Non-Gas Cookers

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alant

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Recommendations gratefully accepted please.
Previous post replies, seemed all gas devotees.

Looking for something else, for a small yacht which has had gas fitted, even though the 'sealed' gas locker had no outboard vent/drain. Current new owner not keen on using this installation, or fitting vent & looking for other options.
 
your three options are:

Spirit stove (e.g. origo)
Diesel
Electricity (personally hate the concept of 240v in use at sea especially on a small boat)

Of these diesel is probably the safest, but also the most expensive and most difficult.

The others have safety considerations that match LPG but without the convenience of LPG

There is a good reason for LPG being fitted to the majority of small craft - its simple to fit, easy to use, and provided you take a few reasonable precautions, is as safe as most alternatives.
 
With respect, you have omitted one, more suited to a smaller boat...

One that many of us use, in fact - paraffin.

The best known make is Taylors, but Optimus also make a boat stove on the same Primus principle.

I've had a Taylors stove aboard for 20 years and see no reason to consider anything else.

It produces more heat than LPG, so the kettle boils faster, it makes good toast, and with the simmering plates in it will slow cook.

People are unreasonably afraid of them, due to the very occasional flare up -I've had two in 20 years, both due to leaky joints, but these are quickly extinguished and unlike LPG leaks they only happen when you are already looking at the stove.

website here - mine is an 029 but I am saving for an 030L!
 
I've had Origo spirit stoves on the last two boats. Brilliant. A little slower than gas but very safe with no pressurised fuel and having fuel resevoirs with an absorbent matrix - there is a demonstration where the sales person upends the flaming fuel container over his head and comes out unscathed (haven't tried it myself thouugh!) - Downside is a slight pong and the fact that you have to use meths in the UK. The meths soots up the bottom of your pots. If you can get hold of the french 'Alcool a Brulee' or similar, it is a much less sooty process. I get a load when across there or get friends to bring it back. It is readily available and cheap.
 
I don't know what I am talking about here, so will probably be smartly corrected by a wise one, but would surgical spirit leave a sooty residual if used as an alternative to meths. Surgical spirit is cheap and readily available at Boots etc
 
I think it must be different, or all the alcoholics would be buying it! Or maybe not. The reason meths is meths, was to stop alcys drinking it.

By the way alant, why didnt you believe me, I said in your last post, you had these choices!
 
Re: With respect, you have omitted one, more suited to a smaller boat...

Of course you are correct, and I have cooked with an optimus in the past. certainly a reasonable contender, but do they do an oven as well, and if so, how do you maintain the pressure.

20 years ago parrafin was widely available, and much used in houses as a source of heat. Nowadays it seems that apart from one or two stockists, the only way to get it is to buy the expensive stuff designed to be less smelly and be used in lamps.
 
Taylors stoves

The answer to the oven question is "yes", and the pressure is maintained by the use of a remote tank, which holds one and a half gallons - each burner will run for 8 hours on a pint, so there is no need to worry about refilling.

see here for one with an oven

I don't have any trouble getting the quantity of paraffin that one needs - country garages often sell it, as do ironmongers and indeed gardening shops. It's easier to find a gallon of paraffin than to change a gas bottle!

A lot of boats have these.
 
Hi,

I have an Origo 2 burner on my Centaur which had no proper gas installation. It was thus an easy swap.

It does the job for me, the smell can be overcome by adding about 10% water. This also reduces but doesn't stop the soot.

You'll also find that you can easily get a licence to buy IMS, industrial meths. However, getting hold of the stuff is not as easy as some would have you think.
The french stuff seems to be the answer....(Steve don't forget to bring some back!!!!)

Downsides, meths isn't as cheap as gas. Cooking is a little slower, no oven and I guess meths is a bit more bulky in terms of space/burn time. But meths won't blow your boat apart /forums/images/graemlins/ooo.gif
 
Just before we get too paranoid about gas, how many boats have gas fitted? How many boats have blown up? How many of ther boats had a crap installed gas system? I would like to have those figures before we throw all our gas cookers over the side for fear of blowing ourselves up!
 
Who said anything about throwing all our gas cookers over the side???

May be I picked the wrong smiley to try and show the tone of my comment... but I certainly didn't say throw your gas away.

For me a spirit stove was a quick, cheap and easy way of removing an existing dangerous install. Described in my survey as a swinging bomb.

