To Bake or Not To Bake....
Olson/Ericson 34 owner thinking of replacing the Origo double burner/oven combo with a simple Origo double burner top. Removal of the oven will open up realestate for an A/C unit, which I badly need in the summertime.
I haven't had a need to use the oven in the one year I've owned the boat, and don't foresee that changing. Am I making a mistake by removing the oven?
CTO
What the "full teak furniture interior" Ericson gang may not realize is that storage (and other enclosed) space is more limited in the Olsons. We pay a price for that wide-open interior... (insert joke about "free range Olson sailors")
Since other boats, including Ericsons in the Sun Belt, are sometimes shown with an air conditioner under their fore peak berth, I wonder if that area might work? Of course there goes the two big drawers...
Then there is the large port side laz. aft, but that's the only real cockpit storage we got, too...
How 'bout one of those models that drops over the foreward hatch when at the dock?
Also, I have seen a $100. "window unit" replace the two lower hatch boards on several different boats. That might look a little less than "nautical" but if it works who cares?
The oven. We use ours every trip out for baking cookies and making cinnamon rolls. We could get by without it... but really like having it.
There is some good news about the Origo 6000. The two burner top can be retained and used while the oven is unfastened and removed for storage.
I'm not sure about retaining the gimbels. Unlike most other stoves, you could separate it, and we once did that after purchasing our boat and needing to clean up the whole thing.
If you did that, you would still have an operational "Origo model 3000" cook top, and just keep the oven module in storage for when or if you change your mind or sell the boat some day.
Best,
Loren