This was not only a full 5 day week is was 5 days filled with welding, welding, welding. Not that this is anything new, building a metal hull is mostly about welding. This is all more so the case now that almost all the cutting is done with CNC machines which take their code directly from the 3D models and precisely cut the sheets of different thicknesses of aluminium into the thousands of individual pieces of aluminium which are then fit together in a very jig saw puzzle like way. Because all the individual pieces now arrive at the shipyard direct from the AL supplier all precisely cut and marked, there is very little cutting and fitting during the build as most parts interlock and fit together as is. The focus is thus largely on assembling the pieces, tacking as needed to keep aligned and then doing the finishing welds. In the not so distant past all the steel or aluminium would arrive at the shipyard as whole sheets and the parts would be individually laid out and cut by hand to much rougher tolerances which then required a significant amount of grinding and cutting and fitting of each piece for it to be tacked and then welded, hopefully in just the right place and position. This all worked well however it meant that the alignment and fitting of all the parts and the overall boat itself was up to the skills of those people building the boat and it required a tremendous amount of time for all this skilled labour.
There is no less skill in building metal boats these days but the skills are changing and distributed differently than in the past. The initial focus and larger amounts of time are now being spent on the design and engineering to create extremely complete 3D models which can be tested for strength, faults, balance and stability before any metal is cut or actual building has begun.
In the past few years the efficiency of the overall building of a ship has jumped up another notch, pun intended as the parts are now all “notched” or otherwise made to be interlocking and self aligning anywhere possible and not at all unlike the way interlocking blocks and puzzle pieces fit together. By having all the pieces interlocking and also marked wtih alignment points it is possible to almost eliminate the chance of any part going in the wrong place or wrong way and so the initial part of the building of a hull, as you have been seeing here each week update on the building of XPM78-01 is a process of assembly, putting all the individual pieces together, tack welding them where needed to hold them in place and then once that whole assembly has been put together it is added into the other sub assemblies to create the hull, deck and superstructure. With most of these pieces interlocking, as each piece slots into the next they are held in alignment by each other and as each additional part is slotted in place the alignment tightens up and the final assembly is almost assured of matching precisely with the 3D model from which all these parts originated.
The skills of the tradespeople building boats this way today are no less critical to successfully building of a great boat than they have been in the past, but the build process now requires far fewer person hours and the skills are distributed and focussed much differently than the past. Build wise the focus has shifted away from specific skills in things like hand cutting and fitting and is a more holistic view with a critical eye for fit and alignment of the sub assemblies and, taking us back to were I started this tangent; welding!
If you’ve been following along with the build of XPM78 aka Möbius, you’ve been aware that welding has been a constant presence from the very beginning. You may recall for example that the first step in the build process was building the jig on the ship floor upon which the whole hull was initially built upside down. Throughout the assembly of all those interlocking pieces there was tack welding going on throughout and as the hull came together the continuous welds to finish assemblies started to lay down literally nautical miles of weld which continues to this day and this post. Hence this week’s title.
So with that much too long intro, let’s get into all the progress Team Möbius has made this week of November 5-9, 2018.
I will start from the bottom of Möbius and work our way upward and here we see Sezgin our Master Welder expertly laying down his trademark beautiful MIG welds where the prop tunnel plates join the outer hull plates. All of this is 15mm/5/8” plate so this area is enormously strong and perhaps even more importantly this thick plate has been carefully shaped into the very complex collection of curves required to make the many transitions from the hull to the tunnel to the skeg.
Here is a good view looking forward along that welded edge of the prop tunnel and hull side as well as the welds along the upper corner of the skeg where it connects to the prop tunnel plates and around the prop shaft tube.
I will give you a before and after set of photos of this tricky transition where the prop shaft tube emerges through the sides of the skeg plate. You may recall that in the middle of this shot the vertical 25mm frame used to fully encircle the prop shaft tube to ensure that this critical tube was locked into just the right position which is another example of the interlocking nature of this build I described in the intro.
Now that the Skeg is all assembled and tacked together, that outer 25mm frame has been cut off to expose the tube sides and this area along with all the slots are ready to receive their final welds like this.
