Galley reno

[Troppo]

A long time ago I became fed up with my galley 'system' being a picnic box under the sink containing most of my cooking and eating gear. Finally got around to doing something about it beside dreaming. First, I prepared to put in drawers. When Windchaser was recently on the slip, I replaced the old valve under the sink and also changed where it went through the hull so I had more usable space. With all the measurements, at home I put together a frame which could be dismantled and taken to the boat and then put through the cut-out and assemble inside the under-sink area. That was the theory. In practice I had heaps of problems, such as finding that the face of the surround of the cut-through area was not flat, it bowed about 25 mm from top to bottom. And the cut-out was not as square as I first thought.

Before the makeover

galley 1.jpg (309.1 KiB) Viewed 1689 times

Moved the sink thru-hull and glued mounts for framing.

galley 2.jpg (307.77 KiB) Viewed 1689 times

However, I took things slowly. I glued mounts, coated in epoxy, in appropriate places. Adjusted the frame so it was fitting okay. At home I made five drawers of ply, coated with epoxy and did fronts of Tasmanian Oak (which is a eucalypt) which I stained.

Took a bit to get it all together, seemed to run out of the right sort of s/s screws at inconvenient times. But after an embarrassing long time, it was finished, well almost finished, I still need to put clips on so when the boat is a-rocking, the drawers don't slide out.

Finished cupboard, many many hours later!

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It all works!

galley 4.jpg (321.96 KiB) Viewed 1689 times

The cutlery draw slides out from the end so I can easily remain leaned on the cupboard as I usually do to brace myself when cooking and still get out a spoon or knife. The sides of the cutlery draw run back under the sink about 30 cm so when pulled out as shown it is very stable and I can lay a cutting board on it and use if for extra bench space.

The wide drawer at the bottom is for my washing-up basin. When preparing food I can slide dirty dishes into it and it keeps my sink free for other stuff like giving the spuds a scrub or whatever or even using the sink as extra bench space. Unfortunately, when I put dirty dishes in that basin and close it up, the dishes are still dirty next time I pull it open. Maybe I need to put more washing-up water in it and leave it closed for longer.

The drawer on the left of the unit is as high as the other two drawers (notice only one hole for opening?). Into this deep drawer I can put my frypan and saucepan and plates and my tall bottle of olive oil. Easy to pull stuff straight out without digging around. The other two drawers are about a baked-bean tin deep so I can have a few supplies in them ready to go without digging under the seats.

On the right is my 10 litre bottle of rainwater. Since we have a tank at home (which we only connect up after a couple of inches of rain has washed the dust and possum and bat poop off the roof) I enjoy taking the rainwater for making cups of tea and drinking.

My building skills are okay but the finished product has variable sized gaps and a few other defects which I try to avoid noticing. As far as utility goes, I am very happy with the cupboard. Gunna make meals and hot cuppa's when cruising so much more pleasant. And that's my goal so it's good.

[steve]

Troppo,
That looks a really good job. Well thought out. I have been planning to something similar in my Mark 3 for years but have never got around to it. Maybe I will just copy your design but I don't think I will achieve the same quality of finish.

Steve

[bornfreee]

Hi Troppo great job mate looks fantastic, do you have more detailed photos showing where you started as in the wood work always enjoy your postings on the work you do thanks