NOTE:  I’m having trouble splitting this week’s update post into two so it will have to stay here as one big posting.  So go get a comfy seat and a good beverage and I think you’ll enjoy this longer than usual posting.  As you’ll see it has be a VERY busy and eventful week!

OK, back to our regular programming now………………………………

It was one of the longest and closest beauty pageants in history but the jury is finally in and the 2019 Miss Möbius World Wood has been crowned. 

You saw some of the run up in last week’s post such as this photo of the final four veneer contestants in the Au Naturelle portion of the contest.
And here are the four finalists, resplendent in the early morning Antalya sun sporting their solid Rosewood edging with their carefully applied coats of clear varnish buffed to a lovely matte lustre.

The two Siamese twins in the middle are Anzem commonly known as African Bengi and the two contestants on either side as well as the other set of twins angling for attention in the background, are all different cuts and types from the Pelesenk/Rosewood family which is often mistaken for Lignum Vitae. 
According to their application form and family tree (sorry) these three are all

“Tropical hardwoods known for their beautiful figuring and rich, dark red or purplish color streaked and variegated with black.  A very hard, heavy and highly valued cabinet wood sustainably obtained from several tropical leguminous trees of the genera Dalbergia and Machærium  Takes a high polish easily and used for expensive furniture and jewellery making.  The Rosewood name is derived from aroma wood exudes as it is sawed. 

By whatever name, and with apologies to William Shakespeare I think you might agree that these woods are a great example of how “A rose by any other name would smell as sweet.“ and look as beautiful as vividly on display in these photos.

So, without any further ado (not to be mistaken for adieu!), the winner of the Miss Möbius World Wood contest is ………………………………….

This beauty, known by her parents (aka lumberyard) as “Kisa” according to the label on the sample strip of veneer our awemazing interior designer Unzile had sent to us last week.  Kisa is seen here rightfully showing off her beautifully random swirling streaks of a colours ranging from light brown through burgundy wine to black.

In this pose you can see her solid wood edging and radiused corner.   This type of solid wood radiused corner will be used throughout the interior with varying radii from 25mm to 50mm depending on their use on cabinet edges, wall corners, etc..

We can’t wait to see how this will look in larger forms as the Xtremely talented Naval cabinetmakers start building the interior walls and cabinets so you will soon be seeing LOTS more of Kisa in the weeks and months to come.

Speaking of Beauties, I snapped this quick pic of my Beautiful Bride, aka Captain Christine, taking on the next daunting task of choosing all our other interior materials.  We wanted to start with finding our Goldilocks “just right” wood first as Mother Nature has such a range of colours and we weren’t sure just which ones were going to call our name the loudest. 

With Kisa being the winner we now know the colour pallet she brings aboard and so Christine is now moving on to the selection of materials and colours for the floor, ceiling and walls. 

As many of you who have built or remodeled homes, floating or otherwise, know all too well, there is a mind boggling number and range of colours, textures and materials to chose from so this is a tall mountain to climb but a thoroughly fun part of our adventure.

With our wood now known the next material and colour for the interior decision hierarchy is the floors and we are fortunate enough to find ADO Floors right here in the Antalya Free Zone and almost beside Naval Yachts where we are building Möbius.  The ADO Group is a 62 year old company now making some incredible “Luxury Vinyl” flooring which has proven to be a just right fit our priorities of Xtreme safety, comfort, durability and low maintenance.  The flooring we are going to use is part of ADO’s “LAAG” series which is found not only in homes but also industrial buildings such as airports and shopping centers as it is simultaneously tough, non-flammable, anti-bacterial as well as being sound insulating and waterproof.  Importantly for us this vinyl plank flooring also works well with our in floor hydronic heating so having checked all our “must have” boxes we have another winner this week!

Difficult to capture in a photo and with must one small piece, but the sample above is the one, “Aperta 2010” is calling our names the loudest and what we’re going with.  In addition to its other great properties we also went with this because it has a significant 3D texture that I would best describe as being similar to the texture of the raised grain of aged wood siding on old buildings.  Not sure how well that captures it but this texture provides the critical “grippiness” and non slip that we need on our floors when we can sometimes be walking about in bare, sometimes wet feet on a boat that is Rockin’ & Rollin’ in heavy seas or boisterous anchorages.

