Picked up an old Maxie marine spirit stove recently.
They were made in Sydney in the boat building heydays from 1950's to 1990's? There are no date stamps etc, so guessing it's 1970's - 1980's. (40-60 years old). This is because my 24ft keeler "Pablo" had one just like it in 1988, and that boat was about a decade or two old then. That stove kept me well-fed for about 6 months living on board.
They output plenty of heat, the fuel is methylated spirits, which is safer than gas and cleaner than kerosene.
If the fuel spills it evaporates away quickly. If it spills and catches fire, a water bucket can extinguish it quickly.
They are gravity-fed with generator tube pre-heaters which gassify the spirit. It burns with a clear to blue hot flame which can be regulated from a fast boil down to a simmer.
However they must be operated correctly. Re-fueling/top up only when stone-cold and with the burner valves closed off. (best done early in day, before any cooking) The stove has bakerlite adjustment knobs at the front for easy fuel control.
The start up procedure/pre-heat takes a couple of minutes.
- Open fuel valve and 3/4 fill the pre-heat bowl under burner.
- Close valve
- Light fuel and pre-heat burner
- When fuel is nearly burnt off, open valve to start gassified burner
I usually have a pot, pan or kettle on over the pre-heating burner. Just have to keep a close eye on it to catch the open-valve timing just right.
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| Maxie marine stove, cleaned up and maximum burn (about 2 kw, 7000 BTU each, mid range) |
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| Easy to see flame at night (almost invisible in daylight, so hand over swipe heat test needed) |
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| Boiling the kettle, the flame settles down nicely |
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| Burner detail (before cleanup) |
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| Front plaque (instructions) and control knobs (before cleanup) |
Each burner output is about 2kw (7000 BTU). For comparison Trangia, HPV Salsa camp stoves output about 1 kw (3500 BTU). Coleman shellite campstoves, kero pressure and LPG gas burners can output around 3kw (11,000-12,000 BTU)
These early gravity-fed designs are simple engineering. There's no pressure tank seals to leak, no pressure pump to go wrong, and no-jets with jet-prickers to worry about. The Maxie's fuel tube has a wick inside it to moderate fuel flow and it lasts for ages. The fuel line joints appear to be precision metal seals.
This stove had sat unused in storage for many decades. Before that it was used allot on a boat. I took a bottle of spirit and a lighter over there. It took only 5 minutes to fill the tank a little and get the burners fired up agin.
At home i unbolted the tank, swilled it out to clean it and the fuel tubes. Bolted the tank back on, new fuel in and it worked almost perfectly again. A bit of spit and polish later and she looks only 10 year old again.
Some people report "flare up's" when lighting these stoves. That may be cause by opening the fuel valve too early or too much on start-up. Usually Maxies have heat resistant aluminium sheeting surrounding them and the side-deckhead above for safety if it flares up or spilled fuel is on fire.
They are "stand-alone" stoves. Unlike the modern gas stoves with all the expensive and complicated gas lines, gas bottle lockers, valves and gas sniffers wired into the 12v electrical system. Maxie stoves don't explode the entire cabin and boat, a "flare up" etc is a manageble sized problem.
Other Pro's. The fuel is sustainably distilled in country from agricultural crop-waste, not imported. It comes in re-cyclable plastic bottles sold in supermarkets and hardware stores.
Con's. They are a bit more technical and a bit less forgiving than an Origo spirit burner. Maxie parts are not made any longer (Though the company still exists in Sydney as a fancy marketing ideas office, stoves/local mass-production are long gone) Maybe valve seats/needles need machining if they leak and new wicks go in after decades of use. But they are a great part of Australian nautical/caravaning history and it's a pleasure to fire it up from time to time.
This stove is a basic one and lacks some sea-going accessories. It lacks Pot-holders and there's no swing gimbal to keep it level when the yacht is rolling or heeled over.
Some Maxie stoves sold online recently have these extra features,
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Maxie marine stove with sea-gimbals and pot holders, NSW.
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I've also seen some of these stoves re-badged as "First Mate", they look almost identical. If you know about the history of these or any maxie stoves please comment below.
Will keep my search lights on for spare parts/stoves. I've now got a small inverter welder that does stainless steel welding, so might fabricate these bits later if nothing 2nd hand turns up.
