Stove Top Plates, Force Ten Stove

And so it goes that not everything one does on a boat always works out the way you would like them to. You may browse an older post where I took our stove top plates that had seen some years of use and started showing signs of rust as the paint wore/burnt off, were refurbished with a coat of high temperature paint. This lasted all of about three months, before the new paint also was "decayed" and rust started to reappear. I could have continuously repainted them, but instead opted for this solution. Hopefully this will work for a longer period of time.

I took the stove tops and took all the paint off with an angle grinder (carefully), and then worked the surfaces back with finer sandpaper, to finally using a scotch brite wheel and then polishing the steel. These were then sent off to be chromed. The underside was just cleaned from the old paint and not finished as well as the top surfaces. You can see the under side of one at the top of the photo.
I know the chrome will discolor with the heat, but should not burn off. Hopefully these will keep rust free and my wife will find cleaning the stove a little easier.
Cost $20 and a little of my time in the workshop. I'll give a report after the next cruising season as to it's effectiveness.

Fridge and Freezer Temperature Monitoring

We have recently changed our method (compressors and evaporator plates)  to our fridge and freezer. We wanted a reliable method to monitor the temperatures with out extra wiring. We have tried the manual thermometer, but found them less than satisfactory due to having to open up the boxes to read the temperature. We came across these wireless "indoor, outdoor temperature monitors" on ebay for a reasonable cost. This model has one LED monitor, with two sender units. It is able to monitor two temperatures at a time. We put one sensor in each box, and the LED monitor in the galley in a convenient place. They have been going two years with only one battery change. They measure about 2.75 inches square each.

Better Oven, Better Pizza

Most boat ovens are heated by propane and don't give an even distribution of heat. An idea heard from others was to place a pizza stone in the oven, which heats up and gives a more uniform form of heat distribution. We used a surplus pizza stone we had at home, and cut to size so that there is about one inch of air space around the stone to allow for heat convection The stone was cut using a masonry cutting wheel on an angle grinder and smoothed along the edges. The stone was then secured to the oven tray by four bulldog clips at each corner.

This prevents the stone sliding around while stored in the oven.
A ceramic tile can also be used for the same purpose, but we like the added bonus of having a pizza stone to do our pizza's on. Yum.

Stove Top Recondition

This attempt at controlling the rust was unsuccessful. I have left the post here as an example of how the things we do, don't always go to plan. A newer post tells of how I have now chromed the stove tops to see if that will keep the rust at bay.
The stove top plates on our Force 10 stove, has, over the years become rusty and leaves the rust on top of the stainless stove. Unable to get replacements, I ground all remaining paint off and buffed the rust off; then using  a paint designed for heat (fire boxes and chimneys ) I repainted the plates and then following the instructions, baked the item for an hour at 250 degrees C. This will initially give off fumes. Best done in an old oven outside or the BBQ. It seems after a couple of months use, it has worked; and I have a spare can in case we need to readdress the issue in a year or so