• Cabinetry Wood:       CHECK
• Interior Flooring:       CHECK
• Walls, Upholstery, Ceilings?  TBD

Before we leave this interior topic, some of you may be interested in knowing the overall concept and theme we have for our interior spaces.  As you’ve seen and read the exterior will be all business, function first, raw unpainted aluminium, no paint, no wood no stainless and with a style and look that is “lean and mean”.  More industrial bordering on military so as to present a “don’t mess with me” vibe to any onlookers with less than friendly and honourable intentions.  On the outside we want to blend in an fit much more in a fishing port rather than a superyacht marina.

But on the inside we want to be transported to the opposite end of this spectrum to be bathed in natural light and fresh air and immersed in a world of carefully crafted cabinetry using woods and materials which radiate a feeling of warmth and beauty.  Materials on the walls, upholstery and ceilings which provide the perfect backdrop for the artwork of friends, family and some rare special mementos we have picked up in our decades of travel around the world.  

Having lived aboard our previous sailboats for decades, we are inextricably connected to Mother Nature and the environment we are anchored in which is usually an isolated “only boat in the bay” type anchorage in the latest Xtremely remote location we serendipitously find ourselves in and so we want to bring that with us and not be cut off from it when we step inside.  Hence the 360 degrees of glass surrounding our entire Pilot House/SuperSalon which is our primary living space and all the huge hatches we’ve designed which you’ve been seeing installed in the past few weeks and will see a bit more of below.

I will tell more of the story behind our choosing Möbius as the name for our Goldilocks boat but for now I’ll encourage you to Xplore and play with these intriguing wonders of math, space and surfaces which have captured my imagination since I was a very young boy.  You can start with this brief Möbius strip explanation or this 3D “Klein” vessel exploration where the little GIF animation to the left comes from.

One of the many fascinating features of a Möbius strip or Klein bottle which so boggled my little boy mind, which is still VERY active, is that they have no inside or outside, no boundaries, only one continuous surface and one continuous edge.  Or as Ross Dawson captures it so well in this little graphic on the left; “The inside is the outside”. 

If you are still with me after my all too typically “brief” lead ins, my point is that we are also going to adopt a Möbius theme to help us design our interior such that our “inside is the outside”.  At the very top of our interior design triangle the theme we have come up to help create “the inside I the outside” is to replicate a similar orientation and colouration of the natural outside world.  The floors will give us a feeling of the ground that is under our feet on remote beaches, walks on old docks and you can now see part of what led us to chose the vinyl floor sample above.  Our lower vertical surfaces will be reminiscent of the trees, jungle and forests we see and wander through ashore with our use of the beautiful Miss Kisa Rosewood for all the cabinetry and lower wall surfaces.   Then we are going to have a horizontal band at about countertop height which endlessly wraps itself around the whole interior to create an internal version of the aqua marine horizon we are accustomed to seeing all around us.  Above the horizon there will either be views of the natural exterior vistas that surround us or lighter coloured leather and fabric covering the walls and higher cabinetry and makes the transition into the whites of the clouds above on the ceilings.

In short, floors that mimic sand and rough wood surfaces under our feet and a horizon below which are forests of beautiful wood and above which are open expanses of sky and clouds.  Lucky for you and your eyes, I’ll leave it at that for now and return in future posts to give you more of the story behind the naming of our boat and the design of our interior.

The other bit of progress on our interior is these two sheets of a larger shipment which arrived this week.  Can you guess what this is for?

