A GALLEY FOR A P14? by Lee Page; P15 #602, Archeopterix Buried away in my garage was an old Coleman propane, two burner camping stove, purchased long ago for a couple of bucks at a yard sale. It seemed a cheap way to get hot coffee or even a hot meal when camping aboard Archeopterix, but where to put it? A solution came to mind when a sailing friend offered me an ëSí bracket from a FORCE-10 barbecue stove for five dollars. The Coleman cantilevers off the stern, leaving plenty of space in the cockpit. Utensils hang from hooks in the boom or on the bottom of the stove when they are not in use. A small Coleman thermos box sits to one side on the cockpit seat and serves as a counter surface. The height of the stove is adjustable to suit the convenience of the cook, who works standing up. To set up the stove I slide a stainless tube into a watertight sleeve in the cockpit floor just inside the transom; I slide the S bracket into the tube and secure it with a set screw through the tiller and secure the tiller with the Tiller-Minder lines. Finally, I slide a bracket permanently bolted on the bottom of the stove into the top of the S bracket and tighten a set screw. The propane container is held in the cradle of the S by large hose ring clamps. It stays there until it needs to be replaced. Hook up the fuel line, turn on the gas, flick the flint, and valle! - Archeopterix has fire. I am working on a gimbaled bracket for this rig which will make it safer and easier to use in rough conditions - like when pesky motor boaters are disturbing the peace of the waters. If the sea is rough, I set up differently. On the top of the gunnels I have bolted sail track for the genoa blocks. Into the bottom of the Coleman I have fastened sail slides at the rear corners with thumb-screws. I slide the stove onto the track with the S bracket attached, and tighten the thumb-screws. The foot of the S bracket rests on the cockpit seat holding the stove level. With this arrangement one sits across from the stove to cook, with the stove slightly cantilevered over the side. Utensils fit under the stove on the seat. the thermos box sits on the cockpit floor at the stern and serves as additional work surface. One could make one of these S brackets by bending a piece of conduit into an "S" shape and doing a little wielding, or they can be purchased at West Marine in stainless for a modest price ($35 or so). It consists of a piece of tubing bent into an S with a solid rod wielded into one end for strength, and a nut with a setting bolt wielded into the other , into which slips a bracket attached to a stove. I bolted the bracket to the bottom of my old Coleman stove, and cemented Velcro straps under the cockpit to firmly secure the stove on edge against the inside of the hull when not in use. Archeopterix has a watertight sleeve in floor of the cockpit, just forward of the cockpit scupper for a bracket to carry the mast when trailering. I purchased a piece of stainless tubing from a salvage yard and had a nut wielded near one end for a set screw. I drilled a hole through the tiller and into it epoxied a T nut through which I threaded a bolt with a plastic handle. The upright tube is firmly braced by bolt through the tiller which in turn acts as a set screw against the S bracket preventing it from rotating inside the tube. The stove bracket is prevented from rotating in the S bracket by a set screw at the top of the S. I have found this rig easy to set up and take down, and compact to store and secure.