What makes a Force 10 marine cooker the best in class?

11th Jun 2024

Do you know the make of your marine oven? If the answer is no, you’re forgiven! It’s one of those bits of kit that “came with the boat” and until it starts to misbehave it tends to go quietly unnoticed. To be fair, the facility to boil a kettle or fry up a quick bacon sandwich is all many of us need, but for extended cruises, “proper” meals become all-important and that’s when you’ll need a cooker that’s up to the task.

So we’d like to take this opportunity to sing the praises of the trusty boat cooker and this feature is all about the best of the best, in our humble opinion: Force 10.

Who are Force 10?

With its roots in Vancouver some 40 years ago, Force 10, alongside Eno, is one of the best known manufacturers of electric and gas cookers and they can be found in the most highly respected yacht brands such as Hinckley, Jeanneau, Beneteau, Oyster, Contessa and a whole lot more.

The Force 10 brand is now wholly owned by Eno and manufactured in Niort, France, at the centre of European yacht manufacturing. Eno and Force 10 are, between them, the biggest in the business by far and are standard fit in the majority of new yachts built.

Marine and outdoor cooking is all Eno and Force 10 do, which is good news for continuity, warranty and spares support all over the world.

What makes a Force 10 cooker different?

Oven design

If you’ve had the dubious pleasure of eating a meal at sea that’s been charred one side while the rest of it remains stone cold, you’ll understand the challenge of heat distribution in a gas oven. F10 have cleverly addressed the problem with their unique heat dispersal plate, which is shaped to promote an even circulation of heat around the oven space.

Furthermore, Force 10 ovens are all thermostatically controlled with dials that allows you to set the temperature in Centigrade and Fahrenheit. Many more basic boat ovens – even those with thermostatic controls – choose not to add temperature settings, because without any means of moving the heat around, the temperature is bound to vary wildly from one part of the oven to another. Although there is always going to be a variation caused by many factors, the temperature setting in a Force 10 oven is both accurate (within 5% of the dialled setting when we recently tested one with a digital thermometer) and consistent around the oven interior.

The famous door

Perhaps the most appreciated feature of the Force 10 oven is their patented door hinge mechanism. This allows the door to stow underneath the oven so when it is open it doesn’t protrude into the gangway, which is a marvellous contribution to safety and comfort at sea. Furthermore, the oven remains balanced on the gimbals when the door is open, greatly reducing the disappointment of the evening meal suddenly finding its way onto the cabin sole; never a great experience on a night passage!

As a further contribution to safety, the door has a double action locking mechanism to prevent it being accidentally opened or left closed but unlatched: so when a crew member uses it as an emergency handhold, it will remain firmly closed.

The grill

The grill, or the broiler, as our Canadian cousins prefer to call it, features a porcelain element that spreads the heat around a wide rectangular area which, like the oven, will provide a wide and even heat distribution that simply isn’t possible with a bare flame. Included with all Force 10 ovens, it’s a great feature for browning off oven cooked dishes as you’d expect to do at home: why compromise?

The hob

Topping off all Force 10 ovens are the most efficient burners available (SABF III), with a choice of 2, 3, 4 or even 5-burner worktops. The grid is all-stainless, it’s exceptionally robust and it lifts away easily for cleaning and maintenance.

Electric ignition for the hob, grill and oven comes as standard whatever the model.

Using your Force 10

Here's our short video showing off many of the Force 10 features, illustrating how to get the best out of your Force 10 cooker.

Will a Force 10 fit my boat?

Force 10’s come in a choice of six basic width/height formats, with the number of burners affecting the depth from front to back. To help you work out the size we have produced a handy size calculator giving all the key dimensions side-by-side. This may seem daunting but if you know the available width of your oven space you’ll narrow it down pretty quickly. Failing that, please give us a call or drop us a line, we’ll help you work it out.

Can I get spares?

es! This is something we at Penguin, as well as Force 10, have always taken very seriously. While spares are starting to get tricky for models much more than 20 years old (not all sub-components are made in-house, after all), we will always do our utmost to help. View our F10 spares

Can I fit a Force 10 myself?

For the relatively small addition in cost we always recommend the service of a qualified gas engineer who will not just install your cooker but give your entire system a health check at the same time.

Do you ship?

We can ship Force 10 cookers to anywhere in Europe where it’s possible with a suitable freight service. Every one we supply will be inspected then double-boxed with extra padding between, then securely strapped to make sure it arrives in the best possible condition.

Any questions

Please call us on 02392 465607 or email info@penguineng.com. We’re a small and friendly business and always happy to help.