The only area of Möbius that will be painted is the below the waterline hull surfaces which means that once these welds are all ground down flush we can apply some epoxy filler to create perfectly radiused corners and fillets. Smoothing these regions serves two important purposes. First and most importantly such super smooth transitions help to ensure that the laminar water flow along these surfaces stays very clean, smooth and uninterrupted as this is the water that flows into our prop blades. The cleaner and smoother this flow of water is, the more efficient the prop is at absorbing the torque from the Gardner engine and converting it into thrust.
Secondly but equally important to Christine and me is that smooth surfaces and well radiused corners are MUCH easier to clean when we are scrubbing the bottom regularly to keep it super smooth and slippery. We have onboard a hookah type system which is essentially an air compressor with twin airlines connected to a SCUBA regulator which is often referred to as a SNUBA setup because it has all the combined benefits of SCUBA tank type gear along with snorkeling. The quick video below will show you the unit we had on our previous sailboat Learnativity and you can see why we liked it so much.
We will probably have two different versions of this on Möbius, one that works off a built in compressor in my Workshop and has oil less compressed air quick connectors on the swim platform so we can simply plug in our twin 25m/85’ air lines in and either explore the immediate seabed surrounding us or more typically go to work on scrubbing the hull. The second setup is the one you see in the video above where the 12v compressor floats on the water or is in our tender and allows us to go “Snuba diving” wherever we want. These units are usually good enough for one diver to get down to 60’ which I’ve had to do a few times to rescue items from the bottom as much as 80’ or more but most of the time Christine and I find that most of the fun and colourful underwater attractions are in the first 10m/30’ so this Snuba gear really opens up this eXploration for us and has already provided phenomenal experiences for us on Learnativity which we can’t wait to continue on Möbius.
I have actually come to regard this Snuba setup to be a key component of our SAFETY at SEA equipment because when (never if) we have some problem underneath the boat and water, I can be down there breathing easily for as long as needed to make the neccessary repairs. This would include things like snagging a stray line, fishnet, kelp, nets and such that end up wrapped around the prop or as was the case with Learnativity once and on what we call our “first date” when doing the 3 week passage from Fiji up to Majuro in the Marshall Islands and the rudder broke off! Just think about the difference between trying to work on such problems at sea, usually very rough seas, with a snorkel or less compared to having a constant supply of air. You know our choice!
Speaking of the Swim Platform let’s climb up there next and as we do we can see that it too has received its finished welding to the hull plates
Up standing on the Starboard/right side of the Swim Platform we see that the plinth providing plenty of headroom when you walk through the watertight door into the Workshop has been all welded up and ready for cleaning to get it ready for the glued on EPDM insulation that will go on next.
Stepping through that doorway and we now find Sezgin up here where he is laying down the finished welds on the inside of the welds you saw him doing above around the prop tunnel. This area he is in will be the big open area part of my Workshop along with two eXtremely long workbenches, all 5m/16.5’ of them running down both sides of the hull. Not that I’m at all excited about this.
Looking inside the Engine Room or ER Enclosure we can see more of Sezgin’s craftsmanship with the now fully welded interior areas where the skeg and hull plates come together and attach to those beefy frame rails running across into the two thick lengths of plate running lengthwise which provide the beds for mounting the engine and CPP servo gearbox.
Dropping down and looking aft with my foot for reference, this is the other end of the prop shaft tube where it enters the boat and many more welds proudly on display. The dripless shaft seal will be attached to this end of the prop tube to keep the water out as the prop shaft extends forward and is bolted onto the output shaft of the CPP servo gearbox. Note too the limber holes you can see in the very center of this photo on either side of the keel bar which ensures that any water that might get in her can drain easily down this sloped area to the very front where the bilge pump pickup can suck it all up and out through the exit sea chest.
Moving forward along the Port/Left side where one set of those fabulous workbenches will be, we step through though the next WT door seen in the top right here which takes you from the Workshop into the corridor that lies alongside the Guest Cabin and Christine’s Office on the right or straight ahead to the stairs up into the SuperSalon.
But Ohhhh NOOOOOO!! What have you done Umit??!!! You’ve cut big square holes in our boat!?!
