Live aboards: what kind of oven do you have or wish you had?

[tamicatana]

Have been wanting the Levante 2. A friend has the larger GN, and says it is as advertised.

https://gn-espace.com/product/levante-lpg-cooker/

[JebLostInSpace]

I can only comment on my experience buying and living on my first boat. I bought a boat already outfitted with all electric. My electric galley is probably my LEAST favorite aspect of this boat. But depending on your cruising habits, you may like it. I hate having to run the genny every time I want a hot meal at anchor. My electric stove is not on gimbals, and doesn't have any mechanism to lock a pan in place, so it is utterly useless underway. The previous owner lived on the dock, and used shore power for these things, so it made sense for him. Maybe it does make sense for you as well, but please do think about cooking at anchor and underway if you plan to spend much time cruising away from docks.

That all to one side, the electric galley I have has a pretty sweet oven setup. It is a dometic brand I think, but sitting at the bar right now I couldn't tell you for certain. It is primarily a microwave. But it has heating coils in the top to use as a grill/toaster oven, and a fan to run to "convection bake." It works great. Because I don't like to run the generator all night, I tend to make big batches of food. Then I can use the microwave to re-heat leftovers. The convection oven feature handles cookies/brownies, pot pies, whatever. It takes a little playing to get the cook times right, but after some experience I have a decent handle on it. I cook longer at a slightly lower temperature than any given recipe calls for, and that seems to work out great. The grill feature is lovely for homemade pizzas, which are a particular favorite of mine. Sure they're not as good as the real deal, but they're tasty and quick, which counts for a lot with me.

To directly answer your original question, I would say the marginal value of the microwave is much higher than I expected it to be when I bought the boat. In my land kitchen before I moved aboard, I rarely used the microwave. But now that I'm committed to this all-electric galley, I love being able to reheat leftovers and limit my generator time to a few minutes when I'm in a nice anchorage. It's also worth noting that doing the dishes aboard is a much bigger pain than in an apartment, so quick easy meals (often using the microwave) make that part of liveaboard life easier as well. The unit I have that combines microwave capability with oven and grill capabilities seems to work well, with little downside on the baking/grilling front. So if you are going electric, I would say getting a microwave hybrid is probably worthwhile.

Disclaimer: I wrote this comment while slightly buzzed, and without reading all previous replies.

[Simi 60]

Originally Posted by tamicatana

Have been wanting the Levante 2. A friend has the larger GN, and says it is as advertised.

https://gn-espace.com/product/levante-lpg-cooker/

$6 grand for a small oven?
Nope, I'll be spending a few grand getting the galley modified to take a standard sized household gas unit for $1000 before going down that path

[Mr B]

Originally Posted by Simi 60

Not here they aint
50 ah @ 24v is around $1300
500 ah @ 24 is around $13000
I daresay there are cheaper sources but....
My 880ah @ 24v AGM (8x220ah 12v) cost $3000

https://www.solarbatteriesonline.com...fepo4-battery/


So you'd be happy to run a HWS pulling 70 amps for a couple of hours?
What about an arc welder?

I suspect batteries will be short lived
And after pulling all those high amp loads lets not forget you need to get it back in - more hours of genset use - even more solar panels?

My complete system cost me $1724-00 in Victoria, 12 volt,
Every thing I have on board is 12 volt,

500 Watts of Mono Solar panels, $324-00 included 80 amp controller and 2 x 2 into one, connecters, 2 x 250 Watts =500 Watts, Free delivery,

400 Amphr AGM's 2 x 400 Amprs $600-00 Bought them yesterday, Free delivery,
2 x 160 Amphr batterys cost me $800-00 in Port Albert because my old ones died, And I had to take what I could get, Shake down cruise,
I got ripped off, But what can you do many miles from home, And couldnt wait for a week to get cheap batterys delivered,

