Best Oven for Baking

[Wyn2joy]

We live aboard our boat and continuously cruise the system. Our galley came with a Country Leisure Midi Prima oven and it is pure crap. It does a better job of heating the entire boat than it does of holding enough heat with which to do any serious baking. It takes on average 2 and half hours to bak two round layer cakes--something that only takes about thirty five minutes in a conventional home oven.

 

I am looking for serious advice on purchasing a new LPG oven which meets the boat safety certificate requirements and manages to cook properly. I used to have a catering business and I miss making my own home made breads. I wonder if it is possible to install a conventinal home oven on a boat?

 

My husband hasn't a clue about where to look or what brand to consider so any ideas are much apprecaiated!

[Grace and Favour]

We have a basic New World (I think) oven, and like you , are looking to replace. (because the heat distribution really isn't particularly good

 

However, even with this we bake a wide range of european breads - baguettes, ciabatta, pain de mie, brioche, challah, sourdough and fruit breads

 

It simply takes more fussing about (and errors) than using a decent oven

Edited February 9, 2014 by Grace & Favour
for spilling

[Wyn2joy]

Hi Grace & Favour,

I can bake cakes but as I said it takes a lot of faffing about and hours and hours to get itdown. I don't want to spend hours babysitting baked goods. I've been looking online and the Canon Pro60 60 CM gas oven looks promising. The next thing to do is find a place wehre we could actually view one and measure it to see if it we can make it fit in the galley.

[Grace and Favour]

Hi Grace & Favour,

I can bake cakes but as I said it takes a lot of faffing about and hours and hours to get itdown. I don't want to spend hours babysitting baked goods. I've been looking online and the Canon Pro60 60 CM gas oven looks promising. The next thing to do is find a place wehre we could actually view one and measure it to see if it we can make it fit in the galley.

If you contact Canon they'll give you stockist details in your area (hopefully)

[Caprifool]

Width: 595 mm

Height: 907 mm

Depth: 622 mm

[nicknorman]

We have a Baumatic full sized domestic gas fan oven on our boat. It's great and beats the hell out of a caravan oven! Unfortunately it's not made any more, but most modern gas ovens are suitable for a boat since they have the necessary flame failure device (sometimes call flame supervision i think) required for BSS, because it's also required for houses of multiple occupancy / flats.

[Alex&Derek]

We have a domestic Beko (BDVG592W), with main oven, top oven and grill. Have had it just over a year, and we're really happy with it, although the conversion to LPG and installation ended up costing more than the oven itself! We do lots of baking - bread, buns, cake, rolls, loaves, biscuits, pizza... I usually have to reduce the cooking time slightly for cakes. Anything that takes up the whole oven tray (scones, muffins, pizza) I usually turn half way through, but apart from that no babysitting needed. Has got flame failure device and passed its first boat safety check 6 months ago.

 

Alex

[Odana]

We have a full size New World fan oven and separate grill. And a five burner hob on top. Needs the inverter on to run fan and a tad bigger than standard boat cookers but so worth it to have decent cooking equipment after 12 yrs of compromise with smaller boaty kit!

To add... I can certify that Grace and Favour's oven delivers most excellent breads!

[Grace and Favour]

We have a full size New World fan oven and separate grill. And a five burner hob on top. Needs the inverter on to run fan and a tad bigger than standard boat cookers but so worth it to have decent cooking equipment after 12 yrs of compromise with smaller boaty kit!

To add... I can certify that Grace and Favour's oven delivers most excellent breads!

Bless you!!

 

(Mind you - that was a couple of years ago - - and I'm sufficiently immodest to mention that our bread has improved considerably since that Lapworth!!)

[Odana]

Well in that case we need another banter.....

[Biggles]

I've just fitted one of these and so far I'm pretty impressed with it. I don't do cakes so can't coment on how that would be but for roasting it's just fine.

 

Linky

[Wyn2joy]

Thank you all very much for your very helpful responses. Now we hve a much better idea of what is possible. There may yet be delicious cakes and lovely homemade bread in our future without 2.5 hours of babysitting invovled!!

Cheers,

Wyn

[nicknorman]

Just bear in mind that most domestic gas ovens, even those not described as fan ovens, have a cooling fan which blows air through the gap between the oven cavity and the case, to prevent the case getting too hot. This requires mains power, albeit at a low wattage. Plus of course mains is needed for the internal light, ignition system and any electric clocks/timers. So you would need some sort of inverter to run it.

[Naughty Cal]

As an aside and slightly

 

We are looking at fitting a small oven to NC. It has to be a small one to fit in the gap space we have set aside for it but we seem to be very limited with the actual appliances on offer. Any ideas?

 

Must be gas only!

[Bunny]

I must admit we have a Country Leisure Midi Prima, oven and grill and I am very happy with it. I admit it is slow cooking a roast, but we cook the roasties first and then the meat , but everything else no problem. Cakes 35 -45 mins , meringues , pasta bakes ect I wonder if there is another problem ? maybe the gas jets need replacing ( if such a thing can be done) ? Our oven is 10 years old and well used.Bunny X

[Doubleh]

Our new old widebeam came with a coal fired rayburn which is fantastic and also heats water and rads and I believe some have these on narrowboats but probably not ideal to retrofit!

 

The best marine oven I have used is by Force 10 - these are the thing among world cruising live aboard yotties. My old crusty sailboat came with one fitted and it made the best pizzas, although in was shocked when I found the price - about a grand for a 2 burner model that probably fit a boat like naughty cal.

 

The reason it was so good is similar to the rayburn - where other gas ovens I've used have the flame rise up the back of the over giving hot spots, the force 10 has a heavy steel plate at the bottom and the flame heats that which then radiates evenly. You can now buy thick steel sheets designed for cooking pizzas on, you may be able to use one of these or a suitably solid steel offcut at the bottom of a regular oven to even out the heat.

[Naughty Cal]

The Force 10 looks like a decent bit of kit but not sure the OH is going to let me spend £1500 on an oven (which will only be part of the galley upgrade!).

 

Has anyone got any experience of this one?

 

http://www.elyboatchandlers.com/lpg-cookers/spinflo-triplex-lpg-hob-oven-and-grill