Microwave on board

[On y va]

Last week when I was on my boat again, I invited my neighbours for a glass (yes, glass) of wine late afternoon and showed them the interior of "On y va". My neighbours are semi (pretend)-liveaboard, but basically use their boat as an appartment, as they have not moved or sailed for the last 8 years, except 100 metres to the boat yard every year to be lifted out for a few weeks for antifouling etc.

Anyway, with quite some unbelief in her voice, the irish lady commented : you have no microwave??? So I confirmed her very apt observation that I indeed have no microwave in my galley. She continued: but if you want to be a live aboard, you need a microwave! I was going to say something along the lines of "but I can actually cook", but refrained from saying so, friendly as I am  .

Does anybody here have a microwave oven on their boat? And is worth sacrificing the space for it?

[hoppy]

Apr 10, 2016 15:07:31 GMT On y va said:

I was going to say something along the lines of "but I can actually cook", but refrained from saying so, friendly as I am  .

Does anybody here have a microwave oven on their boat? And is worth sacrificing the space for it?

I can't cook, so all a microwave would do would speed up proving that I can't.

No giving up space for a freezer is something i'd consider

[On y va]

You could have a small portable freezer box hoppy ? They are rather expensive, but are quite effective and fairly energy efficient if you don´t open them too often. 

Here, in your lingo (I think)

[hoppy]

That's Danish, like Swedish with marbles in you mouth

Looked at them, but it's as case of where to put it. I have thought of replacing one of the seats in front of the nav table and fitting one there. But I think I'll live with out it for now.

[Don Reaves]

Apr 10, 2016 15:07:31 GMT On y va said:

Does anybody here have a microwave oven on their boat? And is worth sacrificing the space for it?

I have a small microwave aboard, and for me, yes, it is definitely worth the space it takes. But whether it would be worth it for anyone else depends on how you use your boat.

Mostly, I day-sail. Sometimes I cruise for a week or two. But most often, when the day is done, I am in port and have shore power. So my requirements for storage are small (except perhaps for cash) and the requirement for lots of power for a short period of time are not a problem.

I would think that for someone crossing an ocean, a microwave would be a complete waste of space. Between day-sailing and long ocean voyaging, there is a wide spectrum of boat usage. Everyone would have to evaluate it for themselves.

But I would definitely say that if you are happy with your current setup and haven't missed a microwave, don't bother adding one. Especially if it's just because someone who uses their boat entirely different from you made a comment about it.

Don

[Seagem]

We have a microwave above the cooker in the galley. We have only removed a shelf and a microwave fits in the space. We do cook but use it if we are in the marina.

[Don Reaves]

I find it curious that people seem to think that using a microwave isn't cooking. Sure, you can heat up some prepared food. But my microwave is just another tool that I use when cooking. And I love tools, no matter whether it's in the wood shop or the galley.

[ianpowolny]

I've offered my wife a microwave oven on a number of ocassions but she's just not interested. We only use one at home for heating up pre-cooked food or defrosting. On the the boat she's made some wonderful dinners, cakes, scones and all the other cooked items you'd expect form a West Coast of Scotlander. I guess it's just not on our list. Ian

[Damir]

The first brought a microwave oven and after infrared oven, after a few times of sailing I realized that I was on the boat not in the house, even cook a lot  and find that  gas  stove is quite sufficient for us.

[vasko]

Microwave is a very good addition do doubts about that...  and I already have a Inverter for my bean-to-cup machine and for my future install of fully automatic wash machine  , but unfortunately I still cannot find space for a microwave e.g. no microwave and still VERY annoyed by crazy price for a 2.75kg bottle of gas !!! - 29 EUR !!! the gas inside costs about 3 EUR including tax !  everytime I go to the shop to change the bottle I almost ready to kill someone  - btw this is the case only in western Europe - in Greece  for example you can get with only 5 EUR per bottle..

[Kashmir]

We have a the factory microwave on our boat and, although it looks very nice, it barely gets used so I wouldn't go to the expense and sacrifice the space of having one again.

[rxc]

One of the first things we installed was a microwave, in place of the storage unit just behind our stove (cooker). My wife likes to be able to reheat her tea, and a microwave is the best tool for this task. We use it almost exclusively for reheating, not doing "cooking", which we do mostly on the cooker(stove) or the BBQ outside.

I used the microwave during a transatlantic passage to re-heat food. It is quite useful for that, because it contains the food behind a door that is pretty well closed, and you can put a closed container in that box and not worry about it slopping around. You do need a good inverter - I have a Prosine 2000 - and a good battery bank because it can draw about 100 amps from the batteries for a few minutes while it is operating. 100 amps for 2 minutes is only about 2 amp-hrs, and with solar and a windmill, at sea you will never see any diminishment in battery capacity.

Even european microwaves have become more afforable. We bought a small one for our house in France, and I think that it was less than 100 euros.

