Restoring Seaward Princess Electric/alcohol Cooktop

[Dusty Bilges]

Last Spring acquired a 1993 Carver 300 Sedan and am determined to have it operating like the day it was born. We are making great progress, but the most important thing on the boat according to my bride, the Seward Princess electric/alcohol cook top, either doesn't work, or I am not smart enough to figure out how to work it. I would like to rebuild it and am hoping someone out there can point me towards a source of parts, or to someone who will rebuild it for us.

It may be that the alcohol stove just needs maintenance, but I assume that means replaceable parts. Hopefully I'm wrong about that. The burners don't get hot enough. Are they replaceable? By the way, are they running 240 or 120?

Thanks!

[Cooler]

Dusty - they run on 120. Also, there is a contact switch on the unit that needs to be engaged so the unit will operate correctly. It is part of the top that pops up. Make sure that connection is clean so the cook top is not turning off & on while in use. Otherwise, just contact Seward and they should have that parts info and possibly a dealer that rebuilds them in your area. er

[Dusty Bilges]

Thanks, Cooler.

[tomschauer]

https://www.suremarineservice.com/Galle ... 72400.html

They seem to have all of the parts.
If the burner elements don't seem to get hot enough, there is a chance someone replaced the 120v elements with 240v elements, effectively cutting them from 550 watts to 225 watts.

[Dusty Bilges]

I am now replying to my own post to advise that the electrical portion of the Seward princess stove top is up and running, however, I cannot get the alcohol burners to work. I have looked high and low on the internet and can't find a company that sells parts for that particular stove top for the alcohol burner section. I would appreciate some advice on how I can get this running. Does it sound like gaskets? If so, should I take it apart and replace them? Is the stove hard to remove from the boat? Is there a trick to lighting them and keeping them lit?

Dusty Bilges

[chpsk8]

Can you elaborate on what the problem is and what you have tried?
Do you have a model number for the stove?

Also, what was wrong with the electrical portion of the stove? How did you fix it? Good for us all to learn from what you did.

[Dusty Bilges]

The electrical elements had a ridiculously easy cure. The the detents in the two knobs were worn down so you never knew where you were. Turn it to high, but you're really on low. So I had a nice glass of port wine and thought about it, played with it, pulled off the knobs, bought two new knobs online and now the whole boat smells like garlic all the time.

The alcohol burners - I pumped. I followed the instructions printed on the unit and in the manual. Won't stay lit. Don't have access to the model number right now, but it's the one where you have two electric elements on a top which lifts straight up revealing the two alcohol burners underneath. This really hurts because I actually love alcohol burners. Sailed my little Seafarer sloop from San Diego to Hilo and that's all I had to cook with and that was just fine.

[Beufort]

Just got mine working, I misunderstood what the primer grove was, and wasn’t getting the thing hot enough to stay lit, there is a small recessed area below the burner, not the whole bowl, just the area right around where the burner is mounted, needs to be bout 3/4 full of alcohol and lit to heat the burner, don’t try to light the burner until it has all most burned all the alcohol in the primer grove, its gonna make some sizzling noises, but it will be fine. I have to admit, i took mine out and got it working on some saw horses, just in case. Saw horses are usually cheaper to replace than boats.

[Dusty Bilges]

Thanks for encouraging me to try one more thing before I take out to tinker with it.