Team Möbius might not be back to work yet but two of our sub contractors were and Wow! did they and we ever make some great progress and hit some very eXciting new milestones.  As per the title both of these sub contractors were in the glass business, one with “real” glass and the other with the acrylic based often colloquially referred to as plexiglass.  For simplicity and clarity, I will use glass and plexi in this article. 

By whatever name you prefer, we were definately up to our ass (ets) in glass this week.  We have glass for all the 360 degrees of windows surrounding the SuperSalon or Pilothouse, glass in all the 10 deck hatches, another 360 degrees of tinted glass around the bottom panels of the SkyBridge coaming, glass for the Guest Shower door, glass tiles in the Master Head/Bathroom, plexi for the 360 degrees of windows around the entire SkyBridge, and then of course the “pièce de résistance en verre”  the etched glass corner walls for the Master Shower. 

As you are about to see then, it is really not just typical eXaggeration from your author to say that I was up to my assets in glass this week!  And before I torture you any further with this play on words, let’s just jump right into this week’s Show & Tell so you can see for yourself.

Pilothouse/SuperSalon Window Glass

There were a bunch more milestones this week but the biggest one for Christine and I was to see this truck load of glass from Hakan Glass here in Antalya, arrive with all the glass that will close in the whole Pilothouse.* 

* This area of our boat and all the XPMs can be called either Pilothouse, Wheelhouse or our moniker of “SuperSalon” but for clarity I’ll stick with just PH for the rest of this article OK?

BTW, many of you might be surprised to know that Turkey is one of the world’s largest glass manufacturers!  With thanks to Baris at Naval Yachts for providing me this information, you can check out the factory where our glass was made HERE.  This will give you a bit more information on “Paşabahçe” which is the biggest glass factory in the republic of Turkey’s and responsible for making glass one of Turkey’s top industries economically.  For those interested in more about the long history of glass manufacturing in Turkey be sure to check out THIS site that does a great job of walking you quickly through the history from when  ​​Atatürk started all this in 1934.

The reason this is such a big milestone for us is that once all the window glass is installed around the 360 degrees of the PH along with these square glass pieces which will be adhered to each of the ten Deck Hatches, Möbius is WATERTIGHT! 

As you may recall seeing in previous months, all the Watertight doors are in and so once the PH and Deck Hatch glass is all in, we are fully weather and water tight!
In addition to the glass windows for the PH and the Deck Hatches, the truck also had the slender glass panels that wrap around the bottom edge of the SkyBridge coaming.
First challenge though was to get each of these eXtremely heavy pieces of glass off the truck ………………
……. up the stairs leading up to the Swim Platform ………..

……. then up the winding stairs onto the Aft Deck …………..
…… and then onto the wood pallet on the Aft Deck  ……..
…….. where they will be stored before being moved into their respective aluminium window frames.

Whew!
This shot showing the edges of two of the PH glass windows on the Left and 7 of the Deck Hatch glass panels will help you see why these glass panels are so heavy.
The PH glass windows are made from triple laminations of 8mm / 5/16” thick glass and the Deck Hatch glass is made from double laminations of 8mm glass.
With three 8mm glass laminations plus two layers of laminating adhesive which are each about 1mm thick, each of the PH glass windows ends up about 26mm or just over 1” thick. 
These are but a few of the glass windows required:

20 pieces for the PH windows

12 pieces for the SkyBridge “eyebrow”

10 pieces for the Deck Hatches

Each one of these PH glass windows have been custom cut to match the exact sizes of plywood templates the Hakan Glass team had made a few weeks ago so each one is a bit different but on average each window weighed about 22kg / 48 lbs and so this all started with a LOT of heavy lifting!
For adhesive, after consulting with the application experts at Hakan Glass and at Sikaflex, we chose Sikaflex 296 along with …..
……. with SP-206GP primer. 

