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Project Log:  Sunday, October 16, 2011

I ordered various materials that I wanted on hand to complete various aspects of the galley, specifically the stove installation, which I wanted to complete in the near future, now that the stove was in the boat in more or less in the way.  I ordered a propane hose, propane control system, and various components for the fresh water system, all of which would allow me to proceed with certain installations as dictated by circumstance or desire.

Now that the countertop was in place, I could continue with the remaining cabinets above the counter.  Although I'd thought a lot about this, as usual I had no design or clear direction, all of which would now begin to coalesce logically in the actual three dimensions of the space.

My first consideration was the planned wire/hose chase at the after end.  It would have been nice to run hoses and wiring through the base of the lower cabinets, but I'd determined earlier that this wasn't feasible because of existing constraints in the engine room and tankage spaces.  I'd planned to cut holes through the engine room bulkhead above the galley countertop in order to run the mechanicals as need be, but discovered that there was already a large opening at the top of the bulkhead, in the void created the molded deck bulwark above.  There was more than enough space in this existing opening for everything I planned to run.

The mechanical chase would require a removable panel on the front side, facing the galley (outboard of the refrigerator), including covering the access hole I'd cut through the countertop for this purpose.  Because of the various existing countertop cutouts and their juxtapositioning, as well as the countertop vent over the back end of the refrigerator, I eventually decided to create a stepped profile to the upper cabinets, with a small transverse bulkhead at the aft end of the stove cutout that would close off the space for the mechanical runs.


Forward of, and including, the stove cutout, I decided to set the upper cabinet face 1/2" back from the edge of the stove cutout, running it straight forward behind the sink.  This left adequate clearance for the sink faucet and worked well in other ways.

This section of the cabinet raised additional questions.  Most original Fisher 30 galleys (including this boat, when it arrived here) featured built-in plate racks above the galley, and this sort of plate storage was something I wanted to incorporate in the new design as well.  This meant that I had to start looking at some basic dinnerware dimensions, though after looking at this for a while online I decided I'd prefer to actually purchase the plates we wanted and have them on hand for the construction for a custom fit, rather than building the storage nooks to some random dimension.    I could make better use of the space if I knew exactly what would be stored there.

This seemed a ridiculous thing to be worrying about now, but I didn't want storage of these bulky, semi-breakable items to be an afterthought.  My wife and I would determine what we wanted and order it so that I could have the items on hand by next weekend, in order to continue construction of the galley cabinets.

While I wouldn't recreate exactly what had been in place originally (photo below from August 2010), the basic idea was sound and worth emulating.


In any event, I had enough information and the basic concept in mind so I could proceed with the bones of the cabinet construction.  To begin, I milled cleat stock as needed, then installed support cleats for the new cabinets in the appropriate locations.  I used a long 1" spacer to install the main cleat running from the stove to the forward bulkhead (which would leave the finished cabinet face 1/2" from the cutout as intended), then a short transverse cleat to support the small bulkhead that returned to the hull at the aft end.  From there, I installed an additional cleat running aft to support the cover for the wiring chase, plus vertical cleats on the aft bulkhead.

         

Then, I measured, cut, and installed the short bulkhead defining the aft end of the forward cabinets.  Because I had to wait for the adhesive to cure, I couldn't really continue with other layout work on the adjacent cabinets at the moment, which stalled that particular project.

         


To round out the day, I installed a number of wire tie bases on the hull, preparing for the various installations that I'd be running through the new wire chase; I installed these now so I could paint the area soon, since the adhesive for the bases doesn't work well on painted surfaces. I'd be running a few things through the space in the near future, I hoped, at the bare minimum a propane hose for the stove.
With the goal in mind of installing the stove permanently, I also milled a short piece of simple trim to cover the plywood end grain at the front edge of the stove cutout, where the design of the stove left this area exposed.  Only the centermost portion of the new trim would be visible when the stove was installed.

Then, I sanded and varnished the back panel of the stove cutout, as well as the forward section of the bottom--only those areas that would be exposed (even a little)when the stove was installed.    At the same time, I varnished the various small parts, including the galley sink pump recess, cherry louvered vent units, and the access panel that fit behind the stove.  The other areas of the cabinet already had some varnish on them, and I saw no reason to varnish the whole cabinet through all the coats.

    

It's laying the groundwork that frequently takes the most time, with the least visible results.  This was one of those days, but these cannot be avoided in the course of the project.

Total Time Today:  5.25 hours

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