Well I know it's Wednesday, but it feels like a Monday! Today's project, thanks to the opportunity to collect spare parts from a great mail order chandlery in Ipswitch England was to rebuild the galley stove. We had gotten down to only one stove top burner willing to stay lit and even that one was a bit cantankerous. As it's a three-burner stove top and Isabel is extremely capable in the galley there's no way Mark is willing to miss a gourmet meal, so this project bubbled to the top of the priority list.
There's just nothing like removing and replacing a heavy appliance that barely fits through the passageways between the galley and the work area in the cockpit, especially in an anchorage with a short period swell moving the boat around. Let's hear it for those old towels we purchased at Goodwill - the ones Mark uses for padding when laying on engines, kneeling to access bilge compartments or just drying a rain-soaked cockpit.
Anyway, removal involved shutting valves and disconnecting the propane and electrical input for the strikers, dismantling bits of cabinetry, and of course emptying out cupboard spaces where access to all these bits and pieces was required.
Removal and relocation to the cockpit was without mishap, then the fun began trying to decide which panels to remove so access to the gas valves and burners could be made available. JollyDogs is a 2008 Seawind 1160 equipped with a SMEV (now Dometic) model 0335 stove commonly used in boats and RV's at that time. Each burner has a thermocouple that tells their respective valve whether the burner is lit. Should the fire go out and the thermocouple begin to cool, the gas supply is stopped regardless of the position of the valve knob. Unfortunately these thermocouples can also become tired with age (don't know why) and their voltage output can decrease to the point that the valve can't tell the burner is lit, so it continuously shuts off. Bummer. Mark likes to eat. Isabel is a great cook, and she deserves the best tools in the galley and they should function as advertised.
If my instrumentation engineer pal Ben Mitchell reads this perhaps he'll reveal the ins and outs of thermocouple aging.
As luck would have it SMEV riveted the darn stove together, so rather than simply removing a bunch of screws to make access to the innards, I got to drill out a bunch of rivets. Thank you SMEV for using aluminum rivets; easy to drill, and I had replacements for reassembly.
Taking the stove apart was easy. Replacing the three thermocouples was a snap. Putting the darn thing back together was quite like a puzzle, but eventually it was in one piece, back in the cabinet, and gas plumbing and electrical reconnected.
After a brief drum roll each burner was lit and darned if they all behaved just like new ones ought to, and they're still working great. As a reward for my efforts Isabel whipped up a gourmet extravaganza, even used two of the burners at the same time.
Mondays are OK if they end well.
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