Who has cruised blue water with a non gimballed stove?

[hpeer]

Originally Posted by Cheechako

Many/most alaska fishing boats have a diesel, non gimbaled cook stove going 24/7. Of course they aren't sailboats, but can get thrown around a bit!

But gimbal or not gimbal is not the biggest problem.
The problem with the plan is that they are not a "quick start and cook dinner" stove. In the tropics you wont want the stove going at all for months and a "quick start and cook" is not really an option IMHO. Even in the north in summer it's an issue. They take a while to get burning and can put out soot and smoke until they heat up and get cranking. Good boat heater and cooker if you stay in the far north.

When we bought our small boat the stove was not gimbaled. At some point an insurance surveyor DEMANDED the stove be gimbaled, insisted it was some code requirement. I had cruised the boat without the gimbal and it was OK, but it made me neevous. So I was not opposed to enabling the gimbals, I had to make swing space which was not very difficult. I only mention this because insurance and surveyors MAY have an opinion in the matter.

I have a Dickenson diesel cook stove in my hunting cabin. They may work well for Northern fishing boats. These generally heel less than a sailboat, have a place for the chimney, and appreciate the heat they produce. They take a long time get up to temperature and in a small boat they will throw off tremendous amounts of heat. Also look at how the fuel is metered. It is fed into a reservoir under small pressure, the level is metered by a float with a needle valve. The carburetor needs to be oriented to minimize deflection from vertical in order to work, i.e. rotated if the stove is against the hull. In small sailboats this will be another issue. And you need electricity for the feed pump unless the tank is mounted a bit above the float level. Lots to think about in the mounting and usage.

We use the diesel stove in winter and leave it on. For warmer times we use a table top kerosene stove.

We have 2 sailboats. Both have kerosene stove/ovens. We find they work very well, all spare parts are readily available, and they are easy to maintain, once you figure it out. Incan cook any thing on a kero stove you can on a gas stove. And I do not need electricity. Nor special storage lockers. We have lived aboard in winter, once frozen in for a couple of days. We cruise in Newfoundland.

For heat I use Espar hot air heaters supplemented by kerosene bulkhead heaters.

[boat driver]

Originally Posted by Captn_Scott

I have just completed a multi thousand hour restoration of a Morgan 35 for an extended global cruise and am looking for feedback from anyone who has sailed at sea using a non gimballed cook stove. I am looking a diesel cook stove because it only uses diesel from the tank and can be used as a heater for the boat due to space constraints(it will burn 1.3 gallons per 24hrs on low).
So, have you been able to cook on one of these at sea?

I think the gimbal question you ask is simple to answer- try cooking on a stove that is tilted 18 degrees. Should give you an idea of acceptable or not.
Have you ever worked worked with diesel fired stoves ?
Within a short period of time the boat, clothes, body tends to absorb a petroleum odor. I strongly suggest investigating a working model and assuring yourself if acceptable.

[seacap]

Originally Posted by Captn_Scott

I get the concept, but am looking for advice from a sailor who has actually used a non gimballed stove at sea. I used one once on a custom Kanter 52 but we didn't have any kind of seaway to speak of.

I have used a non gimbaled kerosene stove for 30 years, east coast to Caribbean. It is mounted athwart ships and I use deep pots. If there is a sudden lurch stuff is thrown off to the side away from the cook. NEver have had a problem. The Pardeys did two circumnavigations this way.

[Pete7]

Originally Posted by boat driver

I think the gimbal question you ask is simple to answer- try cooking on a stove that is tilted 18 degrees. Should give you an idea of acceptable or not.

There is a reason for this chocolate cake cooking at an odd angle in the tin, we dried out bows down. The stove is gimballed but not the Remoska. Madame did give me a funny look until I explained and asked her if she wanted a thin or thick slice.

Pete

[seacap]

Originally Posted by boat driver

I think the gimbal question you ask is simple to answer- try cooking on a stove that is tilted 18 degrees. Should give you an idea of acceptable or not.
Have you ever worked worked with diesel fired stoves ?
Within a short period of time the boat, clothes, body tends to absorb a petroleum odor. I strongly suggest investigating a working model and assuring yourself if acceptable.

Deep pots solves the 18° situation. I doubt anyone would be trying to cook in weather like that. I usually heave to in severe weather to cook.
I worked on an old wood schooner with a diesel stove for a whole year. CA-HI-CA. I never smelled like diesel. It’s not a problem. It was great for heating the main saloon and galley.

[Pete7]

Originally Posted by s/v Jedi

How difficult would it be to create a stabilized surface using some stepper motors, 3D accelerator sensor and microcontroller? Hmmm

I guess you need to find a second hand drone that has crashed and needs a new life.

