Has the all-electric galley come of age?

[Auspicious]

Originally Posted by bobnlesley

Perhaps an hour later another crewman came across who was fluent in English and explained that they'd needed to shutdown the superyacht's generator plant for some repairs

Which goes to failure cascades I referred to above. Generator failures that mean conserving power and doing without hot water and A/C are one thing. Generators failures that mean no cooking are just bad.



In my opinion electric cooking is unwise unless you run from marina to marina and are plugged in every night. Short days also.

[CatNewBee]

Originally Posted by Auspicious

Which goes to failure cascades I referred to above. Generator failures that mean conserving power and doing without hot water and A/C are one thing. Generators failures that mean no cooking are just bad.



In my opinion electric cooking is unwise unless you run from marina to marina and are plugged in every night. Short days also.

We have sailed for more than a month off the hook, cooking and baking only on solar, batteries and inverter in our condomaran - no shore power at all no generator hours and no propane.

[jmh2002]

Yeah, this whole generator failure (or failure cascades) argument should be a mute point in my opinion.

Firstly, regardless of what systems you use you still need to have backups, and some kind of plan for 'what if' scenarios (and this applies equally to small and big boats).

Secondly, propane powered galleys can equally have different forms of failure too, even just running out of gas (which I agree shouldn't really happen, but still does even on these YouTube sailing channels).

So whilst yes, a simpler boat should be easier overall with less things to go wrong, a failure cascade still has to be planned for just as it does on a more complex boat.

Often the more complex boats are in fact the ones that have multiple backup systems just because of how they are setup.

[jmh2002]

Originally Posted by bobnlesley

Perhaps an hour later another crewman came across who was fluent in English and explained that they'd needed to shutdown the superyacht's generator plant for some repairs...

Cool story in general, but what is missed is that even superyachts are not immune to bad systems design, and the smaller size range can be particularly bad, because they want all the luxuries of a bigger boat but don't have the space or don't want to install all of the necessary equipment or it's simply not thought about properly in the first place (sound familiar... ?)

So of course an all electric (for hotel services) superyacht should have 2 generators to provide a backup, because typically they don't have house battery banks sufficient to run all the AC loads (although this is starting to change too).

But even then, there are just silly design choices made sometimes that mess up the backup plan, eg:

2 gensets but, only 1 is configured to run for example the bow thruster, so you don't really have a proper backup because they didn't bother to duplicate the setup for the other genset...

[Pelagic]

Originally Posted by owly

....Propane really is a non-issue IMHO. I've used it for many years safely. While I haven't taken propane international, many people have, and the matter of dapters is easily solved with a kit of adapters.

There is another problem with propane internationally in that many places...they will not fill YOUR tank and you have to buy a rusty local one and equalize into your own boat propane tanks.... Inefficient and labour intensive.

I am completely sold on my new lnduction stove top for the boat and my partner loves it along with the new pots and pressure cooker.

I think a major factor in favor of all electric galley is the sources of renewable energy via Solar / wind/alternators and Generator that allows you to harmonize both static and motive power for use with electric consumers.
in other words, no more dependence on shore side propane refills.
I have kept my 2 stainless propane tanks to feed the Weber BBQ and I guess as a backup to electric.
But using only outside in the tropics is much nicer.

[john61ct]

Originally Posted by Auspicious

In my opinion electric cooking is unwise unless you run from marina to marina and are plugged in every night. Short days also.

unless you care to invest in the sort of system CNB has outlined here.

[TeddyDiver]

Originally Posted by jmh2002

Yeah, this whole generator failure (or failure cascades) argument should be a mute point in my opinion.

Firstly, regardless of what systems you use you still need to have backups, and some kind of plan for 'what if' scenarios (and this applies equally to small and big boats).

Secondly, propane powered galleys can equally have different forms of failure too, even just running out of gas (which I agree shouldn't really happen, but still does even on these YouTube sailing channels).

So whilst yes, a simpler boat should be easier overall with less things to go wrong, a failure cascade still has to be planned for just as it does on a more complex boat.

Often the more complex boats are in fact the ones that have multiple backup systems just because of how they are setup.

You are absolutely right. I'm building up all electric galley, large battery bank and PTO generator on the main (only) engine. In case of failure, the generator, engine and the charger/inverter, there are backups. Alternator on the main engine, separate spare charger and inverter, a couple of solar panels and either a water generator or a windmill and a non electric diesel stowe. Should cover most failure scenarios. In the most serious case if there's not enough wind and sunlight I'd be without freezer so some frozen food wasted..

[jmh2002]

Yes, let's also not forget the simple matter of the oven/hob itself failing in some way, either electric or propane.

I guess most propane users will also have a propane BBQ and can use that.

I know that in the tropics I almost always prefer to use the very nice large outside BBQ with lid (even for roasting joints of meat), instead of the main oven/hob in the full galley of a 51ft monohull because it was just much nicer to be up on deck and to also not heat up the interior of the boat.

