We met a Cruiser three years ago who said "every time you step on your boat stop and listen because something is breaking". What a fool, we thought, there's nothing breaking on Alexia, we are just too good at checking everything and maintenance is totally up to date.

Well, we have learned over the years that he was absolutely right! Now we always 'listen' and don't take it for granted that things miraculously get better by themselves for, when they do 'break' and stop working, it is always at the most inconvenient of times!.

Our latest incident was a small irritation with the gas hobs - they were taking ages to light and in the midst of cooking would suddenly go out!

We knew it was nothing less than a looming disaster and, finally, ol' Stovey drew his last breath of propane two days ago - thermocouples need replacing. Easy? No.

Our Euro stove and the US 'universal' thermocouple kits weren't compatible. William did much research and discussion with marine stove suppliers and the upshot of it all is that the new parts need to be ordered from a company on Hayling Island, UK!

So, what about a shiney, new replacement? I asked... hopefully. William's practical response of make-do-and-mend was predictable, but there were issues associated with buying a new model which required specialist and expensive work in removing wooden panels and resetting gimbals into new positions. Not something we wanted to get into with so little time before our departure to the Bahamas.

So, the old stove has been removed and left with a marine company in Ft Lauderdale and we bought a Coleman 2-burner camping stove to get us through the next few months!

It works amazingly well - so far........