25ft International - Gas Oven or Convection Oven

[stephraleigh]

Hi Everyone.
We hope to upgrade from our 19 ft Bambi to a 25 ft international. We liked the front bed but realize it comes with microwave/convection oven and does not have a gas oven. The 25 ft rear bed comes with the microwave and a separate gas oven.

We haven't taken long trips in the past but hope to start having the time to do that. What are your thoughts on not having a gas oven? Do you find that you use it often? Thoughts?

Obviously it would be nice to have it when no hookups....but wanted to get a feel for what the forum community thinks.
Thanks
Steph

[lsbrodsky]

Had a gas oven in my boat, never liked the way it regulated temperature. Very happy with my microwave/conv, but we do not boondock. If we did, I would use my gas grill and the stove top. Our camping style uses the microwave.
Larry

[HowieE]

When we last looked for a trailer, 21 years ago, my wife would not consider those without an oven. And the 2 before that also had ovens.

[FCStreamer]

Opposite here. My wife doesn't cook, and when I do I don't use ovens. So we specifically stayed away from models with ovens. So it depends on how you cook and what you need.

[dkottum]

I think the simple answer is if you use your oven at home you will miss not having it when traveling.

We had a series of campers for 40 years without ovens, never again. The 25 FB has a convection oven/microwave over the fridge as well as the gas oven, we use both depending on power availability. Not only if there are electrical hookups, but if they can supply a convection/microwave as well as other appliances you may want to use.

There is more to the 25 FB than oven choices, a large comfortable bath with window in exchange for less space wasted on a side lounge, convertible to recliner or genuine sofa seating, entrance door convenient to all campsite arrangements, and a front window that has sunglasses and not view dependent.

Look them over in person, think about how you might use all the facilities.

[KJRitchie]

If you get the gas oven use a quarry or pizza stone in the oven to regulate the temperature better.

I have the 25fb but it has a M/W that hangs down over the sink. This is not available anymore. I like having the option of the microwave when on shore power and would love it to be a convection/microwave as using the oven during hot weather heats up the interior. However, we don't really use it much.

The best solution is the 25RB with the optional microwave/convection oven. You have all the cooking bases covered.

The only thing I don't like about the 25rb is the shower stall. The sit down bench extends all the way across the pan so standing in the shower is not as comfortable as is the shower in the 25fb. But I'm only 5'10" and could get accustomed to it I suppose.

I've heard you can special order Internationals with twin beds. Our 25fb queen takes up a lot of space and is not really a walk around queen. We are getting our 25fb queen converted to twins later this month.

Kelvin

[dkottum]

"The only thing I don't like about the 25rb is the shower stall. The sit down bench extends all the way across the pan so standing in the shower is not as comfortable as is the shower in the 25fb. But I'm only 5'10" and could get accustomed to it I suppose."

You haven't tried it. The upper wall is cured over that seat so you couldn't stand there if you wanted to, and extra length is handy.

[KJRitchie]

I like to spread my legs a little wider to keep my balance so on my 25fb I have one foot in the pocket where the drain is located. On my Classic 25fb the shower faucet is located on the wardrobe wall and not on the rear wall so I can stand back and spread out my legs into the pocket.

Kelvin

[LBOskiBear]

There's a whole thread about "Who actually uses their oven?"

We moved from a 19' to a 27' and I've only once used the microwave but continue to use the oven on every trip.

If you think the space isn't an issue, consider that you can't really add in a gas oven later without great effort. Adding/deleting a non-built-in microwave is fairly simple.

[stephraleigh]

Originally Posted by dkottum

I think the simple answer is if you use your oven at home you will miss not having it when traveling.

We had a series of campers for 40 years without ovens, never again. The 25 FB has a convection oven/microwave over the fridge as well as the gas oven, we use both depending on power availability. Not only if there are electrical hookups, but if they can supply a convection/microwave as well as other appliances you may want to use.

There is more to the 25 FB than oven choices, a large comfortable bath with window in exchange for less space wasted on a side lounge, convertible to recliner or genuine sofa seating, entrance door convenient to all campsite arrangements, and a front window that has sunglasses and not view dependent.

Look them over in person, think about how you might use all the facilities.

Thanks I guess we need to see in person to review "all" the differences, not just the missing oven. I wonder if they could change out the convection oven /microwave on the FB to a gas oven...and like someone mentioned, just use a counter microwave if needed. Not sure how easy that is to replace or if possible.

[abqdor]

We were forced to make the same decision when we ordered our '16 FB 25' Flying Cloud last fall. Since we like to boondock a lot, we felt the microwave would go unused much of the time. Then when we saw the small size of the interior of the microwave, we decided to go with the gas stove. It is also a good place to store pots and pans because of the size of the oven.

