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3 ALL COOKED UP
With new appliances, countertops and fittings, a tired old galley from the
1970s is transformed into a fresh, modern workspace. BY ROGER HUGHEST
he galley we inherited
when we bought our
Down East 45 schooner, Bri-
tannia, was both old (circa 1977)
and old-fashioned. The stove
was rusty, and the refrigerator
had seen better days. It was
impossible to keep the stain-
less-steel sink “stainless”: It was
pitted with more rust marks
whenever we came to the boat.
It was time for a refi t. I started
a list with prices of the items to
replace, but it grew longer and
longer and soon started to look
like a major investment. The
refrigerator probably heard my
wife, Kati, complaining about
it, because it suddenly died, so
that went to the top of the list.
We were not living on the
boat, so I decided to remodel
the whole galley in one
continuous operation. Then it
wouldn’t matter so much if any
particular appliance was out of
commission for a while, and I
would not have to put my tools
away and clean up after every
day’s work. I could just leave it
and continue the next day.
For both the cook and the
crew, there are not many more
important areas in a boat. Of
course, galleys vary enormous-
ly in shape and size from one
vessel to the next, therefore
our remodel refl ected our
personal ideas and needs. But
most of the individual things I
altered could be applied to any
galley restoration.
We decided to visit the
West Marine superstore in
Fort Lauderdale, Florida,
which had a large selection of
lovely modern appliances we
could actually inspect, rather
than buy online without seeing
them. The Sailorman consign-
ment warehouse was also only
a few blocks away and full of
similar goodies, and not just
used equipment either.
Financially speaking, lettingmy wife loose in these places
to shop for kitchen appliances
was perhaps not a good idea.
From there, things started to
slip slightly out of control.
I had made a detailed draw-
ing of the existing layout, with
dimensions of the different
places where things would be
fi tted. I could then take mea-
surements of actual equipmentand make sure they would fi t.
It’s a good thing I did because
the dimensions listed on some
leafl ets and websites were
not accurate; when you are
planning to fi t a new appliance
into a fi xed-size space, that’s
important information to have.
Comparing equipment and
prices took absolutely ages,
and I wasn’t even allowed tolook at radars, chart plotters or
stereos (you know, gear that’s
really important). In any case,
we trundled back to our home
in Orlando with a vanload of
equipment, which I couldn’t
possibly install all at once.
From West Marine, we
bought a Seaward Princess
stainless-steel three-burner
stove, an Isotherm Cruise
CR130 front-opening stainless
refrigerator and a Panasonic
stainless convection microwave
(plus an assortment of pots
and pans I didn’t even know
were needed). At Sailorman, we
found a used but clean-looking
Splendide 2100 washer/dryer
at a knockdown price. I had
absolutely no idea where I was
going to put it, or if it even
worked, because it wasn’t
even on the list. All this
equipment was stacked in my
garage until I was ready to
install individual items.
The easiest appliance to
install was the three-burner
stove, which fi t nicely into the
same space as the old stove. I
just had to change the position
of the gimbal plates and
locking latch, then connect
it to the existing propane gas
line, and that was that (except
for painting the aperture white
beforehand). The old stove
went into our marina dumpster.
I managed to test the washer/
dryer by connecting it to my
home’s hot and cold water sys-
tem using hoses and an exten-
sion cable, and it worked fi ne.
However, the only space large
enough to install it was where
the old fridge had been. At 148
pounds, this machine is very
heavy and also bulky, measuring
roughly 2 feet square and 3 feet
high. It was a major effort for
three men to haul it on board,
and it only slid through the
companionway with a fraction
of an inch to spare. We managed
to lever it into this space very
neatly, as though it was always
meant to be there.
Connecting the washer’s
hot and cold water pipes into
the boat’s pressure system,
then installing a discharge
pipe and dryer vent, was
another struggle. I didn’t
want to damage the Formica
countertop, so it took a lot ofThe original galley aboard our Down East 45 schooner was
both old and old-fashioned, having been conceived in the
mid-1970s (top). It was time to be overhauled. The “after”
shot shows the galley after the renovation was complete
(above). We even had room for a washer/dryer.ROGER HUGHESjune/july 2018cruisingworld.com