Is a gimballed stove really necessary?

[geem]

The “original” ones for Origo and the look alikes are closer to £100 and that is IF you can find them.

But you are right I could make some. With my project, it’s all about getting the priorities right. Do I see myself 10 days on the wind anytime soon? No. 48 hours perhaps 72 but no more. But I’d still like to make tea and boil in the bag food.

Can't imagine life without gimbal on a monohull. Even for a short passage when it's bumpy not being able to make a cuppa?

 

[Daydream believer]

I don't have gimbals. My cooker faces fore and aft directly below the mast.
You learn to live with it.

So liquid stuff does not tip to port & stbd then, only fore & aft?

 

[Daydream believer]

(The yacht still had a strong aroma, it smelled like it had been round the world..)

Wot? BO & mould?

 

[Stemar]

But I’d still like to make tea and boil in the bag food.

I can't help thinking that, in the conditions that make gimbals necessary, that's as much as most people would want to cook anyway.

 

[Kelpie]

Can't imagine life without gimbal on a monohull. Even for a short passage when it's bumpy not being able to make a cuppa?

As I said upthread, our first boat (27ft) had no gimbals, just pan clamps. We did thousands of miles in her including 48hr passages, and never went without a meal or a cuppa.
It takes a heck of a lot for a pan or kettle to jump off the stove. Just make sure there's a bit of freeboard in the pan.

 

[geem]

As I said upthread, our first boat (27ft) had no gimbals, just pan clamps. We did thousands of miles in her including 48hr passages, and never went without a meal or a cuppa.
It takes a heck of a lot for a pan or kettle to jump off the stove. Just make sure there's a bit of freeboard in the pan.

Our yacht was all electric cooking when she was built in 1980. 1000Ah of batteries and a diesel genset. The cooker was a fixed 4 burner ceramic hob with pan clamps. Absolute disaster of a set up. Our maiden voyage from Silent to Falmouth non stop convinced us it had to go. We did 185nm in the first 24hrs in lively conditions with food and drinks all over the galley floor. If you are passage making and not sailing in flat water you need gimbals.

 

[PhillM]

Have been playing with the stove at home and seeing how well the pan clamps will hold my kettle and pan. Answer is up to about 45 degrees. Obviously the liquid inside needs to stay inside, but with the kettle that’s Ok. So for next season the stove will be screwed down. If I find that isn’t acceptable I will think about building some gimballed arrangement the following winter.

 

[geem]

Have been playing with the stove at home and seeing how well the pan clamps will hold my kettle and pan. Answer is up to about 45 degrees. Obviously the liquid inside needs to stay inside, but with the kettle that’s Ok. So for next season the stove will be screwed down. If I find that isn’t acceptable I will think about building some gimballed arrangement the following winter.

My pal built a 38ft wooden boat himself. He didn't fit a gimballed stove. He said it would be fine as he located midships. His wife cursed him for the next 15 years until he sold it. They now have another boat with a gimballed stove

 

[capnsensible]

Yet we didn't have a gimballed cooker on our 33 foot yacht. Raised stainlesssteel fiddles to hold pots in place at sea. Cooking was never a problem even in mid bouncy Atlantic....

 

[mjcoon]

My pal built a 38ft wooden boat himself. He didn't fit a gimballed stove. He said it would be fine as he located midships. His wife cursed him for the next 15 years until he sold it. They now have another boat with a gimballed stove

A weird idea of what gimbals are for! And/or blind spot for geometry and physics...

 

[Kelpie]

This thread seems to have become a conversation between people who have had terrible experiences of fixed cookers, and people who have got on fairly well with them.

Maybe it depends on the design of the cooker, clamps, and fiddles.

 

[Daydream believer]

Maybe it depends on the design of the cooker, clamps, and fiddles.

It may have a lot to do with the design of the cooking utensil. I use 2 Ridge Money pans. I really like them, but they are shallow. Hence, any fluid will not stay in the pan or flow to one side. I actually have some brass extenders to raise my pan bars up one inch so the handles clear the worktop either side so they sit flat on the cooker.
I also have a small wok. This is used a lot. But I never cook under way ( seasickness). I do not do many legs over 100 miles each year so for 18-20 hours one can make do with sandwiches & nibbles. My insurance now limits me to 25 hours anyway. But I have done a couple of 150 mile trips in that time. After that I find I need a port for rest . Cat naps are Ok, but only help for so long when one is 75 years old.
I find that the gimbals are important though. Harbour masters & co. seem to love roaring about in wave making RIBS, meal cooking times & places, like Ostend, can be a bit rocky .
If I do have a crew they can boil a kettle & gimbals are important to stop the kettle flying across the cabin- Which it has done when the clamps have been left a little too slack.