Double Oh Oh!! as we see you’ve cut more holes into the tops of the tanks in the Basement area too!!! I am baffled as to why you would do this??
Alas, not to worry, all according to plan, these of course are some of the many access ports into all the baffled tank areas. On our yearly inspections or in case of a problem with dirty fuel or water it is very important that I have good access to all each of the compartments created by all the baffles inside each of the 14 fuel and water tanks. Peering through one of these access port holes near that is on the centerline and deepest part of the tanks which run alongside of the big keel bar, you can see that I will have very ready access to all parts of each compartment.
Aha! Now we see the method to Umit’s madness as he is prepping the U shaped 25mm thick pieces what will be welded together to create the frames for each tank access port.
These access port frames have been CNC cut in two pieces so as to reduce the waste that would have been if these were cut as one piece. These U shapes can all be nested very closely together to use the plate very efficiently and then welded together along the deep V grooves created by the joining ends you see here.
The X crosses have been marked by the CNC machine to indicate where the threaded holes will end up for the SS bolts which will fasten each gasketed lid in place. Once these frames have been welded and the holes drilled and threaded they will be welded to the tank tops surrounding those cut outs we saw earlier. This creates blind threaded holes, which don’t penetrate the tank tops eliminating any possibility for some liquid to seep through the threads into the interior. While I love the power it has I DETEST the smell of diesel inside a boat so we are making sure there is no chance of even the tiniest of fuel, or water, leaks inside the boat.
Continuing with the welding theme here are the frames with their alignment plates tacked firmly in place to keep the whole frame is perfectly square and and flat and ready for………………….., you guessed it, welding!
And here is one batch of frames with the welding all done and cleaned up, ready for surfacing the faces to make them dead flat then drilled and threaded and finally welded onto the tank tops.
The ever busy Energizer Bunny aka Sezgin the Master welder has also been busy welding up the cantilevered roof that extends aft from the SkyBridge over the Aft Deck and provides such great protection from the elements for the BBQ and outdoor kitchen area on the aft deck and even more importantly wraps around and overtop both the doorway leading into the SuperSalon and the stairs up to the SkyBridge.
Moving inside the SuperSalon and looking up from its floor level reveals some of the eXtremely strong framing that is the hallmark of these XPM boats. This shot is looking forward along the Stbd/Right side and shows how the side decks run alongside those beautiful big glass windows that wrap around the entire SuperSalon.
In addition to their thick I beam type construction you can also see how these frames are all tied together in one continuous loop curving their way up to create the mullions for the windows and then arcing over to the other side to create the ceiling of the SuperSalon and floor of the SkyBridge above. These same fame members curve down along the hull side plates and then tie into that big thick keel bar that runs from stem to stern of the hull.
The round and oval cut outs you see in the frame here will have matching shaped AL pipes welded in to provide smooth support for the hoses, plumbing and wires that run though here.
Up on the foredeck we see that the coaming that creates a sleek bases for the window glass that wraps around the sides and front of the Pilot House has now been all tacked in place and awaits its final welding.
This coaming extends forward more as it wraps around the front windows to provide a stylish way of helping to break up and deflect any large amounts of sea water that might come over the bow and down the decks.
Gussets are welded in place to support the surface plating which Uğur is tacking into place here.
With all the tacks freshly cleaned up these are now added to Sezgin’s always growing list of things to weld.
Standing back you can see how this has all shaped up very nicely and you can also see quite clearly how transparent this whole area is and why we’ve named it our SuperSalon.
But wait! There’s more!!
Let’s not forget that big beautiful arch that provides support for our paravane A frame booms, one of which can be seen on the far Starboard/right side here in its dark gray up and Orange down position.
This arch will also provide support for the aft end of the bimini roof over the SkyBridge as well as a convenient place for mounting the some of the many antennae we will have along with multiple GPS receivers, RADAR units, search lights, etc.
I will show you the details in future posts but the very significant feature of this arch is that it is hinged on each side just above where the double posts exit the Pilot House roof. Dark Gray shows the arch in its normal Up position and then Purple shows it folded down. This enables us to dramatically lower our “air draft” or height so we can cruise through places in the world such as the canals with lower span bridges. And as if that isn’t cool enough, Dennis designed it such that when the arch folds down the bimini roof folds down with it! Here you can see the Green SkyBridge bimini in its normal Up position with the 8 Blue solar panels atop and then in Purple down in “Canal Mode”. But that neat feature will have to wait for a future post.
