9 October The saga of a new gas stove

There comes that time in a boat's life when you need to replace an essential component. Right now this is the gas oven which is the original fitted in 1997. The temperature range of the oven is off or on. I use a lighter to ignite the flames which may or may not stay on. And it's not my birthday, or Christmas, or our wedding anniversary. We're having a new oven just because we can! That's to say, we're in a boat town in America and there are choices.

We go to Fawcett marine, a simple half mile in the dinghy to a dock in a park, unload the bicycles and ride a couple of miles to the shop where they have one on show and stock to sell. The old Eno has two burners and an oven. The Force 10 model in the shop has three burners, a grill / broiler and a thermostatically controlled oven. It's bigger than the outgoing one, but David measures and declares I'm worth the upgrade to three burners. Mr V Card offers his services and the shop agrees to bring it to the dinghy dock in the park in their van. Of course we have to go back to the boat to offload our bikes before returning to collect. (I think I warned you this was a saga.)

Next day the old oven comes out and the horror of years of accumulated grease and dirt are revealed. Hot water, a full range of detergents, cleaners, scrubbing brushing and sturdy rubber gloves force it yield until we are back to gleaming liner and polished wood. David measures and measures again, measures where the gimbal should be placed. We agree the oven will fit with millimetres to spare as it swings on the gimbal so he can go ahead and drill the new holes, fit the brackets. That's done. The oven comes out of the packaging and we carry it into the galley for the fitting. Millimeter perfect, brushed steel, heaven to regard. Until.

Until I open the refrigerator sited at right angles to the oven and its door touched the handle of the oven door before it was fully open. The one thing we had overlooked was how far the oven door extended. It's not possible to change the side of the hinge on the fridge because it would then be inaccessible.

Long story shorter, the three burner mega American model is too big for our space. Fawcetts

marine store didn't have the European compact model we now realise we need in stock to but West Marine around the corner did. The big stove went back in the box, in the dinghy and back to the shop. Two days later the driver from West Marine met us at the dinghy dock in the park with a Force 10 two burner with grill European compact and we took this home. This time the slipper fitted perfectly and we could open the fridge door all the way. Job's a good 'un as our friend Dave Willingham would say.

I'm now the proud user of a shiny, brushed steel oven with grill, thermostat and electronic ignition. I don't think I'll use it for a while – keep it looking shiny and new.

The end.