Best of all it fits under the sliding countertop too. This frees up space in the oven compartment storage area and allows easy access to a pan I use quite often when cooking.
Showing posts with label stove. Show all posts
Showing posts with label stove. Show all posts
Thursday, August 07, 2014
AN AHA STORAGE MOMENT IN THE GALLEY
After dismantling major portions of the Gas Range on BIANKA I had some new storage options. I discovered one by accident last time I was on board. Seems one of my favorite cooking pans a 12 inch cast iron skillet stores away quite nicely sitting on top one the new burner:
Monday, April 14, 2014
RETHINKING PROPANE USE ON BOARD: Dismantling the Hillerange Stove Part Two
NOTE: BEFORE WORKING ON ANY PROPANE SYSTEM MAKE SURE THE PROPANE TANK VALVE IS CLOSED AND THE SUPPLY LINES/HOSE ARE DISCONNECTED FROM THE TANK.
A week after spraying some PB Blaster on the screws and flanges. I was back on board hoping it had done a good job penetrating the dissimilar screw and manifold flanges. It worked pretty well on the twenty seven year old stove. I was able to remove all the burners easily: with no problem even though the flanges were pretty rusted:
But other items like the Gas manifold pipe and the oven gas valve each had one of the stainless steel screws that would not budge. Here a photo of the items I wanted to remove from the stove top as I would no longer be using them:
After removing the burners I started on removing the Gas Manifold. Because one of the screws on one flange did not budge I used a Dremel Tool with a reinforced cutting disk to cut through the flange:
Before continuing I also disconnected the hose that connects up to the manifold using a 17 mm wrench at the back of the stove:
Even with those steps it still required a little extra "persuasion" to fully remove the manifold:
The last item I needed to remove was the Gas Valve which also had one screw that was bonded to the unit. But, I was able to pry it up easy enough and remove the valve.
I was amazed at the amount of crumbs located underneath the valve. But, I guess after over a quarter century of cooking things will accumulate:
A quick vacuum took care of most of it. With the burners and manifold finally removed from the stove:
I was able to do a quick check to see if the Coleman PowerPack 1-Burner Stove
I planned to use from now for cooking would fit on top of the now partially dismantled stove:
Success! I was also able to close the sliding counter over it. So now all I need to do is a good cleanup of the remaining grime and then move onto the oven area of the stove to see what I can remove there.
A week after spraying some PB Blaster on the screws and flanges. I was back on board hoping it had done a good job penetrating the dissimilar screw and manifold flanges. It worked pretty well on the twenty seven year old stove. I was able to remove all the burners easily: with no problem even though the flanges were pretty rusted:
But other items like the Gas manifold pipe and the oven gas valve each had one of the stainless steel screws that would not budge. Here a photo of the items I wanted to remove from the stove top as I would no longer be using them:
After removing the burners I started on removing the Gas Manifold. Because one of the screws on one flange did not budge I used a Dremel Tool with a reinforced cutting disk to cut through the flange:
Before continuing I also disconnected the hose that connects up to the manifold using a 17 mm wrench at the back of the stove:
Even with those steps it still required a little extra "persuasion" to fully remove the manifold:
The last item I needed to remove was the Gas Valve which also had one screw that was bonded to the unit. But, I was able to pry it up easy enough and remove the valve.
I was amazed at the amount of crumbs located underneath the valve. But, I guess after over a quarter century of cooking things will accumulate:
A quick vacuum took care of most of it. With the burners and manifold finally removed from the stove:
I was able to do a quick check to see if the Coleman PowerPack 1-Burner Stove
I planned to use from now for cooking would fit on top of the now partially dismantled stove:Success! I was also able to close the sliding counter over it. So now all I need to do is a good cleanup of the remaining grime and then move onto the oven area of the stove to see what I can remove there.
DISMANTLING THE HILLERANGE STOVE PART THREE CLICK HERE
DISMANTLING THE HILLERANGE STOVE PART ONE CLICK HERE
DISMANTLING THE HILLERANGE STOVE PART ONE CLICK HERE
Saturday, November 09, 2013
END OF THE SEASON THOUGHTS OF AN ELECTRIC SAILOR
BIANKA is back on land and stored for the winter. It was a fun season though I did not cruise as much as in previous seasons. I did spend a lot of time on the boat pretty much living on board for the past six months. The electric propulsion system is still going strong and has once again been maintenance free all season. The AGM batteries are still holding up after six seasons as well.
