Galley On the Go

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Tonight Michael is sitting across from me on our deep settee, brow furrowed over the decision that is before him: which bottom paint shall we use this time? That’s right, it’s time to haul the boat for a new paint job. In fact, it’s well overdue, much to our shame. So haul the boat we will. This month. That will begin on October 17, Gods willing and weather cooperating.

One day of fun actually SWIMMING in Puget Sound. Actually. Swimming. Weird. Look Ma! No wetsuit.

But wait! There’s more! Tomorrow we leave the slip for the first time in 2 years! Huzzah! Are we going cruising? No we are not. Are we anchoring out for a night, just to remember what that feels like? Nope. Will we raise a sail? HAHAHA! You jest. Those sails are stored at the house. No, we will leave the dock and drift over to the boatyard to have the masts pulled. The sad thing is that this makes us all kinds of excited. The bar for excitement for us, after two years of land life, is so terribly low. Nobody warns you about this when you return to land; that your life will feel so mundane that taking your boat to the yard will be dead exciting. Let me be the first to inform you.

See those wooden shims? Those drove us insane on our voyage to Hawaii. Having dried out when the boat was in Mexico, they squeaked constantly and loudly. Squirting soapy water up into that space about hourly helped loads. Those will be replaced with something else. Something that doesn’t make noise.

Anyhow, here we are excited to get some work done. Making sure our hydraulic steering pump is in good shape and having brand new lines for the fluid was on the lengthy ‘to do’ list and so we had Summers Marine come and pull the steering pump out and send it off to be rebuilt. When the refurbished pump was put back, Mike and Jonathan, our steering guy, bled the air from the system. They bled and bled and bled the lines, getting all the little air bubbles out. Then the system sat for a couple of weeks until Mike turned the engine on tonight and tested out the transmission to reassure ourselves it had not forgotten how to go into reverse and then back into forward gear.

He gave the wheel a few turns. My ears pricked up. He turned the wheel a few more times. Yes, I definitely heard a growling sound that I didn’t like. If my ears can hear it, by definition the noise is loud. More and more turning, a lot more loud growling from the steering mechanism, and pretty soon Michael was in the aft cabin ripping the place apart so he could get to the steering ram and see what was up. Ah, the sweet sound of cushions being tossed around and boards being moved aside! It sure took me back to all those good times where we  (And by ‘we’, I mean ‘Mike’)  were fixing boat things in picturesque anchorages.

Our pump is so old that it can actually be rebuilt. So while the casing looks worn, the innards are new. Shiny new lines!

It sounds like after sitting for awhile, some residual air bubbles have found each other and they are making a hell of a racket while also possibly making the steering a bit stiff. Tomorrow we will pull the masts. And then we will sit at the work dock and bleed that damn system some more. I hope that solves the problem. Otherwise, Jonathan is on standby in case we need him to come on down for a visit. Are we cruising yet? Because it’s starting to feel like we are.

Anyway, I want to get back into the habit of writing this stuff down, now that we are approaching things like mast pullings and boat haul outs. Finally, it feels like we have a lot to report on. Mike has been on a veritable shopping spree for gear and boat parts. New radar (Garmin, to play with our chart plotter), new halyards, a new shaft seal, wind instruments, AIS transceiver, two hatches… and that’s just as of today. We will be making major changes to certain parts of the boat and will write more about those as they happen. We’re are hiring out some fiberglass work to give us proper scuppers to clear water off the decks more easily and to add a radar pole with an outboard engine davit to the aft deck of the boat. We are even working with our rigger to re-work the way the boat is rigged and make sailing her easier for aging sailors who want to stay aboard for as long as possible. The month of October will be interesting and expensive.

As summer is giving way to shorter days and cooler nights, the galley aboard Galapagos is cooking more than usual and frankly it’s easier for me to get my head around the goings on in that space than it is for me to think about the huge number of projects we need to accomplish in the next month and all the big decisions that are waiting to be made.

So I’m easing myself back into the habit of writing by putting together a list of my favorite and most relied upon galley gadgets and tools. These are things I reach for regularly; things that really do make life in a tiny kitchen easier. We are planning to leave the dock next spring. I look forward to using all of these while lying at anchor in a nice cove somewhere; probably while Michael rips cabins apart with his bare hands, chasing down the inevitable puzzling noises that might indicate trouble. I’m ready! Let’s go!

