Marine Stoves?

Along with a long list of other things, one of the biggest things we want to change on our boat is our stove. We currently only have a two burner electric stove that a.) takes FOREVER to heat up, and b.) has no oven.

We'll have to do some modifications in the galley to accommodate a new stove, but I need to start researching propane plumbing, and stove brands now in order to build a plan.

We do not need a gimbaled stove as I'm fairly certain we wont be doing any cooking on the hook as we aren't cruisers but I am open to them if they are considered better for resale value.

Also, what is the difference between a marine stove and an RV stove? Could I use an RV stove?

Any help or advice is greatly appreciated!

Our LPG(?= propane) SMEV brand stove,3 flame out safety burners with oven, no gimballs,has been used on the hook/on a mooring ball many times, no problem. In sheltered areas not immune from wash and wind.

Despite my protests, the Admiral once insisted on using it to cook rice while on the move. Just once. Lesson learned. Spills but no scalds. Anchored you should be fine.

BruceK said:

Our LPG(?= propane) SMEV brand stove,3

Click to expand...

Interesting. A google search says that SMEV is a Dometic brand, and looks like its an RV stove/oven.

RV stoves are not manufactured with salt water in mind. Some of the internal parts will rust, just like a cheap BBQ, so they won't last as long as a good marine stove. That being said, my first boat was built in 1977 and had an RV stove. I sold the boat in 1988 with that stove still functional.

toocoys said:

Interesting. A google search says that SMEV is a Dometic brand, and looks like its an RV stove/oven.

Click to expand...

Here`s a pic of the SMEV( pls. excuse the reflection). Fitted 9 years ago, no problems. It replaced the "Princess" RV original which was leaking at the control valves but otherwise ok.
I figured the SMEV brand, made in Italy, was to lever off the well known Euro SMEG brand.

To me a proper marine stove should require a push on the burner knob to turn on a burner , so someone walking by does not turn on a burner.

It should light on HI and the low burner flame should be adjustable so the burner wont blow out from an open hatch or port.

It should be on a switched solenoid with a setup that illuminates a light when operation.

A bilge sniffer is part of the install package.

A nice touch is a mechanical timer that also needs to be on to have the stove function.
OOOPS or kids playing is eliminated

toocoys said:

Along with a long list of other things, one of the biggest things we want to change on our boat is our stove. We currently only have a two burner electric stove that a.) takes FOREVER to heat up, and b.) has no oven.

Click to expand...

Before you leap through too many hoops... you might consider if the current unit takes forever to heat up, it may just be malfunctioning. (Our cooktop takes about 1 minute 'til lift-off.)

If so, fix... or replace in kind? Or replace with an induction unit, which I (think I) understand heats instantly? Could be easier install...

We've had good luck with a combo microwave/convection oven... including perfect Thanksgiving turkey. Perhaps if you have only a microwave, a swap to a combo could easily solve the oven function?

Is your stove really a stove, or a cooktop? Maybe if a stove, changing to a cooktop somehow could reclaim you some of the lower space...

-Chris

BruceK said:

Here`s a pic of the SMEV( pls. excuse the reflection). Fitted 9 years ago, no problems. It replaced the "Princess" RV original which was leaking at the control valves but otherwise ok.
I figured the SMEV brand, made in Italy, was to lever off the well known Euro SMEG brand.

Click to expand...

Another vote for SMEV and we have what looks like the same 3 burner cooktop as Bruce. Tough glass top covers when not in use. We don't have a gas stove below though....instead an excellent LG convection microwave. (Moderators, pls Photoshop out Bruce's legs from his pic....gotta be a breach of TF rules surely?)

Greetings,
" (Moderators, pls Photoshop out Bruce's legs from his pic....gotta be a breach of TF rules surely?)" +1...

Twocoys,
We have a 3 burner “Force 10” propane stove and it’s quite perfect.
Fairly good sized oven. Propane lasts a long time.
Not good for a substitute heater as much moisture is released burning propane.
We have that covered w a Wabasto furnace heater running on kerosene/diesel.

