ALCOHOL TO PROPANE STOVE REFIT
Part 1 -- The Decision
Date: April 8, 1999
From: Paul Uhl endvr32@endeavourowners.com
As I mentioned in the 3/99 Newsletter, when we first bought our Endeavour 32 one of the issues we had was with the alcohol stove that came with the boat. To assuage our concerns the broker expounded the virtues of alcohol; how safe it was, and that we wouldn't use it much anyway. He also noted that we should buy the 'boat' and not the stove, something which could be upgraded at a later date. Well, he was mostly correct, the only exception being that we wouldn't use the stove. You see, Barb is a bit of a cook, and now that we have a crew (3 ravenous boys), the demands are quite different and simple pleasures like boiling water became a neccessity ;-).
We're primarly coastal cruisers on Lake Michigan. The majority of our sailing is day sailing with several long weekends and the proverbial 1 to 2 week trip during in the summer. Our boat sits on a mooring in front of Chicago's downtown area and doesn't have access to the conveniences found in most harbors. No shore power, running water, etc. unless we go away on a trip. In other words we depend upon the the boat and its equipment for our 'comforts'. This was fine before kids (or as I call it, B.C.--before children) when after work Barb and I would go out for sunset sails in front of Chicago's skyline just by ourselves. Wine, cheese, crackers--oh those were the days! Then friends and family started to come out with us and finally, we added 3 of our own kids. Our oldest son Eric (now 9) went on his first sailing trip at 3 months old, strapped into a car seat which was buckled to the mast step below. Any way, with 3 pre-adolescent boys, more and more friends sailing with us, and longer sailing trips in our future, the decision to switch to a galley that we could depend upon was really made for us. Necessity has a funny way of doing that. In the meantime we've become quite proficient at bringing easily prepared foods and doing wounderous things on a gimbaled baby Weber grill. However, it occured to us over the last two summers that this way of doing things had its limits and for the sake of 'family peace', we (I) finally had to make the switch.
In any case, I began thinking seriously about doing this in at the beginning of the summer of '97. We had added a roller furling unit the previous year out of frustration from using hank on jibs and sailing with our then 5, 4, and 2yr old children--somthing I don't think I would do again. We added the roller furling unit to enable us to keep sailing (ease of use) as well as for a factor of safety.
What is it they say, a boat is a list?
Part 2 -- Specifying the System Part 4 -- Other Owners Comments
