Galley Cooktop Choices?

[ebb]

Force 10 does NOT make an 8" single burner gimballed stove any more. Maybe the existing design once did hold an 8" (maybe it can be altered,) but the inside grate over the burner has an integral wire rose loop-de-loop that is adjusted to hold a smaller 7 inch pot.

It is probably one of the stupidest improvements imaginable - now the common 8" pressure cooker which you normally would use with this stove in rough water can't be safely held in, because there is a whole bunch of twisted wire OVER THE BURNER.

The gimballed part which is a s.s. shell is wide enough to hold the pressure cooker. You might imagine I sent off an incensed email to Force 10 telling them how they could attach pot holders to the shell - where they would be away from the burner and therefor wouldn't get burning hot and were therefor more user friendly. I also told them there was another way with the wire rose pot holder gismo that could be fit over the top of the shell if they wanted to. Boy, did I tell them!

Forespar, I believe, make an 8" seaswing, but it is 7" DEEP. I don't know if there is a slot for the p. cooker handle. If there isn't, then their stove is equally stupid. (But could more easily be altered.) I'm going to wait til I see one.

I figure that if these people can't do a simple cooker right, how can one trust them on anything else they market. One can spend a 1000 to $2000 for a multiburner stove with a grill or oven. Then you have to fork out for the propane installation and the bloody locker with the valves and solenod and tubes and bubba tanks.

The seacook looked to me like a great alternative to all the bs and the space the expensive stuff takes. I was thinking it would be cool to mount maybe two single stoves in the lined two burner gamballed stove space and be totally upscale and versatile. For $200.

Ha! Force 10 knows this too. Suppose other cheaters like me took the cheaper way out. They wouldn't be able to sell as many grossly overpriced doodahs. What's our profit margin on a $99 retail product anyway? Hell, let's make it unusable and then we'll disappear it from the market.

I sent it back - we'll see how easy it is to get a refund from sailnet.com
I got free shipping coming, cost $22 plus the grief to send it back. And sailnet.com is STILL advertising the Force 10 as an eight incher! None of these corporations really seems to care about the consumer.

NOPE, there will not be Force 10 anything in 338

[Tony G]

Ebb....................simmer down

[marymandara]

Hey, Ebb...

For you, specially for you...I have a spare, original, Optimus SeaSwing (Kero). Needs some elbow grease and TLC, but I have yet to see one that couldn't be made work like new with very little effort. I was sort of saving it for...I don't know what, really. Bought it and then ran into a lot of used items from an estate that had an absolutely perfect, NOS one. I wanted to sell it, but Mary vetoed that!

Anyway, I kept this one around figuring I'd clean it up, tweek it out and hawk it off...still as it is. Even has the mounting bracket!
These are terrific little stoves and ROBUST (!)...and I know how you like that!<G>

For some reason I never can get hold of you by e-mail, even when you tell me to...So if you are interested, get hold of me, OK?

( commander280@yahoo.com or maryraindrop@attbi.com )

Dave

[ebb]

This seems to be a good time to put
eborregaard@hotmail.com
here. Also. Because the private message system of this forum defeats me every time I try to use it. There is a neteze address associated with my name that seems to absorb messages, as I never seem to retrieve them, so if the address says >neteze< it won't get to me.

There has been a lot of information, new friends, memorable exchanges, some wonderfully outrageous. Great photos. Fantastic! Don't know that I could have done without this Forum. Likely more work on the boat! Fabulous community here!

[tpalmer]

While visiting my mother and brothers in Jacksonville,FL, I'm going to make a side trip to St.Augustine to check out Sailors-Exchange (WWW.sailors-exchange.com) to see what kind of sea-junk they have. My main goal is to find something to cook on. Maybe I'll get lucky and there'll be an old 8 inch stove will be there. TP

[ebb]

It's been awhile. The timer ran out on this cooktop thread.

http://www.goodoldboat.com/reader_se...okingfuels.php
(And timer went out on this article... Realized, looking back, that it's archived,
from GOB Vol3#2 M/Ap 2000, "copyright 2016". Thought it was current.)

But then again... whatz changed in thirteen... or sixteen years?? ...right, usual
suspects, they're still here in 2016. Their timer could & should be almost over.
At the end of her paper she has convinced me (and herself, I think) that not
one really deserves a place on board, especially below where a single spark
can blow the deck of your boat and spoil your day.

Well researched, well written, well organized look at stoves from the FUEL
angle. Might help, seeing them compared this way. Comparison charts, too!

If you aren't a seagoing cook like me, there is an interim out with cooktops
using small propane bottles. Method isn't green, but it's clean. Take a look at
China's latest 'marina hob.'
CampChefEverest2-Burner CAMPSTOVE http://rei.com/product/824171/...
Appealing looks, s.s drip tray, rounded corners! 20.000 BTU burners!! but also
can be turned down to an honest simmer. Piezo* start, 16.4oz propane bottle.**
Wish they made a single hob, the two burner is rather large for the Ariel galley.
The rather large gas bottle attaches awkwardly to the side, extending its length.
It is a campstove, doubles as a backup for power outages, and as an extra.
Objective review...http://www.outdoorgearlab.com/Campin...p-Chef-Everest
Propane is a petroleum distillate.
* >spark<!!

Propane is considered clean burning, leaving no CO2 footprint. However, the
canisters are a huge problem... nobody knows what to do with the empty's.
You buy 'em, you own 'em.. Nobody wants them. End up in the landfill. SMART!


