First week of the year and we have 2020 off to a great start with all the progress on Möbius this week.  I just got back from taking Christine out to the airport this morning as she flies back to Florida to finish her 100 Ton Captains License testing and start her year off right with the gift of some Gramma time as well as seeing family and friends in the Fort Lauderdale area.  And of course she left with four empty suitcases to fill up with the latest flurry of parts and equipment to bring back with her when she returns on the 23rd.  She’s taken to calling herself Möbius’ Mule with all the bits of kit she has been transporting through airports the past two years.

We have been having spectacular Winter weather here in Antalya.  Crystal clear skies make for colder temps in the mornings and evenings, down to 1C/34F at 6am when we left to drive to the airport, but it was 15C/60F by noon with views of our surrounding mountains like this and full moonrises that have been magical.

With that prelude let’s go check up on Team Möbius at Naval Yachts this first week of 2020, Jan 6-10.

ELECTRICAL:

I will have the “Sparkies”, Hilmi and his electrical assistants start us off this week.

You may recall a similar shot last week as Nihat continued to work on getting the integral battery compartments ready for the 18 4V Carbon Foam batteries which will make up our 1350Ah @24V House Battery Bank which is the heart of the whole electric system on Möbius.

Here, Nihat is cutting in the openings where the huge 120mm² / 4/000 AWG cables that connect the three individual 24V banks to the main DC bus bars and high amp distribution panel.  That Distribution Panel will set in the rectangle just above Nihat’s head on the left of this picture and I’ll show and explain more about that once that is being installed.

The in house composite fabrication department whipped up these two containment boxes for the two battery compartments and dropped them off in the Galley. 
The batteries fit snuggly into these boxes so we subsequently decided to cut them way down so they are only about 100mm/4” high to act as Battery Containment Trays rather than full height battery boxes.  We did this to increase the air circulation around all the batteries to be sure that we can keep the heat down if it were to build up with high rates of charge in tropical climates.  Even though the probability of these fully sealed Carbon Foam batteries ever allowing any of their internal fluids escape is eXtremely small, containment trays are an AYBC requirement and just a smart thing to do.

These Battery Containment Trays are a snug fit inside the frame on the Battery Compartment floors so their bottoms are held tightly in place and can’t move.  You can also see the slot for the connecting cables to pass through that Nihat was cutting in the opening photo.
Celal is a new addition to Team Möbius and he has been busy helping Hilmi, barely visible behind, install the Victron MultiPlus inverter/chargers and route all that big 120mm²/ 4/000 red and black cables.  For a sense of size of those integral Battery Compartments, Celal is standing in the middle one and you saw Nihat comfortably working inside the forward one in the opening photo.
Not the most exciting shot but the arrival of all the cabling for our 14 solar panels arrived this week and that’s very exciting. 
You can click to enlarge if you’d like to see the specs on this cable which reads:

Photovoltaic Cable H12222-K 1 x 6 mm2 1kV 90C

This is cable specifically designed for transmitting all the Watts of power from each panel with minimum voltage loss and able to take sustained UV and marine exposures.

MC4 connectors are used to join each cable to the solar panel cables and we run on positive and one negative lead from each panel down to the Basement where it connects to its own MPPT controller, Victron’s SmartSolar 100/30 MPPT controller.
Hilmi was also busy up on the Forepeak putting in cable trays and running the pair of large 120mm2 / 4/000 Red & Black cables which supply over 700 Amps of 24 volt power to the Distribution Panel in the Forepeak.
Over on the far left side you can see the other cables for 220V AC and will also go into the Distribution Panel that will be on the far Right.  It will supply power for everything from the Maxwell VWC 4000 Windlass, Lewmar 65EST winch, Vetus Bow Thruster, Black & Gray Water pumps, lights on the Bow Mast and others.

PLUMBING:

Cihan was busy as usual with the many different systems requiring his plumbing skills so let’s check up on his progress.

Up in the Master Cabin you may recall he had previously mounted these two S bends drains for the Shower and the Head/Bathroom floor that feed into the new Whale IC Gulper drain pump system. 
However upon testing it we found that the height of the floor was going to be a bit too close to the top of the S-bends and we were concerned it would sometimes not flow well as the boat moved.
So Cihan quickly swapped them out for these simple elbows and the automatic water sensor in that yellow manifold against the hull on the left worked perfect every time and would pump water out as fast as we could pour it in from the bucket.

There is a one way valve at the diaphragm pump that is in the Forepeak which is on the other side of the WT Bulkhead at the end of the Master Cabin on the far right of these photos and this valve seals off the drain lines you see here so there is no concern about noise or smell.

