How Important is it to Have a Stove With an Oven Gimballed?

[svBeBe]

My vote is for a stove with oven. Breads, cakes, cookies, various other types deserts as well as baked meats or fish or even baked pastas. Cannot imagine living aboard full-time and missing out on all those things because we did not have an oven.

As for gimballing, that is definitely a requirement. And do NOT leave it gimballed all the time when at sea or you risk chafe on propane lines and wiring for the igniter. Lock it in place when at sea or in rolly anchorage and then release it only when cooking.

Judy

[TeddyDiver]

Vote for oven.. It's ok to cook for a couple without one but when there's 4 or more on board oven is convenient.

Some considerations..

I like cooking and what I really miss in a galley is a gimballed plane next to the stove and I'm defineatly making one on my boat.

I hate how the stove "tips over" when you open the door and it looses the balance. I figured to have a separate oven installed rigidly and have the gimbal with runners inside the oven..

[barnakiel]

Originally Posted by goboatingnow

Interesting I was on a Challange boat a few years ago. Designed to race to windward round the world with a big crew. The stove was awarthships and not gimballed. It was set into a counter top !

Dave

That's why they called the event 'Challenge' !!!

;-)
b.

[mbianka]

Originally Posted by easterly38

I'm in agreement with some of the earlier comments, If you don't use an oven a lot at home, you probably won't miss it.
We only have a stove top and grill on our boat and I have never felt the need for an oven. While we are weekend and vacation sailors, we do spend a lot of time aboard and we do cook a lot.
IMO, between a grill and stove, you can cook just about anything.

I agree. I've got an oven on board and have used it maybe twice in 16 years. I'm currently rethinking it's usefulness. When at home on land I use my gas oven during the winter months. However, in warmer months I just use a counter top electric Delonghi toaster oven so I don't heat up the kitchen as much. Since I already have a Honda 2000 generator on board I'm thinking about using it and a toaster oven for any baking needs. Plus I can use it as a toaster and a broiler too. Plus gas for the generator is easier to find when cruising than propane for the oven too!

[Cristina]

I'm a cruiser for just 3 moths and I'm more learning here, but here are my fresh view on thi galey stuff:
We use a stove with oven and we don't have gimballing (that little pan's lockers works very well with catamaran). The oven is very usefull and safe for cooking while sailing, specially when hard winds or wheather conditions, because you can leave there (don't forget to use a timer) your bread/cake/meal/fish/potatos/vegetables/lasanha/pizza/etc until its ready, and you don't need to be in danger next to hot pans, water boiling, knifes, (I had severals almost accidents with falling knifes on feet, but thanks God I'm good).
So oven is very usefull.

[S/V Alchemy]

Originally Posted by xymotic

Let me also add that if you don't use an oven, you can still store pots pans there.

Not to mention laptops and handhelds and GPSes if a lightning storm is coming on fast. Steel ovens are perfect Faraday cages.

[JanetGroene]

Gimbals, yes, but make sure stove has sufficient swinging room. Pot clamps also nice to have. If you decide not to go with an oven, consider a covered grill for the transom. A lot of baking can be done there and the heat is outside, not in your galley.

[Hudson Force]

Most galley ovens with stove tops are not fully gimbaled, but like ours, partially gimbaled for heel and not fore and aft rock. This is usually sufficient as most galleys are not at the stern or bow. We rarely use our stove in rough weather or when maintaining a consistant heel and our gimbaled stove remains still with a locking pin engaged. We could do well without our stove being gimballed in it's one dimension and I would never need a fully gimbaled stove.

[Cheechako]

If it's the cost you are considering, In the tropics we used the oven very seldom. A pressure cooker will do most everything the oven will and with a lot less heat. On a smaller boat the oven isnt that big an asset. On a larger boat, come selling time you should have it. If the money doestn bother you get the oven, it's a great place to store a pan or two! If you are the type that bakes bread etc yourself, get the oven.

[witchcraft]

We spent several years without an oven. We cheered when we installed our new stove with two burners and an oven. Yes it was gimballed. It difficult and often dangerous cooking without that feature underway. In rough anchorages ( yes that happens) the same applies. I nearly wore a pot of soup ( leftovers from the roasted chicken) in a rough spot by not having the stove unlocked. We also have a grill (BBQ) which we use a lot in hot weather. Would not be without our gimballed stove with oven.
Fair Winds
Witchcraft

[barnakiel]

BTW seen pictures of a boat where both the stove and the working area (roughly half against the stove's top) were gimballed (using the same gimbals)! The idea was, I think, to have some space to place the pan when you are cooking on both hobs and need to take one pan off the stove for a moment. Maybe one could use it to pour the fodder into the bowls too? We place the bowls into the adjacent sink, but, as the boat moves, we will spill some the most precious hot food ;-(.

I liked the idea anyways and would like to implement it, if we upgrade to a bigger ship one day.

b.

[abh]

Stove is as much of a requirement on board as an automatic ass wiper.

[Cheechako]

A guy I bought a hull from years ago had a stove mounted athwartships on boat centerline and it was gimbaled... he also had a shaped door that rotated on a track, it either closed off the forward cabin, or rotated to close the head!
I have mixed feelings about gimbals. In port, if a big powerboat wave comes, they seem to accentuate the "throw" of the hot soup! At sea they help for sure though. We bought really deep pans, which help alot and also mean you dont need so many pans either.

[AquatiCat]

We're using a Dickinson Marine Caribbean model stove with two burners and an oven. We also have a microwave, for use either briefly or when connected to shore power.

I'd keep the oven. It's really good for comfort food, and makes your boat useful in places where there is actually cool air on occasion. I bake breakfast scones and other short-duration goodies in the cool of the morning, so I am not so worried about heating up the cabin: I'm less likely to bake dinner if it's been a hot day. We also have a grill, a BabyQ from Weber, very stable and not hot at the base. The excellent part is that the small propane canisters we use for the BabyQ are also usable by our main oven's propane system as emergency gas when the main tank runs out. That can save your supper :-)

The oven does take up a bit of storage space, but as someone else noted, you can still store pans and such inside it when it's not in use.

[sully75]

I have a relatively small boat (A Pearson Triton, 28.5). Currently I have a little gimballed two burner that is marginally usefull.

I'm wondering about going to a non-gimballed 2 or 3 burner with oven (non-gimballed for space and simplicity) and for underway a gimballed one burner, something like a sea-swing or the like, either with a propane line or with propane tanks.

What do you think? I hadn't pondered that the gimballing might be usefull at anchor though. The Triton can be a bit tender and can definitely get rolled if someone comes by and makes a big wake (********!). I think if I went gimballed I might lose the oven, but maybe not. Currently my 2 burner doesn't accept pots of any real size.