RV stoves are used all the time in power boats. They can usually be bought for around $600. They usually are gimbless but fixed stove installation is more common in power boats. Suburban and Atwood are the most common. Magic Chef was the stove of choice all through the 90’s but some one bought them. They come in 17” and 21” so know hour size ahead of time. Never heard of anyone replacing their stove because of corrosion. Most common reason for stove replacement is failure of oven door. Safety with propane is a different story in marine. Make sure you follow Marine safety standards with installation and safety equipment.

If you decide to go the propane route, of course all safety measures must be installed. For insurance purposes, you might want to consider having a "gas fitter" make all of the gas connections. If DIY they may deny any future claims that could (remotely) be blamed on the propane system. Just a consideration.
In our experience, we found RV stoves to be of very poor quality and function (especially the oven). In our travel trailer (Suburban stove if I remember correctly) many things we tried to cook in the oven burnt. The burner was in the middle of the oven and very high up in the body of the oven. We tried many "diffusers" to try to correct this (spread out the heat) to no avail. Our good friends recently purchased a brand new Winnibago Class C. Same issue with the stove so they replaced it with a marine stove (Force 10). Now they are happy with it. We have talked to quite a few RVers about this issue and almost all of the people we talked to had similar complaints about the oven. The 2 brands of marine stoves I am familiar with are Force 10 and Dickinson. IMHO both good products. We too have a Force 10 3 burner stove and are very happy with it. It is 16 years old and still works great.

If it were me, after these experiences, I would not try to "save a couple of bucks" by installing an RV stove.

You shouldn't need a gimballed stove. Those are for sailboats healed over for lengths of time. I've never needed a gimballed stove on anchor, even when it's rough in the anchorage. We don't' cook underway if we're rolling moderately.

I also prefer gas to electric when cooking.

"You shouldn't need a gimballed stove."

However when a dummy goes buy tossing a 4 ft wale the gymbols may save a scalding.

Ditto with fiddle rails,, useful at times.

My concept is if the range is athwartships (90 deg to the keel)the gymbols and fiddles can be ignored as a flying pot will not usually go fore or aft to scald the cook.

If the range or cook top is parallel to the keel, almost any wave motion could toss every item pots at the cook.

A really good long apron and no barefoot cooking could be wise.

Especially with a galley up ,that suffers more motion.

Another variable to consider is where you will put the propane tank, if you don't already have storage for them. You will need a locker to be watertight with a drain at the bottom, leading out to a through hull above the waterline.

RT Firefly said:

Greetings,
" (Moderators, pls Photoshop out Bruce's legs from his pic....gotta be a breach of TF rules surely?)" +1...

Click to expand...

I thought those were legs of lamb.

BruceK said:

Here`s a pic of the SMEV( pls. excuse the reflection). Fitted 9 years ago, no problems. .

Click to expand...

SNAP
Exact same unit we have

Would love to replace it with something bigger, but would have to do a re-jig of the galley to do it.

ranger42c said:

Before you leap through too many hoops... you might consider if the current unit takes forever to heat up, it may just be malfunctioning. (Our cooktop takes about 1 minute 'til lift-off.)

If so, fix... or replace in kind? Or replace with an induction unit, which I (think I) understand heats instantly? Could be easier install...

Click to expand...

We really want an oven, and prefer gas cooking. Additionally, if we go gas, that's less battery bank we have to worry about if we wanna cook while out on weekend trips.

firehoser75 said:

If you decide to go the propane route, of course all safety measures must be installed. For insurance purposes, you might want to consider having a "gas fitter" make all of the gas connections. If DIY they may deny any future claims that could (remotely) be blamed on the propane system. Just a consideration.

Click to expand...

Good point! And one I hadn't thought of.

firehoser75 said:

.
In our experience, we found RV stoves to be of very poor quality and function (especially the oven). In our travel trailer (Suburban stove if I remember correctly) many things we tried to cook in the oven burnt. The burner was in the middle of the oven and very high up in the body of the oven. .