So here are my top ten most-loved galley gadets and gear:

  1. Number one on my list lately is my nifty jumbo sized silicone baking cups. Who knew what a game changer these would be? These are sturdy and hold their shape well, even when filled with batter. Easy to clean, they save me the much-loathed task of cleaning muffin tins. I hate cleaning muffin tins, and I also dislike those little paper inserts, which make more trash anyhow. Dirty muffin tins always seem to sit in the sink, filled with water, in the vain hope that a dishwashing fairy might come and allow me to avoid dealing with them. Alas; the disappointment is always real. Honestly, whenever the mood for muffins arises, I always have to weigh the desire for a tasty morsel with the dreaded dirty muffin tin left behind. No more! These are sturdy enough to stand up to meatloaf or my special egg/sausage/cheese/onion handheld breakfast “muffins” I make for passages. I could probably even bake yeast rolls in them. I like them so much I am tempted to buy them in the smaller size as well. These get bonus points for taking up a lot less room than muffin tins. 
  2. Our new 10.25″ cast iron skillet with lid (sold separately); made in the USA. We have been cooking with a cast iron skillet at home for 40 years. A little thing like moving aboard a boat was unlikely to change that. In fact, when we first moved aboard we brought along our 12″ skillet, a well seasoned cooking tool that we literally used every single day. That skillet had been aboard since we first moved onto the boat and was still in perfect condition. No, it did not rust. (Too much oil on it!) Why did I take that skillet home, ignoring Michael’s tears of grief as he watched me stow it in the cart to carry up to the car? Because it was too big. We have a 4 burner Force 10 stove. That skillet took up 1.5 burners and every time we wanted to do anything OTHER than cook with the skillet, it had to find another place to stay for awhile. I was tired of it. I was tired of putting it on the floor of the shop so I could have a saucepan instead.  Forget about using my pressure cooker if the skillet was at home.  I could not use three burners at a time because that skillet was taking up more than its fair share of burner space. So, after carefully measuring our space, I determined that this  10-ish inch skillet would fit better and would still be more than large enough for us. Only thing was that Michael would have to spend a few years scraping the iron down to a perfectly flat surface for his everyday omelettes. He is learning to live with it. Don’t be afraid to bring your cast iron skillet on board. Nothing cooks better eggs.
  3. Our crock pot. I use this a lot, even underway. Sure, I’ve learned that I cannot overfill it, and it’s best to put it in the sink if we are sailing. Sure, I learned that the hard way. And I actually DO wish that it had a locking lid. But it’s small enough that I can store it and it doesn’t heat up the galley like using the stove; at least not as badly. I use it frequently. It draws little power so our inverter hardly feels a thing as it bubbles along. And it’s great to have a hot dinner ready when we pull into an anchorage after a long day.
  4. Our insulated wine tumblers with lids, made by Rabbit and found at Costco for literally 10$ less than the Amazon price. An impulse purchase, they are proof that my impulses are sometimes good. They keep the beverage cold. Ice keeps overnight in these little tumblers, at least in the Pacific Northwest Summer. Highly recommended. Plus they are really cute and the perfect size for not only my hands, but for the cup holders at the steering pedestal!

    Image absolutely stolen from Amazon. But this is the set we have.

  5. And speaking of ice, these Komax ice cube trays with locking lids have solved the problem of safely making ice aboard a moving boat. We love them. They do not leak and they stack easily in our freezer. We tried a couple of other varieties of locking ice cube trays but were not happy with any of them because the lids leaked. These cubes are small, but that’s ok.

    Ack! Another stolen image from Amazon! Go buy these so they don’t get their knickers in a twist.

  6. The Omnia Stovetop Oven. Honestly, if this had not been a gift, I’m not sure I would have sprung for it. The cost seemed excessive to me for what you get: an aluminum pan and lid, sitting on a steel ring. The gift package I was given also included a silicone insert and a storage bag.  Turns out, this is a great galley addition! My first foray into Omnia cooking was roasting stuffed peppers. Instead of using the silicone insert, I lined the little oven with foil for ease of cleaning and so that the peppers would crisp up. They turned out perfectly! I then tried a brownie mix and that, too, was good. The silicone insert made cleanup very easy with the brownies. I’m excited to weave this into our repertoire as we get going again. And I’m thinking next up will be some kind of muffins using the jumbo silicone muffin cups listed above.