What I can show you now, in addition to more welding of course, is Uğur and Nihat starting to build the top span section of the arch. The flat plates you see them tacking in place here create a nice box section and surface for mounting the various bits and pieces of electronics that go up here and a waterproof area to house the connections and wiring.
These two sections form the two vertical legs of the upper arch parts of the Arch which attach to the deck and extend up through those “wings” you have seen in previous posts which extend back from the aft corners of the Pilot House.
Which in turn have these two box frame arms that extend forward to provide the pivot point for the bimini roof. If you click to enlarge the rendering above you can get an idea how this all works and interacts.
And as if all THAT wasn’t enough for this week check out what else was happening here at Naval Yachts in the Antalya Free Zone.
Looking up and outside the Naval Yachts shipyard on Wednesday this little fella went slowly sliding by heading for a refit in the shipyard next door.
And then two blocks over at the new home for Naval Yachts they have now poured all the concrete for the driveways and outside parking and storage areas around the new shipyard building.
With the exterior concrete now in along with the Palm trees and grass alongside, the new Naval Yachts is rapidly nearing completion and we should start moving in by the end of this month. So nothing but exciting news and progress over here.
Finishing up for this week I will leave you with this video summary of the week and an updated guided tour for you. It is a bit longer, 13 minutes, than the fast time lapse summaries of my regular weekly video summaries so please do let me know your thoughts on these different formats and what you prefer as well as any and all other comments and suggestions for improvement. I would be sincerely appreciative of any and all help to make these blog posts work better for you.
I leave tomorrow for Amsterdam to experience the huge Marine European Trade Show or METS this is the largest marine show in the world and primarily aimed at the ship building industry so it is the perfect opportunity for me to go see all the latest and greatest materials and equipment for boats like ours and get some in person time with some of the worlds experts. I’ll do my best to capture some of this in pictures and video and bring you some of that in a special edition blog update next weekend.
Until then thank you VERY much for taking the time to join us on this adventure and as always, please be sure to add your comments, questions and ideas in the “Join the Discussion” box below.
– Wayne
Great blog and video as usual Wayne. You make everything so clear, informative, and entertaining with your descriptions and commentary. I do have one question and I am sure you have stated the info on it before. Is the top of your lifelines going to be fabricated from aluminum, like your stanchions, and the the lines below are going to be dyneema lines? What size line are you going to use and what is the overall height of the lifelines? I am planning on changing mine from the low cables that I have now to solid aluminum pipes of at least waist height so they are true lifelines, and not just a pivot point to fall over. I am also playing with the idea of having built in racks for scuba tanks and extra fuel and water containers as I don’t have enough storage below decks.
I must say that you and Christine look particularly “spiffy” swimming around with your “Snuba gear” in the video 🙂 I like your idea of having quick connectors on the swim platform, for the hookah lines. I have a similar setup on my motorhome in several locations for my external air lines, for airing up tires and other uses. It comes in quite handy without having to drag air hoses all around.
Orville
Very kind of you Orville and good to know that my format and style is working well for you. Always hard to know how things are being received so I really value any and all input so I can continue to improve the Mobius.World blog.
The spherical tops of the stanchions are about 1m off the deck with the first Dyneema lifeline just below that so the top lifeline is almost 1m off the deck as well. Like you we know the true value of having lifelines that will actually prevent a person from going over and not just flip them overboard so we have gone much higher than required. These top lifelines are Dyneema same as the others 3 below and then there are places such as at the bow and around the aft deck which will be fabricated from the same 40mm thick wall AL pipe and have their cross bars made of this tubing rather than Dyneema. In the 3D model we tried out going with solid AL pipe for the top lifeline but felt it was too visually distractive and that we can make the Dyneema lifelines just as safe and in grey they almost disappear and you aren’t aware of them as you look out the side windows in the SuperSalon.
