Camp Chef LP Stove/Oven

[Captain Smollett]

20#'s of propane lasts me the better part of, if not a whole year.

That does not surprise me at all.

Just to throw some more numbers out for those planning propane systems, we have a 10 lb bottle and it lasts 3-4 months with regular (daily) use for cooking and heating water for clean-up.  That's for four people (bigger meals, more dishes, etc).

Some of the boats come into this marina with enough propane on board to last years...plural.  Amazing.

[Doc Bob]

Capn K my stove is on it's 3rd season and working great!!!!! I don't cook on it as much as the last two seasons as I bought a new (read large) four burner grill for use when I'm at my dock (we own our slip here in AuGres, MI) but still use it for cooking breakfast and when it's too cool or raining. I use two squat 3lb cyl. stored in a converted lazzarette in the cockpit.

[s/v Faith]

Since the good Captain started this thread, the original link has gone dead.  I could not recall which
stove we were discussing here so I found one.

Here is a picture;

[CapnK]

Regarding the size: If I could shave about 6" out of the middle (making the oven space 'shorter', so that overall it wasn't quite so tall), I'd still be using it. It works great.

[Tim]

Do we actually have that much room in our lazarette?  Wait a minute, are you leaving the motor out?

Do you have that locker 'in hand' (when you're not 1000 miles away) allready?  Where did you come across that beauty?  Might have to get some dimensions... ???

Although not permanently affixed (I am still cleaning up and setting mounting bolts) I do have the box and have fitted it on the port side of the motor well. I will have a motor with tankage starboard.  I was able to buy my locker without tank and solenoid directly from Seaward saving myself some bucks, but it appears that they only offer it all together now at around $400  :o
I am rebuilding the lazz and sealing it off  with a thru hull drain for the locker, it is all a very tight fit but doable.

http://www.seawardproducts.com/

[Capt. Tony]

Tim that is a sweet little unit.  Too bad they didn't offer it with the composite tank for the same, or reduced price.  Hey, dream big right?

Kurt, does that mean you are not going to work the CC into your interior or just not at this time?  I vasilate back and forth on this topic (too).  Jim Baldwin has such a nice, simple, compact stove.  A dutch oven makes it an oven simple as that.  But a stove and an oven?  Man, oh man, I could learn to cook...

[CapnK]

Tony, I am still a bit up in the air on this, but don't think I have the room to properly mount the CC stove/oven, and so would need both it *and* a smaller gimballed stove for use in a seaway. That means instead of having 1 object doing 2 functions, I have to have 2 objects doing only 1 function, and there isn't room aboard for that, no matter how nice the hardware...  :-\

Jim Baldwin's Atom Stoves are great, no doubt, and I love the innovation/inspiration he brought to them. I have one of the little Forespar propane swing stoves, but would much prefer an Atom Stove, or a Sea Swing like CJ&L and others here have. The Forespar can only use its own, or other, very small pots - about 6" diameter.

[Capt. Tony]

Ooo!  You fell for the Forespar marketing department too huh? I gotta say, it  looked bigger in the catalog and the on-line photos. 

Ah, I remember it well.  It was like Christmas morning when the package arrived that day.  After I unboxed it, I started to realize there aint much you can do with them little pots and pans.  Even the coffee perkolator is a might bit small for filling a thermos.  That's when I started looking more seriously at Jim's cookers.  There is a lot one can do with a 10" frying pan.  Everything from cooking your dinner to defending your ground.  So I don't know, maybe it's an unknown fear of the 'complexity of kerosene' that keeps me from pulling the trigger on one.  Or maybe I just want an oven that looks like an oven.  Odd when you considers the potential of blowing up the boat just for a pan of muffins!

I'm gonna mock one out of cardboard and see if it can work here.  With gimbal!

[wolfenzee]

I found one of these at a local camping store and got it. Since then at least 4 other people in our marina have got one and I have found out of other sailors that have tried them with favorable results. I have had mine for two years now. It is not hard to gimble them using pop rivets. I still haven't figured a way to put sea rails on yet the though.

[atrometer]

We don't use one on our boat, BUT we do use one camping.  The quality and service of Camp Chef is min my opinion EXCELLENT.  We bought ours on line on Ebay.  It came without a regulator which the seller didn't/wouldn't supply.  I called Camp Chef and they sent me one for FREE - just can't beat that!!!

[Capt. Tony]

Regarding the size: If I could shave about 6" out of the middle (making the oven space 'shorter', so that overall it wasn't quite so tall), I'd still be using it. It works great.