Batterys Total cost, $1400-00 720 Amphrs at 12 volts,

500 Watts of solar Panels, $324-00

A mate gave me a 200 amphr AGM with no idea idea if it would even work,
Its now fully charged and works perfectly,

That brings my battery Amphrs up to a total of 920 Amphrs,

My Dometic Fridge freezer runs on Gas or 110 Volts, It sucks power chronically on Batterys, uses nothing on Gas,
I will run it on gas exclusively,
Swap and Go gas bottles are approx $27-00 for a refill and last 3 weeks approx, I have 3 onboard, I have a dedicated gas locker,
SWAP and GO are available OZ wide,

The new Thetford gas oven, Griller and Three burner gas top, Uses very little gas to run, It cost me $900-00,

The 12 volt 90 litre Freezer, At minus 18 Celcius, 6 amps, plus 4 amps thru the Invertor, The batterys dont even know its working, The batterys are on 13 volts from the panels only,
I am running the Freezer off the batterys in the Marina just to see how it runs full time on the batterys,
$490-00 Delivered, Its a Kenner, Chinese with a German compressor in it,


I took a 20 year old 200 Amphr Lead Acid Battery out of my RV, 8D,
I put it in my forward locker and connected it to my Rutland 913 Wind Genny, Its on 13 volts, I will use it to run my new 900 amp Windlass for the anchor, Its working load is 220 Kgs,
Just in case my new copilot cant drag a 40 Kg anchor up by hand,
As a complete separate system from every thing else,

Solar Panels in Victoria are near at give away prices,
The competition for solar panels is very fierce here in Vic, ,
And its all free delivery any where in OZ,

The Preston and Altona companys for solar panels have been operating for well over 10 years as I used them to cost the price of putting solar panels on the roof of my house well over ten years ago,

Cheers Brian,

[themediadoctor]

Propane ovens are awful for anything beyond warming things up. And electric stoves are awful for anything at all. Currently I have two liveaboard boats with all-electric galleys. Converting to propane stoves, in the meantime, using a Coleman camp stove. For baking, however, you can't beat the consistency of electric. Someone above mentioned they use their microwave way more than a stove. I have a full-size Gaggenau electric stove on my 63 Gulfstar and it's great, but use the microwave much more. My suggestion would be propane stove and a combo microwave/convection oven. There are some newer micro/convection/air fryers too. I have one of these on my 52' Vista and it's awesome: https://www.samsung.com/us/home-appl...E&gclsrc=aw.ds

[Linesledaft]

No oven. We use an Omnia oven when we want to bake anything. Have had good results even using alcohol as fuel.

[jalmberg]

We have a traditional Force 10 gimbaled propane stove/oven. We are full time blue water cruisers, and we like to eat normal food, so a oven/broiler is a basic kitchen tool, although it’s taken me a couple of years of practice to get good results with the oven. They are tricky to work with. I can’t imagine trying to roast a chicken in an electric oven unless you were pugged into a dock all the time, or had a generator. I guess that includes a lot of people these days, so it might work for you. Otherwise, gas is the only practical solution. Microwaves are for warming up butter. Not worth the space on a boat, IMHO.

[Mainstreet]

We spent a lot of time on the hook and in overnight passages so propane was a necessity. I prefer the force ten range; the three burner model. I found the oven, which we used a lot, to be slightly irregular in temp so I placed a 1/4” steel plate at the bottom as a heat distributor. It worked very well. I much prefer gas to electric because of its infinite variation of heat. I agree that the new induction hobs are capable of the same variation. I just don’t like running the genset while keeping a beef stew warming in the oven while on an overnight crossing.

[Mr B]

This is a Propane oven and grill, It cooks a roast leg of lamb to perfection,
Its great to grill fish on,

It cost me $78-00, Brand new,

[Sea Huddle]

We removed our Princess and replaced it with a toaster/convection oven and a two burner cooktop.

[timb7734]

Mr. B, that thing looks great!