We had some racks such as you describe along the rails of our previous 52′ boat Learnativity and they were OK but I never used them when out on passage as I like to have completely clear decks so I stowed everything below decks. One of the benefits of having the 24m length on the XPM78’s is that our “empty ends” provide an eXtreme volume and area for storing things so we can now keep the decks all completely clear and still have easy access to everything stowed in places like the forepeak, HazMat locker and Workshop.
The SeaBreate hookah setup is fabulous and one of our favorite bits of kit onboard as well as a big part of our Safety gear. Glad you liked our video! 🙂 The quick connect fittings worked extremely well though even made of all 316SS they still tended to rust up a bit so I will likely locate the ones for our Snuba setup just inside the Workshop or HazMat door to keep them out of the salt water a bit more and then just keep them covered with some spray on that should keep them nice and clean. I will also have compressed air outlets throughout the boat’s non living spaces so all the way up to the forepeak and in the basement as well as throughout the Workshop. Very handy as you know.
Exciting time seeing this strong vessel come to be. My world in Alaska is turning white with ice and mud mixed in. Your unique quality vessel construction project keeps me thinking about this progressive design. Most days when my mind wonders in your direction, I think about your tunnel fabrication and rudder design. She is very sexy below the water line. In Fact this is my kind boat porn. Kind of like triple X stuff to tell you the truth. A 78 foot vessel with a powerful tunnel and low draft is a work of art in my mind. Lots of design details getting welded up in a very purposeful way. Your stern seems narrow for the size of this vessel. More so than FPB’s it seems. I’m sure you will have a very clean run aft with great efficiency. I love her ass to tell you the truth. Solid work and design. I wish we had our act together to build vessels of this nature in Homer Alaska. That’s my goal. one day. We would sure love to learn more about the CFD’s of this hull shape. We just don’t teach that subject, or have classes on contemporary boat design in our local schooling. We are political and woefully behind the time’s regarding contemporary and progressive vessel design.
My father was a energy estimator and a machinist, time speed and materials were drilled into me at an early age. Boat design was a shared passion between us at a early age. I drove up to Alaska in my 1965 VW van and broke into the commercial fisheries, after sailing around the MED in 1979. I ended up spending many years out at sea between Ca. and the end of the Aleutian Islands hand baiting hooks with the Deep Sea Fishermen’s Union of the North Pacific. I just loved working on the wooden PNW halibut schooners, which are about 80 feet as well. After over 20 years on the deck of wooden vessels, I have matured to a stout aluminum vessel of your style and construction. My goals are to connect the Pacific Rim with green and blue tec. Annual migrations with the birds and the whales. Alaska, Mexico, and Hawaii to start for the first few years. Is there a set of study plans that I can buy on these fuel efficient designs? I would love to print out some PDF’s, build a model, and promote these designs in this northern part of the world. Thanks for sharing and keep up the great photos and detailed description. Wishing your team health and safety. Kind Regards,Carl Nostrand, Balance of the Sea, 41480 Stellar’s Jay Drive, Homer AK. FB Carl Newstream.
Thanks for such kind words and this comprehensive overview Carl. I’m envious of your depth of experiences in those conditions. Christine and I are more “tropical birds” in spite of me being born in Whitehorse in the Yukon Territories of northern Canada at -53 degrees however we have been hearing high latitude destinations such as where you hail from calling our name more and more loudly each year and this has influenced our design of Möbius such that we can begin to explore and enjoy those places in great safety and comfort.
Christine and I both grinned with your mention of this all being “boat porn” as we refer to that as well and just can’t seem to get enough watching YouTube channels and other sources of people building boats and those already out there voyaging the world. We have been landlubbers for almost 2 years now since our sailboat sold sooner than expected so we are certainly itching to get back to Mother Ocean but we are also having a blast with the design and building of Möbius so it is all good.