    This image could be from anywhere. But this is what the oven looks like.

  7. Under the category of ‘has stood the test of time’, my little Briefton’s manual food processor is the decided winner.  I bought this before the first big trip, in 2017, and it whips up delicious pico de gallo fast and easy. This was before we added a larger inverter to the boat. I could probably use my Cuisinart now, a real food processor. But I prefer to save the space once we have left the dock and leave the Cuisinart at home.

    I took this photo myself.

    8.  Our Fagor “Elegant Belly” design pressure cooker. Yes, that’s right. This shape is referred to as the ‘elegant belly’ and I actually find this very satisfying. This is an old school manual pressure cooker and is the perfect size for making soups and rice, or beans, or whatever. I never thought I would use it much, but I actually do. I have a fancy Instant Pot, and that’s a nice tool, but it’s too big for my kitchen so I left that at the house. I can make rice in about 3 minutes in this pot. Mine does not have that big handle that is shown in the photo from Amazon below. I’m glad. That looks like it takes up too much space.

    Amazon’s photo show the lovely shape of this pot.

    9.  Our set of nesting Magma non-stick pots. These have really held up over time. We bought these when we had our Cal 34, Moonrise, so about 15 years ago. While I don’t use the skillet (because…cast iron is better) or the soup pot (because my Fagor Elegant Belly has a locking lid), the saucepans are used regularly. They heat up evenly and quickly, and they hold the heat for awhile when the fire is turned off. The finish can still be wiped clean or just given a quick rinse. They seemed expensive to us back then, but I’m glad we spent the money on them.

    10.  This useful collapsing silicone bowl with a handle. I have no idea who made this, or where or even when I bought it. The silicone is yellowing with age and use. Mike uses this literally every day to whip up the eggs for his breakfast. I use this on the occasions when I want to mix up a small amount of a batter. I expect it to crack at a fold pretty much any day now and I’ve been scouring the interweb for a replacement to no avail. This bowl is used so frequently that I generally do not even bother putting it away in the cabinet. If you ever see one of these bowls, let me know right away! And if, early one morning, you hear a high, long, piercing wail of despair coming from the west, it could be that Michael has discovered the death of his beloved silicone mixing bowl.

    WANTED: A 2 cup measuring bowl like this. The handle has multiple positions, it collapses flat to store. Might come in different colors.

     

My Little Sea Pony

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The morning dawned bright, with the promise of heat. At the marina, it stretched out before me, a blank slate begging for a plan, so as to not slip away without being defined by some sort of satisfaction of a job well done. The time had come to wash the teak and apply a few coats of Semco finish. Mike had gone on a few errands, I had a book loaded on my phone to listen to. I was ready to begin.

Really low tide. Blue skies. Warm. It doesn’t get better than this in August. Aside from the smell.

As I got out the teak wash and a bucket, Mike appeared, back surprisingly early from his errands. He looked, I don’t know, like he had something on his mind, maybe. There was definitely a ‘look’; an urgency he radiated. But I was not sure how to read that.

“I need to tell you something.”

These are the words that tumbled out of his mouth, apparently without his thinking about it. Let me just go on record here: if you are married to someone who is waiting patiently (like yourself)  for the next round of cruising, crossing her fingers that nothing in life will prevent that from happening, if you have adult children, or aging parents, or either of you has had to address health issues, or basically, let’s get real, if you are in any kind of relationship at all… do not begin a conversation with the words, “I need to tell you something.” That generally precedes a telling of some kind of thing that means: “Life as you have come to enjoy it, is about to change, and not necessarily for the better. That peaceful, calm existence you have had for maybe two days is about to end early. The day you have been dreading and didn’t even know it has arrived.”  ‘I need to tell you something’ is right up there with ‘We need to talk’ in terms of popular conversation starters.

The bottom dropped out of my stomach and I cried, “What?? What happened? What’s going on?”

