To what extent is a gimballed stove necessary?

[CassidyNZ]

Originally Posted by mvmojo

If you're not long distance passage-making, you can pre-prepare enough food for a couple days and avoid the need for a gimbal stove. We used to make food ahead for a 3 day passage between Vz and the USVI and just re-heat in the microwave. But, if you're going to be underway 24/7 for more than a few days a gimbal stove is a necessity in my opinion.

Probably not a lot of 26ft boats around with a microwave . But I agree with gimbals on a passage-maker being essential.

[JPA Cate]

I've read through some of the many threads on various fuel sources for cooking. Realizing that this can be a controversial topic I would like some help understanding, specifically, to what extent a gimballed stove is necessary in the galley of a monohull cruiser. We do not cook while under way in our 26' boat except perhaps to make a cup of tea; our boat has an Origo cooktop that is not in gimbals. So I lack firsthand experience


Regardless of fuel choice, a gimballed stove uses more space and poses layout constraints that would not otherwise be present. There are some stoves, notably the Wallas diesel cooktops, that cannot be gimbal mounted due to the unavailability of a flexible exhaust connection.


We do not plan any extensive or lengthy passagemaking but would appreciate the wisdom of others in this area. I note that there have been some suggestions in other threads that it is wise to heave to under some conditions to allow meal preparation to be safe and practical and find this to be sensible advice as far as it goes.


Also wondering to what extent some of the very modest gimbal brackets for small campstoves solve enough of the problem to be useful as an alternative that uses less space, e.g. https://www.safire.uk.com/store/Stab...cket-p25243476

@ Jammer,

I think it really depends on whether or not you will be doing overnight or longer sails. We like to have at least one hot meal a day, sometimes 3.

We have some friends who circumnavigated with a fixed stove. Its gimbals were around 5" high, and all their pots were deep. What happens is that the liquids stay parallel to the bottom of the sea, so there is a need for sloshing room.

We have always had gimballed stoves. I like them. We made do with just 2 burners for years, but now we have 3. We used a butt belt for years: two pad eyes, and a wide belt, like a seat belt, to brace against, and also had a strong 1" s/s tubing rail to keep one off the stove. Now I have a U shaped galley, and I don't need a butt belt anymore. If it is secure where you cook, you can cook whatever you want to eat, although we tend to go for one pot meals when traveling, ourselves, sometimes two. Something no one has mentioned, but is a factor, is that one can bake underway, with a gimballed stove/oven, and the bread looks normal, not all tipped to one side.

You can save energy by making your coffee or tea once a day and then putting it in a thermos for successive cups. We don't. We make it fresh each time. If you have a bigger boat sometime, and want to range further afield, you may want a gimballed stove at that time, though as gamayun says, some people get by okay with a sea swing setup. If you're content with what you are doing now, stay with it. One works it out as one goes along.

Ann

[Chris Cringle]

On our boat we refer to what we call the "Chili-bean effect". The term stems from an incident decades ago aboard our Cal 25 crossing the Santa Barbara Channel from Ventura to Santa Cruz Island. We had a big pot of Chili con carne heating on the ungimbled alcohol stove when we suddenly hit the very rough water of the infamous "Windy Lane". The little sloop did her best gymnastic impression but the pot of chili stated put on the stove as if it were magnetic. Half an hour later we passed out of the "Lane" into calmer water. Looking down the companionway I saw the pot, safely in place. I said to my wife, "Wow! The chili beans made it through the Lane!" At that moment we hit one more wave and the pot capsized, flinging it's contents all over the saloon. Two lessons: 1. When things are going well, keep your mouth shut. And 2. Get a gimbled stove. Even if you are only going to heat rather than "cook".

[RaymondR]

On a mono you definitely need a gimballed stove if you have somewhere to put one.

Mine serves as a level place to put things like bowls whilst pouring cereal and milk or making a salad and I have a piece of light alloy plate I put over the grating beside the main burner to put smaller items like coffee cups, plungers, glasses, etc which I need to stay upright instead of having them slide around on bench tops.

[trifan]

The amount of gimbal required will depend upon whether you are sailing a bobber or a multihull. ;-)

[stormalong]

Originally Posted by CassidyNZ

In all the years of sailing/voyaging, we have always had a gimballed stove with decent pot clamps and a “bum harness” that makes it possible to safely stand not only at the stove but generally in the galley and allows both hands free to do stuff.

Not once, not ever, did we have anything fly off the stove, spill, splash onto the cook. But more than once, after neglecting to use the harness, a person has been flung across the cabin, sometimes with the pot, while tending a pot of hot something using both hands.

If one wants to tend boiling pots with one hand while holding on with the other, good luck to you. But not on my boat. As far as I’m concerned, the use of the galley harness while working at the stove in any sailing conditions other than a gentle downwind meander, is mandatory. As is the rule to never fill any device used on the stove (or the galley sinks ) to more than 50%.

YMMV

To the OP, if you’re not sailing on trips long enough to need a cooked meal, gimbals are not necessary. Thermos flasks do the trick for hot drinks on shorter trips and to install gimbals just because the water for tea “has to be boiled” - well, what can I say?

