Yet Another Galley Mod

[Jimmyt]

This morning, after my chores , I mounted the drawer faces. Holding off on mounting the tiltout face until I decide whether to cut and buff the casing. At any rate, used the old post-it note spacing trick with double stick tape on the drawer fronts to mark/pre-drill the holes to mount the drawer fronts. If you don't know the trick, shove the drawer face to one side (or let it rest on bottom if you're measuring top bottom spacing), then cram as many post-it notes in as will fit the gap. Then count them, and use half that many to space the gap. Once you put the post-it spacers in, put double stick tape on the box fronts, then push the drawer fronts into the tape; guiding with the post-it spacers. If your lines are straight (a few of mine were somewhat straight), you will get pretty good gaps this way. Of course, you could use overlay drawer fronts and make everything easier.







Now, I've got to figure out my stove cover hinge/support situation...

[Jimmyt]

Since the hinge will be buried under laminate, I didn't want to trust the screw holding to plywood. So, I cut an oak spine for the stove cover and glued and pinned it to the plywood and bracing.





I recessed the hinge into the top to get a flat surface for the laminate. Also, you'll notice a bit of sanding through the top ply aft near the hinge. I let something get wonky in the clamp-up and had a slight misalignment with the adjacent deck which had to be adjusted with sanding...



The deck side of the hinge will be secured using longer screws that go through the plywood and into the 2x4 backbone.

Now, for some sort of prop rod...

[Jimmyt]

Got the stove cover hinge concept dialed in. Gapped two drawers that were a tad tight on one corner. Not touching, but the gap was tight. Gapped the front edge of the stove cover.

Went on a treasure hunt for lid supports. I know these are the wrong finish, but if I can't find them in nickel or stainless, I'll give them a rattle can treatment. They're simple, strong, and don't put a lot of stress on the hinge or cover.

Started bending up the heat/fire/spill shield parts. Never know when someone will try to fry a turkey under way. Got the bottom and back pieces roughed in. Galvanized steel (valley flashing).

[Russ]

LOL fry a turkey. It does make a lot of sense to put some heat shielding in.

[NiceAft]

Excuse my ignorance, but “lid supports ”

What do these look like

[Jimmyt]

Excuse my ignorance, but “lid supports ”

What do these look like

Absolutely no ignorance to excuse Ray. Trying to figure out what the hardware is called is one of the most difficult parts of finding things that work. What's worse, some websites call it one thing while others use a different name.

At any rate, this is what I'm referring to. The brass proppy thingy that holds the stove cover up. There is a right hand and left hand version - I used both (one on each side).



Russ: if you look closely, you can see that I got a foreign substance in the sausage . Missed the mounting holes on the lid support on the first try. Still have a lot of finishing to do to make this all presentable. . Most of this stove area work is in the early dry-fit stage.

[Jimmyt]

I think I have the metal bending wrapped up. It's officially a project as of today; first blood was drawn. Sheet metal tends to get me - almost every time.





I've got some wood trim to make around the opening to cover the front edge of the metal. All of the exposed edges are folded, so there will be almost nothing sharp exposed after the wood trim goes on. I'll secure it using stainless screws around the perimeter. May caulk the seams if I can find some silver caulk/sealant/adhesive...

I'm a little concerned about vibration when motoring, so I may squirt some sort of gak on the back of the metal to deaden it when it goes in for the final time.

I've got to remount my lid supports. I elected to place them on the heat shield rather than having to form a cutout around them and hope there wouldn't be interference (almost certain there would have been). So, I'll be working through the geometry again, but with a little better idea of what I'm doing. I think the top shield looks better without cutouts in the sides anyway.

[Russ]

Your sheet metal skills are only excelled by your carpentry skills.

Yea, metal cuts suck. Nice progress.

[Jimmyt]

Your sheet metal skills are only excelled by your carpentry skills.

Yea, metal cuts suck. Nice progress.

Thanks for the kind words, Russ! I'm no Joe Martin, but I did spend several years doing aluminum fascia, frieze, and miscellaneous trim. Dabbled in the occasional custom roof/door/window flashing fab as well. Fortunately, these were just my side hustle. It allowed me the instant gratification that doesn't come with 18 month design and two year build projects that were paying the bills. But, the exposure to metal duct fab is evident in the shield aesthetic.

[Jimmyt]

Pulled the heat shield out and sprayed gak all over the back to deaden vibration. Nothing like hit a sweet spot in engine RPM and have your galley sound like the kazoo philharmonic orchestra. Toying with the idea of adding some thin fiberglass insulation behind the center of each panel as further insurance.

I didn't put any of the sound deadening gak on the cover heat shield - since it will get the direct heat plume off the stove. Nothing worse than food that smells like roof tar (unless it's food that tastes like roof tar).





The rest of the day was pretty much spent detailing and varnishing. Finally got around to gapping the aft edge of the stove cover; then pulled the stove cover off so I could varnish the stuff that will be seen around the heat shield.

Port side knockdown testing complete! Actually, I just rolled it onto its back to varnish the bottom. Nothing broke or fell out, so that's good. Only Highlander sails at this degree of heel, so I should be fine. Now, the starboard test will be a little more interesting. The soft close mechanisms may be strong enough to hold the drawers in - at least for the small drawers. The bigger drawers my require a latch. Got to finish the bottom before checking that though.

[Jimmyt]

Decided to add a small piece of fiberglass duct liner to the center of each panel. Cross braking tends raise the center point slightly, so the fiberglass will fill the gap and hopefully keep the panels from resonating. I tried larger pieces, but any larger piece deformed the panel. Should be able to get the shield panels mounted tomorrow. I'll use 1/2" stainless screws around the perimeter of each panel. The wood trim will hold the front edge.

[Russ]

Vibration. Wow! You are really thinking this through.

Looks great!

[Jimmyt]

Vibration. Wow! You are really thinking this through.

Looks great!

Thanks for the kind words Russ.

Vibration Disclosure Statement: Thought of it this time only because I've done some thin metal shields for various vehicles (most of my buddies are gear heads), and occasionally had one that would make noise at certain speeds. Not good, and tricky to fix because they were on exhaust systems, so no sound deadener could be used...

Today was all about trying to move the ball toward the goal line. Started off sanding and varnishing. Then, I got on the spill/heat shield install. Went pretty good - no cuts . I knew the trim at the opening was going to be a little bit of fun, but it wasn't as much of a challenge as I anticipated. Only had to make each side piece once. Dumb luck.









I've got a little more sanding and varnishing, but progress will stop soon if I don't get the countertop laminate picked out and purchased.

I can definitely see the light at the end of the tunnel, though.

[Jimmyt]

Secured the stove to the gimbal to close out the day. Drilled the stove for two stainless 6 mm socket head cap screws. Drilled and tapped the gimbal base to receive them. Seems sturdy enough.



Pot holders need to materialize in my head soon...

[Jimmyt]

Spent some of the morning trying to settle on a laminate. Thinking about a complimentary color to give it a little bit of pop.

Anybody got strong feelings one way or the other about this?



I didn't want to go with a pattern due to all of the hatches with small gaps. Pattern match at the hatches would be a serious challenge.

More sanding and varnishing. Messed up the finish on the tilt-out storage face and had to sand it and re-coat.



Did manage to pick out some drawer pulls today and got them mounted - well, except on the one I screwed up. Not good to try and mount hardware on fresh varnish. I'll give it a day or two to harden up.