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(Parallax) wrote in message . com...
When I bought my boat 10 yrs ago (it was 10 yrs old then), it had a
pressurized kenyon alchohol stove that didnt work. I got it to work
but decided that such pressurized alchohol stoves are probably one of
the most dangerous things on a boat considering the necessity of
priming with a substance whose flames are frequently difficult to see.
So, I just took out all its innards and dropped large cans of sterno
into the empty burner wells and used longer screws to make the burners
stand off high enough. We have managed to cook simple backpacking
meals on sterno for 5 so it does sort of work but I doubt you could
fix a real meal on it.
This got me thinking about the Origo non-pressurized stoves but they
are very expensive and involves removing the old stove with possible
damage to cabinetry. Why not make an Origo style drop in replacement
for the burner wells for older style pressurized stoves? I saw an
unpressurized alchohol backpacking stove that could be modified to fit
the burner wells, it would need some glass wool in the alchohol
reservoir to keep the fuel from sloshing. Not sure it would provide
much heat though. I have considered making a larger replacement
specifically for this purpose.
Is this worth doing? Would it sell as a product? Do Origo style
stoves work well enough? Would product liability insurance be a
killer? What do y'all think?

I am not familiar with how many models/types of pressurized alochol
stove there are out there. I would imagine that liability and fit
would become issues.

Compared to other new marine stoves, the non-pressurized Origos don't
seem too expensive. I would doubt a drop unit that fit in older stove
housing, if there was market for such an thing, would be much cheaper.

I have an Origo 4000 on my boat. The boat came with it. My wife does
most of the cooking and it took her a while to get used to it. Her
biggest complaint was how long it took to do things like boil water.
While it still doesn't get as hot as an electric or propane stove, we
found that better cookware helps tremendously.

I really hate the idea of using propane inside the boat (though I know
a lot of people do it without exploding), and I like being able to
cook without the generator running (though we need the genset for the
microwave should there be a need for it.)

We actually don't use the stove that often. It is supposed to go for
3 to 4 hours but I fill it prior to each trip out (if we plan to
cook). You can't refill it when it's hot so I figure I am less likley
to run out of fuel with dinner half done if I just fill it prior to
going out.

The Origo would be different than the camp stove you mentioned. The
Origo fuel containers won't slosh fuel around as they are filled with
material that makes them "spillproof". Origo claims you can turn them
upside and and they won't spill any fuel. That's true as long as you
don't have them upside down for more than a few seconds.