 

[geem]

It may have a lot to do with the design of the cooking utensil. I use 2 Ridge Money pans. I really like them, but they are shallow. Hence, any fluid will not stay in the pan or flow to one side. I actually have some brass extenders to raise my pan bars up one inch so the handles clear the worktop either side so they sit flat on the cooker.
I also have a small wok. This is used a lot. But I never cook under way ( seasickness). I do not do many legs over 100 miles each year so for 18-20 hours one can make do with sandwiches & nibbles. My insurance now limits me to 25 hours anyway. But I have done a couple of 150 mile trips in that time. After that I find I need a port for rest . Cat naps are Ok, but only help for so long when one is 75 years old.
I find that the gimbals are important though. Harbour masters & co. seem to love roaring about in wave making RIBS, meal cooking times & places, like Ostend, can be a bit rocky .
If I do have a crew they can boil a kettle & gimbals are important to stop the kettle flying across the cabin- Which it has done when the clamps have been left a little too slack.

I think that is the difference. If you are not passage sailing for several days at a time then you can get away without a gimballed stove. Otherwise in my experience you are seriously disadvantaged

 

[capnsensible]

Seems to me that as usual, thre is no absolute right or wrong here. 4 transatlantic passages without gimbal was no problem for us on our yacht. Other passages, similar, I've used gimbaled cookers. Sometimes I've actually locked them off coz it's easier....

I get to do a lot of the cooking on delivery trips....I don't get seasick. Luckily when we cruised on our yacht, Mrs. S doesn't either. So taking turns to cook is great. Plus Mrs. S likes to bake bread and cakes. In our non gimballed oven.

 

[capnsensible]

Add. Catamarans don't need gimballed cookers! Just sayin....

 

[geem]

Seems to me that as usual, thre is no absolute right or wrong here. 4 transatlantic passages without gimbal was no problem for us on our yacht. Other passages, similar, I've used gimbaled cookers. Sometimes I've actually locked them off coz it's easier....

I get to do a lot of the cooking on delivery trips....I don't get seasick. Luckily when we cruised on our yacht, Mrs. S doesn't either. So taking turns to cook is great. Plus Mrs. S likes to bake bread and cakes. In our non gimballed oven.

I can imagine in light winds you can manage without gimbals but when you are hard on the wind for a couple of days at 25 degrees, how do you keep food in the pan? Our boat came with all electric cooking with a four burner ceramic hob and pan clamps. No gimbals. One rough delivery trip from the Solent to North Wales with winds up to F8 and we were convinced the no gimballed cooker needed to go. Never regretted getting rid of that dreadful setup.
We can now make a hot drink with cups on the gimballed cooker top and no spills. So much easier to live with gimballs in my experience.
We had similar issues with the shallow sinks that the boat was built with. Couldn't wash up in bouncy conditions. We replaced the sinks with new deep sinks. Far far better

 

[capnsensible]

Big stainless fiddles on top of cooker. If you need to, quick reef or heave to. Advantage of a heavy old Moody 33 is that heeling isn't much of a problem.

Wash up in bucket in cockpit if necessary. Same for peeling veg. Adapting is straitforward as I'm sure you know!

We had 23 years to figure it all out.

 

[Daydream believer]

Big stainless fiddles on top of cooker. If you need to, quick reef or heave to. Advantage of a heavy old Moody 33 is that heeling isn't much of a problem.

Trouble is that even a stable boat will roll in a sea & liquids inside a pan will slop from side to side. I agree fully about heaving too. Unfortunately my boat will not heave too, which is its biggest fault, Especially being SH 95% of the time

 

[geem]

Big stainless fiddles on top of cooker. If you need to, quick reef or heave to. Advantage of a heavy old Moody 33 is that heeling isn't much of a problem.

Wash up in bucket in cockpit if necessary. Same for peeling veg. Adapting is straitforward as I'm sure you know!

We had 23 years to figure it all out.

We are a heavy old boat as well. We wouldn't heave to or wash up in a bucket. With gimbals and deep sinks you don't need to do that. I was assuming that you were sailing as normal when using your non gimballed cooker. If you keep the boat flat to cook that's a completely different issue. We chose not to do that as we don't need to

 

[capnsensible]

We are a heavy old boat as well. We wouldn't heave to or wash up in a bucket. With gimbals and deep sinks you don't need to do that. I was assuming that you were sailing as normal when using your non gimballed cooker. If you keep the boat flat to cook that's a completely different issue. We chose not to do that as we don't need to

I've happily cooked and washed up on yachts whilst crossing oceans on yachts with and without gimballed cookers and deep sinks. My view is, based on those experiences, is that either way is quite do able. Not everyone can afford larger yachts but it doesn't stop adventures!

I've no problem heaving to on any yacht for various reasons. Don't do it often when passage making, but....I can!