You may think I over reacted. and perhaps so, but there is precedent to that, as any parent knows. My mind immediately goes to something happening to one of our kids. If it’s not them then it’s one of the moms, a bad report from some doctor, or maybe someone has vandalized our car, our house… all of it crashes around jockeying for position in my head. I’ve lived long enough for any or all of those things to be true. Anyhow, now Mike is irritated that I have taken his warning incorrectly, but my stomach remains unmoved, on the ground, waiting.

Then he lays it on me:

“I’ve decided I have to give you a birthday present a day early. I don’t want to leave it in the car, and I don’t want to store it in the basement at the house. So I’m just giving it to you today….and then you can decide what you want to do with the rest of your day”.

I did not throttle him.

This? This is what “I’ve got to tell you something…” means? This is what was causing ‘the look’? Dear sweet Lord in his small fleece diaper. I am giddy with relief. I shift gears as I pick my  shaken stomach off of the bench seat and replace it in my body, the cascade of stress hormones making my hands only a little bit shaky. The ground is suddenly solidly there under my feet again. I can definitely get on board with early presents! Whew.

‘OOOH, a present? A day early? Is it a PONY?’

I have always thought getting a pony for my birthday would be right up there with scuba diving with manta rays. Plus we have a running family joke about getting ponies for special occasions. I’m not exactly sure what I would do with a real pony, but my daughter in law would probably take that off my hands.

That time Claire came home from Europe (or some other exotic local) and we surprised her with a backyard pony.

“I’ll give you hint’, he says, eyes all a-twinkle.  “It’s about 10 ponies.”

“An engine! You got the engine! and it’s here and now we can get out on the water in the new dinghy! Is it in the car? Can we get it and go out today?”  All thoughts and plans of refinishing teak vanish with not even a whimper. I was practically jumping up and down.

It was, indeed, the engine, which is a Yamaha 9.9 HP 2 stroke he bought at the engine sales and repair place near the marina. We wanted a 2 stroke because of their simplicity.

And this is paired with our new dinghy! We bought a True Kit Inflatable Catamaran dinghy from New Zealand. And we couldn’t be more pleased with it!

New dinghy and engine, in the back of our old Mexico van.

If you have been a reader, you know that on our first cruise we sported a Portland Pudgy named Penguin.  It served us really well for a number of years and we found it to be almost the perfect dinghy for tooling around the Pacific Northwest. However, our needs changed as we traveled further afield. We found that it was too slow and plodding in the sometimes rough conditions of the Sea of Cortez and Pacific Mexico. It took too long to get places, like back to our boat in an emergency. It was also really dangerous landing that dinghy in any kind of surf. To be sure, I don’t enjoy surf landings in any way, but being sideways in a hard, plastic dinghy with a wave crashing over me, hanging on for dear life  is an experience I do not want to repeat. Not to mention how heavy the Pudgy is if it gets pooped; a story for another day.

Farewell to Penguin, our sweet Pudgy. We actually do miss this little boat. She was perfect for the Pacific Northwest and she found a home with a family with kids who will use her to explore locally. I hope they are having a great time.

Carrying the Pudgy was also a bit of a problem. Near to shore, we carried it on davits, but on our ocean crossings it had to live on the foredeck. It got in the way and also the boat motion would be such that we had to keep a close eye on it to be sure it wasn’t moving around. One of the reasons we bought the Pudgy was its rating as a lifeboat, but just the idea that we would be able to deploy it from the bow of our boat in probably heaving seas makes me want to laugh; a bit hysterically, to be sure.

A fond memory of an ocean crossing. Probably trying to capture a sea bird. Note dinghy on deck.

It just was not optimal and I kept wishing we had bought this neat inflatable we had seen at a boat show long ago. That one fit in a bag when it was deflated, and you could stow it below deck. That one factor began to be deal breaker on finding a new dinghy as we began to research, looking for something that filled us with dinghy lust.  We just wanted that foredeck on Galapagos to be free and clear, and we wanted to be able to get places fast. We also needed something to carry snorkeling, and maybe even scuba, equipment. The Portland Pudgy got mega crowded on long day trips.

Enter the True Kit and its ALMOST twin, the Takacat.  Lightweight, stable, packable, they have an interesting bow design that would allow easy snorkeling or diving from the boat. After months of perseveration, we decided that we would buy one of these two models of boats. But which one? They looked almost the same.

