Any suggestions on replacing galley cooker?

[Howell and James]

We are the owners of a Cape Dory 33, 'Ragtime'. We have what is obviously the original Hill Range alcohol cooker. Sadly this has come to the end of it's life with all the pipes to the top burners with pin holes of rust, one completely inoperable. What replacement cookers have other people used? We considered going over to gas but this would be complicated with insurance demanding leak proof lockers for the bottles.

Our boat is based in Wales, U.K. and there are very few alcohol stoves here, all smaller than our current one.

Any suggestions, tips ideas would be gratefully received.

Jenny Howell

[O'Neal]

I replaced the old alcohol stove with a Force 10 gas stove in my CD-30C. The American Standard 2 burner range (model #63251) fit into the existing space with little modification required. On their website, they have all their range dimensions so you can determine what will fit in the CD-33 galley space best. I had to move the gimbal mount pads down a few centimeters and it fits perfectly. In the picture below, the stove top is covered by what passes for a navigation table on my boat. The cover slides in to slots behind the stove when cooking. The "nav table" was the only reason I had to adjust the position of the gimbals.


I realize you were interested in a replacement alcohol stove, but I didn't find too many available, especially those that fit the existing space very well. The Origo 6000 is close, but it's about 2.5 cm too short in width and would require modified gimbal mounting pads. It might also have to be raised slightly because it is slightly taller than the American standard. I hope this helps.

[Steve Laume]

Nothing to do with the stove but I noticed the pretty porcelain knob and the pull cord on the cabinet under the sink. I could never get that cabinet open and drilled out the blank finger pull so my finger will fit into it making it possible to open the door. I intended to put a flap on the inside to cover the hole but it doesn't bother me too much as is. What really bothered me was not being able to open the cabinet. It is interesting to see how other people have handled the problem.

That is a really nice stove, Steve.