Induction stoves for boats

[Dockhead]

It occurs to me that on a boat with an existing gas stove, an induction cooktop -- even a four-burner one -- could be built into a counter somewhere, with no loss of counterspace. Just cover it when you're using the gas stove, and cover the top of the gas stove when you're using the induction cooktop.

Has anyone tried this?

[K_V_B]

GN Espace has a solution for electric cooking on board as well:

Yacht Galley Ovens, Hobs & Microwaves | GN Espace

Basically a gimballed frame, that you can then fit out with a cooker, an oven etc...

[ranger58sb]

Originally Posted by Dockhead

It occurs to me that on a boat with an existing gas stove, an induction cooktop -- even a four-burner one -- could be built into a counter somewhere, with no loss of counterspace. Just cover it when you're using the gas stove, and cover the top of the gas stove when you're using the induction cooktop.

Has anyone tried this?

Haven't, exactly, but...

When we had an alcohol/electric stove, it included a top piece that essentially covered the whole thing and turned it into a countertop. And it's quite common to have a sink insert (sometimes a cutting board?) that turns that into countertop space.

Our current ceramic electric cooktop is inset into the Corian countertop, so aside from the control knobs, that space is usable as countertop stpace when the heat's not on. IOW, we don't usually cover it... although that doesn't mean we bang stuff around on it, either. Not as safe (from burns) as an induction cooktop could be, but it works well enough... so could be even better if induction.

-Chris

[montigre]

Originally Posted by K_V_B

GN Espace has a solution for electric cooking on board as well:

Yacht Galley Ovens, Hobs & Microwaves | GN Espace

Basically a gimballed frame, that you can then fit out with a cooker, an oven etc...

This could work really well since they offer semi-customization along with drop-in convenience. A person would not be limited to a certain brand or size of appliance.

[Pete7]

Originally Posted by noelex 77

A induction oven would not serve as a replacement for a propane stove on our non generator equipped boat, but a single induction hotplate may be usable occasionally to reduce propane use. So we plan to purchase a portable unit. Any recommendations? Is it practical to use this attached to the top of the gimballed oven (obviously when propane is not in use) or is the extra height/weight a problem?

How about a slow cooker?

With some spare time at the weekend I thought I would have a play with this. The slow cooker holds about 2 litres and requires 120w, about 10 amps give or take. At mid day with lots of sunshine I plugged it into the inverter, filled it half full of cold water and left it to get on with it. Whilst warming up the battery monitored fluctuated between -7 amps and +3 amps. I put this down to the occasion cloud and the MPPT adjusting to take into account the load.

After half an hour a finger test showed the the water to be too hot to hold a finger in. Since a hot bath is 37'c then the temperature was probably 50'c. After another 10 minutes the battery monitor changed and showed the slow cooker was now alternating on and off maintaining the temperature. The electrical draw was switching from +3 amps to -3 amps equally. A second finger in the pot test proved to be too hot so probably 60'c. Also with the lid removed steam was coming from the pot with an air temperature of 25'c. Since the outside of the cooker was only lukewarm most of the energy used was being retained inside the cooker. 180w of solar and 220AH battery bank proved that the cooker could be run without major impact on the house bank.

Haven't worked out the mounting yet, but if the lid of the chart table seat had a round hole 1" bigger than the diameter of the cooker, a set of door wedges would keep it securely in place.

Pete

[Fuss]

Originally Posted by Dockhead

It occurs to me that on a boat with an existing gas stove, an induction cooktop -- even a four-burner one -- could be built into a counter somewhere, with no loss of counterspace. Just cover it when you're using the gas stove, and cover the top of the gas stove when you're using the induction cooktop.

Has anyone tried this?

So what did we learn from these 90 Posts.

Posters with gas will stay with gas.
Posters with induction are very content.
Posters with gimbals will stay with gimbals
Round the world sailors who do not have gimbals are very content.
Posters who said how great the gimballed induction stove is, will not change to this solution.
There was nothing new in this tread that has not been posted before and could have been found by doing a simple search.

[Zven]

Originally Posted by msponer

I don't know this for sure, but I suspect some bugs are attracted to either the smell of propane or the CO2 that burning it produces

Mosquitoes are attracted to CO2.
That's how they locate humans, and other prey. Well at least it's one if their ways.
So that's one more argument against gas, for anyone who needed one.

I'd also like to add, in the tropics it can be a battle to keep the boat cool... Especially if you have a power boat or a catamaran with big beautiful windows. I'd definitely wish to have the most energy-efficient cooking possible, if sailing in the hotter regions.

[leftbrainstuff]

Originally Posted by Auspicious

The topic is Induction stoves for boats. If you are going to talk about cookers on boats you have to address gimbals.



