Getting Hot Over Stoves

Murphy has a sister named Erin who is in the shipping business, and she has her own ‘Law’: The more trouble and the greater the distance it is to have something shipped to your boat, the more likely it is to arrive damaged.

Gene and Sheri Seybold of the Stockton- then Honolulu-based Esprit 37 Reflections, who have been out cruising for ages and are currently at Rebak Marina Island Resort in Malaysia, know all about Erin’s Law.

"The Mariner Regal stove we had from New Zealand was 34 years old, and despite having had it refurbished while in Auckland in 2003, it needed to be replaced. We loved the stove — the oven could accommodate a 21-lb turkey! — and would have replaced it with the same had the manufacturer not gone out of business. We spent a lot of time researching a replacement, and decided on the Dickinson Mediterranean because it has the largest oven we could find. We placed a special order with West Marine via Noel at the marina here. The stove was to be shipped on a pallet via air.

"After waiting three weeks, the stove arrived. It was not, however, on a pallet, and the box looked like it had been dropped from the airplane! The oven door was pushed to the side and there were dents in the sides and back. Needless to say we were very disappointed. Noel contacted West Marine and UPS, and West is sending a replacement ASAP. So we have three more weeks of anticipation, but thanks to Noel’s perseverance and West Marine’s great customer service, at least we have hope."

Alas, the Seybolds’ hope was misplaced, for when the replacement stove arrived three weeks later, it again wasn’t on a pallet as requested, and had damage similar to the first one’s! For some reason West Marine had gotten rid of the pallet, despite the fact the Seybolds had specified the stove be shipped on a pallet and that they were willing to pay extra for it. What the future will hold for cooking on Reflections is unclear.

It just so happens that Profligate’s Force 10 three-burner stove — and in particular the broiler and the knobs — has not been working well for a long time. The publisher mentioned this on his Facebook page and got a lot of response. It would seem that stove problems are much more prevalent on boats than in houses, and mostly frequently with ovens and broilers. No doubt it’s because of the marine environment.

Fin Beven, one of Profligate’s frequent Baja Ha-Ha crew, hired a stove expert to go over the stove on his Cal 40 Radiant. "Now it works as though it were brand new," he says. With a new stove costing about $1,500, the Wanderer went looking for a stove repairman in the San Diego area, but didn’t have luck finding one. The one recommended by Force 10 said he didn’t work on stoves.

So the Wanderer went to the West Marine Super Store in San Diego, and lo and behold, they had the Force 10 three-burner stove he was looking for right there on the shelf. The Wanderer called Force 10 in Canada to find out if the trim from his old stove could be used as trim on the new stove. Nobody answered the phone, and nobody has called back yet. Maybe it’s a holiday in Canada.

While in the West Marine store again this morning, the Wanderer took some measurements of the Force 10 stove — and noticed something disturbing. It has an unsightly dimple in the stainless right on the face of the stove! He felt an instant fellowship with Gene and Sheri. As imperfect as he himself is, the Wanderer is pretty accepting of imperfections. But at $1,500 for a stove, he’s not so forgiving.