Stove fiddles

Journeyman has a two burner Origo alcohol stove. It is not pressurized but burns quite hot and clean. I am very happy with it. The stove lives in a stainless box which contains spills and is easy to clean. The stove came with gimbels, but I could never get them to work well and I am not sure they are a sound design - most gimbled stoves have an oven and are deep and, you might say, well ballasted.

In any case, I needed fiddles and the solution I came up with works well. In the photo you can see two brass rods, 1/4 inch (6 mm). I cut them about a half inch longer than the box is wide, and I then had a machine shop cut threads in each end for an inch or two. (The service was very inexpensive - less than ten dollars.) I then put two brass nuts at each end of each dowel, and locked them against each other so they are tight. I drilled holes in the stove box to fit the dowels (slightly overlarge) and, by flexing the dowels slightly, fitted the dowels into the holes.

The bottom dowel holds the stove in place, and the top one keeps pots on the stove. The dowels are easy to remove, non-corroding - a good simple design.

Perhaps it goes without saying that the best way to heat water on a boat stove is with a tea kettle. Not only is it efficient and lets you know when it is at the boil, but one can leave unused water in the kettle and stow the kettle in a locker, where it won't spill a drop.