I strongly disagree with you. Gimbals are very important. Gimbals add a lot. I'm a delivery skipper and have sailed a LOT of boats. I have more comparisons than most people have the opportunity to make.

By the time conditions become extreme enough for a well-gimbaled cooker to be hitting the stops most people aren't doing a lot of cooking. By that time on a fixed cooktop pot restraints are not effective at all. Well before those sort of conditions I have had to quite literally tie pots and pans in place. You better have dual loop handles on your cookware.

Gas and gimbals are not out.

Induction is clearly more efficient than conventional electric. From an energy generation perspective the comparison with gas is dependent on fuel costs, generator fuel consumption, battery bank capacity, solar, and inverter efficiency.

A fixed cooktop may be fine for dock queens and coastal cruisers who hunker down and wait for placid weather windows. They are certainly going to lead to a lot of compromises on any reasonable offshore passage.

I'm not aware of any induction cooktops that are gimballed. To ignore that is short sighted and a disservice to others looking for information. Any given person may choose a fixed cooktop anyway, but I would hope they do so with their eyes open.

I have seen portable induction cookers attached to the top of a conventional propane cooker. Additional weight was required in the oven to balance the extra weight of the portables and the height of the cookware.

I can give you two examples just from the last few months.

I took a Valiant 42 from Annapolis to St Thomas. Conventional propane cooker in gimbals. Moderately bumpy passage. No problem pumping out three meals a day and innumerable pots of coffee and tea.

I sailed a Lagoon 420 catamaran from St. Thomas to Hampton VA. Fixed propane cooker. Similar to somewhat more benign conditions as the other passage. Even with doubled up pot holders (restraints) keeping food in the pots and pots on the stove was a chore. We cooked pretty much everything in a pressure cooker (which we had to recover from the floor a few times) and hot drinks (coffee/tea/cocoa) required monitoring which had an impact on watchstanding.

Regardless of energy technology a fixed cooktop will have a big impact on meal planning and contingency planning. Any electrical cooker will require contingency planning; I see lots of generator failures. Then what?

Induction has some real attractions. Lack of gimbals and energy consumption are not among them. Can those things be managed by accepting limitations and making compromises? Sure.

For the offshore sailor you simply cannot best a gimballed cooker and for now that is a major con for induction.

Gimbals matter.

+1

My mother has had to deal with an induction cooktop for nearly 20 years on land. She regrets it. Compared to gas it offers little improvement IMHO.

Our 5 gallon gas bottles last 4+ months each. We live aboard and cook daily and a lot. Hard to justify moving from gas.

We also have removed all AC electrical loads. Lots of inefficiencies with AC to DC and DC to DC conversions. We halved our daily electrical consumption. With a solar upgrade we now hardly ever need to run our generator. Our 10 yr old Trojans are still going strong.

Those cat owners seem to love them though.

[ranger58sb]

Originally Posted by leftbrainstuff

My mother has had to deal with an induction cooktop for nearly 20 years on land.

Didn't know they've been around that long...

-Chris

[Lodesman]

Originally Posted by ranger42c

Didn't know they've been around that long...

-Chris

That's because you live in the States...

[Lodesman]

Originally Posted by leftbrainstuff

+1

My mother has had to deal with an induction cooktop for nearly 20 years on land. She regrets it. Compared to gas it offers little improvement IMHO.

Please expand on what it is, she has to regret?

[ranger58sb]

Originally Posted by Lodesman

That's because you live in the States...

There's that.

But when we lived in the UK or Germany... I didn't notice "induction" at the time. Maybe too long ago, though...

-Chris

[StuM]

Originally Posted by ranger42c

Didn't know they've been around that long...

-Chris

Demonstrated at the World Fair in 1933.

Commercialised by Westinghouse in the '70s. But for some reason, production/sale in the US came to an almost complete stop soon after while continuing in Europe and Asia.

[Pelagic]

Originally Posted by Fuss

So what did we learn from these 90 Posts.

Posters with gas will stay with gas.
Posters with induction are very content.
Posters with gimbals will stay with gimbals
Round the world sailors who do not have gimbals are very content.
Posters who said how great the gimballed induction stove is, will not change to this solution.
There was nothing new in this tread that has not been posted before and could have been found by doing a simple search.

LoL...
if we had not worked this thru at our limited capacities we would have missed your euridite summary...
So what's the Fuss...? [emoji1]

[ranger58sb]

Originally Posted by StuM

Demonstrated at the World Fair in 1933.

Commercialised by Westinghouse in the '70s. But for some reason, production/sale in the US came to an almost complete stop soon after while continuing in Europe and Asia.

Interesting, thanks for the info. Westinghouse was just up the road from us here where we are for decades...

-Chris