Mmmm. Can the smell of freshly baked cookies really be topped? That delicious smell was something we’d never been able to enjoy with our ancient Mariner stove (circa 1983). The previous owners never used the oven for more than broiling and left instructions on a tiny scrap of paper (in Arabic) on how it worked. Now the burners worked just fine, but how many meals can one make on the stove top? We were way over soup and spaghetti, so it was time for a change. We gave fixing the old range a solid try and even consulted with experts on how to get the oven to heat beyond 275°, but alas, it was just her time to go. I did extensive research on marine LP ranges and came to the conclusion that a Seaward Hillerange “Euro” two-burner model would be our best bet (gimbaled, of course). Now Force 10 is said to make a dandy range, but I wasn’t fond of a few things. For one, the top burners had different BTU capacities (5,000 and 8,000). What the heck? I also wasn’t in love with the look & feel (a tad on the chintzy side). So Seaward it was.
We’d spent some time at Sure Marine’s booth at the boat show and snagged a Seaward brochure with special “boat show pricing” on the Hillerange model (formerly called the Princess), but at that time, we weren’t ready to buy. Boats are notoriously odd-sized with funny angles & nooks that make buying (and installing) things quite a challenge. Just because we have a square hole doesn’t mean a square peg will fit (in fact, odds are it will take three trips to Fisheries Supply for a hunk of teak, 16 brackets and some epoxy). That being said, we took careful measurements to make sure the shiny new Hillerange would actually fit once we brought her home.
Armed with our measurements, our “boat show pricing” brochure (3+ weeks post-boat show) and a well-rehearsed sales pitch for why they should honor the low price even though the boat show was long over, we headed to Sure Marine in Ballard. I was prepared to give my speech when the salesman said, “Weren’t you guys at the boat show?” Yes! He then offered up the special “boat show price” before I even got a chance to say anything about it. Cool! (As a side note, there is no possible way that I could ever make a living in crime. My hair is just too darn obvious, and I’m recognized everywhere.) Anyway, we loaded up the stove (which only fit in our car after being unboxed and wedged in the trunk) and headed back to the boat, all the while preparing our noses for the aroma of warm chocolate chip cookies.
The first lesson to be learned when owning a boat is that projects take anywhere from 3 hours to 45 days longer than you plan. (Well, maybe that’s the second lesson. The first is probably that when you stick the word “marine” in front of anything, there’s a 200% markup on the price… minimum.) So those chocolate chip cookies would have to wait while we took three trips to Fisheries Supply for a hunk of teak, 16 brackets and some epoxy. Oh, and stainless steel screws. And teak oil. Aaron did a stellar job of building and installing the mounts for the gimbals. For those of you confused by this term, a gimbaled range is mounted at two points, one on each side, which enables it to swing forward-and-back on those points. This keeps the range level while the boat is underway and allows tasty meals to be prepared by those brave enough to heat food to scalding temperatures whist careening over the waves. When the gimbaling isn’t required, a pin locks the range into a stable position. Now as I was saying, Aaron did a bang-up job with the install, and after patiently (not-so patiently) waiting for about a month, we were finally able to light the oven, preheat it to 375° and bake up those chocolate chip cookies. Boy, was it worth it. Freshly baked cookies on a cozy boat—now what’s better than that?
We’d spent some time at Sure Marine’s booth at the boat show and snagged a Seaward brochure with special “boat show pricing” on the Hillerange model (formerly called the Princess), but at that time, we weren’t ready to buy. Boats are notoriously odd-sized with funny angles & nooks that make buying (and installing) things quite a challenge. Just because we have a square hole doesn’t mean a square peg will fit (in fact, odds are it will take three trips to Fisheries Supply for a hunk of teak, 16 brackets and some epoxy). That being said, we took careful measurements to make sure the shiny new Hillerange would actually fit once we brought her home.
Armed with our measurements, our “boat show pricing” brochure (3+ weeks post-boat show) and a well-rehearsed sales pitch for why they should honor the low price even though the boat show was long over, we headed to Sure Marine in Ballard. I was prepared to give my speech when the salesman said, “Weren’t you guys at the boat show?” Yes! He then offered up the special “boat show price” before I even got a chance to say anything about it. Cool! (As a side note, there is no possible way that I could ever make a living in crime. My hair is just too darn obvious, and I’m recognized everywhere.) Anyway, we loaded up the stove (which only fit in our car after being unboxed and wedged in the trunk) and headed back to the boat, all the while preparing our noses for the aroma of warm chocolate chip cookies.
The first lesson to be learned when owning a boat is that projects take anywhere from 3 hours to 45 days longer than you plan. (Well, maybe that’s the second lesson. The first is probably that when you stick the word “marine” in front of anything, there’s a 200% markup on the price… minimum.) So those chocolate chip cookies would have to wait while we took three trips to Fisheries Supply for a hunk of teak, 16 brackets and some epoxy. Oh, and stainless steel screws. And teak oil. Aaron did a stellar job of building and installing the mounts for the gimbals. For those of you confused by this term, a gimbaled range is mounted at two points, one on each side, which enables it to swing forward-and-back on those points. This keeps the range level while the boat is underway and allows tasty meals to be prepared by those brave enough to heat food to scalding temperatures whist careening over the waves. When the gimbaling isn’t required, a pin locks the range into a stable position. Now as I was saying, Aaron did a bang-up job with the install, and after patiently (not-so patiently) waiting for about a month, we were finally able to light the oven, preheat it to 375° and bake up those chocolate chip cookies. Boy, was it worth it. Freshly baked cookies on a cozy boat—now what’s better than that?
Here's Aaron polishing and prepping the area pre-install.
Looks outstanding. Are we going to have Bella Star cookies for the going away party??
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely! They're $1 each or 5 for $3.
ReplyDeleteThis means you guys can have us over for dinner now, right?
ReplyDelete