Oven Needed

[fishsail18]

I'm looking for a new oven/stove. 3 burner propane. It's a toss up between the Force 10 and a Dickenson. I don't see many reviews on the Dickenson? any personal preferences out there?

[Crew of Turning]

We have the Force10 3 burner stove with oven. Installed 2004. The only issue we have had so far is a bad ground at the battery clip for electronic start. Obviously it is working well. However, boat is laid up every fall until spring so it is only in use for half the time a liveaboard would rely on it. Force 10 has been bought by EMO of France I heard.

[Suijin]

I replaced the aging Force 10 3 burner on my boat with a new one about three years ago since I could not get thermocouple parts for it any longer and two burners were dead. Was basically a drop-in operation although I did need to move the brackets forward a bit as they have changed the balance point on the stove. As a live aboard I use the stove a lot.

Pretty happy with it except for one niggling issue. One of the burners will not light unless I pull the knob forward towards me on the spindle a tiny bit. Called support and they said it was an issue to do with the knob seating on the valve stem (duh, like I didn't get that), offered no relief. I could probably kluge a fix but I've just lived with it thus far.

Other than that the stove is great. Plenty of heat, oven and broiler work very well, fairly easy to clean, good brackets for holding pots.

The one thing I wish they would add is something that holds the grate up to make the top easier to clean. It pivots at the rear and a fold down leg or SOMETHING seems like an obvious feature to have included. I have to hold it up with one hand or tie it up with a cord for any extended cleaning which seems sort of stupid.

I did notice that the battery compartment is all the way at the back on the bottom of the stove, which strikes me as pretty stupid from an accessibility perspective.

I know folks who swear by Dickenson grills, and have used them myself. They're the best boat grill IMO but I've never come across one of their stoves.

[Annie in WA]

We have a new Force 10 American Compact that we installed after 25 years with the old one. It was a drop in. I think the new one gets up to a higher oven temp and has a nice grill on top and it operates better than the old one. Negatives are that the actual oven space is pretty small and as someone mentioned before the lever holding the top grill up so that you can clean the surface is gone. Depending on the model you are looking at, I suggest you check out the oven size carefully to see if it will work for you.

One more positive... the new stove has a larger front burner than the older stove and it heats things up wicked fast (in a good way).

[jeremiason]

Lived aboard a C-470 for 7 years... My wife cooked a lot!

Within the first year, we replaced the Princess Stove with a Force 10 and loved it.