The price of gas, however, is outrageous, unless you refill your tanks at a LPG refill station. Since we have US bottles, I had to buy an adapter from a camping website in the UK, and then I was able to refill a 5kg bottle for about 9 euros at the LeClerc supermarket near out house. It was harder to do in the UK, because they do not like people to do this (supposedly health and safety issues). Without a car, it was obvious to the person tending the pump controls what I was doing, and they would shut me down right away. With a car, we could hide the bottle and they did not know whether I was filling the car or a bottle. Here in the US, I can get a refill for about $8.

[Zanshin]

My boat has a microwave as standard equipment and until last year I used it almost exclusively as a storage area for my Nespresso coffee pods. I've now discovered that one can nuke potatoes for a couple of minutes in the microwave and then do the final baking on the BBQ rather than waste an hour's worth of propane to heat them up. I've also used it to thaw out items, but haven't graduated to actually cooking anything in it. I prefer the stove top and oven for that!

[rxc]

I also second Zanshin's comment about potatoes. Get them partially done in the microwave, and then finish them off on the BBQ, or alternatively (better) sauteed in duck fat on the stove (cooker).

[omoo]

I've been on my own most of my life and basically learned to cook just using a microwave oven. Unfortunately mine is not built in so it takes up valuable counter space (thank goodness for the front opening fridge). That being said I would never be without one. The other valuable cooking aid is the pressure cooker - quick, little water useage, efficient fuel wise and it's possible to cook the whole meal in one pot. Meats stay tender and flavourful.

[blueeyes]

Since our boat is on a mooring we found we rarely used the microwave. Not worth it to start the portable generator and don't like to draw that much from the batteries with the inverter. I pulled the microwave out this winter to use the space for food storage. I used a cutting board with a snap in cabinet latch as a door. We use the grill, stove & oven and sometimes speed things up with a Kuhn Rikon pressure cooker (saving gas).

I guess I did lose the possibility of using the microwave as a faraday cage to store electronics during a thunderstorm .

[so36idavid]

blueeyes,

I have a 36i and coincidentally I removed the microwave just this week. We've hardly ever used it and I want the additional storage space for an extended cruise later this year. Right now I have a big cavity where the microwave sat, I've been wondering what to do with the space. I see that you have some kind of a door there. Can you please give details or pictures of how it's set up and what's behind it? e.g. What's a "snap-in cabinet latch", do you have shelves in there etc. 

Thanks
David

[blueeyes]

David:
This is the cabinet latch I used:
www.defender.com/product3.jsp?path=-1|10918|2303361|2303370&id=106118

This is another option:
www.defender.com/product3.jsp?path=-1|10918|2303361|2303370&id=2583752

The door is simply a bamboo cutting board purchased at my local grocery store. I ripped it down slightly to fit the space.
To hold it in, I put a piece of teak on the counter top behind the stove with double sided tape. To put the cutting board in place, I insert it between that teak filler and the bottom of the cabinet and then snap in the latch at the top. If I decide to revert to the microwave or change the design I can pull up the teak without damage to the counter and remove the part of the latch inside the cabinet. 

My wife plans to use the "inside" of the door as a cutting board (she doesn't mind having the "door" removed while cooking). You can't see it in the picture but there are 4 clear rubber stick-on feet on the outside of the door. It also fits nicely on top of the stove to extend the counter top.

I haven't built any shelves yet - I'm waiting to see what my wife wants to store in the space and will then build any needed shelves and/or dividers. Right now she plans to use it for bulkier boxes and items. We are going to try this for the season and then decide if a permanent door would work better. For now it also solves the problem of storing a large cutting board while keeping it easily accessible.  

Good luck, 
Brad 

[sitara]

Nice solution David, my boat supplied without the microwave has a single shelf in the cupboard and is used for tin cans and jars of coffee and packets of biscuits or any other small things. There are two doors with hinges on the LHS and RHS. This means the doors swing over the stove to open. Not a problem when the stove is locked and you are not cooking but can be a hassle when there is a pot on the stove.

Just a word of caution about latches. They need to be strong enough to prevent the door opening when everything suddenly lands against it in a nock down.

[so36idavid]

Blueeyes, thanks for the description, I particularly like the idea of the cutting board doing double duty as a door.

Sitara, I was worried about an opening door for exactly the reason you give. I was thinking along the lines of a pair of sliding doors or maybe just some shelves with a webbing strap to secure items from flying out underway. I'm still thinking, if I come up with something to be proud of I'll post it back here.

David

[chuckr]

We have one on our DS40 - aft of the reefer and takes up no real space -- and it makes good storage for the admiral - rarely use it - but the admiral does like the clock on it when we are on shore power -

[dslittle]

We have installed a combi oven. Best thing we ever did. The microwave does all that is mentioned above in a marina or on the hook. The combi oven can only really be used on shore power but cooks far better than the gas oven and at a fraction of the price. The storage potential isn't lost as pans and utensils store in it when not in use. As 'pretend' liveaboards - we didn't stay on board this winter for the first time in five years - we want our boat to be as comfortable as living on land. Oh and we have an induction hob as well which is so much better than gas and SO much safer... (I have put my flak jacket on!!!)