Force 10 propane stove

[delmarrey]

I bought a F10 3-burner last year. Right off the igniter would not work. I email the office and got no reply so I called them on the phone and did get a friendly voice but was no help with the problem other then using a Voltmeter.

I changed the battery which didn't make any difference. I ended up taking the battery mount out when I discovered that even though the cap was screwed on all the way the battery wasn't making contact while mounted in the L-bracket, but would while out of the L-bracket. I ended up cutting away part of the cap for the mount and it works fine now.

The other thing that seemed strange was when using the over the inside warps out of flat but does go back after it cools.

Don't know about the old ones but this one had a lot of sharp edges, especially around the burner cover, which was easy to lift off and take a small file to. It looks to be lazar cut w/o de-burring.

I do like the pot holders once I got use to them. And I especially like the large burner in the middle and ease of cleaning. The oven door is a bit of a pain until you get use to it but it's nice that it folds mostly under the unite.

And I too put something in the over if I have a large pot on the burner. Otherwise I just keep it locked in place (no cantering) while out sailing/not in use.

[osirissail]

Originally Posted by neophytecruiser

I have found the oven/broiler control valve on our older 3-burner Gourmet Galley Range (model #62351) stopped working (it could no longer be turned). Contacting Force 10 I was informed this was the one part they no longer support and the only option was purchasing a new stove (model #63351). Needless to say, this was a disappointing unexpected expense. Since the boat is currently in Mexico, it also adds some logistical challenges.

This is not uncommon in the cruising/boaters world and the solution is to find a used boat parts store like "Sailorman" in Ft Lauderdale and other places in the world. Then purchase the part there or you purchase an old junked version of the unit and scavenge the part.
- - Or specifically in this case, take the oven control valve apart and lubricate it.

[delmarrey]

Originally Posted by osirissail

- - Or specifically in this case, take the oven control valve apart and lubricate it.

Or retrofit to another valve manufacturer.

[Andrew Troup]

I've sailed a few thousand miles with one and was disappointed. The best thing about them is the disappearing door, though - and if that does if for you, the other things I didn't like can be remedied. I can't see any realistic way to retrofit other ovens with the Force 10-style door.

Workmanship was a bit substandard: we had to refit the hinge brackets because the rivets had not been set properly (we re-engineered the attachment at the same time, IIRC - rivets don't quite cut it)

The pot clamps (swinging from a single pivot) are inadequate for heavy pots in rough weather, but OK otherwise.

The internal siderail assemblies on which the racks slide, fabricated from stainless steel, warped permanently with heat to the point that I wasted a day in Fiordland when I could have been climbing a mountain, stripping these out and finding the only engineer's vice for hundreds of miles around. (They're heavy gauge bar, which is good unless you're trying to reshape them)

Self-lighting was rather patchy - unreliable.

Cleaning around the external panels in the nooks and crannies not exposed to view is unpleasant, and borderline dangerous, because of sharp projections and not very tidy or well-detailed / deburred sheetmetal design and execution.

[bobconnie]

Our first stove was a coleman camp stove, we repalced it with a diesel stove! Loved it! used it for about 5 yrs in Alaska, when we went back to the south pacific, we replaced it with a force 10 propane, never really liked it! we finaly got an apt size propane stove and gimbled it !! worked better then any stove we ever had !! Our new to us boat has a older shipmate propane un gimbled stove, it works well but we have yet to cook on it in heavy weather !! It has enough pot hooks and such so should be alright !!( and we have our old standby a one burner swivel stove which will work always no matter how rough it gets !!! If ya like soup or stew it's great !! LOL)