[wbrisett]

We debated between the 25 ft and 23D, believe it or not, it came down to the oven/microwave. I could have had both if I wanted to go into the International series, but in the Flying Cloud, the dealership only had the RB, which meant oven only. They could have ordered us a 25 FB, but they weren't sure when it would have arrived. Then a 23D which was originally sold, was put back on the lot and it had the layout we liked and both the stove and microwave.

We did use the oven a couple of weeks ago when we went camping just so we could see how it worked. It doesn't heat all that evenly, which was covered already here. But it does work and now is an option for us. At the end of the day though, I could live without the oven but I don't think we could live without the microwave/convection oven combo.

I think it really comes down to what do you think you will be doing with it? If you think you will be baking a lot, then get the oven. If you think you can live without the oven go for the Microwave/convection, or find the combination where they have both.

[Wayne&Sam]

We have the gas oven but rarely use it as an oven. We always use it as storage for bread, crackers and chips, etc. Works great for that and you still have the option of a glass oven when you want it.

[dkottum]

The gas oven is not wasted space, she made soft covers for the cast iron dutch oven and fry pan to store and transport them inside.

[AWCHIEF]

I two years I have not used my oven. It does make a nice storage space for the cast iron. I carry a small toaster oven that I use often for toast, etc.

[WHERRWE]

We have been RVing since 1988 and never used our gas ovens. When we ordere4d our 2016 Flying Cloud 28, we opted to replace the gas oven with a microwave/convection. No regrets so far. It all depends on How much you plan to cook on the road.

[moosetags]

We've had three Airstreams over the last ten years. We have used them a lot. We are approaching 1,700 nights of Airstream camping, and 150,000 miles of Airstream towing. Our first two Airstream (a 25FB and a 23FB) had the gas ovens. I wouldn't say that they were wasted space as we stored Moose Tags and mailing supplies in them while traveling. As far as cooking in them, we used them once or twice out behind the house to give us extra oven space at Thanksgiving.

Our current Airstream is a 2015 Flying Cloud 25FB. It does not have the gas oven; it has the convection microwave. We have already put over 200 nights of camping in this Airstream and have never missed the gas oven for one minute.

Brian

[dkottum]

We now spend half our life traveling with our Airstream. Cheryl uses the oven both at home and the Airstream all the time. No difference in diet. She does like the smaller convection oven for smaller items when there are electrical hookups, so uses them both, sometimes at the same time. And sometimes when I'm outside grilling. Then there's the stovetop burners, and this neat Nu-Wave appliance that heats only the pan and food.

Many ways to cook food in a modern camper. I don't know how we did it with our 1972 VW Camper, had a Coleman gas stove and a few sticks of firewood for the campground grill. The built-in fridge used ice to cool, and the sink faucet hand-pumped room temp water from the little tank. Great times, traveled all over North America and never knew how poorly equipped we were.

Sixty air-cooled horsepower and we did the Ike Gauntlet.

[Outdoors4me]

I like to cook and enjoy using the convection feature on the microwave. When we bought our 25FB I was a little leery of learning about the new gadget, having had a gas oven in our previous unit. I realized, though, that I didn't use the oven a lot before. So it wasn't a big loss. Now I try to make something new on every trip so I can learn about the convection properties.

The oven is a little daunting at first, but once you understand the principle behind it, you'll do pretty well. Read the instructions carefully. And re-check them every time you use it. At first, I couldn't believe I could put metal cookware in it! However, that's only when the convection is being used, not the microwave. I haven't had a recipe turn out bad yet. I have made roasts, quick breads, pizza and more.

One useful item the instructions told me to get was a cheap metal pizza pan. $1 at Walmart. It works well for roasting lean meats. I store it in the narrow upright closet next to the stove.

Occasionally I have to adjust my cooking style. If the oven is hot from convecting, I can't use the microwave feature with plastic cookware. Ceramic cookware works well, though. I have some nesting Corning ware casseroles that are fine.

We will be boondocking more this year, so I don't expect to be using the unit as much. When we're off the grid, I use the stovetop and grill. I don't use the oven in hot weather, no matter what.

The only thing my convection/microwave doesn't seem to do well is microwave popcorn. If anyone has figured that out, let me know.

In sum, if you like to cook and don't mind the learning curve, it will be fine. If you don't like to cook but use a microwave a lot, it will be fine, too.

I'm sure you'll love your final choice, no matter what it is. Let us know what you decide upon.

[greghoro]

Originally Posted by Outdoors4me

The only thing my convection/microwave doesn't seem to do well is microwave popcorn. If anyone has figured that out, let me know.

Same here, and for the life of me, I can't figure out why.

Have gone retro and use Jiffy Pop stovetop popcorn. Works over a campfire, too.


Greg