[Flagfish]

Sure, no problem. I’ve sailed from Alaska to San Diego, to Hawaii, back to B.C. using a standard Force 10 propane. The stovetop edge guards hold the pot in place just fine, even way heeled.

[sailorladd]

I have one of those black, cast iron, two burner propane stoves.
No oven, no hassle, fixed in position with a copper sheet surround below, sides and back and tall stainless steel quarter inch rod as "fiddle rails" front and rear.

I never once had any issues with this set up. I used to bake bread in my "Dutch oven" (cast iron pot) a pressure cooker to make soups and stews etc, I could fry fish that I would catch with my ever present trolling line out aft and of course my whistling kettle was constantly employed for tea or coffee.. single handing or with crew, this was my stove and it is till in use today after forty years! In the early days I had a gimboling stove and after the first year of hassles and galley disasters, it was ceremoniously hurled over the side to Davy Jones's locker and a fixed, new black cast iron two burner was installed... never looked back...

[Grigory]

Small stove. Small boat (20 ft), mostly coastal cruising. Not for heavy weather, of coarse.
On a wave of 1-1.5 m, making hot tea or food is quite convenient and safe.

[frankds]

Originally Posted by Captn_Scott

I have just completed a multi thousand hour restoration of a Morgan 35 for an extended global cruise and am looking for feedback from anyone who has sailed at sea using a non gimballed cook stove. I am looking a diesel cook stove because it only uses diesel from the tank and can be used as a heater for the boat due to space constraints(it will burn 1.3 gallons per 24hrs on low).
So, have you been able to cook on one of these at sea?

Small world....my Morgan 35 and I transatlantticed with a countertop 3 burner propane stove.. 1/4 bolts protruded through top and pieces of copper tubing slipped over.... need 4 for size of pots ...
I also had a Sea Swing 1 burner stove for rough times, only used a few times
Frank

[nofacey]

Using diesel to cook makes sense logistically - but have you ever tried it? I love Dickenson stoves for northern climates, but once you get into the tropics, their heat will drive you out of the boat……and there’s no such thing as a “quick” meal, the stove takes extensive time to heat up.

[stone0302]

I rebuilt my 36' cutter and installed the stove fix athwartship facing forward. So far, sailed about 11,000 mostly offshore miles. After a couple voyages I raised the fiddle rack on one side e bit higher for the pot holders to be positioned better for the pots which has worked well.

Positioning the stove as such has allowed us to have more storage room. It also has greatly reduced the danger of being thrown into the stove or have hots food/wets thrown onto the cook.

Someone posted about the difficulty of trying to to cook on a fixed stove in 15' beam seas. I'm here to tell you not only can't you cook in such conditions on any stove you shouldn't even be sailing on a beam reach in true 15' seas--at least not in a 36' boat.

I have never had a diesel stove but I think BenZs comments are spot on. In the high latitudes it would be great but in the middle latitudes and tropics it would be uncomfortable.

There are pros and cons to everything in a boat and how you mint the stove is no exception.

[searenity38]

Two things to mention here:
1 Diesel stoves - I had one that burned diesel as well as kerosene. Cooking with diesel was terrible. The fumes and oder were nasty. Especially when using the oven for some reason. I finally had to go to parrafin. That was much better but costly. And finding parrafin wasn't all that easy.
2 Gimbled stoves - If you have a mono hull you have to have a gimbled stove. Under sail with just 5 or so degree list will be a real hassle. Look at your sole. Is it beveled in places to make it easier to stand? I had two mono hulls and both had gimbled stoves. I wouldnt think of using anything else.
ps I would also recommend switching to LP...
Joe

[Elcapt]

Hi. This is not a big deal. I bought a Sigmar diesel stove for heat and cooking for a long voyage around south America.
First this stove has an adjustable variable speed exhaust fan for the stack. Very impt as under sail your main can cause a back draft and snuff the stove . Much safer than propane but a little tricky to light off.

The stove top has a fiddle rack all around. The top Just get two stainless or copper rods to cross the fiddles and wire them with safety wire so they can slide to adjust for pot size

It is fine in most conditions. Forget in heavy conditions.
Keep pots way less than full to avoid spills.

It is best to have a sea swing or similar small one pot fully gimballled bulkhead mount stove for heavy weather

We also used the sea swing to boil water to fill an air pot for night watch or extreme weather hot drinks or cuppa soup .

Many years ago bought a custom stovetop water boiler in Lunenburg NS. It had the bottom recessed up about an inch so it had 1” of wearing to grind off while it slid on an iron stove top while at sea. Have fun keep it simple good luck

[Elcapt]

Hi

I forgot to mention the Sigmar is a professional fishing boat stove made in Canada. Not a yacht toy!