This is the best combination for structural adhesion between glass and aluminium and is often what you see used on commercial buildings whose exterior surfaces are clad with glass.
The process begins with the application of the Sikaflex SP-206GB primer that goes on both the aluminium surfaces that the glass will be bonded to ……….
……….. and the inner perimeter of the glass that will be adhered to the aluminium.
Once the primer is cured, each window can be carefully carried from the Aft Deck to its respective window bay.
Then a thick bead of Sikaflex 296 is laid down around the outer perimeter of the aluminium window frame.
Having the right tools for the job always helps and this Milwaukee cordless caulking gun sure beats all the years I’ve had to hand pump window caulking.

The triple aluminium suction cup is one of many we used to lift the window glass into place and push/pull into the right position.
Previously that day I had gone around and pulled the leather window mullion covers away from their frames where we have used the new plastic style of “velcro” to hold them in place and I had run a wide strip of Blue painters tape along the Rosewood edges in case any of the Sikaflex oozed its way there.
Next PH window glass ready to be lifted into place …
….. and pressed firmly into place. 
The Sikaflex 296 both bonds the aluminium and the glass to each other as well as filling in the gap between the aluminium faces of the window frames which can have a bit of waviness to them, and the perfectly flat glass surfaces.  Typically the thickness of the Sikaflex ends up being about 5mm / 0.2”.
small wooden spacers are used to keep the glass edges an equal distance away from the AL frames.
Some scrap pieces of Teak (who knew there was such a thing??) were pressed into service to act as spring loaded pressure clamps ….
…….. to keep these negatively raked front windows tight up against the frames overnight while the Sikaflex cured.
Similar process on the other end where there are three panes of glass along the Aft end of the Galley.
It is pretty much a “rinse and repeat” process from there to put all 20 glass windows into place.
Pardon the mess but this will help show you how it all looks from inside.  This is the Aft Starboard/Right corner of the SuperSalon where the Galley is.
This is looking forward from the Galley towards the Bow.  If you look closely you might be able to see that these five front windows are all completely clear glass where the rest of the side and rear windows have a slight Gray tint to them as they have a UV blocking film on the inside surface of one of the laminations. 
With no glass in the Left window and one of the tinted ones on the Right you can see the amount of tint the side and rear windows have.

Tinting is one of those things you want to get to that Goldilocks just right point but it is difficult to judge or calculate other than by experience in situ.  So we will live with the glass like this for the first year or so and then decide if we want to add a film to the inside surfaces for more privacy blocking or heat blocking as some of the newer window films that are now available are truly amazing.

This is how the outside is shaping up when viewed from down on the shop floor.

Also a preview of what I’ll show you next which is the glass “eyebrow” around the bottom edges of the SkyBridge coaming up above.

Clint Eastwood’s Squint

This early rendering will help show you how the exterior will look when all glassed in and you can see the thin band of tinted glass that runs around the edge of the coaming (walls) of the upper SkyBridge.
Several years ago now when we were working with our awemazing NA and designer Dennis Harjamaa at Artnautica Yacht Design in Auckland NZ, he jokingly remarked that the combination of shapes ……
……. of the narrowing vertical height of the PH glass as it makes the transition forward/aft along with the thin upper height of the tinted SkyBridge glass, reminded him of that squint that Clint Eastwood made famous in his early western movies.
We all got a good laugh out of we have kept referring to the Clint Eastwood Squint ever since.  Clint is always a good guy to have on YOUR side so we figure this helps add to our “Don’t mess with me!” look.
Here you can see the framing that wraps around the SkyBridge.  The narrow bottom frames are about to be filled with tinted glass and next week the upper frames will be filled with plexi.
Same process as with the PH glass; apply the Sikaflex Primer to the outer perimeter of the AL frames and the glass ……..
……. run a generous bead of 296 around the AL frames ……..
….. and press the glass into place.

Rinse and Repeat.
Aft Stbd/Right corner all done.
Front 3 panels in place too.
Here is how it looks so far when viewed from the inside.

