Refurbish stove or replace it?

[Bigjim]

I just bought a 1978 Columbia 10.7. It has a Galley Maid Superheat stove with oven but it has no fuel lines and obviously was decommissioned.

Should I try to refurbish the stove? Or just replace it? We want to live aboard and cook during the summer and I was looking forward to having a full galley.

Part of this discussion is what type of fuel should we consider:

• Propane is common but potentially dangerous in a boat
• Kerosene is also easy to obtain but many complain about the odor and residue left behind.
• I have no experience with Alcohol or diesel devices.
• Any other fuels to consider?

[Lepke]

I think diesel is the best way to go in the winter in cold climates and I have a diesel stove but try to stay in cool weather. The stove is great in winter and cool summers and you can add a coil that will heat your hot water tank. But diesel stoves take about 30 minutes to warm up and the metal retains heat after shutdown. In the summer when I get caught in hot days, the stove creates too much heat so I use induction hot plates run by my inverter or generator.

Some people use electric stoves, but then you need to run a generator every time you cook away from the dock. I only use propane outside the hull in my bbq. My experience with alcohol stoves is from a long time ago and I think they are worthless. The fumes are released in the cabin. And like propane, water vapor is a byproduct.

[_andi_]

Had a kerosene stove for two years, no problem with odor or residue. Mostly ran it on bbq lighter fluid which is (over here, your experience may vary) widely available and quite clean kerosene. The flipside is that it needs cleaning pretty soon if stuff doesn't go perfect.

Nigel Calder writes that fuel quality is a big issue in some places.

To decide whether to keep the old stove I'd start with figuring out whats wrong with it.