Christine and I are finally back together and back home in Antalya after a long and great set of trips, most of which were on our own and took us from Fort Lauderdale Florida to La Habra Heights California to Vancouver and Vernon British Columbia and Sao Paulo Brazil.  Even better we were both able to spend time with friends, family and grandchildren (they are in their own class of their own!) and we also both spend some time pursuing more professional passions.  Christine was gone for 5 weeks attending and presenting at two different author conferences and I was away for three weeks finishing with a very special keynote in Sao Paulo for an organisation, LACLO the Latin America Conference on Learning Technologies which my dear and much too soon departed friend Erik Duval, along with Xavier Ochoa and myself had initiated back in 2006.  I was deeply honoured to be asked to do this keynote  and even more so to be able to do so in memory of my dearest friend Erik.

I landed back in Antalya at 3am on Friday and Christine flew in at 6pm and we have been reveling in being “We” again, being back with Ruby and Barney (our two pups) in our fabulous apartment here in Antalya and then spending several hours yesterday visiting our “baby” Mobius to catch up with all the great progress which Team Mobius at Naval Yachts had accomplished in our absence.  It was especially dramatic for Christine having been over 5 weeks since she had been on board and here is an overview for you of all the progress the team made during the week of September 1-5, 2018

The majority of progress picked up from what you saw last week with the continued assembly of the above deck structure of the Pilot House which creates the the interior space for the majority of our living areas, the Galley, Dining, Lounge and Helm station and our SkyBridge up on top of the Pilot House.  But enough typing, let’s go take a look.

These two quick renders of the model will help orient and visualize what you are seeing in the photos below.  This aft Port side view shows how the Pilot House and SkyBridge and you can see the cantilevered roof that extends aft from the end of the Pilot House over the aft deck. 
This roof provides nice protection from rain and sun over the aft deck area which has those two vertical vent boxes you see aft of the Pilot House which also hold our BBQ, sink and countertop area.  And you can see the 3 large solar panels on top along with the eight panels on top of the SkyBridge bimini roof.

If you look a bit closer (click to enlarge) at the area behind the Pilot House you will see how the sides extend back to create very good protection for the WT door entrance to the SuperSalon on the Port (left) side and the circular stairs you can just see on the Starboard side which take you up to the SkyBridge.
This render of the Port bow will give you a bit better sense of how the Pilot House roof extends out past the front windows to keep them shaded and out of the rain and how the area in front of the SkyBridge provides a great spot for those three large solar panels

Meanwhile, back in the real world, here is how things are shaping up.  Looking from the Port corner of the aft deck area you can see how that cantilevered roof is mostly roughed in.  The two vertical supports are temporary braces just to keep everything lined up while all the parts are tacked in place. 

Looking at the aft wall of the Pilot House with that beautiful swirl pattern, you can see the opening on the Port (left) side where the WT door will go that provides the one entrance to the steps taking you down into the SuperSalon area and the cut out on the opposite Starboard side is where the circular stairs will take you up to the SuperSalon.

Looking here from the Starboard corner you can see more of the initial superstructure of the aft deck.

Note how the sides of the aft corners of the PH roof extend back to create two side wings to provide this eXtremely well protected area when going in/out of the SuperSalon and up/down the SkyBridge stairs. 

On the deck directly below these two side wings will be two boxed in aluminium storage areas/seats and the same thick tempered glass from the side windows will extend back as well to seal in this whole area.

Dropping down a bit you can see the very beginning of the framing for those two side wing boxes on the right here and how the glass will be framed in between the top of these boxes and the upper roof wings.

You can also get a very clear sense of just how transparent the inside of the SuperSalon will be with that 360 degrees of glass windows surrounding you.

It gets even better when you step down into the Super Salon and get this eye level view out the front and side windows.  As you may recall from interior renderings in previous posts, the main Helm station is front and center with the Lounge area on the Port (left) side and the Dining area on the Starboard side.  The Galley is on the Starboard aft corner not seen here and you can see the cut out in the front Starboard side for the stairs leading down into the Master Cabin.  The large square opening in the middle is for accessing the voluminous Basement area below this whole floor area.

Moving over to the far aft Starboard side of the PH we see how the window frames are now being tacked in place.  All the thick (30mm) plates of laminated window glass will be flush fitted on the outside of these frames so that even if struck by some monster side wave they have all the strength of that underlying aluminium hull framing.

Looking from the inside here and you can see how this construction creates the eXtremely strong H type beams that tie the upper frame members of the PH and roof into the lower frames and become and integral part of the whole hull.

These are but two of the four side windows  in addition to the two even larger rear windows you will look out of when in the Galley which makes both these cooks eXcessively eXcited! 

But wait!  There’s more!!  Let’s climb up to even higher heights and go check out the SkyBridge above this shot.

This is the view looking from the front of the SkyBridge overtop of the wedge shaped area which will ultimately be covered by 3 large solar panels. These solar panels will be mounted on a frame that is hinged just in front of the short front wall or coaming you see at the bottom of this picture.  This hinged bank of solar panels can thus be locked down flush with the tapered triangular sides when we are on passage and then propped up horizontal when at anchor creating an eXtremely efficient wind tunnel capturing all the breezes blowing over the bow and direct them down into the SuperSalon. 

There will be a “demister” grill in front of that rectangular area with the 5 vertical bars and then the fresh air is routed down into a vent plenum box below and directed out through three 300 mm/12” “eyeball” vents in the ceiling of the SuperSalon, similar to the vents above airplane seats or the dash of many cars.

This open area of the SkyBridge may well be the most popular spot on the boat given its height above the water and completely unobstructed views.  We will leave this as an open space with loose lounge chairs, table, etc. so that we an try out lots of different configurations and then build in seats and table in the future once we discover how we end up using this area.  Or we may just stay wtih movable furniture so we can adjust it to be just right for different views in anchorages around the world.  All such furniture will have tie downs to keep them all secured when we are underway of course.

The alcove at the aft end of the SkyBridge off to the side where the stairs enter creates the upper Helm station which will have a super comfy Helm chair and a large area off to the Port side for books, charts, laptops, etc. and plenty of space in the dashboard area in front for screens, controls, switches, etc.

We will also have an upholstered cushion to cover that flat area on the right of this photo as this will likely be another favorite spot to sit up higher still for even better views of the world outside.

This is your view when sitting down in this upper Helm station and it doesn’t take too much imagination to visualize the views from up here.  You can also see that the sight lines forward over the bow and off to the sides are eXcellent thanks to spending so much time with Dennis positioning eye level cameras within the 3D models to ensure these critical lines of sight.

Similarly when looking aft there is eXcellent visibility when looking aft.  The cut out behind the upper Helm station provides full headroom as you come up the circular staircase. 

That concludes the progress update for this first week of October and next week I will make some more videos to take you on a tour of all these new spaces that are being transformed from virtual 3D models into aluminum framed reality.  Thanks for taking the time to join us, hope you are enjoying following us through this awemazing process and please be sure to add any comments, questions and ideas in the “Join the Discussion” box below.