Building a galley stove

[sneuman]

I''d like to make the appropriate additions to a propane (butane) camp stove to make it acceptable for use aboard in rolling seas. I live in Thailand, so could have it refit cheaply here. I like those small stoves, the compact nature of the fuel ... and I don''t want to spend a fortune on an expensive galley stove.

Any Web sites, drawings or details of commercially available clips, latches, whatever that would help me make the changes to an existing stove would be appreciated.

[starcresttoo]

I have a 3 burner kerosene stove and oven with an external fuel tank.I removed all of the burners and hardware and replaced them with walmart bought propane camp stove burners.with extended fuel hoses each burner runs off of a small standard civilian issue 2 for 3.89 expendable use once and thro-away bottles.works great no shmuts all over the headliner and very safe indeed.the whole conversion with 3 burners and hoses cost less than 75 bux.

[paulk]

What you''re doing is really a custom installation. If the camp stove you have is strong enough, all you need to do is mount it on gimbals. If you can get two pieces of stainless steel strap or tangs, and bend them into L shapes. Attach the bottoms in place where you want the stove and drill a single hole in each of the sides so the stove swings on the (short) bolts you put there. The tricky part is determining where the center of gravity of the stove is. (How high or low the swinging pivot goes.) You want it low enough so that it swings enough to keep it flat, but not so low that things get flung off. You want it high enough to swing slowly, (so as to keep things on it) but not so high that they don''t stay flat. Try to experiment with different positions, to see how they work. The whole thing also has to fit (and swing) in the space available. Remember that pots on the stove will change the center of gravity.
Many manufacturerers put weights in the bottoms of their stoves to help with these issues. Since yours is a custom effort, you will have to do some trial and error and see what works. Clips & latches are going to be difficult to find and probably not worth the effort, since they may not be strong enough.

[boatbum]

With the "rigging" you''ve done, and using 2 lb. disposable propane tanks below decks, no sniffer or safety devices, but what the hell, you did it cheap, how about just sending an e-mail once a month so we know you are still alive.

[sneuman]

I find a small hairspray-sized canister of fuel in the ventilated cabin a whole lot safer than the huge propane tank stored (forgotten) below decks that I removed when I got the boat. That thing scared the hell out of me.