She is pretty sexy under the water isn’t she! There is obviously some similarities to the FPB’s and their use case is very similar to ours however this XPM series that Naval is now launching with Möbius as XPM78-01 represents a very different solution. Not so different I don’t think than how trawlers from the likes of Flemming, Nordhavn and Hatteras are each different solutions to similar use case challenges. In the case of our underwater shape we are much more of a “sailor’s motorboat” hull I think with the more streamlined and tucked in at the aft end as you noted. The FPB hull design kicks up very steeply about midships and transitions into a very flat bottom aft. Seems to be working very well for them with their open faster turning smaller prop design and their wakes are very clean. In our case we had Dennis work his design chops to the max to go for a bit more protection of the prop and rudder and a very minimal draft. A big CPP propeller turning very slowly in a prop tunnel quickly emerged as the best way to get there.
The tunnel enabled us to go for an eXtremely large prop of 1m in diameter and have it tucked up inside the tunnel to both miniumize draft and feed that big slow turning prop with a very clean supply of water to bite into. We also think our very thin stern will help to balance the boat with very little lift in following seas and when surfing. Combined with our ability to quickly and easily move the fresh water in our voluminous tanks forward and aft we will be able adjust the ride to be just right for the full range of sea and weather conditions we experience on passages.
It all awaits the true test out there in the real world of course but all our testing with models indicates that the overall propulsion package from the hull design through the slow turning Gardner coupled to that big CPP prop that we can tweak at will to have perfect pitch in any situation, should net us an eXtremely efficient boat that will reliably carry us wherever we wish and into many anchorages too shallow for any others to go. Oh darn!
As for study plans please check with Dennis to see what he can do for you. He’s very busy getting his own LRC58 “Koti” all ready for him and Raquel to head out for the horizon in but he often reads these posts and comments and may be able to respond to you and if not you can reach him through his artnautica.com site.
I can very much relate to your comments about time/speed/materials from my training many many moons ago in mechanical engineering and machining. I distinctly remembering discovering what seemed a bit unintuitive to me that you the most efficient cutting of metal on lathes or mills was “maximum feed, maximum feed”. Since then I’ve gone on to see how there is a similar relationship for many other things, diesel engines come to mind for example. It seems similarly counter intuitive but very true that diesels want to be run at a similar max feed/max speed, or more correctly max load and I think there are an awful lot of very well meaning captains who are unknowingly “killing their engines with kindness” in the mistaken believe that “taking it easy” on their engines by running them and their boats at slower speeds will make them more efficient and longer lasting when in fact the opposite is true. This was one of the key factors that made our choice of a CPP prop such a “no brainer” for us as it uniquely enables us to dial in the load on the engine to be in that sweet spot of the engine’s fuel efficiency map which is simply unattainable by fixed props. As you would likely know from all your commercial fishing experiences this ability to control the pitch is particularly priceless in boats which operate in a wide variety of conditions. In the case of fish boats they go out empty and come back very full, at least that’s the goal, and they also go in and out in almost any weather and sea conditions. In the case of Möbius and these XPM type boats we carry such a high volume and weight of fuel and travel the world in such varied sea and weather states that our operating conditions vary greatly as well and we can reap all those CPP benefits to get that “perfect pitch” situation.
Well, enough of my babbling for today and my thanks again for taking the time to join us on this journey and for these very insightful comments. Please keep them coming. And our best wishes as you head out on your new journey as well and we will hope for a chance to share an anchorage with you to swap more stories and experiences in person.
Wayne
She will be very sporty and quick with a fast at the helm. You will turn sweetly between all seas if need be. Fun to drive and learn the angles of most comfort and speed. She will ride well and travel fast with easy.
Whats taking you so long my friend. he he.
Carl
Wayne & team,
Your experience, history, skill, nautical passions, combine with your elegant and informative media skills, are a lesson for us all. I think most people would love learning about this creative vessel project. Green and blue with cooperation at the international level. Very cool.
Please don’t let my excitement and future goals add stress, or pressure on your growing, to do list. Your team is smoking along and are seasoned workers/family/friends/& team mates. That’s the beauty of your project my friend. You teach with your work, joy, and duty. A mentor for us all. Positive expressions of contemporary science and engineering, demonstrating a hi level of efficiency, with ocean going grace and a kick ass dancing girl! Your building a “Low Rider Storm Sailor”. How far is the waterline to your PH floor? She is pretty stream line with a open top house. Top house is not the right word for that spectacular filming platform.
