Galley Cabinetry assembly

The Galley is starting to really come together now and it is nice to see items going back into the boat, rather than out of it.

We put the new laminate surface on all the counter tops.  We chose a laminate rather than granite due to the weight and the desire to ensure we kept the practicality of having fiddle rails on the counters.  If we went with a granite or stone, we were not sure how we would have effectively mounted fiddle rails on the edges.

After the laminate was down, we installed a shelf under the galley sink that has an access panel from above for dry storage. 

We then veneered all of the lower cabinets in African mahogany.  This included the side of the cabinets (one facing the nav station in the walkthrough the other facing the salon, and all front drawer and cabinet panels.  The veneer was put in place using not only the Pressure Sensitive Adhesive that it came with but also the standard contact cement on both surfaces method (like a laminate).  All of the new veneer received a sanding with 240 grit sandpaper.  This will smooth out the surface, blend in the joints and have a smooth surface to put a finish on.

We installed the new front panel to the pantryWe still do not have doors on it as we are not sure if we want to go back in with sliding doors or opening doors.I suspect due to the limited counter space we will go with sliding doors to not have to move items on the counter if you need to open the pantry doors. 

The rear wall of the galley was laminated in Teak rather than Mahogany.  We are trying to keep the bulkhead walls in teak and really like the way it looks   For this we removed the Electric Propane control switch, cleaned the mating surfaces of all dust using a towel dampened with denatured alchohal.  This allows for a fast drying time and allowed us to then coat both mating surfaces with contact cement.  The new wall was cut out of a single large piece to fit the unique shape of the rear galley wall. 

The teak panel is 1/8^th inch thick and made installing a little bit of a challenge as you had to cut it with a saw to shape rather than a knife like the thin veneer.  (Tip:  When applying contact cement to an area this large, it was helpful to have 2 people, Deb applied it to the wall and I applied it to the back of the teak panel, this allowed us to install it when it just started to get tacky rather than dry.

A new GFCI outlet was installed at the first plug in the wire chain and mounted back into the face of the pantry. 

New wire was run to the ceiling where insulation (3/4” closed cell foam) panels were installed between the fiberglass and the new pine slat ceiling.  The installation of the ceiling always presents a unique situation in that the roof arches to some extent, additionally the sides are not square so it starts with a single pine slat run fore to aft on the center line of the boat.  It then works outward from that so that the angled cuts to align with the outer curve of the boat can be made.   We have 

decided to install all LED lighting in the boat and wanted to have that light being emitted from the ceiling for general lighting, and then add reading lights at locations that make sense.  To that end, we mapped out how we wanted to control the lights for the common central are of the boat (the Galley, Nav Station, Walkthrough and Salon).  We liked the idea of having control of those lights from a central location near the  companion way.  We decided on mounting 6 switches (3 on each side of the companionway) that each control specifc lighting.  For example the 2 most forward switches will control the led lighting on the salon ceiling lighting on the port and starboard respectively.  The center switch on each side turns on the general lighting across the galley and companionway.  The next switches back control either the lights down the walkthrough, and on the port side control lights to light up the galley including one that shines into the top loading fridge/freezer unit. 

We are pleased with the LED lighting we chose.  They have a brushed aluminum finish, are bright but still a bit warm (not that sterile white from some LED’s) and can swivel slightly to point in specific directions.   They do not each have their own switch on the base which is why we mounted the bank of switches.

When we were looking for LED lights we considered just getting the marine fixtures with LED’s in the, however we wanted a little bit more versatility and selection for our lighting choices.  After speaking to some marine LED vendors at boat shows, I learned that LED’s for marine use are not something special but are typically the same as the ones that you can buy on line that are not “marine” specific.  Armed with that information, we decided to look at all LED lighting options.  We settled on some LED lights from Ikea that came with an adapter that went from 110V AC to 12V dc.  Because the output of the device included with the lights was in the 2-4 amp range, we worried a bit about the potential higher voltage that would be going to the lights.  I have ben assured that the lights will only draw what they draw, regardless of how many amps the supply “can” provide.  That said, I suspect that I won’t see the same life expectancy out of these as someone might on a regulated 2amp output.  So in the end, if I lose 25% of the life expectancy of these, it will still provide some 7500 hours of use.   For the money saved and the selection, I am hoping that I made a good choice.  So far so good but it has only been a couple of months at this point.  We will keep some spares on board in the event we needed to replace these.  Because of that reason we made mounting and replacing them fairly easy if we need to.

After the veneering, sanding, ceiling, lighting, electrical, etc, the sanded molding was all wiped down with denatured alcohol and the dry fitted.  Because the new ceiling is a bit thicker than the old headliner, and because the rear galley bulkhead veneer is thicker than the original, we knew we would have to slightly modify (trim) some of the molding.  We made those minor adjustments and reinstalled all of the trim in the galley and along the new ceiling. 

