Galley Makeover - The Beginning of the End

Hi everyone,
We've made good progress on the galley makeover.  The fridge cool box and other new lockers are now painted. The condenser unit is mounted in the cockpit locker and the thermostat controller is mounted in the locker outboard of the cool box.

Cutting out the holes in the single piece of Laminex Aquapanel was a little scary.  On the aft side it is only about 30mm wide.  Happily it didn't fracture and it is now glued in place.

Aft worktop installed

The worktops were masked around the three lockers and painting commenced.  Three coats of Norglass Shipshape Primer/Undercoat followed by three of Norglass Northane Gloss.  This was over the existing several coats of Norglass Epoxy Resin.  The gloss is very glossy!

Undercoated

Top coated

Not forgetting the forward worktop locker!

The Veco Frigoboat Capri CF50 condenser unit is mounted in the main cockpit locker - on the aft face of the bulkhead which is the aft wall of the galley.  Quite how we'll arrange good airflow remains to be sorted out, probably by ducting to/from the lazarette which has a cowling to the open air.  I'm glad we painted the cockpit locker last year.

CF50 on custom-made s/s shelf

The Frigoboat thermostat control won't be played with very often so we decided to mount it in the locker outboard of the fridge cool box.  Keeps the electrical and sensor leads out of harm's way.  In the photo below it is below the hole through which power, evaporator plate pipes and thermostat cables connect to the condenser unit on the other side of the bulkhead.

Thermostat controller and bulkhead penetration in outboard locker

With the painting of the boxes finished we can finish the shaping of the three locker lids to fit, and paint them.  Next week we will also be fitting the evaporator plate in the cool box and connecting everything.  This will be done with help from John of Bluewater Marine Refrigeration.

Galley Makeover - Half Way

Hi everyone,
I thought of entitling this "point of no return", but of course we're well past that point in the galley project.  We are probably past half way but to call this point "the beginning of the end" would be tempting fate!

The sink side of the galley is now complete apart from building the locker lid and painting the locker interior.  We've been using the sink for a week now and it is brilliant.

Sink and adjacent worktop with lid-less locker outboard

The fridge cool box is coming along well.  The interior floor and walls are now installed and the top cover is being constructed.

4mm ply interior walls and top cover installed

Middle and upper 9mm ply top covers

Three layers of ply will form the top surface

We're getting close to calling the fridge mechanic to schedule installation of the evaporator plate and connection to the condenser unit.

Separately from the galley makeover we now have a new s/s tiller.  It replaces the wooden tiller which will be retained as a spare.  The new tiller will make hand steering much easier due to the width of the loop.  Of course it has a pin for the autopilot ram and a chain hook for the vane gear.

New tiller

Note the liferaft which was recently serviced by Great Circle in Queensland.

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.