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Monday, August 24, 2020

The Oven Saga

Food on a boat is really important- not just the provisioning but the cooking and preparation too. The Bloke cares very much where his next Sausage Roll is coming from!



A year ago we had a gas plumber inspect our oven. I’d been cooking on a single gas ring because the larger ring had a lot of blue flame, coated the base of pots with carbon and also tended to give off a gassy smell. The operation was improved, and certainly the replacement of the regulator improved overall gas flow but it still wasn’t 100%. I’d become accustomed and adept at juggling pots and setting meal elements aside. 3 curries plus rice for dinner? No problem. 

After our 3 month layover and 6 weeks at the boat yard it was time to start baking again. To my horror, the oven would no longer stay alight! Had something gone wrong with the thermocouple? My work-around was to jam the Saxa Salt shaker in between the stove guard rail and the knob to keep it depressed. It was a work-around of sorts but it troubled The Bloke. In fact it troubled him a lot. Tasty treats were at stake here. 

We decided not to throw more money after bad. The gas ring repair wasn’t a total success and we felt that we might spend yet more sums with an unknown outcome only to still have a 12 year old oven one the verge of further failures. When we eventually sell the boat, purchasers would quite reasonably expect to be able to use 2 burners and not continue with my ‘Heath Robinson’ solution. A new oven it would need to be. Sheesh what an expensive year!

We tried to buy one on-line. It ended in failure and the need to cancel our credit card. What reputable trader sends you this?!!



We eventually sourced one through a known dealer for $500 extra which was delivered to the Keppel Bay Marina. 

From here on our patience was really tested. We were replacing the Eno oven with the most recent version of the same. It should have been a matter of uncoupling the gas hose (the same as for a gas barbecue). Lifting the oven out off it’s gimbal and replacing with the new. But wait - the original oven was fitted in France and commissioned in Australia. Degrees of difficulty introduced right there!

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