deck hardware ………..
Like here for example.
Or zoom in a bit closer to read that red safety lock…..
The more you look, the more interesting it gets.  For example, when those hatches in front of the two rocket launchers are opened up it reveals a relatively typical set of instruments, controls and a small bench seat for the operator.
Most of the time though and during testing, these hatches remain tightly closed and fully waterproof.  So how do they operate the boat now and where is the Captain sitting?
Inside here!  Turns out this is a fully autonomous vessel or unmanned drone and the real “Captain” is actually sitting …….
…… here!

“ULAQ” is the first indigenous armed unmanned surface vessel (AUSV) developed in Turkey. It is being offered by Ares Shipyard and Meteksan Defence Systems to the Turkish Navy and you can read all about this fascinating research project HERE and HERE if you’d like to know more details.
Suffice it to say that we treat all our dock mates with great respect and kindness!

Get the Lead Out no IN!

This was one of the more interesting things happening with our Bering 77 dock mates this past week. 

Can you guess what they are up to and what’s in all those wood crates up on the dock?
Is this a Turkish version of a Swill Alps horn?
Nope, just an ingenious way of putting the lead ballast into the stern compartments of the Bering 77.
Here is what is inside all those crates, 1000 Kg of 5mm diameter lead balls like this.
One scoop at a time the little lead balls are poured into this funnel, run down the long black PVC pipe into the holds in the aft end and are then capped off with an aluminium plate that is bolted down overtop. 

Brilliant!

Meet Mogli!

However, hands down, THE most exciting and interesting thing that happened on the docks this past week happened to us and Möbius. 

Hmmmm, what do you think that crane truck is doing behind us? 

And what is Captain Christine busy with and what are those weird shaped teak blocks on the Aft Deck?
Aha!  That’s our Tender flying through the air!
and about to be lowered onto those Teak chocks on the Aft Deck.
Like this………
……. and this.
And she fits like the proverbial glove and just as I had laid out in the 3D models; with the front Stbd fender just able to rub up against the vertical support bar coming up out of the Port Vent box……..
……… and the Aft Port corner of the fender right up against the doghouse over the stairs from the Swim Platform into the Workshop.
And there she is!  Our Tender finally setting in her new home and Möbius is now fully equipped.
Sinan, our upholstery master made this tight fitting cover out of some waterproof Sunbrella fabric we had brought over from the US. 

This shot provides a good perspective of how nicely everything fits and works together on the Aft Deck with the Tender onboard.  Plenty of room in the Outside Galley and the entire Stbd side to walk back and forth the whole length of the boat.
Here’s what it all looks like viewed looking forward.  Next up is fitting all the rigging to raise/lower the Davit Arch and the Tender within it but that should be a relatively straightforward job that can wait for now.

Oh, and we’ve settled on a name for Möbius’ new “baby” and she will be called “Mobli”.  A lot of different parts to the story behind this including a reference to Mowgli in Kipling’s Jungle Book as well as being our sense that Mogli is the diminutive version of Möbius.

Welcome to our family Mogli!  We can’t wait to start playing with you in the water and showing you the awemazing aquatic world that surrounds us.
Hope you enjoyed this combined 2 weeks worth of Show & Tell from all of us here on Team Möbius.  We’ll be back with more next week as we inch closer and closer to leaving the Free Zone and returning to our lives sailing the world.

-Wayne