I used to have one of those straps. Many years ago there was a story about someone that was strapped in getting very badly burned. Hospitalization and skin grafts ensued. That strap got cut up and thrown away. YMMV but I was not going to accept that risk. My boat is stable enough in all but the worst weather to be able to stand and use both hands for cooking. If conditions are too rough to stand at the stove without holding on they are too rough to be cooking.

PS. Someone on the forum has a closing message something like: "Most people learn from there mistakes. I like to learn from other people's mistakes." I am in that camp. Pouring boiling water over one's lower half only has to happen once to ruin a life.

[Dave22q]

It all depends on what and where you cook. On a 26 on the hook I doubt if you will roll enough to need gimbals. Most of the time a mostly full pot will stay in place on slow rolls under 5 degrees. It will be obvious when it is too rough to cook. I doubt you will find the extra space and expense worth it when propane bottle cook tops run under $50.

[CarinaPDX]

A 26' boat that is not going to be doing passages doesn't need a gimballed stove, and given the loss of precious space for swinging room I would argue it would be a mistake. Buy a wide-mouth thermos or two and pre-cook meals before sailing. I have a Mellita-like coffee funnel that fits into a narrow-mouth thermos so I can make coffee directly into the thermos, which is good for the night if needed. And some cooking can be done on a non-gimballed stove in all but the worst conditions.

For the rest of us mono-hull cruisers doing passages a gimballed stove is invaluable. (Also, down the middle of my saloon table is a gimballed cup/glass holder which is also highly valued.) My stove has rails on it, which are useful, but I never used the pot holders. Most of my cooking is done in small pots that sit down a bit in the burner cut-outs and stay put. With the gimbal pots don't move around much anyway. My galley is narrow enough that there is no room to fall so the belt I installed didn't get used and I gave it away. I did mount a removable board across the front of the stove which I can lean (or fall) against while underway; in port the gimbal is locked and the board removed. I have cooked meals in some pretty horrendous conditions and can't imagine pulling it off without the gimbals. YMMV

Greg

[Jammer]

Thank you all for the replies.


Many of you have noted that our present vessel is 26' and has both limited galley space and limited passagemaking ability. We're planning ahead for a larger vessel in several years and the OP related to that. Given the cold weather areas where we cruise I was looking closely at diesel stoves.



Among the gating items we must complete before moving to a larger vessel are some visits to Lake of the Woods and some of its 14,632 islands, which can only be reached by trailer.

[Martkimwat]

I am in the process of changing the cooking arrangements on my 26 foot Parker 27. I used to have a gimballed two burner hob with grill but wanted to have an oven as well. All the available setups were either two deep or way too expensive (Eno stoves at over £1000) so I had a rethink and realised that most of the time whilst under way, I only want to heat water for a drink or soup, the oven is for a proper meal, at anchor, downwind or hove too, so I have fitted a fixed Smev oven, 11 inches deep with integral grill and a gimballed two burner hob above it. I have actually managed to do it with only losing 7" inches from the storage below the cooker because the hob only takes up 3.5" inches as against 7' inches for the hob and grill. the swinging space is slightly less as well because the new hob is narrower as well as shallower. by moving the cutlery drawer over to beneath the dining table I have still got 13" for cookware stowage. even if I want to cook an meal in the oven whilst heeled, it is not such a big thing as it will usually be a solid item (pie, bread etc). casseroles will be cooked in a deep, lidded casserole pan.

[Fore and Aft]

Jammer we don't have gimbals on our stove. I am realistic enough to realise we will only ever day sail and if it gets to the point where we need gimbals cooking then none of us are going to feel like eating anyway.
On my old mans trawler he had a diesel stove that was not gimballed. He had high fiddles with pot holders and I don't remember anything falling over. We always had hot drinks regardless of the weather.

Cheers

[CassidyNZ]

Originally Posted by stormalong

Many years ago there was a story about someone that was strapped in getting very badly burned. Hospitalization and skin grafts ensued.

Yes in the Information Age in which we live there is always at least one report available regarding every event in the history of human endeavour, positive or negative, imaginable. But the old saying “One swallow does not a summer make” comes to mind.

There is a negative report available to cover every single tiny thing that we do in our lives. I try not to let them define me.

[mitiempo]

Originally Posted by Jammer

There are some stoves, notably the Wallas diesel cooktops, that cannot be gimbal mounted due to the unavailability of a flexible exhaust connection.

Wallas does make a gimballed diesel stovetop. However it does not have the blower lid for heat as lifting the lid would unbalance it.

[Jammer]

Originally Posted by mitiempo

Wallas does make a gimballed diesel stovetop. However it does not have the blower lid for heat as lifting the lid would unbalance it.

Thanks. I thought I read somewhere that the stainless steel exhaust line couldn't tolerate repeated flexing. I must have been mistaken.

[stormalong]

Originally Posted by CassidyNZ

Yes in the Information Age in which we live there is always at least one report available regarding every event in the history of human endeavour, positive or negative, imaginable. But the old saying “One swallow does not a summer make” comes to mind.

There is a negative report available to cover every single tiny thing that we do in our lives. I try not to let them define me.

It does not define me it educates me.