And here is what it looked like by end of the day on Friday.

Last two PH windows still to go in next week.

Deck Hatch Glass

We have a total of ten hatches spread out on the decks of Möbius and they all have double laminated glass lids on them.

You may recall seeing these Deck Hatches which I designed back at the beginning of the build and then Team Möbius built them in house.  They have been sitting and waiting for their glass tops so it was eXtremely exciting for me to see this last part of the puzzle fit into place.

Each hatch will have one of these double laminated glass panels bonded to them.  Two 6mm glass laminations with about 1mm of adhesive and the thickness of the black film inside creates eXtremely strong glass lids that are about 14mm thick.
The hinged aluminium hatch lids are made from 10mm / the 3/8” thick AL plate and so each of the glass hatch lids have black film sandwiched between the two laminations that matches up with the shape of the AL lids where they will be bonded to the glass.
First Deck Hatch to get its lid was this one on the Port/Left side of the Aft Deck.

We carry quite a few of these suction cup tools with us as they come on handy for SO many different jobs.  We use them to give us a handle on the bottom of the hull when we are cleaning it every few months Hookah “Snuba” setup and we also use them to remove and replace the FastMount panels on the interior of the boat.
This hatch is directly overtop of my workbench in the Workshop down below and I can already feel those breezes wafting down on me and the sunlight pouring in as I work down there.
The Hakan boys prepping the AL hatch lid in front of the Port/Left Vent Box which is #4 in the hatch layout diagram up above.  You can see the shape of the AL lids with their cross bar that matches up with the black film you see on the hatch glass.
Same process repeated as with the PH glass; first apply the Sikaflex primer to both the AL bonding surfaces …….
and the glass surfaces.
Butter the AL with a generous bead of 296 and press the glass into place. 
Sikaflex 296 takes several hours to cure so you have lots of time to nudge the glass into the Goldilocks position so that the gap is perfectly even around all four sides of the hatch opening.
Both of the smaller 400mm / 16” hatches in front of the two Vent Boxes on the Aft Deck are all done.  These two Vent Boxes also create our Outside Galley.
Seen from the Stbd/Right side of the Aft Deck to see those same two hatches as well as the larger 700mm / 28” square hatch underneath the spiral staircase leading up to the SkyBridge.  These are numbers 4, 5 and 6 in the hatch layout diagram above.
Popping up into the SkyBridge to check out Hatch #7 on the “day bed” up there beside the SkyBridge Helm Station. 

Our Llebroc Helm Chair is what is underneath all that plastic wrapping in case you are wondering.

This hatch will be eXtremely helpful and open most of the time as it allows us to easily talk with each other when one is in this Upper Helm and the other is down below in the Galley or SuperSalon.  Also makes it easy to pass up a coffee or meal from the Galley below.
Here are a few shots of how these hatches look from the inside.  This one is about centered in the Guest Cabin which will most often be configured as Christine’s Office.
This smaller one is directly above Christine’s Office desk so she too will have plenty of fresh air when this hatch is open and lots of natural sunlight all the time.
Lots of fresh air and light pouring into the Guest Shower as well.
Back up on the Aft Deck, I wanted to double check the glass clearances so I brought up one sheet of TreadMaster that we will soon be applying to all the deck surfaces.   The Treadmaster will be about 5mm thick once glued down with West Systems epoxy adhesive so I designed the hatch geometry such that the top surface of the glass sits about 2mm above the AL Deck surfaces. 
This way the glass surfaces will be just slightly lower than the top surface of the Treadmaster and be very foot friendly.

For those wondering, we will be putting multiple strips of non skid tape across each Glass Hatch so they are very safe to walk on.

