Suggestions for new propane range?

[seattle sailor]

We have a 42' Wauquiez that we plan to take for an extended trip soon. the 20+ year old range just died...any suggestions on a dependable replacement? There are lots of brands out there, but I'd like one that works well and practical for ocean sailing. Thanks!

[AnchorageGuy]

We have been extremely happy with our Force Ten for a lot of years and they have made improvements over our older model.

[seattle sailor]

Thanks Chuck, do you have a 2,3 or 4 burner model? Is your convection? My home range has convection which cooks fast, but tends to dry things out, so I rarely use it,and wouldn't want to get locked in to only convection.

[AnchorageGuy]

It is 3 burner and no broiler. They take up a lot of space in the oven. I have not seen a boat oven other than household types on power boats that have convection ovens.

I have the 3 burner Force 10, with the broiler. The broiler takes next to NO room inside the oven, and is a very worthwhile addition.

Overall very happy with the unit and it has been installed and used daily for 4 years.

[Cheechako]

I would think yours could be repaired...? For many years boats had rv ranges in them & they work great. Some are avail stainless and some are not. MagicChef was one brand I believe. There is something to be said for ceramic vs stainless, stainless being so hard to clean. Google RV ...

[jackdale]

I sail a lot of different boats. I am a fan of Force 10 stoves, primarily because the oven door slides under the the unit. This makes for a better (not perfect) balance when the door is open and the lasagne has less of a tendency to slide out on to the galley floor. They are also easy to clean.

Force 10 BBQs, on the other hand, are not among my favourites.

Jack

[Boracay]

I just had a gas stove installed in Boracay. Cost almost two boat bucks just to put it in with me doing most of the work.

The stove did not work right and the installer (thanks Matt) fixed it in a few moments.

My suggestions (1) :- Check that spare parts are available. I went with a cheap stove on the basis that when it stops working I'll replace it, but that's not really an option with the more expensive units.
(2) :- If you can find someone who spends their time fixing and/or installing marine stoves have a chat. I did get the impression that there was no big difference between the brands, but some may be better than others.

[forsailbyowner]

We purchase a Hillerange princess, and although the customer service is great I

[forsailbyowner]

finishing up , am not real happy with quality. Lot of enameled ferrous where Id rather have seen stainless, and knobs have been breaking. Very hard to clean and oven takes excessive time to light , pita.

[svcattales]

We've had Force 10 stoves on 2 different boats for the last 10 years. The Admiral didn't like either one because the oven wouldn't hold a given temp. Biscuits and more important brownies burned on the bottom and often came out like meteorites.

We just bought a Hillerange Princess as a replacement and like it much better. The oven has a thermostat to hold a certain temperature. It has a pilot light which allows the oven burner to cycle on and off to maintain temp at desired level. Also, the burner extends the length of the oven rather than using a single stove-top burner in the middle like the Force 10 used. The brownies are turning out much better.

Check the Practical Sailor reviews. The last one I saw rated Princess on top. I think the quality is better overall and the porcelain oven is easier to clean than stainless.

[Jmolan]

We had good luck with a SS 3 burner unit made by WedgeWood. I know it is not a common marine brand. It came with the boat, and I just replaced it (the first one lasted 28 years) It has one larger burner and two smaller ones. No oven, by choice here. The controls are on top, and the whole shebang comes with an optional SS cover. (Now I see how heavy the cover is I wanted to send it back, but not on my wifes life) A stove is one place I do not mind shopping outside the marine lines. But we do not have to deal with heeling or much motion as it is...:-)

Wedgewood Cooktop - 3 Burner Wedgewood Cooktop

[forsailbyowner]

Ive never been a fan of practical sailor. When we shopped many suppliers of liverafts we picked viking, it is the favorite of coast guard, police departments, military, and many cruise lines. Practical sailor rated them low because they had a rubber smell? Anyway getting back to stoves, I feel now I would have been better off getting the conversion kit to convert our old shipmate to propane for the same cost. Much better construction, after all looked like new after thirty years. Theres no way this one will be around after thirty years.

[Jentine]

I replaced a two year old Force 10 with a Tasco. The admiral loves the Tasco. It maintains temperature at the set level, has an external thermometer, starts the oven and top burners with piezo spark all attributes unavailable on Force 10.
The choices for a new range that we considered were Tasco, Force 10 and Hillerange. Force 10 could not be upgraded should new gadgets become available and we couldn't upgrade the one we had. Well, if they don't think enough of their customers to make their products improvable, they don't need me.
As for the Hillerange, we had one on a former boat and, in my opinion it is far superior to Force 10. The service was exemplary but they couldn't solve the problem we had. They even went as far as to change the oven burner, top burners and all controls but the problem persisted.....the oven burner burned inside the burner, not outside the jets.
Hence, the Tasco won out.

Jim

[Brent Swain]

Harbor Freight has a made in Indian two burner propane stove with a grill oven for $50 US. It is all Indian stainless , non magnetic , unlike inferior magnetic stainless from other Asian countries. The burners are bronze , simple and easy to clean. They probably make other models with ovens etc. . It is the best cookstove I've seen by far. I had to change some of the steel bolts for stainless, but the rest is exellent stainless. They only ship in the continenental US so I had to buy it from a yank.
Check it out and let us know how you make out. It would be great to find the source in India.
Brent