Down in the Basement Cihan continued plumbing the in-floor heating system.  Hot Supply water manifold is up at the top and colder white/blue manifold below.  He has finished plumbing the main Supply/Return lines on the right and has them all insulated in black EPDM to reduce heat loss as the water flows to and from the in-floor heating system from the DHW Domestic Hot Water system.
Now he needs to mount the three 2 speed Circulation Pumps, one for each Zone/Cabin’s loops of PEX in-floor tubing.

Cihan had previously fabricated the mounts for each pump and bolted them to the vertical frames of this WT Bulkhead with the Guest Cabin on the other side.
Each pump has its own Hot Water line from the Supply manifold so they were plumbed next.  Third Supply line going in here.
Some of you inquired about the PPR type plumbing being used for all our potable/drinking water onboard and so I grabbed this action shot of Cihan and Celal using the thermal welding tool to join the PPR pipe to its fitting on the right. 
The aluminium arm extending out of the welding tool has two fittings on the end, the one on the right side slides into the female end of the fitting and the other fitting goes over the male end of the pipe on the left.  Wait a few seconds while the PPR melts then pull the tool out and slide the pipe into the fitting.  Done! 
Very different than with PVC piping which uses liquid glue to melt/weld the joints but same idea of welding the plastic parts together and creates a permanent leak free joint.

Close to finished now and ready for the Supply/Return PEX lines to be run from here to and from each in-floor heating zone which we should see happening next week.
However, does this drawing that just showed up in the Master Cabin help you figure out what DID happen this week?

Maybe this close up of the drawing will help?

Aha!  The drawing is Yiğit’s latest work of coming up with the ideal routing of the continuous loop of 15mm / 5/8” PEX tubing which has to wind its way through all the floor areas while carefully snaking around the tank access lids and furniture foundations. 
There is also a minimum bending radius of 6X the PEX tube diameter so 6 x 15 = 90mm/3.5” so Yigit used a 180mm circle to layout all each of the bends where the PEX turns around and doubles back.

Adding to the challenge, you also want the beginning Supply end of the PEX loop, which is in the Upper Left corner of the drawing, to go through the areas where you want the most heat and you want to have more tubing per square cm in these areas which in this case is the floor of the Shower and Head/Bathroom in the Upper Right.  I had mapped out the basic routes but it was quite the Tetris or Rubik’s Cube like puzzle for Yigit to solve.  As you can see he did so brilliantly as usual.

Once he had the route all figured out Yigit then printed out the centerline of this route in full size sheets and Omur and Selim are now carefully laying them out and taping them accurately in place on the rigid foam board floors. 
With the paper route lines all taped in place they are ready to start cutting the U-shaped grooves in the rigid foam floor boards with a small handheld router.
The foam board chips created with the high speed router bit makes quite a mess so Selim follows the router with the vacuum which made for a very clean operation and easy to follow the line with the router.
Here is where they left off by end of the day Friday.  They will finish the routing next week and line the grooves with aluminium foil tape to increase the radiation of the heat upward into the 10mm/ 3/8” plywood floor which will attach to the white epoxy perimeter foundations.

GALLEY GARAGES & SUPERSALON CABINETRY:

However Selim and Omur where mostly busy this past week with an even more exciting bit of progress as they completed the vacuum bag gluing of the Rosewood veneer to the Galley Garages you saw last week.
Here is a stack of our Ro$ewood veneer awaiting their turn to be carefully selected and taped into matching grain patterns for the lower half of the wall panels and other cabinetry throughout the boat.
Costly and time consuming in the eXtreme?  You bet but in our eyes and souls at least the beauty is even more eXtreme and something we will be looking at for decades to come so an easy to make investment decision for Christine and me. 

See what you think as you see the completed results in the coming weeks.
As you saw last week, all three sides of these Galley Garages, including their doors are laminated at the same time inside the vacuum bags and then they carefully cut through all the slots around each door.
With the doors released they can apply the Beechwood veneer to all the inner surfaces and route around all the solid Rosewood edges and fit them to each of their respective Garage openings.
Which is what Selim is doing here as I enlist his help to give you a bit of a preview of what’s to come from the work of these master craftsmen. 

As they create works of art like this.
And this.

Just wait till you see these swirling waves of grain patterns pop when they come out of the Finishing spray booth!
A justifiably proud Omur and Selim finish the final fitting and sanding so they can send this all up to the Finishing Department.
It was impossible to capture this whole four sided assembly of all the Galley Garages so I shot this short video scan to share this beauty with you a bit better.  Rosewood in Rotation if you will ………………………

GUEST CABIN:

Not to be outdone, Omer was equally as busy singlehandedly doing all the cabinetry in the Guest Cabin and Corridor Workbench areas so let’s go check that out.

