Wally gets a new stove

Mike Dunn, Wally 41VT02

I looked at several forums for comments on stoves and the Force 10 for the most part was highly rated. Force 10 has five sizes in the three burner. One of the feature I really liked is the oven door, when opened, slides under the stove to be out of the way. Part of the problem on Wally is the stove "alcove" was not very tall. Dickinson also makes a nice stove, but they were too tall. I chose the North American Compact size. The stove originally installed was listed as a RV stove and although it worked fine, it was showing its age. The new stoves that use a thermocouple on each burner are much safer especially for use on a boat. Older stoves the ovens are not known to work well for setting the temperature. Basically setting the oven might be a fixed 53% open on the gas valve. So baking was pretty much a guess. The newer stoves actually have a thermostat that turns the gas off and on to hold temperatures.

The old stove was mounted on two teak "rails or shelves" that were screwed to the side of the stove alcove. When the old stove was removed, I found the rails were also glued in place. That really let the wind out of the sails for me. The rails were glued to the nicely finished countertop edge. I found out the glue used was a red glue that remained soft and I was able to get them off with little cosmetic damage to the countertop edge. The entire alcove was lined in stainless steel sheets and very well done. Since the stove in Wally was mounted facing aft, using a gimbal was not an option. In the Force 10 drawings, they allowed 2.3 inches under the stove for room for it to swing on the gimbal. I mounted it to the bottom on the alcove on the front of the stove and on the top of the back of the stove. It is secure and gives plenty of room around the stove for air to circulate.

I purchased it from Fisheries Supply in Seattle. Their wholesale cost was $1273.38. Retail is listed as $1850. Defender had them at $1499 and I believe West Marine was the same. Shipping weight is 81 pounds. I picked it up locally and paid sales tax. The stove has two 3400 btu burners and one 8200 btu burners which are sealed for easier cleanup. It comes with the pot holders that keep the pots in place as the boats rock and roll. The four burner is the same size and about $100 more. The two burner isn't as deep and is about $100 less. The only poor part of the design is the stove uses one AA battery to power the spark circuit for lighting the stove. The battery is under the stove in back which will require removing the stove to change the battery. I have already ordered a 12 volt to 1.5 volt converter to hard wire the stove to the 12 volt light on the propane solenoid valve control. They claim the battery will last several years, I'll be ready when it dies. I'd be happy to help any of the Tuggers that are interested in an upgrade.