Propane...sinful?

[Ross]

Hermit, Do you suppose that you would do more cooking on

your boat if it was more convienient? My friends have propane at home and alcohol on their boat and she hates the time it takes to boil water for tea on alcohol.

 

[Hermit Scott]

grill

I bought a can of denatured alcohol last night. Next time I go down I will try to fire up that old stove, to see if I can live with it for a while.
I was going to pick up a small stainless grill at Lowes, for like $70 but it is 303 or 308 not 316 anyway, but it was set up to only accept the small 1 lb. bottles. So I would have to get adapters and whatever, so I passed on it. I was only going to buy it if it was an easy set up, first I have to redo the teak inside and then restore the gelcoat before getting into any other projects.
Are you guys buying marine grade stainless grills? Like 316 or better. I shudder to ask where you are buying them. IF you say West marine... If all goes well ITmaster will buy me a $700 grill for a house warming gift and I won't have to worry about it. lol
Thanks for the knowledge, when I get ready to set it up, I will know exactly what to do.
Scott

 

[Hermit Scott]

Convienent

Ross, absolutely, I would do more cooking if it was more convienent. That's why I will simply have to have a propane set up before we take a trip. Other wise we will just eat cooler meals until it gets done.

 

[BobM]

Lighting an alcohol stove

I don't have any problem using my alcohol stove as per the instructions. Manuals for most are still available online somewhere. The main risk is that of flare up due to improperly lighting the stove.

Pump up the stove then crack the valve to allow a small amount of alcohol to pool in the burner. Now for the most important part. CLOSE THE VALVE completely. Then light the burner and allow that small pool of alcohol to burn until it is OUT. You must preheat the burner so that the burner will vaporize the ethanol you let in after. Now that the burner is preheated you can crack the valve a bit, light the burner and you are on your way. Each burner must be preheated individually, of course.

Common problems with these units are pump failures. Rebuilt kits might be available for some, but they are pretty simple to deal with. Origo makes a non-pressurized alcohol stove, which is supposed to be safer, but I haven't used one.

As others have sail, I was able to buy denatured ethanol at my local hardware store no problem. Also, a little goes a long way

 

[BobM]

Coffee and tea

Others who discussed how long it takes to heat up a large mass of water are correct, in my experience.

However, I think you can get around this a little by how you handle things. A percolator with 8 cups of water in it takes forever, however if you heat up enough for two cups of coffee in a pot and use a french press the second batch of water will heat up by the time you are ready for more.

If you are more likely to drink lots more coffee than this, and have shore power, an electric coffeemaker might be the best bet, but I'd get one with a carafe rather than a burner for safety's sake. On a boat as old as many are these days, be sure to check your shore power thoroughly for evidence of burning / overload at connection points, especially the main plug. Check your shore power cords as well.