Diesel Stove/Oven for Baking (Breads in Particular)

[hamburking]

I'm a big fan of the ORIGO (aka CookMate) low pressure alcohol stoves. They are excellent. I'm looking forward to the day when I can get the model with oven. I have no experience with the oven version, but have high hopes.

The fuel is methyl hydrate. It does not need to be "stove fuel" or even filtered or even very pure. Purchased in bulk, meth is pretty cheap compared to any other fuel. As for availability, it is almost always available in any painting supply store...so pretty much anywhere. The trick is usually to get it for a good price. For example, at my local "canadian tire" store, a 1l bottle costs about the same as a 4l jug. A 10l jug at "walmart" costs only a bit more.

In addition, methyl hydrate has many other uses on board...like for first aid, paint thinner, and cleaning engine parts. Just don't drink it!

MARINE AIR Origo 6000 Oven With Stove | West Marine

http://www2.dometic.com/667f2813-708...2e71cd66.fodoc

Living with an Origo 6000 Alcohol Range

An idiot’s guide to Origo Spirit stoves? - Page 5

[redhead]

I have an Atlantic in the forward cabin. Heat and cooking and hot water. We have another Dickinson in the aft quarters just for heat. I don't know what the others have experienced but I'm having a love affair with my Atlantic.

"Dirty" - if your flame is burning correctly and there is enough airflow there should be little to no sooting. Now the weather is warming up I turn mine on and off regularly (it was on continuously for months) and there is no soot in the fire chamber. There is no smell of diesel - I've checked with visitors in case I'm inured to it.

Cooking on the stovetop is easy. It's very hot right over the flame area and then cooler the further away you move the pot. I have my "sear" area and my "simmer" area. I am not quite sure about baking. The oven thermometer reads 350F but all oven work takes longer than my old stove on land. No other complaints.

If you are going to circumnavigate via the usual route I wouldn't recommend this stove simply because you won't need the heat it puts out. If you're staying in higher latitudes - by all means get one. And Dickinson customer support is excellent.

[TrentePieds]

Any stove that will get to 350ºF for the the time the bread takes to cook will do the job. The type of fuel is totally immaterial as far as the bread is concerned.

The "Shipmate" Propane stove is more than sufficient. The trick lies in having a "heat sink". Fancy jargon to the contrary, a "heat sink" is nothing more than a cast iron pot, sometimes known as a "dutch oven" - "dutch being the vernacular in some parts of the world for something that isn't really what the label would lead you to suppose :-)

Make your sponge (using the pot for a bowl) in the in the usual way using your favourite recipe. Let it "prove" in the pot in the usual way. Beat it down, heat the oven and pop in your pot, leave for the time appropriate for the size of sponge and, bingo, there you have it - delicious bread.

Cook-time depends on the volume of sponge and on it's dimensions within the pot. Till you determine the cook-time empirically, test with a skewer the way you would for a cake. The bread won't collapse :-) When the skewer comes out clean, the bread is cooked. There is a balance to be struck twixt a long cooking time/low temperature combo and short cooking time/high temperature combo in order to get the bread cooked all the way through while reaching just the desired colour of crust. Experiment till you get it right, being more concerned about "done-ness" than about colour.

Unless you have a LARGE vessel and intend to go where the coconuts don't grow, you'll be better of with the propane fueled "Shipmate" than with a diesel fueled Dickinson - sez I living next the the Dickinson factory :-)

Propane is never a problem. If you don't already know the specifications for a SAFE installation, just ask.

TrentePieds

[Lepke]

As a former fisherman I swear by diesel stoves. In a short time you learn how to use the hotter and colder places. They do require about a 30 minute warm up. Otherwise you risk cracking the cast iron top. With a coil the stove can make your hot water and it solves much of your heating needs. They bake like any other stove. I fished mostly cold weather (San Francisco north) and generally the stove was lit when the 1st person was up. Fishing tuna in warmer weather (60°+), the stove was usually off except for main meals. Real cold weather had the stove on 24/7. On this boat I avoid hot weather, so heat is not a problem.
Diesel stoves do produce more soot than years ago. It's the fuel formula the EPA has given us. It doesn't burn as hot as well as other problems. I add a catalyst to my fuel. Another option is adding Red Devil. It makes the stove burn hotter. With the old fuel we used it once a week to clear out the soot.
Propane is very dangerous in an enclosed space. Unburned propane is heavier than air so any leak settles in the bilge, waiting for a spark. In my time I've seen 3 boats explode and burn, usually killing some people and sometimes sinking other boats. I do have a barbecue, but it and spare propane tanks stay outside the hull.

[annk]

For maximum self-sufficiency we have a propane stove ( in 17 years cruising have never not been able to refill bottles) and a solid fuel stove that heats the boat and also has a small oven that I can bake in if we need it. Wonderful in colder climes and kills two birds with one stone.
Also carry a magma bbq which is terrific in really hot areas.
I am a really keen cook and produce all our own bread etc on board so it's important to me to have systems that function when well off grid too.
If you are following conventional cruising routes you really only need a good propane stove and maybe a rail mounted BBQ.

[s/v Jedi]

I recommend a breadmaker. Zojirushi is the best we had.