Dickenson Mariner Regal 3 burner stove/oven rebuild

[alaskanviking]

I have had issues with the oven since I owned the boat. The oven never got up to full temperature, used a lot of fuel and really heated the cabin. We would turn it on high and add several hours to baking time. The back stove burner support looks like the welds had broken at some point in its life, but it was useable. Food and grime would drop around the burners and were really difficult to get out or clean. This last year my deck prism overhead started leaking when it rain so there was some rust to add to the list of issues. Trying to clean one of the cast iron burners I discovered a hole had rusted out on the bottom, this was after the air/propane mixer so this will allow more air in or worse air/gas mix out. It’s a 30yr old stove, so I never really expected much from it, and have had it on my list of things to replace for a while.
It started as a deep clean. There was the move across country, than a lot of fiberglass dust from the boat yard, it had been a workstation for several projects in the last year. The thing was filthy. The decades of grime that was under all the burners and other hard to reach places was pretty stuck on and icky. I started to take things apart so I could get underneath stuff. Before long I had everything on the top torn out. That was when I was wire brushing and found the hole. Unfortunately I also saw the insulation. It was pretty nasty looking, decayed, and pretty obvious that there wasn’t much installed at the factory in the first place. Lets just say it was gross, and the better bits were disappointing and thin. What is the saying, “if you don’t want to fix things or spend a lot of money on a boat, don’t look!” of course I can’t leave it, and I was able to drill out the rivets’ for the back and top insulation cover fairly easily. I also found a high temp 600 degree epoxy putty, which should work as it’s not a high heat area. If it doesn’t work I just will stop using that burner, no loss.

My goal at this point is to just extend the life of the stove for a while as installing a new AC, running duct and painting the mast is my current time and money focus. Secondary goal is to make it look decent enough that it isn’t an immediate biological and chemical hazard to life when using it. I found ceramic insulation for stoves, kilns, backyard pizza oven builds. It’s the modern super insulation that wasn’t really around in the mid 80’s good to 2300 degrees, easy to cut with scissors or a box cutter. I got a 25ft roll of 1” for ~ $100 on amazon, and some 1/8” stainless rivets. There is some ceramic hard board that is even better insulation but that a lot more expensive, and it’s a 30yr old stove. Generally this was really easy to replace the insulation and rivet everything back together. Took longer to clean everything actually. I was able to roughly put in double the insulation that was originally there, and fully cover every square inch where originally there were significant gaps even before it started to decay. About 2” on either side (original 1-1.5” maybe), 3” on the back (maybe 2” before), 1” on top (3/4” space but there was maybe ½” and only on ½ of the top area). The ceramic insulation is really easy to work with, and I was able to tear off extra bits and shove into any gaps. Kind of like a harder, courser cotton candy kind of texture.

I finished reinsulating and riveting everything back together last night. I still have to reconnect all the burners and pieces on the top. I also haven't looked at the door. Looking over the stove it appears I can get a further 1” on some of the top to cover the broiler. I may be able to do a full extra 1” or more if I can fit some thin (maybe 1/8”) stainless sheet to protect the insulation from food and grease. It also looks like I can fit 2” underneath without impacting the air inlet for the oven. I would also have to rivet in some thin stainless sheet to keep it in place. Is this too much effort for a 30 yr old stove? Probably. but having broken it down I realized how easy this is, and it's worth the effort to experiment and figure this out for the future, as it's not necessarily very common to put good insulation in marine stoves and ovens. Even if i go all out with some thin stainless sheet, and including with the ~$100 I spent on it - even a decent used stove/oven is in the $400-600 range, so provided this all works it's worth the time and effort.

[tkeithlu]

Um, did anyone get hurt in this wreck? That's quite a mess.

I was afraid that you were going to say that you were going to pitch it. Restored with modern insulation it could be both beautiful and perform better than originally. I hope that it does, and that you will take pride in a very functional antique.