When you live on a boat it's your home, and like any home you want it to be as functional, aesthetically pleasing and comfortable as possible. While the basic galley design in our catamaran was okay, there were things we wanted to add or change to improve our experience, keeping in mind we primarily use this space for cooking, entertaining and mixing cocktails.
Here are 9 of the best upgrades we made to our boat galley and where to find the parts.
1. Added handrails / towel rails
Can you believe our catamaran didn't come with anywhere to hang towels?
To remedy that in a very short time, we bought and installed two stainless steel rails.
We looked for options online and found a couple that were the right length, made of marine grade stainless steel and aesthetically matched the other handles that were already installed on the yacht. We needed two different sizes.
Short handle is about 30cm (~12 inches)
Long handle is about 46cm (~18 inches)
When it came to the actual installation, we centered each handle in the middle of the panel it was being installed in, made both the same height and used stainless steel washers on the back for added strength.
Our handles were purchased from a local chandlery in Italy but there are similar options available on Amazon in both the 12" sized handle and 18" sized handle.
One hand rail doubles as a safety feature when navigating the stairs down into the starboard hull, and both match.
2. Changed the stove top
The original stove top on the Leopard 45 catamaran is a small 3 burner hob. While in Cape Town, Trent had a larger 4 burner Miele cooktop installed, which I'm very grateful for! I love cooking and am the chef on the boat. I like having three different sized burner options to choose between depending on the surface area of the pot and heat required. The Miele makes it feel like a kitchen again, not a camping trip, and is a game changer when entertaining larger crowds.
My opinion on yacht induction cook tops
I know some owners prefer to change the cooktop out for an induction version citing safety concerns. I had an induction cooktop when we lived back on land and to be honest, I prefer to cook with gas. There are a few reasons for this, including preferring flames as a source of heat and the large draw on the electrical system an induction cooker would incur. A single gas bottle lasts us about a month but I do have a couple of backup appliances. We keep a small, portable induction cooker in storage which is excellent and have an Instant Pot Duo Crisp that lives in the yacht galley.
3. Installed a floating bottle rack
We enjoy cocktails and on the Leopard 45 the stainless steel pole that goes down from the deck into the galley is a great spot for a bottle rack. We've seen a range of ideas from other owners but most were just temporary racks made using things like shower shelves.
Our rack was designed by Trent and created using excess retaining bars uninstalled from other parts of the galley and pieces of stainless that were shaped and welded together by the team at DRM Steelworks in Cape Town. They did a great job and we have no regrets about installing it!
4. Removed and installed retaining bars
Around the galley there were various retaining bars around the stove and microwave. The ones around the stove had to be removed when the new cooktop was installed as it is a bigger unit, and as a crew we decided not to reinstall them. If the ocean is rough enough to need the bar we don't leave the pot unattended and we have worked out a better hook system to keep pots on the stove.
The bar in front of where we have our microwave was cut off and we added a new bar to the open space to the left of it, which is where I store baking ingredients. This may seem like an insignificant change but having microwave central to the cooking area seems like common sense to us, and installing it in the corner makes it difficult to reach.
5. Changed the tap
The kitchen tap that comes with the Leopard 45 was not suitable for our needs as it was way to low. Most high-end yachts are fitted with a high tap with detachable head so that's the direction we went. We discovered that the faucet hole in the bench is generally a standard size, and that was true to out boat. In the end we settled on the American Standard Southport kitchen tap, choosing it for a combination of the look, quality and design.
Installing the new tap was easy as it fit directly into the original hole. All we needed were a few adaptors to connect the American plumbing fittings to our British Standard Plumbing (BSP) fittings as well as some food grade silicone grease and plumbing tape for the installation. We also changed the faucet weight to one that was smaller and denser so it did not conflict with the back of the fridge unit.
6. Added a floating MFD
Most catamaran saloons have a navigation desk but ours was taken out to install the far more important coffee bar. We added a floating MFD to the helm and to date it's one of the best upgrades we've done. Trent wanted to be able to see the MFD from anywhere in the room and this was the only neat way to achieve it on this hull.
The Raymarine Axiom+ 12 is mounted on a long RAM arm with D-size balls in the corner of the galley, where it's visible from any part of the saloon.
Since it's on a RAM mount the height and position is easy to adjust, although we find it tends to stay in the same position unless we're doing a deep clean of the galley. The mount has a lifetime warranty and just bolts to the standard Raymarine cradle that it ships with.
7. Re-routed hot air
Something we did know about the Leopard 45 before buying it was that due to the installation of the oven there was a propensity for the spice draw to get quite hot.
To get around this issue you can attach a panel of marine ply to the right side of the cavity that connects the oven to the spice drawer. This seals the heat in but prevents the oven from venting properly. Additional holes were then drilled behind the drying tub at the highest point to allow the hot air to escape out into the top of the seat. There were already penetrations here so you just follow the line and use a hole saw. Hot air rises so now most of the heat can escape outside of the boat into a dry area.
The bench just above the oven still gets quite hot due to the ovens design but we added a bit of thermal barrier adhesive which helped.
8. Added a bottle washer
One of the coolest impulse buys on the boat is the cup and bottle washer. It plumbs into the existing line using a supplied t-piece so the main thing we needed to do for installation was drill an additional hole in the bench top, no additional parts or equipment was needed. The bench top is soft so drill slowly and do it in the middle.
The water pressure with the pump we changed to is more than enough for the unit to work, and now rinsing things is a breeze.
9. Changed the fresh water pump
Our catamaran came with Jabsco pumps but after experiencing a few early failures we looked for an alternative. After doing extensive online research Tynan suggested we try an Johnson Pumps variant; it was an excellent decision. The new pump can handle someone using the sink and showering at the same time without any noticeable difference in pressure. It's been installed for almost 2 years now and in that time we've not had a single problem.
We also suggest installing the largest pressure vessel you can fit so that the pump runs less frequently.
Conclusion
While we're happy with the changes so far, it may not be the end as you can see in the video below.
If you have any other boat galley ideas please leave a comment and share, you never know who you might inspire!
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