GUEST SHOWER GLASS

Based on your comments, many of you will think that I have saved the best for last as all the glass for our Guest and Master Heads/Bathrooms and Showers also arrived this week!  Different company that specializes in shower glass and they arrived on Thursday as well to do the installation.
This is the simplest part, the clear glass door into the Guest Shower. 
This door has a full height anodized AL hinge that bolts directly to the Rosewood door jamb.
Then a matching AL channel on the opposite side ….
…… with the magnetic silicone seal, handle and latch.

Works great in the “dry run” and we will test it out with a real shower after we launch.

MASTER SHOWER GLASS:

Moving up to the Master Cabin Head/Shower/Bathroom, they installed this clear glass separator between the Shower on the Left and Bathroom counter and cabinets on the right.
As you can see we designed this partition to stop short of the ceiling so that all the fresh air pouring in through that big 700mm square hatch up above can flow into both the Shower and the Head/Bathroom.
And as if we didn’t have enough going on aboard Möbius Thursday and Friday, the tile man showed up to install the glass tile accent on the side wall of the Head!
Christine had picked these glass tiles out months ago and they have been patiently waiting to come out of their box and be where they belong.

Wasn’t a big job so he was literally done in less than 2 hours and we think this little detail adds just the right amount of colour and texture to this otherwise all white room.

But of course what really stole the show this week is this “pièce de résistance en verre” , the two etched glass corner walls for the Master Shower.
The more narrow 700mm wide wall panel goes athwartships and then the wider 1200mm panel goes in lengthwise to create this gorgeous etched class corner.
Very simple mounting of the glass into rabbets in the Rosewood panels surrounding each glass plate which are then filled with clear silicone to hold them in place.

Blue Painters tape and some wood shims at the bottom were all that are neccessary to get them all lined up and ready for the silicone adhesive/sealant.

BTW, ALL of the credit for this work of art goes to our dearest friend Sherry Cooper in Vancouver BC.  If you have not already seen THIS blog post from two weeks ago where I covered her work in more details, please do go check that out.

If you don’t have time for that and want to find out more about Sherry you can check out her other works HERE and HERE as well as her Instagram page HERE.  Below is a quick synopsis of what I wrote.

Christine and I worked with Sherry to describe as best we could what we wanted to achiever with these etched patterns which was things such as a marine/nautical theme, a taste of First Nation people’s art from the British Columbia area we know and love and to have all this captured in a somewhat abstract and ethereal way.

This is what Sherry came up with and we think the nailed it!  A perfect example of our favorite Goldilocks; just right, just for us type of result.

Stepping back a bit to try to show how the whole thing will look when done.  Even with all the plastic protective coating and painters tape this work of art and engineering shines through with almost blinding beauty.

Difficult to capture the inside of this small space but this will hopefully give you a rough idea of what the finished shower will look like and just how magical it will be taking a shower in here every morning!

I got more work done on the cogged belt drive system that is going onto Mr. Gee to drive one of our two Electrodyne “Big Red” 250Amp @ 28V alternators and the Jabsco sea water pump but it is already very late Sunday night here so I will cover all that for you next week.

But WAIT!  There’s more!!

Speaking of “assets”, the winter rains are about to arrive here in Antalya, as early as tonight according to Christine’s weather apps so we took advantage of today being a truly sunny Sunday, to go for a nice long bike ride along the eXtremely well done bike paths along the 20+ kilometers of the crescent shaped beachfront that Antalya stretches along. 
Like most places in the world right now we are under stronger restrictions but we are allowed out in the mornings so we took advantage of that for this bike ride and stopped for a lovely little picnic lunch on this stone beach section for an hour or so before heading home to write up this blog.
The Med here is still plenty warm enough for swimming and it was almost too hot in the sun here just before noon.  All of this adding to the hundreds of other things that both Christine and I have to be SO thankful for as we wish all our American friends and family the very best for their Thanksgiving weekend.

Thank you all SO much for taking time to join me here again this week AND for adding your comments and questions in the “Join the Discussion” box below!

Hopefully Team Möbius is back next week and we will have much more progress to show you.

– Wayne

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