The Takacat is available from suppliers here in the states, so that makes it a little easier to source. Luckily, there was a dealer at the boat show in Seattle this year and we were able to size one up in person. While we liked the general design features, we did not pull the trigger to buy one. Why? Somehow it just didn’t feel beefy enough for the conditions we were going to be in. It was PVC, which I didn’t think would be a deal breaker,  but there was something about the models we saw that just left us not feeling sure about them and part of that was the feel of the PVC. Also I was not crazy about the rope handles on the inside of the pontoons. They did not feel like they would offer enough purchase for me and I could see the rope hurting my hands. And the rub rail was not as solid as I felt like it should be. In addition we were not impressed with the design of the transom, which seemed like a weak spot. In fact the dealer was talking about how they were going to be changing that design.

We walked away feeling a little, well, deflated, if you’ll pardon the expression. It was just a gut feeling thing. And we have learned to listen to that. If we were just going to be in inland waters, the Takacat would have been just fine.  But we decided to pursue the True Kit and I emailed them to ask how their model differed from the Takacat.

Basically the difference is in the fabric, the beefier transom, a more pronounced upward curve to the open bow, and some details like the number of firm handholds (rather than rope handholds), the addition of an aluminum seat, and the heat welded seams on the True Kit. Overall, the general feel of the True Kit, even on line, looked sturdier to us, like it would stand up to harder use. The fabric, while not the usual traditional Hypalon, is a large step above regular PVC.

The fabric is called Valmex. While less well known in the US, it has been used more extensively in other parts of the world. Here is some information about this fabric to get you started if you are interested. It  is produced in Germany by Mehler Technologies and can be heat welded rather than glued. On Hypalon inflatables, it’s generally the glue that gives out before the fabric, as we discovered with the old Avon inflatable we were given by other cruisers in La Cruz.

We ordered our True Kit and it was quickly delivered from New Zealand, with only a brief stop at customs so they could ask for a small fee to import the boat. The fee was less than 100$.

Out of the box, it’s really easy to set this boat up. You tube has a number of videos of the True Kit folks setting up the boat, taking it in rough seas, showing it off, etc. Yep, they do know how to make a sale.

Right out of the box. Inflate the pontoons a bit, drop in the floor, inflate the floor, then finish inflating the pontoons. Fast and easy.

Et voila! So far, it’s a very dry ride, as the bow lifts a bit even when not on a plane. Water runs out the back at the transom, keeping the inside of the boat dry. Considering we were always wet in both the Pudgy and the old Avon, we’ll take our chances with this.

So on a day that I was supposed to be cleaning teak, I found myself zipping around the bay in our new dinghy flying fast and free, and discovering that neither of us yet have the skills to get a boat up on a plane and feel safe. This boat planes beautifully, but wow. We are sailors. We aren’t used to going that fast!

Woo hoooo! And that’s why we like beefier handholds. This is exactly the position I was imagining when looking at the Takacat and I would not have been happy with the rope hold they provide. This is where experience the second go around really makes a difference in decision making.

I got to go first as the driver because it was my birthday. The engine started right up and soon we were off, skimming across the bay. As Mike took his turn at the engine, I lounged in the front end of the boat. Another benefit I will enjoy. I just layed right down and stared up at the water. There was plenty of room. “Sea Pony”. I said. Its name is “Sea Pony”.

I’ll be painting another octopus on the new engine cowling, just like we had for the smaller engine we used for several years. But I’ll be sure there is a place for a turquoise sea pony with flowing pink hair.

Digging these fancy ponies! Our bathtub was home to many over the years.

 

 

Cheap and Easy Boat Tricks: Fancy Shower Wall

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Bang! Bang! Hammer pound hammer. Bang!

“What’cha doing in there, Michael?” I asked, from the comfy settee in the salon.

It was an innocent question, but I imagine he could hear the irritating anxiety in my voice; that tone which, while seemingly benign, transmits to my long-married spouse long-suffering spouse that I am concerned about his vigorous level of activity with a hammer or whatever tool he is currently wielding from his considerable arsenal.  It’s a tone that says, if not explicitly, then definitely implicitly, “I’m afraid you are going to break something in there. And then we’ll really be in the soup business.”

