Les Izmore
Junior Ranger
As others have commented on this forum, the closed galley can get scorching hot in the summer, especially if you are using a Dometic refrigerator. And if you are using an ice chest, the heat inside the closed hatch will mean more frequent trips to the local store in search of fresh ice. Because of this, we feel it is a good idea to keep the hatch open as much as possible during the heat of the day. But if the galley is oriented south or west, the stainless steel surfaces can get hot enough to cook dinner on. It seems the common solution to this problem is to put a shade awning over the galley. We aren't big fans of this approach, primarily because we don't spend significant time in front of the galley. We want shade where we choose to sit, rather than having to sit where there is shade.
So we enlisted the help of a friend of ours (Nancy Rolig) to create a simple sun shade (we needed both her sewing machine and her much more considerable sewing experience). Consider this a prototype. If we were to make this effort a second time, the construction would probably be more like that used on the Camp Inn galley wing walls.
We purchased four feet of tie-dyed spandex and a snap kit at JoAnn Fabrics, plus we had some left over paracord on hand. We basically decided on the size of the shade (several inches narrower than the distance between the galley hatch ribs and extending below the galley counter) and put a zigzag hem around the edge of the spandex. The corners were reinforced with 4" squares of ripstop nylon, folded diagonally to form triangles (thus two thicknesses of nylon). This provided a suitable base for installing a female snap in the two upper corners of the fabric. Corresponding males snaps were screwed into the galley hatch ribs, located a couple of inches forward of the nearest wing wall snap. We added a loop of paracord to go over the hatch handle, and loops of paracord on the bottom corners to anchor same to the bumper. The resulting shade cover takes up about a quarter of a square foot of storage space. A ripstop nylon shade would probably take up a bit less space and would weigh less than half as much.
Installation is simple: slip the loop over the galley hatch, snap each corner into the hatch rib, then slip the paracord loops over the top tube of the bumper. The one advantage of the spandex is that there is a lot of give when the wind blows against it. It will be interesting to see how well it holds up over time, or whether the sun will quickly cause it to rot.
There is one important tip worth using with this sunshade - never store bread or tortillas in open shelves of the galley. That stuff is like crack cocaine to wildlife! We know from experience that they won't bother chewing through the wrapper - they'll just take the whole package and run!
So we enlisted the help of a friend of ours (Nancy Rolig) to create a simple sun shade (we needed both her sewing machine and her much more considerable sewing experience). Consider this a prototype. If we were to make this effort a second time, the construction would probably be more like that used on the Camp Inn galley wing walls.
We purchased four feet of tie-dyed spandex and a snap kit at JoAnn Fabrics, plus we had some left over paracord on hand. We basically decided on the size of the shade (several inches narrower than the distance between the galley hatch ribs and extending below the galley counter) and put a zigzag hem around the edge of the spandex. The corners were reinforced with 4" squares of ripstop nylon, folded diagonally to form triangles (thus two thicknesses of nylon). This provided a suitable base for installing a female snap in the two upper corners of the fabric. Corresponding males snaps were screwed into the galley hatch ribs, located a couple of inches forward of the nearest wing wall snap. We added a loop of paracord to go over the hatch handle, and loops of paracord on the bottom corners to anchor same to the bumper. The resulting shade cover takes up about a quarter of a square foot of storage space. A ripstop nylon shade would probably take up a bit less space and would weigh less than half as much.
Installation is simple: slip the loop over the galley hatch, snap each corner into the hatch rib, then slip the paracord loops over the top tube of the bumper. The one advantage of the spandex is that there is a lot of give when the wind blows against it. It will be interesting to see how well it holds up over time, or whether the sun will quickly cause it to rot.
There is one important tip worth using with this sunshade - never store bread or tortillas in open shelves of the galley. That stuff is like crack cocaine to wildlife! We know from experience that they won't bother chewing through the wrapper - they'll just take the whole package and run!