Obviously a catamaran can be different in the first place with a 'galley up' design, but how are 'all electric galley' boats thinking about the question of an exterior BBQ?

Will this be electric too? Out on deck? Or with a 'galley up' are BBQ/Grills being incorporated into the galley itself, especially with rear facing galleys that open out into the cockpit?

I mentioned in another thread that for catamarans I particularly like the very open style boats for warm weather cruising, where the saloon cabin is really just a very big hard dodger, so in this design it would be easier to incorporate, in some others, not so much.

[Thalas]

Originally Posted by owly

This technology may seem attractive to the condo cat set who vacation on their boat, but for the permanent live aboard voyager it's absurd. There is a saying about cruising being fixing your boat in exotic places.......The more systems you have, the more fixing there is to do....... This stuff is all fine when it's new (or should be).

You have valid points, but when you speak in absolutes, it negates the effectiveness of your arguements.

S/V Delos recently switched to induction and while I don’t hold everything Brian says as gospel, he is incredibly knowledgeable, thoughtful, and has put in serious mileage at sea in very remote locations. I would encourage you to read up on why he chose induction.

Yes, propane is relatively safe compared to gasoline, but it IS a dangerous gas. While induction has almost no moving parts (yes, the marine environment is hard on all things electronic), propane setups include tanks that need to be inspected, pressure gauges, connectors, and one or more leak detectors so there are many more points of failure. And failure could mean no working stove or failure could mean life threatening danger to sleeping sailors.

That said, even if I went induction, I’d want a grill off the transom since fire on meat is my preferred prep method.

[CatNewBee]

We have done the conversion to electric galley, and use a propane Weber grill outside with a quick-release hose to the bottle - just plug & play.

The bottle + spare are stored in the original propane locker when not used, it has the ventilation opening on the bottom to the sea for safety. The original propane piping to the galley was removed and the hole in the locker sealed.

We could have installed also an electric grill, but chose the propane one for redundancy. The grill has also the option to use butane cartouches available in most camping stores. We use the grill not too often, the 2 bottles will last for a long time.

[jmh2002]

Interesting, thanks

[TeddyDiver]

Originally Posted by jmh2002

Yes, let's also not forget the simple matter of the oven/hob itself failing in some way, either electric or propane.

I guess most propane users will also have a propane BBQ and can use that.

I know that in the tropics I almost always prefer to use the very nice large outside BBQ with lid (even for roasting joints of meat), instead of the main oven/hob in the full galley of a 51ft monohull because it was just much nicer to be up on deck and to also not heat up the interior of the boat.

Obviously a catamaran can be different in the first place with a 'galley up' design, but how are 'all electric galley' boats thinking about the question of an exterior BBQ?

Will this be electric too? Out on deck? Or with a 'galley up' are BBQ/Grills being incorporated into the galley itself, especially with rear facing galleys that open out into the cockpit?

I mentioned in another thread that for catamarans I particularly like the very open style boats for warm weather cruising, where the saloon cabin is really just a very big hard dodger, so in this design it would be easier to incorporate, in some others, not so much.

Oven/hub failing? Double cooking top, oven, microwave, sous vide. I really intend to forget until something fails and get a new one for $50 to $200.

No BBQ on passage but anchored can lift the (spare) induction cooking plate on deck with iron grill pan (it's actually for cooking king crabs outside as don't want the smell below). The best part of induction you can set the temperature where you want it + a butane torch

Besides induction doesn't warm up the galley as propane does so there's not so much urge to escape on deck. If it's really hot like tropics just throw a towel over the kettle if you cooking like plantains a bit longer time. Saves also some juice!

[jmh2002]

^^^ All good info and options too.

[zboss]

Depending on a generator for cooking and topping up large batteries would cut into my motoring range... so while it would be nice, I’m not willing to sacrifice an energy dense medium like propane just yet. If we went that way I’d also go with electric engines so the generator could do double duty under high load. With that said... we keep an induction cooktop on board in case we run out of propane.

[Pelagic]

Originally Posted by zboss

Depending on a generator for cooking and topping up large batteries would cut into my motoring range... so while it would be nice, I’m not willing to sacrifice an energy dense medium like propane just yet. If we went that way I’d also go with electric engines so the generator could do double duty under high load. With that said... we keep an induction cooktop on board in case we run out of propane.

I guess it all depends on your setup, but I can run 2 induction hobs on inverter at reduced power settings from stored house battery.

I'm finding less and less need to run my 10Kw Gen ...only when on rainy periods and no motor sailing to top up the large house bank.

We are a motor sailor, so I carry 2400 liters diesel but run main engine usually at 1000-1300 rpm if any usable wind below 15knts and average 7.3 SOG .

The Gen is mostly there as backup now or if we are doing a lot of food prep or wanting to use the large aircons.

I run them every day for one hour to just keep SOC above 90% but by 4pm I am usually at 100% if sunny