As much as I love throwing out the stavies and smoothing the ride, I am guilty thinking about some modern motion control. I have to pack people to pay for my future ride. Could be the game changer for sea people of age. Some fun testing of trim, handling, motion, surfing, and beaching conditions.
IS there a waiting list for hull number 2? You mentioned a 3 boat series?
I wonder what your, “get off the lee shore sailplane will be?” Is that when the stern mounted electric drive is deployed?
A small team of us in Anchorage built a 70 foot, 3 masted, cold molded, conventional gaff ridge cargo schooner, call “Toothpick”. We did a very stormy winter cruz in 1991. Under a small center mainsail, this lady power sailed into a 20 foot chop with dry decks for the most parts. Up and over, up and over. We could tack with easy into a radical mean sea. Never have I made head way in hi winds and white seas like the lady rode with a smile.
It took our small team about 9 plus years too launch in Ships Creek down town Anchorage. Rigging and stepping 3 masts in one tide in the mud was the show of the day. WE wanted to demonstrate the last days of working sail. She was the biggest cold molded west system boat at the time. I was very lucky to have worked with Floyd Epperson at a early age. Floyd world carry his 6 meter design’s on the deck of his merchant vessels, and sail international events under the USA flag. Buckminester Fuller would of called Floyd, a gifted comprehensive design scientist. Floyd would of liked you.
Systems and systems to contemplate…… Earnestly awaiting your posts.
Wu li wa,
Carl
Wow! You’ve exceeded even your high level of overly generous praise Carl and I most humbly thank you. Not sure I can really live up to such billing but it certainly inspires me to try, so thanks for all.
To answer some of your questions and comments, the WL to PH floor distance should be about 1.3m @ start passage trim (fully provisioned, full fuel, 1/4 water) In the design phase we kept our eye on this dimension for sea kindliness of the ride when standing in the SuperSalon and dropped the PH/SS floor down till the bottom edges of the windows were at deck level and then raised a bit for safety with a bit of coaming as you’ve been seeing welded up in the past few update posts. However for the next XPM build I’ve recommended that they leave the windows and the PH superstructure as is but drop the PH floor down about 100-150mm lower to give the SuperSalon a wee bit more headroom and spacious feel. This would reduce the height in the Basement by the same amount of course, but the Basement headroom would still end up being more than 110mm which would be quite comfy for most people working down there either kneeling or sitting.
We too are very excited about how the design of the SkyBridge has evolved and why I refer to it by that name. Putting all those solar panels up on top of the roof was a decision we wrestled with for a long time but in the end Dennis was able to help us work out our weight “budget” such that we could afford to have the weight up there and still have great stability and ride numbers. The value of those 8 full sized solar panels is eXtremely high so we feel it is well worth “spending” some of our weight savings putting these solar panels up there in the most unobstructed area on the whole boat so they can generating their maximum output. At today’s rates these panels put out 380Wp each so that’s over 3kWP from all eight. We then have 3 more up on the front roof area over the PH and another 3 on the cantilevered aft deck roof so a total of 14 panels @ 380WP = 5.3kWP for all 14 panels.
Regarding stablisers I spent quite a bit of time at METS this past week talking to most of the active stabilizer companies who where all there and I am more convinced than ever that the stabilsers that are based on the Magnus Effect such as MagnusMaster by DMS Holand and the ones by RotorSwing are the just right active stabilisers for the XPM type of boats and most others. I’ve written about these in previous posts and will do more in the future but the big benefits in my mind include their being all electric so no hydraulics needed, lighter overall weight, very limited protrusion outside the hull, ability to be retracted and even be used on some ice breakers now. RotorSwing has also added the ability for a “zero speed” mode when at anchor by rotating the rotating cylinders back and forth to create the requisite water flow to get some lift. Being able to rotate the stabilizing cylinders so they are in a more swept back mode also opens up the option now of reducing the drag compared to the full out perpendicular position where you get the most stabilizing lift forces. So yes, I think that active stabilisers will continue to improve and be a more and more sought after component of XPM type boats. As you noted this can be a “game changer” or perhaps better put “life changer” in that making a boat more comfortable to be on is going to encourage more people to go to sea and do so with smiles on their face throughout a passage. For Mobius we will still likely go wtih passive paravanes at launch and try those out for a year and see what we think. However the hulls for the XPMs all have the full coffer dams and framing for any type of active stabilisers to be installed very easily for those who want this option.