However, I've seen pictures in magazines of boats blown apart by gas (no idea about the state of the install) never seen one blown apart by meths. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Jim
 
The best solution lies in the USA, where for over 20 years, all mobile LPG gas installations have to have the gas cylinder in free air. In the case of a Motor caravan on the back, and on boats on the pushpit. Any leaks vent straight to atmosphere so no danger of gas build up, as LPGs are heavier than air.
I have mine on the pushput, in a stainless container, which started life as a pedal bin!. Simple on off shutoff valve thro deck on the outside, and thence copper tube to near the cooker, whence to new rubber (LPG compliant) connection to cooker. Total cost - under £20
 
Not a matter of believing or otherwise. I already know what choices are available & was wanting actual 'hands-on' experience/recommendations as given by others in this thread.
You asked about accidents - apart from the Joint services Nich 55 which exploded in Poole harbour, I personally had my clothing saturated in fuel from a leaking Butane bottle on a yacht (bit like washing in petrol). Not an experience I'd like to repeat.
Gas inherently is NOT particularly safe, in spite of good installations & auto gas alarms. Hence the quest for an alternative.
Why do we think diesel engines have safer fuel than petrol & then put LPG gas on for cooking- bizzare logic!
 
Re: With respect, you have omitted one, more suited to a smaller boat...

"but Optimus also make a boat stove on the same Primus principle"

I wish they did but they stopped some years ago through "lack of demand". My Invicta is fitted with one (thanks to Sailorman on this forum) which works beautifully and is smell free. I light it with a gas blowlamp instead of meths as I don't like the small of meths. My kettle boils quicker than it ever did on gas. I use lamp oil which is more expensive than paraffin but much more pleasant to handle. It is gimbled.
 
Buying paraffin

I use a fair amount of paraffin, not for boating purposes, but for Tilley lamps.

The most reliable source of paraffin is from garden centres or DIY stores with a gardening department. Just about every B&Q, Do it All, Focus etc sells it. It's usually stored outside with the plants/sheds/paving stones. About £1 a litre from a typical DIY shop.
 
I use an Origo, in the cockpit, don't get too many issues on smell and soot, but I do bewail the lack of an oven. Maybe one will come up on Ebay some time 'cos new is too many penny.

Not too relevant to most sailyboats types perhaps but the Boat Safety Scheme ignores spirit stoves, while assuming that all gas ones will kill you in a short space of time, even if a CORGI registerd engineer turns it on and lights it for you every time you want a cuppa.
 
Bizarre logic

I could not agree more.

The typical boat has:

Diesel engine

Gas cooker

Petrol outboard for dinghy, and separate can of petrol aboard, usually somewhere in a cockpit locker.

I've got on perfectly well for 20 years with:

Diesel engine

Paraffin cooker

Solid fuel cabin heating stove

Sailing dinghy

and I pay quite a bit less insurance, in consequence.

I don't suffer any real inconvenience; the sailing tender does not take longer, on average, to get ashore or to the boat than an inflatable with a small outboard does. Of course, if you have a RIB with heaven-knows-what HP outboard you will get there faster, but the sailing dinghy will always be more fun and less annoying to other boaters. I must admit that my boat, being elderly, can carry a 9ft stem dinghy on deck, upside down on the cabin top, which modern boats cannot do - but why don't people ask for this feature?
 
Re: Bizarre logic

Well we quite often agree, but for a liveaboard, I use my dinghy as my car, for shopping etc. so need an outboard, I cook a lot, (everyday, not just when sailing)so also need a cooker thats easy to use, I have a d8l diesel hot air heating system and two diesel engines, I also carry a cklinker rowing and sailing dinghy. I carry the petrol for th eoutboard in the dinghy, two five gallon tanks. I use gas for cooking and heating water. I think it is as safe as most fuels, as long as you look after it.
 
Re: Bizarre logic

I think we will carry on agreeing; as a liveaboard you are in a slightly different situation because all the systems are under your eye and in constant use. I managed, living aboard, for a year, with the set up I describe, but I confess that I was alongside in the winter months. The problems arise when people rush down to the boat on Friday night with a tide to catch.

Another factor with me is that I know I am absent minded and careless, so the fewer things I have to remember, the better.
 
i use a single burner electric portable stove 360 W 240 V run from an inverter off boat batt. Sanyo brand abt 30 of yr money. but i singlehand mostly.
 
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