Crockery or melamine?

[Ubergeekian]

We gave up on Melamine mugs a long time ago, particularly when we began living aboard. They won't take boiling water and soon begin to craze, allowing tea/coffee into the cracks to make an unpleasant looking stain.

I think it depends very much on the quality of the melamine. I have a couple of Melmex mugs which my parents bought in the late sixties which are still fine: no cracks, no stains (despite being white inside).

I have been looking around at melamine sets for the boat, and none of the modern stuff seems a patch on the old. I feel a trip to Ikea's tableware department coming on ...

 

[Dan the man]

Plus, the designs on 'china' are more varied. I was looking in a catalogue today, all 'boaty' plastic plates etc have tacky nautical theme, my response, Why? when you are surrounded by sea and boats!

If you do go for plastic, check out Emma Bridgewater, she has some cool stuff that look authentic. I got some very cool beakers with the union jack on them.

 

[PetiteFleur]

We've got half a dozen small glass tumblers bought in France years ago - 'Arcoroc' I think is the name - practically unbreakable and perfectly OK for my G&T or wine. For plates we have mixture of china and melamine(posh ones from JL - SWMBO insisted & paid for them). Mugs were melamine but have been superceded by a selection of china ones, much nicer to drink from and a couple of insulated stainless mugs.

 

[Fire99]

I use mostly melamine (Well I think it is but it's boaty stuff acquired off a previous owner/boat) and it works very well.

Cutlery is all stainless and my Tea mugs are melamine / Stainless Steel..

All of which stay clean if cleaned when used. Stubborn tea stains (from being a bit lax) all come off with a bit of baking soda so no nasty chemicals needed.

I love my Fine Bone China but some of it is 50 years old (inherited from family) and is staying safely at home.

 

[Bobobolinsky]

Got cheap plastic mugs for drinking tea and coffee, mainly because they keep heat in. Have an insulated melamine teapot too. Don't like melamine plates as they are not proof against microwaves. When I got married in 1974, it was common to buy heat proof dishes as wedding pressies and still got a few casseroles and glass plates. I Have three cast iron fry pans a wok and a potjie (poykey) or dutch oven, which will make a stew, bake bread, pop corn, make porridge and all on the open fire on a beach, though not at the same time.

 

[Richard10002]

We have a set of four place settings of this type of stuff on board:

http://www.mailspeedmarine.com/cookers-galley-equipment/plastimo/schooner-crockery5161-516661.bhtml

Dinner Plates, Side Plates, Soup Bowls & Mugs, 4 of each.

Not cheap but they were on a friends boat for a few years, then my fathers boat prior to Rogue, then Rogue for 6 years... still going strong, and hardly marked.

Hard to justify spending the best part of £150, but probably excellent value for money.

We also have some cheap melamine plates and mugs, but they just dont feel the same when eating/drinking.

 

[BAtoo]

We have all white tesco basic crockery set because its the only one that fits the slightly small cupboards - so far nothing has broken - and it wont matter if it does as it was <£20. Mixture of palstic and glass glasses. Steel cutlery.

 

[tudorsailor]

When kitting out the yacht for potential chartering we decided against both melamine and china. We bought stuff made by Corelle. It is the plate equivalent of melamine. It is unbreakable but light.

We found a shop in Southall that sold the pattern that we wanted, but you can buy it online such as here

Great stuff

TudorSailor

 

[alant]

Whoof whoof!

Needing to buy crockery for our new found AWB.Whilst on the 'Dark Side ' we had crockery. But what is best on the 'Light Side'?

Have you plastic or Royal Doulton on board?

Thanks

On your own boat, with mainly family, you might get away with melamine, but they discolour & can be disgusting very quickly.

Dishes for offshore - on 'Ocean' trips, have insisted upon individually marked, metal Dog Bowls. Easy to clean, suitable for all types of food & will not slide easily when eating on deck!

Plates & other bowls, seem to slip/slide too easily. Most conventional bowls have too high a centre of gravity. Even the 'thermos' type mugs are narrow at the bottom, making them more prone to tipping. Good for camping perhaps, but not on boats.

 

[jellyellie]

We liveaboard and after a few months' eating from the plastic plates we inherited with Milestone, we bought some china crockery from an outlet 'Whittards' store in Gunwharf Quays, Portsmouth. It wasn't expensive - £20 for 4 dinner plates, 4 side plates and 4 bowls - and they are a generic coloured design so easily replaceable from many shops. Nothing has broken so far!