I know my beloved husband enjoys it when I bring into the conversational milieu what amounts to the obvious. It’s not like he isn’t already afraid he will break something. It’s just that I personally am more averse to breaking things. Especially on the boat. At home, I will break with impunity because I feel like there is nothing I cannot fix, or I cannot get Michael to fix, which sometimes, in my mind, amounts to the same thing but technically is not the same at all. On the boat, somehow breaking things seems more serious. Or maybe just more of a pain in the ass in general.

“I’m trying to get this damn faucet off in the shower. I bought the same unit to replace this leaky one and this one just doesn’t want to come off. What’d they use? 5200? I can’t believe it’s not just coming off as easily as it should. Stupid (mumble mumble mumble).”

“Oh, I see.”   My tone is mild, almost disinterested. I try valiantly to infuse my reply with the blandness of a bowl of cold oatmeal, unsweetened, no milk. But I can feel my anxiety rising. I mean what am I supposed to do? Stop him? Tell him the obvious? I wait, focusing on deep breathing. Willing him to be careful.

In a moment, the anxiety cascades as the cursing begins. Words of profound expression of the irritation type peel forth like church bells (?) from the tiny cubicle that is our on-board shower; words which are harbingers of, if not doom, then at least projects to come. Indeed, he had broken something. Sighing deeply and mentally adding another project to the on-going list that is Galapagos’ refit, I lumbered up off the settee, pregnant with gloomy anticipation,  and stepped into the shower room to view the carnage. Mike stood, unblemished faucet in hand, shards of razor sharp formica scattered on the floor; the formica that lined that wall of the shower.

“Huh.” he said, sounding confused. “I guess it was just stuck in some weird way. Should have come right off.”

Well, of course it should have. I accepted this with resignation. We would now need to remodel the shower.

Now all that formica will need to come off. He’s used to my taking these photos.

To be fair, I had wanted desperately to remodel the shower. But I didn’t feel like I had it in me. I mean, just the thought of removing all the almond toned formica which was, after all, still doing a good job even if ugly, made me want to take a deep and immediate nap. I had come out of the bunny hole of imagination that was images of our freshly remodeled shower stall dancing in my head,  and had made the logical and grievous but self-preserving decision to leave well enough alone. If it wasn’t broke, I would not fix it!  I would withstand the ugly shower stall in the service of our expansive to-do list. I would give up the beautiful for the functional. The almond 1980’s walls would have to do.

If you know me at all, you know this decision was difficult and I had perseverated on it for weeks, perhaps  months. I hated those shower walls. I love things to be functional and easy. And I also love them to be attractive. I want to enjoy the experience of looking at them and as much as almond/beige fiberglass is used in our boat, it’s not really my aesthetic and I’ve changed it wherever I could. I mean, have you seen our boat interior? It’s not boring. I firmly believe that beauty and function can be had together on board a sailboat and I live to prove that to be true.

But I had given up my idea of redoing that shower stall. Until Michael entered the shower with his little hammer. Or whatever it was he was using. It was now broken. I would have to fix it. At least this time it was Michael doing the breaking and me doing the fixing, and not the other way around.

All fiberglass removed from that section. Doing only one wall allowed me to make this project fun instead of drudgery. And having a focal wall meant I could go a little crazy with pattern and color that would have been ‘too much’ for the whole space. FYI, this shower is not original to the boat, as you can see. That area on the bottom used to be part of the mid-ship cabin berth. The berth was made narrower in that area so that the shower could exist. The unintended but dandy consequence of that is that the mid ship cabin is now a really good sea berth without adding any kind of lee cloth. You can just tuck behind the shower and wedge in with pillows. Very comfortable, indeed. What you see in the photo is the old front of the berth, and wood covering up what used to be drawer space.

In order to deal with my grief over the free time I was about to lose, my mind went through the usual list of things that would need to be done. Find formica that would match or at least look good enough. Maybe a bright color would be cheerful. Figure out how to get it home without breaking it.  Figure out how to cut it myself without Michael’s help because he still works a full time job and if there are projects that I can do myself, I try to take those on as much as possible. I probably COULD replace the formica myself but the lead time to doing so was not going to be fun and I was not looking forward to the process.  Figure out which saw to use, which blade to use, which glue to use. Cut it without breaking it or cutting myself.  I began to feel tired just thinking about it. I figured I would just buy a sheet of whatever the hardware store had on hand and call it good. I just was not engaged with this project at all and had stopped caring about whether I enjoyed walking through that shower 50 times a day.

