Galley box
In my opinion coffee tastes best after a long sailing. Same with food - and best if it is a warm meal.
To prepare Louve for camping-cruising I built a simple box around Origo-clone spirit stove. Nothing as sophisticated as Roger Barnes uses but good enough for my purpose.
As my boat differs from Roger’s I had much narrower slot to put my galley which resulted in a cube housing only the stove and some basic cutlery.
Objectives for this build were:
- house a stove, to be able to cook under way or on anchor
- to fit under front thwart. That seems to be the best and only place to have galley on a boat like mine
- to be water-tight - both to protect the stove and to act as additional buoyancy should we capsize
Top and front walls are detachable and sealed with silicone-rubber seal.
Latches compress seals upon closing thus making the box water-tight. Water will get there probably anyway after a while, but it will seep, not flood. Hopefully I will recover after a capsize before the box is filled with water.
Interior walls are housing copper sheets which sit in channels, leaving an air gap between metal and wooden walls. That should provide heat isolation and prevent the whole thing from burning.
Front hatch is covered with cork, providing heat-resistant surface to place hot pots.
Latches mounted on the perimeter provide feet, when folded under the hatch. The whole thing is surprisingly stable.
Top cover acts also as a small table, with raised edges so that cups will not glide too far away.
I also added simple copper handles on both sides, so that it is easier to lift the galley out of the boat, for cooking on rocks or on beach.
The box is held to the boat with two short ropes. I used existing holes in the frame to mount eye-bolts on both sides.
Small Tufnol cleats on both sides hold the galley in place but are quick to release it.
Size limitation for this box was mainly due to long hatches along the centerboard case. To keep them free to open I had to make much smaller galley than Roger could fit in his “Avel Dro”.
Height of the box is designed so that it is possible to open the top cover under the thwart but very little space is left once the box is closed. That should keep it from jumping up when I tow the boat on trailer.
In situ: