Camp Grills, what are you using?

Ive seen quite a few overland youtube pages including Justin Mcbride using the Tembo Tusk.

https://tembotusk.com/

 

I use a regular Coleman 2 burner stove. It’s compact and the 1lb propane bottles are compact and relatively cheap. Can’t be beat in my opinion

 

I recently bought a tembo tusk (guess I jumped on the overlanding bandwagon with that one) since cooking on it for multiple people is relatively easy cause of the size (plus you don't need pans & easy to clean). I also leave it set up on the patio when I don't need it for camping cause it makes meal prepping so much easier than cooking inside. I'll probably end up buying a single or dual burner coleman when I'm only cooking for myself since it'll be easier to set up/take down and I don't have to bring a small burner for my percolator.

 

same. except I have one 1lb bottle I refill from a 20lb tank. saves a bunch of money

 

I hadn’t thought of that. Great idea, I’ll have to look into it

 

I have mixed feeling for my tembo tusk.... Its fun to cool on, the heat in the center is pretty small... Too hot it burns the center real quick. its annoying to tear down when you're on the go... Burns propane due to cooking/cleaning it off.... ( I get free refilled on propane)

 

I bought one of these a few months ago and have been very happy with it. The Timbo Tusks are cool but I can't justify the price. This has been a huge upgrade from the Oazark Trails two burner I was previously using. Makes camp cooking actually enjoyable!

It is a little heavier than I'd prefer and slightly larger than I need but it makes cooking for the group easier.

Blackstone 1650 Tabletop Stainless Steel Front Plate-17, 17" Griddle, Black

https://www.amazon.com/Blackstone-Table-Top-Grill-Tailgating/dp/B0195MZHBK

 

how heavy are these?

 

21 LBS is what they have listed on their website. 95% of the weight is the cooking surface itself.

 

I go light and small for as much stuff as possible and lots of the places my family of 4 goes involves hiking and getting away from the truck or campsite. For that reason, we use lots of backpacking type gear instead of trying to create a household or RV kitchen in a truck. With that philosophy in mind (and I understand it's not for everyone), the MSR Dragonfly is a great lightweight stove. It weighs ~400grams which is under 1 pound. Runs on white gas (and other liquid fuels with nozzle swap outs) without any soot. It has 8700BTU of maximum output but the beauty of it is the ability to simmer and cook at any heat output. I threw away the crappy foil heat shield and instead use a Fire-Maple folding windscreen that needed some minor adjustments to fit over the gas line but it adjusts to fit small pots to big pots. This means that it can be used for camp and also for hiking day trips and other backcountry usage. If instead, you want to always be within meal distance from your truck and want to cook multi-pot meals for lots of people then some format of Partner Steel stove is the best there is. I wish they would come up with a dual-stage burner for better control on low temp cooking but that's a minor nitpick for something that is built to withstand a nuclear blast.

 

Seems like a good enough size for me

 

I recently got the stansport outfitter series 2 burner. Man this thing puts out some HEAT! 25000 BTUs per burner, that's way more than pretty much every other similar style stove. It made Thanksgiving dinner for 5 at Big Bend NP last year.

 

Classic green Coleman 2-burner with a separate griddle top.

 

Anyone have any suggestions on good way to modify the windscreen supports on a Cook Partner stove? Those squiggly wires are prone to catching on things (like jackets & sleeves) and a decent breeze will blow the windscreen right off them. I want to swap them out for something more like the bent wire Coleman uses but am not sure what the best way to mount them would be.

 

I have a Coleman with one burner and a grill grate. Sometimes I wish I had a second burner, but that grill has been awesome!

Coleman Camp Propane Grill/Stove+, Black and Silver

https://www.amazon.com/Coleman-Camp...cint=&hvlocphy=&hvtargid=pla-4584482455164219

 

On my first real outing with my little single burner butane Coleman, i noticed a real degradation in heat due to a cold temperature.

Does this happen less with propane or other fuels?

Thanks!

 

I'm not familiar with using butane, but propane has been great. Most recently I was able to cook breakfast below freezing with 20mph wind. Proximity to the flame and blocking the wind are key.

The down side is that the faster you use propane, the more it tends to freeze. This problem gets worse as the temperature gets colder and the bottle gets emptier. In my above example, I had to replace the bottle about half way through cooking each morning due to this issue. But I also had both parts of the grill /stove going and was only using a small green propane bottle. Meanwhile I was cooking breakfast for 4 people.

 

Butane stops vaporizing at around 31*F and performance suffers even before it gets that low so not the best choice for cold weather cooking. Propane is better but the old tried and true Coleman liquid fuel (Naptha) is an improvement on that. I have a https://www.coleman.com/camp-kitche...s-compact-dual-fuel-stove/SAP_3000003654.html that is a great little single burner which stores compactly in a large coffee can. These can often be found at yard sales for $10-20. Mine is from the early nineties but is the newest stove in my kit - my primary is a 413E double burner from 1962.

 

Has anyone used a HitchFire grill? Been looking at these as I wanted a bigger grill and won't take up space in the rig, but trying to decide if the hitchmount is the way to go. Some youtube videos I've seen look like they hold up, but maybe others have tested?

Hitchfire.com

 

It's summer now and I've moved to a Snowpeak Takibi folding fire pit

which kicks all sorts of ass. I love it.