When we're out sailing we tend to use plastic side plates for a sandwich, but always the china for a proper meal. Can't stand the plastic stuff. Especially the mugs, they look awful, but a) we don't drink tea/coffee and b) I've not managed to find any china mugs which stack as well as the melamine ones do.

 

[White_Lady]

Thanks for the replies. Corelle looks fantastic,so that with plastic large wine glasses and a crystal tumbler for the Skip sounds about right!

Thanks again all

 

[Pete7]

On your own boat, with mainly family, you might get away with melamine, but they discolour & can be disgusting very quickly.

Agreed, but more elderly yachties may have a solution readily to hand. We keep a tube of sterident tablets on board which clean up mugs effortlessly overnight, though we do get some odd looks from guests as we are still young enough to have our own teeth

Pete

 

[TradewindSailor]

We use Corelle, a sort of ceramic. It is lighter than pottery, and will bounce. It is also easy to keep clean, and not bulky.

We only have good quality plastic glasses, much to the disappointment of the 1st mate. I had a bad awakenig to the glass problem when I sailed a new Bowman on the Round the Island race years ago. Unknown to me someone had broken a champange flute in the cockpit and a shard of glass has worked it's way into the genoa sheet. I cut my palm so deep I was rail meat for the rest of the race :-(

I also had a problem a few months ago. A jam jar broke inside the freezer (it was sitting on the holding plate). As I have a loathing of glass aboard, I picked it up and threw it astern. It caught on a rope and bounced back into the cockpit and landed on my bare foot. I had a cut over an inch long and clear to the tendons. Not a pretty sight.

 

[ColinR]

I've got corningware. Its atually pre-stressed glass, looks and feels like white china, virtually indestructable and nice simple white design. Where to get it is another thing, I picked mine up in Corning, New York, where else.
Colin

 

[Searush]

We use melamine & plastic - nothing to do with being on a boat (altho I have had an entire dinner service dumped on the cabin sole in bad overfalls) it is because we sail with grandchildren.

They break stuff just by looking at it or so they tell me.

 

[tudorsailor]

I've got corningware. Its atually pre-stressed glass, looks and feels like white china, virtually indestructable and nice simple white design. Where to get it is another thing, I picked mine up in Corning, New York, where else.
Colin

Corningware is the name for cooking dishes. Same stuff is Corelle for plates, bowls and mugs. Available in the UK and as you say indestructable

Tudorsailor

 

[Mrs FG]

Top tips - if you order through t'interweb, you get packaging that gets the stuff through the post. We have a set of 6 wine glasses which were a gizzit* from Laithwaites, which live in the polystyrene box they came in.
We have square plates and bowls (so much more space-efficient) which were seconds from the retail outlet centre in Swindon - size and lip matters as much as material.
For pots and pans, Tefal Compact - folding handles and see-through lids - Mr FG was so impressed that he made me get some for the house, too.

* gizzit - "That's nice - gizzit".

 

[Malcb]

I've had the Schooner Ware on board for the last 5 years, Crockery & Glasses. Nothing has broken, or chipped. Even the wine glasses all came adrift when crossing Chichetsre Bar and I heard them falling onto the cabin floor. When I could get down below I was amazed to find no breakages. Cutlery is Stainless.

The beauty is that they all stay clean and stay like new.

 

[Rosey]

Plastic fantastic or not

We have a lovely (and comprehensive) set for cruising supplied by that nice Mr Dufour so all with logos but being French they are nicely designed. Always have real mugs as well though and insulated non slip, non spill mugs for 'on the hoof'. Crockery is always nicer to use but practically plastic if properly cleaned (no scouring ) is a safer option as well as lighter and easier to stow. On our old boat we had a similar arrangement. No glass aboard but we have nice plastic wine glasses, whisky tumblers, even champagne flutes which are still looking good and unscratched despite regular use. I guess it's the same if you buy cheap plastic it will wear and look bad fairly quickly. The same with cheap crockery really. Only really down side of plastic is I still get tempted to 'warm the plates' and have to rethink quickly!! I've never done the unthinkable yet..............Choose something you like the look of and to suit you if you poddle on the Solent and only eat aboard occassionally crockery may suit, also if you live aboard and don't get out too much but for cruising, even when living aboard for weeks at a time, I prefer plastic.

 

[snooks]

Have you plastic or Royal Doulton on board?

Both,

Dunno about Royal Doulton though, but we have Ikea's finest china for in port, and their toughest plastic for sailing.

Works well for us, and it gives us more plates for guests