Stove gimbals - maximum swing

One of the many boat books cluttering up my house is about designing boat interiors. Actually about three or four of them are :), but if I can find the right one, it has a table of recommended stove gimbal angles for different types of boat (estuary weekender / coastal cruiser / ocean voyager / etc). I'll try to remember to have a look when I get home.

Off the top of my head I'd think 45 degrees is ideal, 30 is acceptable, and you might get away with less especially since I know your project is more about making tea underway than cooking three-course dinners.

Pete
 
Theoretically, it should be gimballed so it can comfortably swing further than the max expected heeling angle. In practice, this might be difficult to achieve without taking too much space. I'd look for 20 degrees minimum each way.

It's worth having some means of locking the stove in the horizontal position - you could do this with a bolt on the bottom of the cooker, locating into a hole in the side panel.

If you're going to fit gimbals to use the stove whilst underway, it would be good if you could add a crash bar. Feasibility will depend on the geometry of the gimballing, but you might be able to extend the side panels upwards (to the level of the adjacent surface) and get enough room to fit a piece of stainless tube as a crash bar.
 
If you expect to be out in weather where the cooker is needed much beyond about 20 or 30 degrees then the best tactic imho would be to prepare thermos' of soup and coffee and pile of sandwiches, nuts, snack foods and chocolate beforehand. Cooking with the galley at 40 degrees is a seriously hazardous pastime.

Realistically, for the average sailor even medium distance, the extra space and hassle that full gimballing takes and the relatively few times that it is needed anything beyond the 20 degrees suggested is probably adequate. For a med 'day cruiser' these days I'd build the cooker in and not bother, looks much slicker and saves a huge amount of space!

It all depends on your application and expected sailing profile.
 
Ru88ell said:
I can't believe Pete only has three or four books on the subject. :p
Click to expand...

:)

I've found what I think is the one I had in mind. It reckons "inshore" 35° to 40°, and "offshore" 70° or more. I suspect that could be a tall order for a boat the size of Zephyr.

One other piece of advice is to consider what happens if your stove does bottom-out at the end of a swing, in either direction. Until I modified the surrounding trim, sailing hard on the starboard tack in KS would jam the cooker at the end of its travel. When you tacked, it would then remain tilted the wrong way, and launch the kettle into the quarter berth.

Pete
 
Ru88ell said:
Cheers all. I can't believe Pete only has three or four books on the subject. :p
Click to expand...

Turns out you're right. Here's a selection that are either wholly about internal outfitting, or have substantial sections on it:

th_0ca9b9d67d00b996d85e8bc2d26e08ce_zps47017b42.jpg

http://s1168.photobucket.com/albums...9b9d67d00b996d85e8bc2d26e08ce_zps47017b42.jpg

...plus one or two more on my Kindle. I also have several others that mention the subject in passing.

Is that more what you expected? :p

Pete
 
I think that I have the same kit as you. If you have the "recomended" ginballs for the Origo stove then I am fairly sure that they are high enough to swing the stove without it grounding. However, if you go much over 30 degrees the gimballs may not told the pan / kettle in place, so I would suggest that enough space to get to 30 would be fine, otherwise I would lock them in place and not be cooking.

I have only ever used mine for hot drinks in sub F6 and as said above, if I was in really bad weather would be either using flasks or so scared that cooking would be the last thing on my mind!
 
As others have said 20 degrees.

You can tilt most meals/ kettles to 20 degrees without problem when cooking do that means you are already at 40 degrees :eek:

Have you ever tried making a cupa at 30 degrees plus?

If the cups have wide bases so they do not fall over, buy the time you have sufficient ullage at the top there is not much water at the bottom :(

If the cups are narrow they fall over. Presently we are using Berghaus s/s Insulated cups.

Having just seen you picks of the Galley. It reminded me of my first boat this had the cooker "mounted" on 2 pins as gimbles. These where in a metal grove each side, in port the cooker sat on the work top at sea you lifted it up and forward into the "gimbled" position this saved allot of space...