I can’t say how many more, but it would appear that there will be more XPM boats on the water to join XPM78-01 Möbius. There are apparently several potential new XPM owners deep in conversations with Naval Yachts and with the major increase of area in Naval’s new shipyard that we will be moving into in the next few weeks, it would be great to see some sisters to Möbius start their build process. The current plan with Artnautica Yacht Design and Naval Yachts is to offer three different size boats in the XPM series at about 20, 24 and 30 meters. I will be sure to let you and others know when any future XPM is ordered and about to be built and do my best to add them into my weekly updates here on Mobius.World
For Möbius our “get off a lee shore sailplan” that you asked about will be based on maxing out all 750Nm of Mr. G’s torque and grunt power and dialing that big 1m diameter Nogva CPP prop in for maximum thrust. No electric drives for us but one of the most interesting things I saw at METS was the Esco Power Parallel Hybrid Power transmission I spent quite a bit of time discussing their products with their CEO. For long range passage makers such as Möbius and the XPM type of boats, this solution could make lots of sense. The link above will provide you with a full explanation but the way I’d summarise their PHT is that it is much like many of the hybrid powered cars which are being announced of late in that you can pick and choose between different combinations of electric and diesel power and different combinations of both. The Esco PHT gear is sandwiched between an otherwise standard diesel engine of your choice and the transmission or CPP gearbox of your choice. One option is therefore to connect a traditional diesel engine directly to the drive/prop shaft and transfer power from the engine to the prop in a traditional way. However there is also a large electric motor attached via a PTO type arrangement on the PHT and a decoupling clutch between the diesel engine and the transmission which opens up additional drive options. Decouple the diesel and connect the electric motor to the transmission and you now have electric only power turning the prop. Or have BOTH the diesel engine and the electric motor connected and use some smart tech to vary how much each motor contributes to turning the prop. The PHT also has a “Boost” option to provide an additional “get off a lee shore” or other such scenarios when you need all the power you can get into the water. The other very nice feature is that you can also switch the electric motor to be a generator and have a built in high output generator to chare up the big bank of batteries you have onboard to power that electric drive. No surprise then that Naval Yachts has been talking with Esco for more than a year and so it would not surprise me that one of the next XPM owners will decide to go with one of these PHT drives and make their XPM a Hybrid powered boat so stay tuned for that in the future.
Love the naming of “Toothpick” and sounds like one sweet ride! Must have been a fabulous experience for you and I’m certainly most envious of that. Do send along some pictures or links to articles if you have them? You can reach me here or via our Mobius.World Email at wayne.christine@mobius.world if Email works better for any of this.
It is certainly a treat to have your active participation on this adventure and voyage building the good ship Möbius Carl and can’t thank you enough for taking the time to do so. As much of a geek as I am and as long as I’ve been involved with tech, it still leaves me in awed delight when I think about examples such as how you in Homer and me here in Antalya as well as others following along here, can have found each other, be so easily and well connected and be able to share our thoughts and ideas in such rich and thought provoking ways with everything from text to voice to video and 3D models. Just wait till I fire up my 3D printer in the Workshop on Möbius!!
You’ve done a great job here. I’m happy to share this post with my friends. It’s great to see. I want to comment on your post. For more info :- https://www.invilfab.co.nz/
Hi Nathan and my apologies for taking so long to respond to your kind request to post comments here. I do moderate all comments to control the onslaught of spam but we actively welcome and encourage as much input as possible from those like you who are following our adventure. It is a large part of why we created this Mobius.World blog to both pay back and pay forward for all the great learning we have gained from others who write similar blogs or post questions and suggestions along the way, so we would welcome your input and having you share this with whomever you think might be interested and find this of value.
We’re quite honoured in fact that someone with your background and outstanding work in aluminium welding and fabrication at Invilfab in New Zealand are interested and following our work here in Turkey. Looking forward to your comments and don’t hesitate to ask any questions you have along the way.
– Wayne