At the hardware store I quickly discovered that it would not be that simple. They no longer stocked any flat sheets of formica of any kind. It was all special order. And everything they had that was easy to order was, in a word, BORING AND UGLY. It all looked like it wanted to be natural stone but just could not pull it off. But I needed something waterproof and easy to manage.

i briefly considered ceramic tile but abandoned that idea due to weight and the vertical nature of the application. I was worried it would break. Also just the idea of using a tile saw was pretty much a deal breaker. I don’t even know where mine is.

I wandered into the flooring section, eyeing the vinyl laminate flooring. Interesting, but way too heavy. Still, the seeds of creative opportunity had been planted by the ease of application of those strips of vinyl.  Suddenly this was not a project I was loathing. It was an opportunity to replace that hideous almond formica with something more updated, something less completely mind numbing, maybe even a little fun and kicky! Would it be possible for me to actually love my shower? My mind wandered back to the heavy vinyl flooring. Hmmmm. Vinyl. Hmmmm. I metaphorically drummed my fingers on my imaginary table, thinking deep thoughts about vinyl and its waterproof nature.

Back at the boat, I got on the interwebs and the idea occurred that perhaps there may be vinyl tiles I could use. Remember those nice asbestos tiles of the 1930’s and beyond? Twelve inches square, easy to cut, easy to work with, and they lasted forever. I could not do asbestos but perhaps a modern alternative? They would certainly hold up, but they were heavy. I was back to vinyl.

A quick google search and my patient process was rewarded. Peel and stick vinyl tiles. These were stick-on tiles that are meant for backsplashes and small areas. They were not what I wanted and were actually too light weight, but they were an interesting concept. I  posted a question about them to the Women Who Sail group, asking if anyone had experience using them. I was concerned they would not hold up to the heat in the tropics, should we ever actually get down there. I was right. The reports from other sailors were that the glue would not last in tropical heat. Also I was not jazzed about the patterns they offered. I moved on but could smell success getting closer.

I searched further and found these lovely peel and stick floor tiles, which were just the ticket. They were heavier than the backsplash versions, but still lightweight enough for my purposes. I mentally gave these the green light.  The only concern I had was that, like the stick on backsplash tiles, these probably also used glue that was sensitive to heat. So I needed to solve that problem. A few more searches for alternative uses of these tiles and I found what I was looking for. Loctite adhesive would play well with the adhesive on the back of the tiles and also would hold up to heat as high as 140F.  Considering I would be using these tiles well outside their intended use, that was as much of a guarantee as I was going to get.

Note that our boat stays pretty cool relative to other boats we have been in. The shower is also inboard from the hull so there is protection from direct heat. If we get to over 140F degrees inside the boat, we will have bigger problems than melting glue. The decision was made.

I ordered 4 boxes of tiles, way more than enough, but at a bit over 12$ for 10 square feet, I could afford to play and make mistakes. I also purchased some plastic molding to use to cover seams. That was less than 10$, so let’s just say 10$ because I can’t find the receipt. The glue was 12$ per tube, and I used 1.25 units, but I already had one on hand. I also had a tube of interior caulk but that would cost about 8$ had I bought it. All in, I paid well under 100$ for supplies, even with today’s inflationary prices. And remember, I way over ordered that tile. I only needed two boxes, and most of that second box is left. That brings the cost for the tile I actually used to less than 25$.  I have enough tiles left over for another project in the salon, when we get to that, and maybe one in the aft head.

Before I got started, I experimented with the glue to be sure it was going to play well with the stuff already on the tile, and that it would create a tight bond. I glued a tile to a piece of scrap wood with a slick varnish finish on it and let it set up for the recommended 48 hours.  I was satisfied with the result so I got started.

Tools and supplies. That’s our formica countertop that we had installed before we left the dock the first time. I absolutely did not install that myself.