-1.jpg)
A lot of projects I thought I would finish never got started. That's just the way it is when an hunting Osprey grabs your attention or a refreshing swim and a nap take precedence on ones day on board. Though I did manage to rewire the solar Bimini a project which was long overdue. I did add a few new items on board. I decided to replace the Honda BP 2 outboard that got drowned by Superstorm Sandy last fall. It was replaced by an Electric Paddle outboard which I will post a review about in the near future. I also installed an AIMS 48 volt 1500 Watt Pure Sine Wave Inverter
. The inverter was purchased to be able to charge the Electric Paddle battery from BIANKA's 48 volt propulsion battery bank but, I bought a larger wattage unit than those needs in order to use it for other devices in the future. I will post an evaluation on that soon too.Most of this years action centered around the galley. A spring outfitting discovery of a corroded Gas header in BIANKA's twenty four year old stove caused me to rethink how I use propane on board.
That yikes moment caused me to experiment with alternatives to using the stove on board and I am happy that both Plan A and Plan B both worked out well for my cooking needs this season and so I will probably use them in the future. Another advantage of my new propane usage plan is some energy savings. I plan to spend some time this winter dismantling parts of the old stove to see if I can incorporate the new cooking burner into it's space.
Another discovery from the gallery was using some freeze dried items in meals for the first time. Namely freeze dried Blueberries and Bacon Flavored Textured Vegetable Protein TVP
.. Both products look likely to be items I will carry on board in the future as they mean less trips to land for provisions when cruising. The Blueberries tasted good straight out of the can for a quick snack and also worked well when one has a hankering for Blueberry pancakes:
The Bacon flavored TVP added some nice bacon flavor as well as being somewhat healthier than meat based bacon. Also it won't spoil as rapidly and and has no grease to get rid of. It worked well mixed in with scrambled eggs and especially added some nice flavor and texture to old standby meals of Ramen Noodles. With the success of these two freeze dried products I plan to expand the selection on board next season. Though the smaller can of Blueberries runs out quickly the two pound can of the Bacon flavored TVP was still half full at the end of the season. A double order of Blueberries and dividing up the TVP into smaller containers may be the plan for next season.
Now that the off season is here I hope to get a started on some of the projects I never got to during the summer. Because "messing about in boats" is always good no matter what the season.
Wednesday, July 24, 2013
RETHINKING PROPANE ON BOARD: PLAN A
Tweet
After I made the discovery of some severe corrosion on the gas feeder pipe and burners on my boats original marine stove. I decided to look at some other alternatives to repairing it. Since it was already over twenty five years old and who knows what other issues I might find. Since one of my previous backups on board was a Coleman PefectFlow 1-Burner Stove
that worked well:
But, as you can see it was not the best choice to use on board a rocking boat. It was an emergency purchase one evening when my propane ran out in the middle of cooking and I needed something fast. It works well for cooking but, is too high and unstable for cooking underway or in a rocking anchorage. In my search for a stove alternative I found that Coleman also makes the Coleman PowerPack 1-Burner Stove which is much better suited to using on board a boat in my opinion than the PerfectFlow unit.
So I ordered one and spent the past two weeks using it on board.
It has a fairly large flat base but, that's what makes it very stable. Though it does take up a lot of room but, it is portable and still small enough for me to take it out and use it on the cockpit table if I did not want to heat up the cabin on a hot summer day:
It also has a large metal pot holder frame with raised hoops on each end. This helps keep pots secure on the burner which is a plus on board a boat. The burner fits all of the pots I use in my cooking on board. From my favorite cast 12 inch cast iron skillet and tea kettle:
To my four quart pressure cooker:
One has to allow a little more room for the one pound propane canister and metal connection tube which is not shown in the photos. I have not yet decided whether I will use the burner on the pull out counter on my boat or on top of the unused stove top:
Placing it on the stovetop will allow me to use gimbal function of the stove if I need to cook underway which I don't often do. But, it is an option.
CAPT. MIKE'S USAGE NOTES: I've used the Coleman Power Pack one burner stove for two weeks now. It works as well or better than the built in three burner stove that came with the boat. It heats water fast and used it for my cooked meals for the two weeks. I only used a one pound propane tank for the two weeks before running out. Though it is summer and did not use the burner for every meal. Still even if a a one pound canister only lasted a week twelve of them would last for three months of cruising. The cannisters are readily available at least here in the states. I've found them in all kinds of stores from big box superstores to local hardware stores. Coleman also sells the Coleman High-Pressure Propane Hose and Adapter
that allows you to connect the burner to a larger propane tank which I have not tried yet. In short it looks like the Coleman PowerPack 1-Burner Stove will work out fine for my cooking needs in the galley and there is no need to put money into repairing the twenty six year old stove on board.
