Alternatives to gas

Rupert Holmes encourages a broad-minded approach to onboard cooking appliances and gadgets

- Rupert Holmes

BUYER'S GUIDE

Gas cookers used to be the standard on almost every boat, but there are good reasons why they are not necessarily the best choice. The dangers of fire or explosion are well documented, yet there are still plenty of older vessels without gas lockers that drain safely overboard. Equally, most sources recommend changing flexible hoses every five years and regulators once a decade, but I suspect most are not.

Today there’s a wide choice of cooking appliances for use on a boat, some of which are more economical than gas to run and easier to install. Many other devices, from solar cookers to JetBoils, can aid preparing great food onboard.

Alcohol stoves

Like Marmite, lots of people love them, but there are also plenty of detractors. A key drawback used to be the odours caused by the additives that give methylated spirits its distinctive colour. Today, the easy availability of bioethanol means this is no longer a problem.

Alcohol hobs may not be as fast to boil water as a gas stove, but they are still pretty good. We use one on Zest that’s as good now as it was when the boat was new 30 years ago and have no inclination to go to the hassle of installing a gas system. This makes alcohol stoves an excellent easy option for older boats in which the entire gas system, potentially even including the gas locker, needs to be replaced.