Angle of dangle - stove gimbal query

[jamesdestin]

Hi folks. I need to make gimbals for my optimus 155 stove, How much of swing do I need to allow? I know that in theory it should match the maximum heel of the boat but I suspect I'd have given up any thoughts of boiling a kettle long before that!

 

[William_H]

Yes I would suggest the the amplitude of the swing would be dictated by how much room you have or can spare for the stove to swing. It is unrealistic to expect level stove at 30 degrees of heel. It will still be usable I would think at a heel beyond the limits of the gimbal and as you suggest more so than the capability of the cook. regards olewill

 

[oldsaltoz]

G'day Tony,

I set my last stove to gimble to 30* on the low side, that's when the backing plate hit the rear wall, it you have a rail and sliders to hold your kettle no problem, otherwise you will risk a flying object in rough conditions, mot people tend to leave the kettle on the stove so it's a good idea to be able to secure it.

Andavagoodweekend......

 

[boatmike]

Sell the stove and buy a cat. No gimbals.....and you won't spill your cocoa..

 

[snowleopard]

Spills come when the boat lurches and the stove hits the limit stops. Bear in mind that it's swinging, not sitting still at a steady angle of heel. I would allow 10-15° beyond the maximum heel angle you would sail at.

 

[Blueboatman]

A word to the wise ..
Gimballing an Oppie stove can in fact make it more difficult to use, do bear in mind the following (from my personal experience only):
1. Depending on whether the tank is full/empty the stove is going to be at an angle before you use it...
2. And you need to be able to get the starter gear going when swinging around,so....
3. It is useful to be able to lock the stove on each sailing tack either using friction(wingnuts) on the pivots...or a sliding bolt...and rely primarily on the existing pan clamps to hold stuff safely.
4. Of course if you tack and forget that you've locked the stove on the other tack......
5. Lastly because of the lack of Oven to act as a weight, you willneed to raise the point of pivot to about 150mm above the top surface of the stove.The simplest retrofit involves triangles of metal coming up from the floor/enclosure and from each side of the stove and meeting at a pivot bolt at the apex on each side.45 deg swing out would be ample.
It can be useful to take some asbestos type ( but not asbestos) non combustible exhaust lagging and coil it in the meths preheat tray to stop the meths slopping out when sailing,or do you already have the paraffin driven preheat on that model?
Hope that helps

 

[dulcibella]

Whatever angle you allow, make sure that you can bolt the cooker to stop it from crashing against the stops in a heavy sea.

 

[rogerhudson]

Restraining gimballed cookers is ( yet another) use for the bungy elastic rope.
On my 27ft Cutlass I get as many problems from pitching as from heeling or rolling, thinking about fully gimballing. One can only fully gimbal burners individually.
Best ever response to marine surveyor. Q: where's the gas bottles? A: in the skip.

 

[prv]

One can only fully gimbal burners individually.

I've seen at least one full cooker (with grill and oven) that gimballed fore and aft as well as side to side.

Pete

 

[viago]

Restraining gimballed cookers is ( yet another) use for the bungy elastic rope.
On my 27ft Cutlass I get as many problems from pitching as from heeling or rolling, thinking about fully gimballing. One can only fully gimbal burners individually.

not sure why individually? id have thought it an easy job to convert an oven/grill/rings to fully gimballed. just attach the pivot supporting plates to a metal frame and pivot that frame front and back. ok if youve got the space, better still use a pressure cooker- no spills.

 

[BabaYaga]

Hi folks. I need to make gimbals for my optimus 155 stove, How much of swing do I need to allow? I know that in theory it should match the maximum heel of the boat but I suspect I'd have given up any thoughts of boiling a kettle long before that!

You might already know this, but the Optimus 155 was sold with a balance suspension kit as an optional extra. A clever design, in that it allows the stove to stand on its feet normally, only raised to the gimbal position when needed. A lead bar was included, to deal with issue of full/empty tank that blueboatman mentions.
You might want to consider trying to find one of these second hand, if you want to carry on with parafin.