If you want to know more let me know and I will try and sketch.
 
Last edited:
onesea said:
As others have said 20 degrees.
You can tilt most meals/ kettles to 20 degrees without problem when cooking do that means you are already at 40 degrees :eek:
Have you ever tried making a cupa at 30 degrees plus?
Click to expand...
OK, yes; for 9 people in 0-60 deg rolling (cooker going even vertical) 3 course meals + tea/coffee on demand; starved crew is not so nice to the cook, mind you... You give this cooker swinging room, might come handy ;) Should have axle half height of a pot, rather not more or it starts to swing on itself and throw pots out; when it's weighted itself below with oven or such, then axle about the top plate or just a bit up.
For marina/seaway use such way of rigging it works - goes to the side when in harbour, taken out in the open for gimballing. https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/iv9NEmz6eClz1KpfriuF79MTjNZETYmyPJy0liipFm0?feat=directlink

For boats often sailing on ear - nice ideas in Ian Nicholson book, titled something like Cruising boat Comfort - well, he indeed should know :)
 
Last edited:
Get a piece of cardboard & cut a pattern of the cross section inc the gimbal point.
Hold it in the void & see what swing you can achieve
You cannot cook at too great a heel but having a cooker that does not bind at the likely angles the boat will sail out would be sensible
Using a pattern will give you some idea of where to mount the gimbal point plus feed in the gas hose & the length of hose you need
 
onesea said:
Have you ever tried making a cupa at 30 degrees plus?

If the cups have wide bases so they do not fall over, buy the time you have sufficient ullage at the top there is not much water at the bottom :(

If the cups are narrow they fall over.
Click to expand...

How can they fall over if they're leaning against the leeward side of the sink?

To begin with, I did have a bit of trouble making tea on KS, as the sink is under the chart table so not available under way. Flummoxed; I've made tea in the sink on boats since I was old enough to be trusted with the hot kettle. But I found a roasting tray sized to fit between the stove fiddles over the non-active burner made an ideal gimballed surface and catcher of minor spills. Not quite as good as the sink when things are really jumping around, but ok with simple heeling for as far as the cooker has gimballing space.

Pete
 
It seems to me that space available will dictate the degree of swing the cooker gets. Just remember that the height of the pivot point for the gimble will also dictate the amount of room the cooker needs to swing. But a higher pivot gives a more positive pendulum effect and don't forget the weight of the kettle and water or pot.
If you are really pressed for space however you could have a low pivot provided you have a means of locking the gimble to a suitable angle ie the heel of the boat at the time and hope that the kettle etc can cope with rolling.
I think it is all about space though. good luck olewill
 
I always make tea in the sink, I was thinking more when on deck drinking the stuff... Its fine till you want or need to throw a tack in, I am sure its not in the RYA methode ;).

RYA Method-
1, Ready About.
2, Ready,
3, Leehoo (Let go and haul),
4, On new tack all cups already fallen over,
5, clean mess :o.

Traditional Method
1, Ready About.
2, Ready,
3, Leehelm, (put helm alee)
4, Let go old sheet,
5, Move cups over against new bulkhead,
6, Harden in new sheet,
7, Drink Tea.

Still wide based seem to work better for me...
 
To repeat what's already been said; you must be able to lock the stove in a central position, most of your cooking will be done in harbour or in light weather and it helps if the stove doesn't move about when you put things on it.

Gimbals may be worth having (mine are occasionally useful) but I have sailed lots with a boat with a fixed stove and that seemed OK too. Just need fiddles and big saucepans.

Oh, and slightly off topic - When cooking at sea using pans part filled with hot liquids - wear oilskins. Always the chance of a litre or two of boiling water in your lap
 
For cooking at sea high pots should be used - and I could not find any real good in UK. This got to have something with 'British Cuisine' ... anyway pots for soup making, higher than wider, take this advice form someone who likes to cook :)
Not this frying pan kind with handle typical in UK, such in any sea are real danger... and nowhere to put those handles.

PS Pressure cooker is great. And closed :D
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Top