Cooking on a fixed stove underway?

[SassySailor]

Hi everyone,

I'm looking closely at a Cape Dory 28' for a long term cruising boat. I did want something with a gimbaled stove and oven which this doesn't seem to have space for, but it just occurred to me that cooking on a fixed stove must be awful underway, am I right? What keeps the pan on the burner?

If I plan to cruise should I definitely look for something that has the space for a gimbaled stove/oven over a fixed option?

Thanks!

[delmarrey]

It's preferred but not necessary. I find that I do VERY little cooking underway. Maybe heat up some water for drinks but finger food seems to be most peoples choice, that I've experienced, while underway, on small vessels under 40'.

And most marine stoves have pan guards.

[cal40john]

You get pot holders (pieces of bent metal with a clamp screw) that you attach to the fiddles on your stove.

Fisheries Supply - Marine Supplies Since 1928

My wife was cook on a delivery trip we were crew on SF to Seattle on a 54 footer with no gimballed stove. She managed but having to deal with the pot holders was an added thing to deal with.

[TeddyDiver]

I wouldn't use any stowe, gimballed or not, without pot holders. Without gimbals deeper pots 1/3rd filled should work most days. For fixed owen make a custom inside gimbal. Takes some space but makes the owen most usefull when the seas build up..

[JPA Cate]

Originally Posted by TeddyDiver

I wouldn't use any stowe, gimballed or not, without pot holders. Without gimbals deeper pots 1/3rd filled should work most days. For fixed owen make a custom inside gimbal. Takes some space but makes the owen most usefull when the seas build up..

We took a 30 ft. S & S to Hawaii from San FRancisco and back. We did not bake under way. We did have a gimballed stove. BUT we have friends with a 34 footer who have non-gimballed cooking, and who have circumnavigated. The essential issue is to not overfill the pot--and personally, I think that pressure cookers, used without the pressure weight are the way to go, because they seal, so that if the pot gets dumped, not too much happens! normally, these pots are heavy and want to stay on the burners. I agree pot holders are good.

You can "bake" bread in the pressure cooker without the gasket, too.


Lookit, the liquids shoot all over the place, if allowed to, but the deep pot, low liquid method will see you through.

At anchor, there are other possibilities......

Fair winds, mate,

[boatman61]

I've done a few trips where all I've had is a 2 burner camping stove on the worktop... if the stove if secured its no big deal..
Just sit/stand there holding the pot till the meals cooked... just don't cook 3hr meals..

[SassySailor]

Thanks for the info everyone! I guess it makes sense to use the pot holders, although I think I would still prefer a gimbaled system.

[skipmac]

If I planned to use a boat for passages more than a few days I would not go without a gimbaled stove. Sandwiches, cheese, crackers and such may get you by for a couple of days but sooner or later you are going to want some real food.

A problem I found with non gimbaled stoves that no one has mentioned is trying to cook something while the boat is heeled over. The food or liquid in the pot will of course sit in the low side of the pot while the flames from the burner will go up and heat the high side of the pot. So you end up burning whatever sits in the high side while the stuff in the low side is raw. Unless of course you follow the Boatman technique and stand there holding the pot until the food is done.

[gjordan]

Most boats your size dont have an oven(I said most, not all) but a 2 burner counter top stove that is gimbaled is very workable. My first 2 cruising boats had 2 burner kerosene,gimbaled stoves, and they got me hot food for about 13 thousand miles. Even with gimbals, you will need pot holders. My first boat (26 foot) we carried a folding oven and only used it once or twice in 2 years full time cruising. The wife did do bread and cakes in the pressure cooker. Another possibility is to have a one burner seaswing stove that is used on any passage. It also makes a good backup in case you have any trouble with your main stove. Hot food is very important on a passage, and the rougher the passage, the more important the hot food is. Just my 2 cents worth. _____Grant.

[triciarob]

I have a Taylors o41 cooker, not gimballed and mounted athwartships. My boat is a Sadler 25 (25ft) so there wasn't really the room to gimbal the stove as it is pretty big - two burners, a griddle/hotplate over the grill and an oven. I've not had any problems with spillages as, when the boat rolls, any hot stuff goes towards the side not over the front. I use deep pots and a pressure cooker, and pot clamps. I've only had one problem on our first off shore passage I tried to fry eggs on the griddle. When the boat rolled the eggs slid right off, down the side of the cooker and onto the cabin sole

[44'cruisingcat]

We have a non-gimballed stove, cook underway whenever we want. No problem.

[El Pinguino]

I have a gimbaled stove but keep it fixed.

At sea I adjust it for the average angle of heel at the time and then lock the gimbales again.

Unless conditions are very settled the frying pan doesn't come out at sea. Offshore most cooking is done in an ancient Prestige 75 pressure cooker... either in p/c mode or just opened topped.

Mind you I don't do rough and bouncy,

El Ping,
Gentleman Sailor

[El Pinguino]

Originally Posted by SassySailor

What keeps the pan on the burner?

Pan guards only do so much.... high tension heat resistant bungee cord over the top of your pans really keeps things secure.

When I had my Vertue ( 25 foot) I had a fixed metho stove... didn't starve...

[CarinaPDX]

As always there is quite a range of opinions and experiences. Personally I have always cooked hot dinners on ocean crossings - it is important to keep the energy up and it is a highlight of the day. I have a Taylors 030 gimballed kerosene stove; it came with pot clamps but I have never used them, even in some pretty bouncy conditions. The gimballing was sufficiently stable for cooking. YMMV. Without gimbals I would use deep pots and clamp them in place. I have baked a fair amount of bread underway on the night watch, so the oven was useful, but there are stove top solutions that work - the oven is optional. Edit: I have never had a pressure cooker but believe that is a good item in lieu of oven and/or gimball.

Greg

[Amapola]

We have a fixed stove and it's never been a problem because we don't cook when it's rough out. There's always something aboard that we can quickly fix on the run.