At this point we still have to build a new fridge/freezer lid with the new counter laminate to match, need to have the compressor serviced (still can’t believe I dripped water on the control panel when taking the sink out), fasten the sink and install the new faucet in the galley.    The next step from there will be bungs in all screw holes and varnish as a last step.

90% complete on the Owners Stateroom

Work has continued on the Owners Stateroom, and we are thrilled with the way that the ceiling planks are starting to look.  We started with a plank running up the center of the boat on the ceiling and then started to fit each plank from the center to the outer edge.  Because of the angles, it was necesaarry to install the rear ceiling trim to hold the planks in place and screw them to the ceiling joists (fancy way of describing the small wooden cross beams attached to the fiberglass).

Once we made it to the corner (in the picture above and right) it was required that every piece be cut with an angle and then fit into the tongue and groove.  A few mistakes were made when I would cut them at the wrong angle.

Once the ceiling was in place, the trim was all screwed back into place. When we disasembled the stateroom, we drew diagrams and traced the screws and then stored the legend and screws in a zip log bag so when we were assembling, we could ensure the right screws went back in the correct location (didn't want any to go all the way through and poke through the cabin top.)

After the trim was all in place and secured, the bungs were installed.  I have a cheap set of bung cutters (under $10) that I picked up from Harbor Freight and using an old scrap of teak trim, I cut 160 or so plugs/bungs.  After removing all of those bungs, we found that the best way to assemble is to NOT glue them in place but rather hold them in place with varnish so that if they ever have to be removed again, a drill bit run into the center of the plug will break the varnish free and it will pop right out.   

After a 24 hours drying period the bungs can be popped one time gently with a sharpened chisel and then sanded flat and flush with the trim.    We were in the home stretch at this point so we cleaned up the mess we had made in the stateroom and vacuumed and cleaned up all of the saw dust.  We used tack clothes to wipe everything down really good so that it was ready for a first coat of varnish.  You can see in the picture to the right just what a difference that first coat of varnish makes on what looks like a rather bland wall or piece of teak trim.  This was the excitement shot we needed because at this point we wanted to see some victories after all this work.  Seeing that shine was it.

With 3 coats of Varnish on now, it is really staring to come together.  Here are some photos in it's current state.

We couldn't be happier with the knotty pine ceiling planks.  I hope they do last and don't cause an issue over time.  We were able to install the solar vent through them and there is enough gaps in a couple of small locations to allow a little bit of air flow in there as well.


The next Blog update that we post will be photos that have the new bulkhead for the vanity seat installed and the bedding back in place.  We do still need to install lighting and have held off right now because we just haven't found the ones that we both decided are the ones we really like.

Knotty Pine Ceiling

The Re-assembly Begins

Today was a good productive day for the re-assembly of the owners stateroom.  We made a lot of trips between the storage unit (where we have our wood working tools and room to spread out and work).  We had someone come by and give us a quote on replacing the headliner.  I was a bit surprised at the cost.  The guys were great and do really good work, however for just the owners stateroom (about 5 yards of material) was going to be$1200-$1400.  We really wanted to do a wooden ceiling and thought that would be a problem because it wouldn't breathe, but these guys confirmed that is not an issue if we want to use hard board or wood.  We were going to put "Bead Board" on the ceiling but we really struggled to get each panel so that the slat lines line up, it didn't look good, so we scrapped that idea  We will end up still doing wood, but likely going to do knotty pine varnished 4" wide planks instead.  We can do a tongue and groove on each one to help hold them together and if we start in the middle, we are hoping that it will look better since we can get the planks to run the full length in single sheets with trim to hide the fastening screws that will hold it up against the ceiling beams.

Curved wall on Port Side of bunk

Today we really got quite a bit complete.

• Ran wire for 2 wall lights and 2 reading lights

• Installed port and starboard curved hull walls from the bunk to the deck

• Installed the rear curved wooden wall around the 2 fixed ports

• Installed the port coach roof panel along the opening port

Curved wall around the 2 fixed ports

• Installed the starboard coach room panel along the 2 opening ports

• Installed / replaced some rotted plywood

• Installed the bead board above the bunks

• Installed 1/2" insulation across the whole ceiling 

Adding Insulation to the roof before re-assembly

We still have to dry fit the ceiling planks, and we are deciding if we will remove them and varnish them out of the boat or attempt to varnish overhead on the ceiling.  We will install all of the teak trim everywhere except the ceiling trim until the planks are all mounted so that the trim covers up any small gaps between the bulkheads and the ends of the ceiling planks.  After that is complete, we will install the rest of the ceiling trim, install bungs and sand them all smooth.  Then it is Varnish, Varnish, Varnish.  We always think we will do 10-12 coats and usually quit after about 6 because we are satisfied with the look.
After all the varnish is complete, we will re-install the refurbished/cleaned/polished Beckson opening ports, but are waiting so we don't have to tape around them when varnishing.