Galley Makeover - The End of the Beginning

Hi everyone,
It's been a while since our last blog and the galley makeover is moving ahead steadily.  The fridge cool box now has its insulation fitted and the new sink and adjacent locker are fitted.  Here's how it all happened.

First the outer box was lined with sticky-back aluminium tape.  This should reflect any radiant heat.

Fridge cool box lined with aluminium

Next we added 75mm extruded polystyrene (XPS) insulation panels.  Some of the panels needed to be carefully shaped to fit.  XPS proved very easy to work with.  The panels were glued in place using Liquid Nails.  Amazing how many tubes were consumed.  We've painted on a couple of coats of epoxy over the panels to prepare them for the 4mm plywood which will form the inner floor and walls.

75mm XPS insulation panel shaped to fit

Insulation panels glued in place

We purchased the condenser unit and evaporator plate from Outback Marine in Queensland.  It arrived about a week after ordering.

Veco Frigoboat Capri CF50

With the fridge cool box insulation done we turned our attention to the forward part of the galley.  This will house the new sink and an insulated (but not refrigerated) locker.  The new sink will be supported by a plywood board which sits on the "sill" made for the old double sink.  We are epoxying all plywood panels to seal them.

New sink and epoxied support board

With the old sinks and locker removed we took the opportunity to clean and paint the volume under them.  We also replaced the nearly 30 year old water filler hose which turned out to be extremely brittle.  It cracked apart during removal.

Repainted compartment

The new locker which lives outboard of the sink will have a flush lid.  This required a "stepped" top cover which was interesting to construct.

Locker top

Locker box and top

The locker only just fitted through the sink cutout so its XPS insulation panels were glued on after it entered the compartment.  It has 75mm insulation on the bottom, 50mm outboard and 25mm elsewhere (no room for more).  The blue panel can be seen in the photo below.

Insulated locker mounted

We decided to fit a shelf under the new sink to make use of some of the spare volume in the compartment.  We are also replacing and rearranging the plumbing under the sink.

Shelf under sink with holes for sink drain and bilge pump outlet's vented loop line 

Starting to fit new plumbing

Today the Laminex Aquapanel work top and sink were fitted.  Looking good so far!  The lid for the locker is still to be built.

Aquapanel and sink installed!

Tomorrow we should have the water faucets fitted and plumbing reconnected.  Twill be nice to no longer be getting water from a jerry can for a cuppa or to do the washing up!

Next week we will resume construction of the fridge.