Click to expand...

We lived in our RV for 2.5 years before moving aboard and had the same issue when we first started. We were able to correct the situation by placing terra cotta tiles between the burner and the baking rack. We also usually cooked about 50 degrees less than recipes called for.

FrontBaby said:

Another variable to consider is where you will put the propane tank, if you don't already have storage for them. You will need a locker to be watertight with a drain at the bottom, leading out to a through hull above the waterline.

Click to expand...

I have space where the old generator use to be, and a through hull from an old AC unit that isn't being used.

However, My thought was to put the tank outside on the bridge somewhere and run the gas line down into the kitchen.

I dont know how that's going to play out just yet. I'm just beginning my research.

hmason said:

I thought those were legs of lamb.

Click to expand...

Reminds me of a friend who had a pet lamb called "Legger". We haven`t roasted a leg of lamb but have done small turkey roasts, we usually have Christmas on the boat.
By all means check the existing electric is working right, but if you want LPG gas cooking it doesn`t matter. Can`t see most boats feeding electric stoves via battery/inverter for long.

If you really want an oven, then replacement and potentially going propane may make sense.

However, if you just want a better cooktop look at induction. New induction cooktops heat very fast and are fairly controllable (a lot like cooking on a gas cooktop). You can find all sorts of different configurations (single, double, etc...) and form factors available.

We recently upgraded a Princess stove with small difficult to use electric burners to a dual burner induction and love it!
See - https://mvsoundtrek.blogspot.com/2019/05/renewing-old-princess-stove.html

We liked the idea of propane, but not the reality of doing propane correctly.

Has anyone ever thought of this,

https://www.ajmadison.com/cgi-bin/a...MI5Iuk07eh4gIVkkYNCh0fnQQ4EAQYBCABEgIqD_D_BwE

or this?

https://www.pcrichard.com/catalog/c...VkkYNCh0fnQQ4EAQYASABEgKVAfD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

Considering it for our new NP 45.

Rob

I’m staying with electricity. Not a great photo but I bought this 120-V convection microwave still in the box from a builder whose customers changed their minds. Still some cabinet work to do, but the new countertops (not pictured) are almost in!

We have a gimbaled stove and use the pot hold down thinghys which I find very useful underway. We use the oven more than I thought we would but Gas ovens lack a proper broil feature for the finishing touches a lot of recipes call for. Forget the legs, ok maybe you can’t but Bruce, why is the anchor on your cabinet door upside down?

toocoys said:

We really want an oven, and prefer gas cooking. Additionally, if we go gas, that's less battery bank we have to worry about if we wanna cook while out on weekend trips.

Click to expand...

Fair enough, preference is often the best decider.

Our combo microwave/convection oven will work on the inverter (batteries), but we have to start the genset to use our cooktop. Dunno if that'd be the case with induction cooktop or not...

-Chris

GMS said:

If you really want an oven, then replacement and potentially going propane may make sense.

However, if you just want a better cooktop look at induction. New induction cooktops heat very fast and are fairly controllable (a lot like cooking on a gas cooktop). You can find all sorts of different configurations (single, double, etc...) and form factors available.

We recently upgraded a Princess stove with small difficult to use electric burners to a dual burner induction and love it!
See - https://mvsoundtrek.blogspot.com/2019/05/renewing-old-princess-stove.html

We liked the idea of propane, but not the reality of doing propane correctly.

Click to expand...

Agree!

We have a 3 burner Princess that hasn't been used since we got a single induction cooktop. They are the best, heats instantly, and you can adjust the power all the way down to 100 watts for simmer.

We still use the oven on the Princess, which also takes forever to heat up, but it is what it is.

We are looking at replacing our electric stove/oven combination unit with an induction stove top and speed oven. No propane to worry about. Stove top doesn't get hot, easy to clean and is very efficient. Speed oven bakes, broils, convects and microwaves.