Looking forward along the Port/Left hull side where my Office/Workbench resides and the Guest Head/Bathroom on the Right.

** Note: the shower that would normally be in the bottom Right corner has been removed to show this view.
Sitting on my Office Workbench looking straight into the Entryway to the Guest Cabin and the pull out couch on the far Starboard/Right side.  Stairs up to the SuperSalon on the Left, WT door into the Engine Room & Workshop on the Right.   On the Left corner of the Entryway is the Guest Head and Shower on the Right.
Back to reality, Omer has the double duty “Swiss Door” all fitted with its surrounding frame for the Guest Head/Bathroom.  Continuing the Blue Horizon Line theme that runs throughout all the interior spaces, the top half of this and all other vertical panels will have light Green/Gray leather covered removable panels set into them. 

If you look closely (click to enlarge any photo) and in the render above you can see where the leather panel will go on the wall to your Right as you go up the stairs to the SuperSalon.
Omer had taken that door back to his workbench in the Cabinetry Shop to finish the solid Rosewood edging and finish prepping this door to head over to the Finishing Department. 
You can see how these doors are made to be very solid yet very light with their foam filled cavity cores.
This is an approximation of what the cabinetry inside the Guest Cabin.  Christine’s Office on the Right, Pullman Berth on the far Stbd/Right side hull, pull out couch/Queen bed below and L-shaped Bookshelf wrapping around the Left corner.
However here’s what it looks like right now!  Omer has been taking all the cabinetry back to his workbench to do the final preparation before he sends it up the boys in the Finishing Department.
Seen upside down, we are looking in from the end of that Bookshelf which will soon have a panel set into it where the Pullman Berth begins, Omer is finish sanding the solid Rosewood edging that runs around the perimeter.
Bookcase has now been flipped right side up and in the foreground you can see that Omer has started to build the dividers and shelves which turn this into a very functional bookcase.
These dividers and middle shelf have solid Rosewood outer edges with White interior surfaces.  A thin layer of phenolic has been laminated onto all these white surfaces to provide the just right surface for the White lacquer to form a perfect flat and smooth surface.

ALUMINIUM WORKS:

Switching from Rosewood to Aluminium now, Uğur, Okan and Nihat very busy making their typical great progress this past week which for them was mostly all about covering all the interior wall and ceiling surfaces in the Workshop and Engine Room with AlucoBond which you saw them starting to do last week.
One of the features of AlucoBond which makes it the ideal choice for all these removable wall and ceiling surfaces is that it can be easily bent to form smooth strong corners with a very safe radiused edge. 
If you look closely at the bend on the bottom right of the photo above you can see how a small kerf has been cut not quite all the way through the 5mm / 3/16” AlucoBond to allow them to hand form these bends.
Which is how they are building these corner transitions between the wall and ceiling panels in the workshop.  Stbd/Right side Workshop here.
Here is the Port/Left side looking from floor level by the WT door leading into the Corridor and Guest Cabin areas.  Facing Aft here along the AL workbenches.  HazMat locker on the far Right end.
Stepping forward a few steps to look across to the Aft Stbd corner and the WT door out to the Swim Platform.  Uğur is kneeling on the Rudder shelf and you can see the Rudder post tube on center behind him.
Stepped corner details just inside the Swim Platform door.
Webasto BlueCool V-Series chiller has been mounted to the built in AL shelving.
All equipment is mounted with appropriate types of vibration reduction soft mounts such as these.
Next up on the AlucoBond list is the Engine Room.
So Uğur and Nihat have installed the L-bar frames and they have started cutting panels to fasten to them.
Well, as you have seen the first week of 2020 has all of us on Team Möbius off to a good start as we all push ourselves for the final leg of this part of the adventure leading up to Launch Day!  That is still several months off but will be as soon as we can possibly make it.  Be sure to subscribe by putting your Email into the “Subscribe” box on the upper Left corner of every blog page so that you don’t miss any of these weekly updates and you can join us on this leg of the Project Goldilocks adventure.

And please continue to add any and all comments and questions in the “Join the Discussion” box at the bottom of every blog post.  I do apologise for taking longer than I’d like to respond to your comments I assure you that I’m reading every one as it comes in and will respond as quickly as the build allows.

Hope your first week of this first year of the new 2020 decade is off to an equally good start and see you here here next week.

Thanks!

– Wayne