[Woodland Hills]

Originally Posted by themediadoctor

Propane ovens are awful for anything beyond warming things up. And electric stoves are awful for anything at all. Currently I have two liveaboard boats with all-electric galleys. Converting to propane stoves, in the meantime, using a Coleman camp stove. For baking, however, you can't beat the consistency of electric. Someone above mentioned they use their microwave way more than a stove. I have a full-size Gaggenau electric stove on my 63 Gulfstar and it's great, but use the microwave much more. My suggestion would be propane stove and a combo microwave/convection oven. There are some newer micro/convection/air fryers too. I have one of these on my 52' Vista and it's awesome: https://www.samsung.com/us/home-appl...E&gclsrc=aw.ds

Hello? Induction? If you haven’t tried it you are living in the last century. A smooth easy to clean glass countertop that heats up and cools down as fast as gas and you can put a silicone mat under the pots and pans to stop them moving in a sea and cook right through it! How is this awful?

Propane is the absolute worst fuel to have: it puts out an amazing amount of humidity, it is the most awkward fuel to transport, the containers are hard to store and will rust and gouge your boat and it is not available at every marina.

With an all electric boat and a big inverter bank I can get fuel almost anywhere, pump it into my tanks and make electricity, and water whenever I want.

As far as ovens go, we have a convection/microwave and I hate it! It’s a good microwave and a lousy oven. All the heat comes from a big hair dryer blowing into the box: no radiant heat at all and no broiling. If you like your food browned, if you think the Maillard Reaction is essential then you should avoid convection ovens and especially “air-fryers”.

[Auspicious]

Originally Posted by fxykty

We are planning to remove our propane stove and oven and replacing with electric.

I simply can't imagine doing that if you sail your boat.

There was indeed a recent thread on this subject that devolved to me against the advocates. I won't bore you with the details as I'm sure you can find the thread. The short version:

Electric (of any ilk) is less safe than gas.

Induction adds failure modes, most of which can't be fixed at sea.

Induction adds single points of failure on most boats.

In addition, I don't find microwaves terribly useful. On my boat I modified cabinetry to add one. It lasted about a year before I decided the storage space was more useful.

I've never met anyone who said "I have too much counter space." Countertop appliances don't seem like a good choice on a boat.

If you're going to gimbal induction you have to have vertical space for a counterweight.

[newhaul]

Originally Posted by Auspicious

I simply can't imagine doing that if you sail your boat.

There was indeed a recent thread on this subject that devolved to me against the advocates. I won't bore you with the details as I'm sure you can find the thread. The short version:

Electric (of any ilk) is less safe than gas.

Induction adds failure modes, most of which can't be fixed at sea.

Induction adds single points of failure on most boats.

In addition, I don't find microwaves terribly useful. On my boat I modified cabinetry to add one. It lasted about a year before I decided the storage space was more useful.

I've never met anyone who said "I have too much counter space." Countertop appliances don't seem like a good choice on a boat.

If you're going to gimbal induction you have to have vertical space for a counterweight.

No to make to fine a point but you reasoning is just no applicable to him.
Counter argument
1) he wants it .
2) he is on an outreamer 55 so has plenty of room for battery and solar to support the use of said electric galley.
3) no need to gimbal . Large catamaran.

[Auspicious]

Originally Posted by newhaul

No to make to fine a point but you reasoning is just no applicable to him.
Counter argument
1) he wants it .
2) he is on an outreamer 55 so has plenty of room for battery and solar to support the use of said electric galley.
3) no need to gimbal . Large catamaran.

1) Sometimes people want silly things.
2) Battery is heavy and solar gets in the way.
3) Ha! If you sail offshore on a cat want you really want is a two axis gimbal. Cats in general don't have proper fiddles, the cookers are poorly designed, and the potholders aren't high enough. I just finished delivering a Saba 50 from Annapolis to St Thomas and cooking on the stove was a pain. The oven wasn't bad, but not gimballed.

Then there are the failure and safety implications.