It won't be too long until - on an all 48VDC electric Ariel - that a solar powered
INDUCTION HOTPLATE will be the top cooktop choice!
Solar PV are also coming right along: Just saw a pic of Solar Cloth sails (Sail mag)
on a sled cruiser, made by Bainbridge, I believe. Look like they just patched on
panels, but it's happening! Gather it in! Electric storage tanks are getting better,
too, $$$$.
www.treehugger.com talks about truck drivers having "seriously efficient
airconditioners" and finds Kingtec Technologies' 48VDC SOLAR POWERED A/C
with Morningstar Tristar charge controller... which see. Unit much too large for
an Ariel. But they'll have one you can hold in yer lap before long!

'Low-tech' SOLAR BOX OVENS have been around awhile. Have an idea for a
collapsible passive cooker... no fuel, no electrics. Take apart for storage. There's
a toolbox sized hybrid kickstarter with builtin electric plate, that automatically
kicks in to finish cooking when clouds gather. Sunfocus Solar Electric Hybrid.
http:www.solarcooker-at-cantinawest.com/ {red flags -- watch it!!
This is a great resource site. VOCs in some ovens is the problem. Check it out. }
Keeping stoves aimed at the sun on a boat is a prob. Has to be worth a try.


LIQUID FUELS stink, always seem to become problematic, toxic, bad company.
Gas fuels under pressure are bombs. Who wants to be stuck living with a bomb?
What solar (and wind) promises is the intelligence to make our own personal fuel.

How on earth did we get into fossil fuels? It was free. All we had to do was suck
it up and burn it. Still doing it, after more than 150 years, to this very day...
breathe it, eat it, drink it, wear it, trash it... 8 billion of us altering the planet,
transforming our atmospheric chemistry into something far less auspicious than
what we had given to us before the madness of frak-headed fo$$il fuel mafia.

From a blog perspective: There are nothing but disappointing compromises
messing with flammable liquids for propulsion, heating and cooking. Leaving
the grid, going offshore, with bottles, cans and tanks of fossil oils and fuels
secreted throughout the ship, is ridiculous.... when green alternatives are
already here. We're on the edge of a more desperate reality. Believe me, there
will there be no more holy human resurrections when this lonely planet loves
us no more. Better take care of this one, now.

Burning one gallon of gasoline makes a 19gallon CO2 footprint. One gallon of
diesel makes 27gallons of CO2.

............................My boat should leave no footprints............................


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
**YouTube. There are dozens, maybe hundreds of youtubes telling us how
to refill 'Coleman Bottles' (16oz net weight canisters~ ) using a $20 refill
adapter from your 5gal 20lb 'BBQ' tank. If you haven't done it, here's some
tricks to do it right:
~ {Assuming my oz/gram scale is correct, and the net wt also, a brand new
1lb Coleman Cylinder weighs 30.15oz. Minus the tare = 14.15oz propane}

NO Pre-Chilling! FULLY Refill a 1lb Propane Bottle (Avoid 700%
Markup on Propane) Coleman by WheeliePete. Afterwards, read UPDATES
just below picture. Important. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fD1CmorB_qM
Understand that Coleman canisters are never filled the whole way for shipping,
to allow for expansion. Considering how these may end up on a boat, seems
like a good idea not to fill to bursting.
When considering a 20lb propane tank for littlegull, decided there was too much
engineering, too many parts: pressure gauge, solenoid, regulator, supply hoses
involved, to guarantee an always safe permanent locker, that would positively
drain heavier than air propane leaks overboard. This also applies to where we
keep rustable bottles on the boat. Using small bottles inside the cabin SEEMS
to be safer than all the parts & connections of a 20lb hookup. BUT certainly, it
is a lot safer to cook outdoors in the cockpit with the 1lb. ONE MORE THING:
Must install a spark-proof gas detector -- with alarm -- inside accommodation.
[Metal 1lb Coleman cylinders are not meant to be refilled. However, the jerks
also made them unrecyclable. That's what this is about. Haven't got a chance.
Older cylinders may have leaky vents. (All electric looking better and better!)

Mr Heater Propane Tank Refill Adapter widely available. GanderMtn $12.99.

WheeliePete shows us what forceps are for when refilling 1lb canisters. Fly-
fisherman Orvis Power Jaws Forceps $15. Barb crusher for catch&release,
split-shot crimper. Curved jaw hemostat, s.s. Has a tiny pin set in one jaw
about 2/3s back from the nose, use it to clean out the eye of a teeny hook.
http://www.orvis.com/p/power-jaws-forceps/24lc SPECIFY CURVED JAW.
(The $6 straight one at RiteAid is not a precision tool.)
OTHER USES: Hemostat means it can be used as a third hand because it also
clamps. Pull needles through sailcloth and leather, bend & solder electric wire,
remove ticks & matted hair from dog, hold tiny nuts, small assemblies,
computer work, undoing knots in small stuff, relieve canister vent.

These are patented, well designed, jaw-beautifully-tapered specialty pliers.
'Comments' universally positive by fishermen. This 5" tool is much more than
you'll ever need for releasing vents in Coleman bottles. BUT it is sturdy,
exquisitely crafted, multi-purpose eye candy -- with large gold loops for gloved
fingers. *****... Didn't know you always wanted one of these!! Get two.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~
Have the Baldwin gimbaled primus burner. Sometimes seen installed like gimbled
stoves with the burner at counter height. The pendulum effect is less violent
lower in the boat. But I will locate it slightly closer to center by the companion
way, upon the counter, almost out the hatch! Kero is a smelly fuel... and I'm
one who will get it to smoke -- have a learning curve somewhere around here,
and will give it a fair chance... If I found a tiny kerosene heater, makes better
heat than propane, and will be directly vented out the cabin top and make a
smutty footprint.