Replacing sink and counter in new boat

When one gets a new home, one always makes alterations to make things fit right. Cynthia and I have replaced the high-color-temperature LED lighting with something a lot less blue and more red: now and then we turn on a couple old lights just to remind ourselves how delightfully soothing and glare-free the new ones are. I showed Cynthia how to do some plumbing and electrical work

and we replaced the wimpy, air-sucking water pump with a new one located far lower in the boat, one that gives good pressure and decent volume. I created a new seal around the ancient door of the refrigerator using spray foam (later trimmed neatly)

and believe it has made a big difference and also added some insulation on the freezer compartment so that the freezer can be cold without freezing everything in the fridge. And we replaced the kitchen sink and faucet with far far better.

The existing sink was a two-basin thing: wonderful if large enough, but silly if you can not even set a dish flat in either basin... and this one definitely fell into the silly category. And the faucet was a low thing, so low we could not even wash a decent frying pan.

So, step one: buy the sink and faucet

(both paid for as a Christmas gift to us and the boat: thanks, Mom!). Step two is to pull the sink out...

and any decay....

and frozen soaking wet styrofoam insulation.

Step three: re-insulate the fridge, gluing and sealing the new stuff in place layer by layer with insulating foam.

Fourth, shape a layer of plywood and glued it into place. Fifth, cut for the sink and glue it in.

Sixth: shape the top layer of plywood countertop perfectly to align with the edges of the undermount sink and glue it into place with lots of thickened epoxy and weight it down until the glue sets.

Seventh: seal the countertop with lots of epoxy.

Eighth (and I forgot to get a pic of this!): install the faucet at the back left corner and connect the plumbing. Finally (also without photographs), figure out how to make a better drain connection and make it (and, if I have done this wrong, I'll just go back to the old drain layout).

This new sink gives us more counter space and more usable sink space and we can wash our largest pots and even a five-gallon bucket or Lucy! Very satisfying: this boat gets better and better.