• 
  This close up view (click to enlarge any photo) will help answer that.  This is the first in the multi layered insulation of the interior bulkheads to keep them Xtremely well insulated both thermally and acoustically.  As you can see here, this first layer already has 3 layers of its own with an inner 3mm layer of highly compressed EPDM sandwiched between the 17mm layer of white foam and the 6mm layer of black foam.
  The outer side of the black foam is covered with “peel & stick” industrial adhesive which will be used to attach the foam to the flat aluminium plate of the bulkhead “walls”. 
• Given the Xtreme nature of how these XPM boats will be used these additional aluminium fasteners are glued to the aluminium bulkheads prior to the foam sheets being pressed in place. 
  Once the foam is in place one way lock washers are pressed overtop of the protruding portion of these aluminium “nails” to lock them in place.  The walls will then be covered with a further layer of special acoustic plywood which is also constructed of multiple layers of wood and fibre and I’ll show you that in a future post.
• 
  In case you are wondering, this Xtra special acoustic and thermal insulation on this side of these WT bulkheads is over and above the already eXcessive 50mm/2” EPDM foam that is on the other side,  Why go to such Xtra work and expense?  This treatment is being used here to ensure that none of the noise and heat from the engine room is able to sneak into Christine’s Office/Guest Cabin.  The WT bulkhead between our Master Cabin and the Forepeak will receive similar treatment to insulate it from the sounds of the anchor chain, windlass, etc..
• Speaking of insulation, good old “Mummy” continues the seemingly endless task of applying the nautical miles of EPDM foam insulation that covers every internal aluminium surface and if you look closely here you’ll see him carrying yet another roll of EPDM up the steps to the Swim Platform on Möbius.
• 
  In addition to installing all the EPDM insulation Mummy has also been in charge of another long and tedious task; applying all that beautiful shiny aluminium foil cloth overtop the EPDM in places like the Basement as you see him doing here. 
  Here is more of Mummy’s handiwork installing the EPDM insulation inside the “doghouse” where you step into the Workshop from the Swim Platform and you can also see that the overhead hatch is now all welded in place patiently awaiting Mummy to find the time to put in the EPDM around it.
  More EPDM seen here in our Master Cabin where Hilmi the electrician continues his work installing all the perforated AL wire trays that he will soon start filling up with many nautical miles of wire and cable.
  

At the other end of the beauty spectrum, some might say the more masculine end, you may also recall this depiction of the Fuel Supply and Return manifolds from last week’s progress update and we’ve now got an update on that as well.
Here is the first phase of building the first of what will be many different manifolds for fuel and water.  As per the drawing above this is machined from a single length of 70mm / 2.75” square solid aluminium that is bored out down its centerline to provide the common internal reservoir which feeds each of the six 316 SS full flow ball valves on the top and bottom, one for each integral fuel tank that forms the hull compartments below the tank tops you see here. 

The same 3/4” ball valve on the right end of the manifold is where the main supply/return line lines connect and bring fuel to/from the Day Tank in the Workshop.  All the rubber 20mm ID fuel hoses will connect to the ball valves using the blue/red JIC AN-12 fittings you see two of here.  These components are as expensive as they look although building in house helps but we gladly spend our budget on mission critical systems on our boats and on a power boat the fuel system is definately mission critical.

If this were a water manifold, the supply/return valve and line would need to be larger to have enough flow for multiple lines being used simultaneously, but in these fuel return/supply manifolds allow us to select which of the six fuel tanks we are taking fuel from and which one we are returning to so there is never a situation where more than one tank is being used at the same time.

Many may feel that Kisa and her wooden sisters above are far more beautiful but as I like to remind people, beauty is a FEELING using any number of our senses not merely what we see so these Xtremely robust fuel manifolds are Xtremely beautiful to me and make us feel Xtremely warm and fuzzy knowing that they will never leak, are easy to use and ensure that our fuel is safely transported to all diesel consumers and tanks.

More fuel related progress, the Fuel Vent boxes are now all welded in place sporting their requisite hose barb outlets for the 50mm vent hoses to come.
More hose barb pipes and some elbows all machined ready for welding into the tank tops for the other end of the hoses running from the Fuel Vent and Fill boxes into the fuel tanks underneath the Basement.
Like this.
Final Fuel related update for this week, these two threaded flanges are now all finished, insulated and foiled awaiting the JIC AN-12 fittings to be installed for the fuel hoses on either side of this WT Bulkhead in the Basement.
Switching from Fuel to Water for a bit, another exciting milestone this week was the start of installing the Sea Chests into the hull.  I’m a huge fan of using Sea Chests for bringing sea water into the boat for things like the supply for the watermaker, salt water wash down pumps and the wet exhaust on the Gardner. 
Rather than having individual sea cocks perforating the hull in every location these sea water consumers, a single large diameter Sea Chest pipe can be used to bring the sea water inside and act as a manifold for any number of outlets via a SS ball valve for each one. 

