Sunset in the Virgins

An electric toaster

Over our boating years we have acquired several stove-top (read, “primitive”) toasters. We started out with a simple camp toaster. On our regular visits to Caloosa Spirit when she was in charter service we would pack one in our luggage so that we could enjoy toast from the galley. On a few occasions we tried leaving the camp toaster on board for our next visit, but invariably house-cleaning would remove it, necessitating the acquisition of a new one. On a scale of 1 to 10 those toasters worked at about a 6, and at $2.75 the price was right. But after just a few uses you had to ignore the rust—which was somewhat difficult. Once at a boat show, we fell for the sales pitch on a stainless steel stove-top toaster of a design radically different from the camp toaster. It worked at about a 5, but it would only toast one slice adequately. Try two slices and you had to ignore the blackened surfaces, especially if you turned your back for long. The price-tag of $12.00 made it hard to give up on. In our quest for real toast we eventually bought a stainless steel toaster shaped more like the camp toaster—for the boat-store price of $22.00. This time, however, the satisfaction level was about a 3. True, it didn’t blacken the bread, but it didn’t really toast it, either. Dried it out was more like it. Quick studies that we are, and not wanting to throw any more good money after bad, we gave up on finding a stove-top toaster that would really toast. We grimly decided that real toast, like a flush-toilet and standing under a running shower, were luxuries that we could do without in our simplified cruising life.

Wal-Mart can be a spell-binding place. As we were ready to leave with our necessities one day, I noticed the toaster display. For the pindling price of $6.54 we could have a luxurious, modern, electric pop-up toaster! Just by using a few amps from our inverter we could have two slices of nicely browned toast, and it would shut off automatically. What a concept! We were hooked. Our solar panels will easily compensate for the momentary draw on the batteries, and we even have a spot in the galley where the toaster fits perfectly. Life is good—and so is the toast!

Posted Wednesday November 2, 2005

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  1. what is the name or brand of the small toaster you found – and liked? (I couldn’t find anything like it on the Walmart website.)

    Thank you!

    Lisa Rapp
    White Star
    — lisa rapp    07/19/2007 10:28 AM    #
  2. Can you post a picture of the toaster and the brand name and number
    — Brian Dornan    06/01/2009 06:13 AM    #
  3. Since I’m presently off the boat, I can’t look up the brand name or take a picture. However, we purchased another similar one a couple of years ago at a Wal-Mart in Indianapolis, and it’s a Durabrand. I believe it was around the same price as the one on the boat, and it looks just the same-white with two slice slots-very basic. Hope this is helpful.
    — Alice Rutherford    06/02/2009 08:18 AM    #
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