Hi!
The Journey continues!
The past couple of weeks have been busy and exciting as the galley renovation has progressed to near completion!
The “stock” Mac26X galley is functional and many find it to be perfect for their needs for an occasional meal on the water. MacGregor did a good job providing a simple functional galley. At the same time the design leaves room for individual creativity to meet the changing needs that different plans entail. It also explains why galley mods are one of the more popular activities owner embark upon.
As part of what we intend to do with Over Easy we decided that as part of our preparations we would include a galley renovation as well.
We started with the stock Mac26X galley:
Then we removed the black fiberglass front piece with the odd sized nooks and hatch.
Next we removed the single burner alcohol stove followed by cutting away the top surface and sink:
We took advantage of the timing to get several of our other projects accomplished like preemptively adding bilge pumps, adding a dual battery system and upgrading the electrical system with an intermediate panel and new control switch panel box while things were opened up. Once those projects were completed it was now time to finally get on with the galley project!
Our planning was to maximize easy access storage, provide for easy access to support future maintenance/modifications, avoid having to fabricate custom drawers, allow for low maintenance and minimize wood structure if possible. (We liked MacGregor’s design philosophy of being able to ‘hose down’ the interior if need be and minimizing the need to refinish surfaces.)
To that end we chose to utilize off the shelf baskets for much of our anticipated adaptive storage needs:
The baskets are plastic, have good handles, solid bottom and vented sides. The two sizes allow them to be fully removed and fit in the companionway to see what is there. This also allows for sufficient depth to make use of the available space and adapt to the narrowing geometry of the hull as one moves forward. The space allows for two large and one smaller basket per level.
We choose to use a two shelf approach with back stops and a high front lip to locate and retain the baskets for most anticipated water conditions. We also adding a top extension to raise up the working surface and provide further additional storage for a single burner induction cooktop and a dual burner foldaway propane cooktop should we decide to bring it. The top extension also allows for two small baskets and other storage container options as needed. Along the aft portion is a spice rack that holds 8 to 10 jars.
Within the top extension are two secure yet easily removable access panels. These removable panels are along the back and aft sides. These allow for quick and easy access to the wire raceway, thru-hull fitting, bilge discharge live and shutoff valve, and the back of the intermediate electrical panel.
The top surface is maple veneer 7 ply hardwood. This is the only wood used for this project. The side edges, top and bottom surfaces were sanded then four coats of a Minwax hard surface polyacrylic was applied (with 400 grit standings between coats). This is something that we have used previously on high use contact surfaces like bannisters and handrails with very good results. The top surface is a split design to allow access and a convenient place to put things as they are removed.
Along the back beyond the top surface and the port interior wall is a long trough to house several rice and pasta jars, cooking oils and/or bottled libations as required.
The structure was fabricated from dimensional exterior grade all weather PVC board. This is a nice product to work with in hat regular wood working tools and techniques can be utilized. One side has a nice faux wood grain embossed.it is durable, cleanable and impervious to moisture exposure.
The structure has been designed such that should the need arise the galley can be disassembled and removed to expose the hull structure.
The bottom shelf surface incorporates three removable panels that allow access to the port bilge area without tools if that is required.
This has been a fun and rewarding adventure part of the New Journey for Over Easy for us.
This galley project has allowed us to visualize some of the fun day-to-day activities as we both enjoy cooking and preparing meals for ourselves and others ( once we can all have this COVID-19 in our rear view mirror someday).
Working through ideas and coming up with creative solutions to incorporate them has been really enjoyable for us.
Now we have to finish up some of the remaining items so we can get on the water!
- We inspected and decided we needed to replacethe engine control cables. The POs were kind enough to include a pair of new cable assemblies with Over Easy. These were very much appreciated. Thank you! This was a bit of a challenge for us but it all worked out with color coding the individual cable assemblies.
- We are installing our new sonar/depth sounder. The cable has been routed up to the pedestal. One of our concerns has been about leaving the transponder head in the water even when not in use at the slip. Marine growth can be a problem in this region of SC. We did some research and found a couple of alternatives to the traditional stern mounting. We decided that we would attempt to mount the transducer within the interior of the hull by bedding it down in silicone gel within an enclosure to make it into a “thru-the-hull” transducer. The only downside is that we lose the ability to monitor ambient water temperature.
- We took advantage of the loosened pedestal (done previously as part of the modification to enlarge the fuel locker cuddies to install new 12 gallon tanks) and reorganized some of the wiring to/from the engine. Some of the extra length of wires had been coiled on the interior floor of the pedestal collecting dirt and debris. Some of the extra wire length had been pushed though the cockpit floor opening into the lower aft berth. We gathered up each cable, coiled them and provided an adequate tether within the pedestal. Much-Much neater within the aft lower berth and the pedestal!!!
- Stiil have to get back to the addition of the fuel filter/separators, reinstalling the compass
- Reinstalling the steering bars, line change out for the centerboard, etc....
Anyway the galley mod was a good effort and fun!