Tools and supplies I used:

Tiles
Glue
Razor knife
Straight edge
Small hammer
Piece of wood
Wet paper towels for wiping extra glue off
Scissors to cut some of the smaller tiles that had irregular shapes. The tiles cut easily with scissors.
Interior bathroom caulk
Molding of choice if you need it

Tools I wish I had used but didn’t have:

Rubber mallet
Seam roller for flooring
A fine toothed mastic spreader
The hands and knees of a 30 year old

After prepping the area I experimented with the layout. I’ve done a lot of tiling in my life so I am aware that this part of the process cannot be rushed. Getting these tiles placed correctly the first time would pay off by making the rest of the process smooth. Some people use things like measuring tapes for this part, but I am more of a ‘hands on’ type of tiler. Those numbers mean nothing to me.

Cutting the tiles is so much easier than I thought. I liken it to cutting sheetrock, which seems like it would be difficult and messy but is actually dead easy. Just score the paper on the back and give the sheetrock a good sharp push with your knee. It breaks along the scored line. So satisfying.  These tiles get scored on the front with the straight edge and razor knife, then you just kind of fold them and they come right apart. Very easy and satisfying. You don’t even have to push hard on the razor knife, which my hands really appreciated. Just score the surface.

Easily cut to size.

I wanted enough glue on the back to go around the perimeter, creating a water tight seal, and then enough to spread out and hold the middle. The goal was to allow the tiles to still fit flat on the wall so they would butt together without a ridge, but then be able to squeeze glue out around all of the edges and then smooth it like caulk with my wet finger. That way all the seams would be glued. The two things that would compromise the integrity of the installation would be water and heat. This would help keep water from getting under each tile.

It would have been helpful to have a small toothed mastic spreader for this. Alas, I got too mad at the price tag of said spreader at the Lowes Depot (a name I have stolen from someone else who I don’t remember but I will use it forever now) and stomped out without it. I would do the installation with out that. Likewise I would love to have had a seam roller, but they were 40$ and I could feel maniacal laughter bubbling up at the thought I would actually spend 40$ on a tool I don’t actually need. Absolutely not. There are other ways.

Sure could have used that fine toothed mastic spreader. Oh well. See that wine? Also super cheap. Mike says it’s very good. I take his word for that.

So, glue on the back of the tile, I put the first tile in place. This is where a rubber mallet would have been handy, but ours is at the house. So a small hammer and piece of wood to protect the tile and spread out the pressure of the hammer worked just fine. I tapped and tapped, getting the glue to come out around the edges, smoothed it with a fingernail so the next piece would butt flat against it, and then let the first tile set up for a day. That way I would not be moving it around as I installed the other tiles. I used the level to check that the tile I just installed was the same amount of level as the top edge of the shower, which was my reference point. Amazingly, that top edge was actually level, which is saying something on a boat. Now I had one tile to be my reference for all the others.

Level? Check.

After the first tile was in the right place and set up, the rest of the tiling went quickly and smoothly. The main thing is to always make sure there are no ‘lumps’ of glue that have not been spread out and use the hammer or seam roller (for the wealthy) to smooth them out if you find them. If I could find my little rolling pen that I thought was on board, I would have used that.  I found that running my hands over the surface of each tile would let me know quickly if there was more tapping and rolling to be done. If the tap/roll action moved the tile out of place a little bit, I used the piece of wood against the edge of the tile and tapped that gently until the tile moved back into place. These vinyl tiles are really easy to work with and quite satisfying. Use damp paper towels to wipe off extra glue that comes up through the seams.

Fingers will find any glue lumps easily. Make sure the corners line up perfectly. Make sure the edges butt together smoothly and there are no ridges.

After leaving the tiles to set up for 48 hours, it was the work of maybe an hour to cut the plastic molding and attach that using the same glue. I did not screw it down. Just glued it. It weighs almost nothing. Then I caulked using interior bathroom caulk that you can clean off with water if you get to it before it sets. After doing around the edges I put some on my finger and pressed it into each seam between tiles, just for extra water security, then wiped the excess with a damp paper towel. We always wipe down the shower after we use it anyhow. So this installation will not require extra effort on our parts. (Honestly, those seams are so minuscule that this was more of a psychological thing than an actual physically necessary thing.)

Finished!

We are quite pleased with the result and will be using these tiles other places in the boat as projects emerge. I feel pretty sure these are going to hold up, but if they somehow don’t we haven’t lost much and meanwhile, we can be on to bigger projects. We have a list.  It is long.

S/V Galapagos, radio off.