Tweet
After I made the discovery of some severe corrosion on the gas feeder pipe and burners on my boats original marine stove. I decided to look at some other alternatives to repairing it. Since it was already over twenty five years old and who knows what other issues I might find. Since one of my previous backups on board was a Coleman PefectFlow 1-Burner Stove
that worked well:But, as you can see it was not the best choice to use on board a rocking boat. It was an emergency purchase one evening when my propane ran out in the middle of cooking and I needed something fast. It works well for cooking but, is too high and unstable for cooking underway or in a rocking anchorage. In my search for a stove alternative I found that Coleman also makes the Coleman PowerPack 1-Burner Stove which is much better suited to using on board a boat in my opinion than the PerfectFlow unit.So I ordered one and spent the past two weeks using it on board.
It has a fairly large flat base but, that's what makes it very stable. Though it does take up a lot of room but, it is portable and still small enough for me to take it out and use it on the cockpit table if I did not want to heat up the cabin on a hot summer day:
It also has a large metal pot holder frame with raised hoops on each end. This helps keep pots secure on the burner which is a plus on board a boat. The burner fits all of the pots I use in my cooking on board. From my favorite cast 12 inch cast iron skillet and tea kettle:
To my four quart pressure cooker:
One has to allow a little more room for the one pound propane canister and metal connection tube which is not shown in the photos. I have not yet decided whether I will use the burner on the pull out counter on my boat or on top of the unused stove top:
Placing it on the stovetop will allow me to use gimbal function of the stove if I need to cook underway which I don't often do. But, it is an option.
CAPT. MIKE'S USAGE NOTES: I've used the Coleman Power Pack one burner stove for two weeks now. It works as well or better than the built in three burner stove that came with the boat. It heats water fast and used it for my cooked meals for the two weeks. I only used a one pound propane tank for the two weeks before running out. Though it is summer and did not use the burner for every meal. Still even if a a one pound canister only lasted a week twelve of them would last for three months of cruising. The cannisters are readily available at least here in the states. I've found them in all kinds of stores from big box superstores to local hardware stores. Coleman also sells the Coleman High-Pressure Propane Hose and Adapter
that allows you to connect the burner to a larger propane tank which I have not tried yet. In short it looks like the Coleman PowerPack 1-Burner Stove will work out fine for my cooking needs in the galley and there is no need to put money into repairing the twenty six year old stove on board.Tweet
Sunday, July 07, 2013
RETHINKING PROPANE ON BOARD
Tweet
I ran out of propane just before the end of last season. Rather than refill my 11 pound propane tank I figured I'd use one of my backup systems either my Coleman PefectFlow 1-Burner Stove or the portable Butane cooktop to use for cooking until the end of the season. Which I did with no problems even while moving back on board following superstorm Sandy. This spring while getting BIANKA ready for the season I had surprise that was somewhere between "uh oh" and "yikes".
While cleaning under the stoves stainless steel cooktop I had found the header pipe that feeds the propane to the stove burners and oven had become severely corroded:
If this pipe starts leaking it would start dumping propane into the cabin when I was cooking or using the water heater and that's not a good thing. While I was looking at the problem I also notice some of the burners were showing signs of corrosion too::
Looks like a little more replacement costs will need to be added into the fix.
Since the stove is 26 years old it is to be expected. Then I began thinking do I really want to pour $100 plus into the propane stove that is already 26 years old? The hose that supplies the propane gas to the stove is also twenty six years old. Maybe that should be replaced too? Then there is the Paloma on demand hot water heater also twenty six years old. How much life is left in that unit? So with these questions in my mind I decided to change the way I use propane on board BIANKA and not repair the stove. I'll be posting on my plans in future posts.
Tweet
I ran out of propane just before the end of last season. Rather than refill my 11 pound propane tank I figured I'd use one of my backup systems either my Coleman PefectFlow 1-Burner Stove
or the portable Butane cooktop to use for cooking until the end of the season. Which I did with no problems even while moving back on board following superstorm Sandy. This spring while getting BIANKA ready for the season I had surprise that was somewhere between "uh oh" and "yikes".While cleaning under the stoves stainless steel cooktop I had found the header pipe that feeds the propane to the stove burners and oven had become severely corroded:
If this pipe starts leaking it would start dumping propane into the cabin when I was cooking or using the water heater and that's not a good thing. While I was looking at the problem I also notice some of the burners were showing signs of corrosion too::
Looks like a little more replacement costs will need to be added into the fix.
Since the stove is 26 years old it is to be expected. Then I began thinking do I really want to pour $100 plus into the propane stove that is already 26 years old? The hose that supplies the propane gas to the stove is also twenty six years old. Maybe that should be replaced too? Then there is the Paloma on demand hot water heater also twenty six years old. How much life is left in that unit? So with these questions in my mind I decided to change the way I use propane on board BIANKA and not repair the stove. I'll be posting on my plans in future posts.
Tweet
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
