I recently acquired BRe 001 from the Rushtons (formerly Grace, now Sannah). Although I have not sailed her in anger yet, beyond a trial sail on Rutland Water, I’m planning ahead and, ideally, I’d like to find a way to safely make a hot drink while on a passage. As I already have a very old (50+ years) but perfectly serviceable Primus plus a modern Jet Boil, I’d like to use at least one of these for this purpose.
My initial idea is to make a small cooking box (a-la Roger Barnes’s) using the modern equivalent of chemistry lab burner mats cloaked in thin marine play. I think it could be firmly slotted on top of the centreboard housing using elastics clipped to Seasure-type lacing hooks located on the underside of the casing’s wooden flange. Make sense?
I am sure boiling water on varnished wood is not a great idea so would also need to find a way to soak up any accidental overspill.
Of course, I could make a coffee prior to the passage and just use a thermos but I’d still like to find a way to cook safely at anchor.
Please help refine my idea, suggest a better alternative or slap me down as appropriate.
As an aside, I know Roger does not recommend paraffin stoves for dinghies as he correctly points out they can flare-up during the priming process. However, I think priming the Primus using a cook’s modern butane blow torch will avoid that issue, as the pre-heating process would be vastly improved compared to the trad method of burning meths.