HOWEVER, my top priority is keeping the sea OUT of our boat so cutting big holes into the hull BELOW the Waterline has my full attention and we go to great lengths to ensure that we keep the sea on the outside of the hull!  Hence these special order Xtra thick aluminium pipes from which we will fabricate our Sea Chests.  The one above is for the Intake Sea Chest in the Engine Room which is 120mm / 4.7” ID and the walls are 15mm / 5/8” thick.  The pipe on the left here will be used for one of the lower volume Sea Chests and is 90mm / 3.5” ID.
In addition to the Sea Chests for bringing salt water into the boat we will also have Sea Chests for taking Gray and Black water out.  Both the Intake and Exit Sea Chests extend up well above the Waterline, about 30cm / 1’  so I can service them while the boat is in the water and each have a thick flange on top for a clear Lexan cover. 
Having a clear cover allows me to quickly inspect what’s going on inside and if needed I can either remove a small threaded plug in these covers large enough to allow me to stick a wood dowel “broom handle” or the like and push out anything that might be sucked up, or swims up and blocks the pipe. 

Ask me how I know?!!

Here is the Intake Sea Chest being fitted in the forward Starboard corner of the Engine Room. 

Once it is welded VERY securely into the 15mm thick bottom plate of the hull it will be fitted wtih offtake pipes leading into large dual water strainers which in turn feed into a manifold with take offs for the wet exhaust system, watermaker and aft deck wash pump.
OK, we’ve seen the progress on wood, fuel and water so let’s finish up with fresh Air and Light.  Uğur, Nihat and Sezgin continue with their work installing the ten big hatches which will bring in all the fresh air and natural light below decks while we are at anchor.  Dorade boxes will look after the fresh air when we are underway and the hatches are closed but we spend the vast majority of our time over the course of a year at anchor so the hatches are critical importance.

The two large rectangular boxes you see flanking the large opening above the Engine Room will provide the air in and out of the Engine Room and Workshop as well as being used for our Outdoor Galley with BBQ, sink, counters, etc..

We are out on the forward area of the Aft Deck behind the Pilot House where there are stairs down into the SuperSalon or up to the SkyBridge.  This is all overtop of the Guest Cabin and Christine’s Office and the hatch you see Uğur welding above is overtop the Guest Cabin shower. 

The 450mm / 18” square one on the bottom of the photo on the left is overtop of Christine’s Office desk and the large 700mm / 28” one under the spiral SkyBridge stairs is overtop the Guest Cabin Queen bed.

Below all this action, the ever present Mehmet is prepping the big 10mm / 3/8” thick frames that go around the perimeter of the Engine Room enclosure and provide the sealing surfaces for the large hinged door that keeps the large opening into the Engine Room you can see two photos above, all watertight.
With all that action happening on the Aft Deck and around that Engine Room hatch, the big hatch door has been moved up to the bow and is being cleaned up and prepped for its finish welding hinges and “dog” which are used to latch it tightly shut.
Meanwhile, down on the shop floor below the slightly smaller Forepeak hatch door up on the Anchor Deck at the Bow is being fabricated. and seen here upside down ready for the stiffening grid and gasket flanges to be welded in place.
Here’s the flip side of that Forepeak hatch which is what you’ll see when up on the Bow.
I’ll finish up this very loooooooong weekly update post with this random shot of some of our fuel and water tank access port covers seemingly forlornly awaiting their turn to go aboard and be installed.
But wait!  There’s MORE!!!

Last night Christine and I had the huge privilege to attend the wedding celebration of one of our Team Möbius members Burak and his fabulous wife Melek.
This is a few others other Naval Yachts people, all working with us as part of Team Möbius and joining in on this joyous night celebrating love, life and happiness.
Congratulations Melek and Burak!  Seeing you so happy makes us happy!!