I have been trying to find every reasonable place to mount a Camp Chef in our boat. I started at the companion way worked up one side to the main bulkhead, across and back down the other side and I have come to the same conclusion, Capn.. I found a Taylors 029 which has the "perfect" dimensions (it does burn Kerosine though) but can't find a distributor in the U.S.A. or Canada that stocks them.  I wonder just how difficult it would be to cut 6" out of the oven? ???

[marujo_sortudo]

Saw this deal on a "used" 029 recently:

http://victoria.en.craigslist.ca/boa/2913647574.html

Surprisingly, these guys are the US distributors for Taylors:

http://www.sbimailservice.com/

[Capt. Tony]

At first glance $800 seems high, but if James Baldwin is in the neighborhood of $500, it seems fair.  I'll grant you they are more expensive than my Forespar get up but oh so elegant and not even really comparable.  We're not going to rule it out based on cost alone.

[marujo_sortudo]

Well, if you buy direct from Taylors, you'll find that $800 is a great deal for an 029.  Not sure what they go for in the US, but check on the Euro price in Germany:

http://www.toplicht.de/en/shop/ofen-herd-und-kocher/herd-und-kocher-/petroleumkocher-und-herde-taylors-etc./taylors-petroleumherd-029-mit-grillroehre

I don't really think it's fair to compare to James' stove on price, what with that being a minimalist 1 burner setup, and the Taylors being 2 burners, oven, a large tank, pressure pump, heavily built, etc.  I posted the Taylors ad, because I thought someone here might want to hop on that price...if a Taylors was the match for them.

[Capt. Tony]

Marujo,
That is indeed a great deal for the Taylors.  While I find the Atom stove very elgant and pure in design I am really attracted to the Taylors (as in saying good bye to $800).  I had thought the 029 was the ideal galley stove, but, after contacting the owner I found out the oven is only considered a "warming oven" and not exactly what I was looking for.  What a bummer...well, at least I didn't pay $2700 plus for one...

Even if I decided to bite the bullet for the Taylors 030, which has a burner fired oven, I'd be back to the same dimensions as the Camp Chef which is much more of a stumbling block than the price.  I fully realize there is a significant difference in engineering and build quality between the Camp Chef and Taylors.  And the difference in fuels makes a difference in saftey measures, access and storage, and, cooking, to some extent.  I guess the search continues.  :-\   

[marujo_sortudo]

It seems the dimensions, etc. and space for proper insulation on a small boat are tough for full-on ovens.  I have a propane two-burner stove with oven by P.E. Luke in my boat and was disappointed the first time I fired it up and found it maxed out at about 350 F.  Maybe during a heat wave I could get it up to 400 F  :-\.  Not sure how warm the 029 gets. 

Since I've thought about it more, I think that many (but not all) of the recipes I'd want to cook would be possible in this oven, with some adaptation.  If you end up ovenless, remember that many cruisers successfully bake bread in pressure cookers.  Maybe a folding solar oven to use on deck could be an option, too.  You could probably make your own cheaply.

[CharlieJ]

we baked bread, biscuits, cakes, potatoes (sweet and regular) and canned meats in a pressure cooker, on a single burner kerosene stove. Works just fine.

[Capt. Tony]

I have a propane two-burner stove with oven by P.E. Luke in my boat and was disappointed the first time I fired it up and found it maxed out at about 350 F.  Maybe during a heat wave I could get it up to 400 F  :-\.  Not sure how warm the 029 gets.

That would be frustrating. 

From the Taylors website it sounds like the warming oven can reach 300 degrees.  Not really warm enough to bake much but it can keep something warm while the rest of the meal is cooking (now there's a news flash).  Being it is a two burner stove, one burner can heat the pressure cooker "oven" while the other tends to another pot or pan.  I'll have to check the dimension of my pressure cooker.  if it is less than 12" in diameter it should be fine.  If not...does anyone know of a 3/4 sized, quality pressure cooker?

[CharlieJ]

From the TSBB (Sailboat Owners.com) chandlery-

http://shop.trailersailor.com/prod.php?50511/Fagor%20Splendid%20Pressure%20Cookers

also, from the same place-

http://shop.trailersailor.com/prod.php?50510/Fagor%20Duo%20Pressure%20Cookers

[Wade]

Hello All,
     This is my first post. I wanted to add to the discussion by saying I am a live aboard and have used the camp chef aboard for over three years now. It works very well. At about a yr I had to replace the thermocoupling. I think it cost about 10 or 15 dollars. The outer casing gets hot to the touch when using the oven so I have an asbestos lining in the one place whre the case touches wood. The burners on stove top and oven adjust from high to low with no in between. This has not been a problem but I wish the high was a little higher on the stove top. I didn't gimbal it but it would be easy enough to do.  For a couple hundred bucks it has been one of the best "live aboard upgrades" I have made.  The boat had an electric/alch origo stove top before.  I love this site,   Sail on,  Wade