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Camp stove, useful or no?


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Working hard on the house renovations to get it on the market for my 2017 jump-off. In the next few weeks I'll be getting to the kitchen and it will be a total gut-out and start completely over. Needless to say, I'll be without a kitchen for at least a couple of weeks up to a month.

 

I'm very adept at grilling and will be doing a lot of that, but grilling just doesn't cover all the bases (rain, cold, etc.). Not to mention I'm not real keen on putting my nice pots and pans on a grill.

 

I've been researching butane burners and camp stoves to make do with during that time. Of course as with everything I purchase anymore, I'm always thinking about whether it will go with me or will it 'get gone' when I leave. I'm not storing anything so my jump off will have no strings.

 

So my question to the full-timers out there, would a camp stove or butane/propane burner be of any use out there for boondocking? Wondering if in the summer heat would cooking outside be preferable to heating/smelling up the inside of the RV?

 

Am I over-thinking this?

 

Thanks all,

Russ

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We don't boondock. But I have a propane stove for cooking things like fish or bacon outside to beat the smell. On your kitchen project, I gutted mine, too. But I had removed a cooktop from the before-kitchen, and added a 220V pigtail. Set it on top of my dryer & used that plug for a few months.

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Camp stoves are great for outdoor cooking. If you go with propane, getting one that can easily be attached to the larger 20, 30 or 40# propane bottles will save on propane costs. If you will have enough room in the RV, some BBQ grills have a stove type burner that is very convenient for outdoor cooking. If you don't boondock, a countertop induction burner is a good way to keep heat and smells out of the RV.

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You may want to look at something like this https://m.opensky.com/vistashops/product/my-grilling-mate-a-must-have-accessory-for-your-grill-this-summer

 

We use them our Weber Q, we cut one in half so we can grill on one side and cook other foods on the other.

 

Denny

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This might be overkill for RVing, but if I were "roughing it", this is what I'd have in a New York minute! http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0013LLSZG/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=2W819KA67UKPN&coliid=IMM2OC8XW21LH

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We use the small weber. We do not boondock but we do grill outside from time to time.

Helen and I are long timers ..08 F-350 Ford,LB,CC,6.4L,4X4, Dually,4:10 diff dragging around a 2013 Montana 3402 Big Sky

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We haven't carried one. But every once in awhile I think we need to retrieve our old (1972 era) tried and true Coleman propane from our son. Of course I'd need to pry it from his grip.

Ron & Linda

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Absolutely.

They are great for many things....

Boiling water for sweet corn, hot dogs, and many many other things outside..

Also we like to make breakfast outside....

I have a small one that came with our motor home that plugs in directly into a port inside a storage area with about a (20) foot hose.

I quickly changed the end to work on an older larger Coleman unit that I had....love it.

It rocks !

Cheers,

Bo

1989 Safari Serengeti 34'
Towing a 1952 M38A1 Military Willys

Past HDT owner

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Since i travel in a small trailer with limited storage, I opted for a combination unit; the Coleman Grill Stove. While not the best grill in the world (temperature control is rough), the combination lets me do most of my cooking outdoors.

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I did a kitchen remodel several years ago. Wife was without a stove for 7 months. (slow n' easy plan)

We/she got by with a microwave, toaster oven & a elec. frying pan. I expect to use microwave, elec. fry pan & grill of some sort when we fulltime.

“…nothing so liberalizes a man and expands the kindly instincts that nature put in him as travel and contact with many kinds of people.” – Mark Twain

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We haven't carried one. But every once in awhile I think we need to retrieve our old (1972 era) tried and true Coleman propane from our son. Of course I'd need to pry it from his grip.

I did that with my son and my '87 two burner Coleman ...but it wasn't hard to pry it from his grip when the seals on the regulator were all cracked and flames were shooting out of places they shouldn't have been! There is a website named oldcolemanparts that was helpful in finding new seals. To answer the op's question, we used the two burner almost every day to cook meals when we were in an overseas location where we lost power every day from 4-10pm ...just when we needed it the most,

Paul (KE5LXU), former fulltimer, now sometimer...

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If you have a coleman gasoline campstove the kind you pump up you can buy an adapter to use the small 1lb tanks and an adapter hose to that that can be used on the larger tanks for that one and anyother type propane camp style stove or lantern. Those adapter are sold in a lot of walmarts or sporting good stores and they work pretty well. It is easy to switch back to run the stove on gasoline if you need to. I got the coleman years ago to run on any unleaded gasoline and kept it for emergencies. I bought one of the propane conversion deally's and really like it. I normally use the stove outside but with the right hook up I could use it inside.

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I've used a Max Burton butane "chef's burner" for 11 years; it's inexpensive, pretty sturdy (mine has a few chips and dents from being blown off tables in the desert a few times, but it still works fine!), puts out a good amount of heat, goes for a long time on a butane cartridge, and comes in a plastic case for storage. The butane cartridges are widely available.

 

http://www.amazon.com/Max-Burton-Table-Burner-Black/dp/B000G6S8Y8%3FSubscriptionId%3DAKIAILSHYYTFIVPWUY6Q%26tag%3Dduckduckgo-d-20%26linkCode%3Dxm2%26camp%3D2025%26creative%3D165953%26creativeASIN%3DB000G6S8Y8

 

If you want a fancier burner in stainless steel and with a higher BTU output, check out Iwatani brand. But, for most people who want an "extra" burner in a small package, the Max Burton does the job for much less money than the Iwatani.

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So my question to the full-timers out there, would a camp stove or butane/propane burner be of any use out there for boondocking? Wondering if in the summer heat would cooking outside be preferable to heating/smelling up the inside of the RV?

 

Most certainly! I cook almost exclusively outside. I'm not much of a fan of propane camp stoves though. I prefer, weather permitting, over the fire with cast iron, but I rely pretty heavily on my little son of hibachi for quick reliable cooking in incremental weather. Propane camp stoves don't really put off a decent heat and propane is a real premium for my day to day life. (keeping the fridge and hot water heater going)

 

I don't use briquettes though. I just keep it charged with campfire remains and stick it in the snuff bag for later use. It only takes 10 minutes or so to get a decent heat going and the coal remains can be reused multiple times.

 

I know they weigh quite a bit more than household type pans, but inside or out, you really can't beat a decent set of cast iron.

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We have carried a Coleman Stove with us for 40 years. It of course was originally fueled by "white gas", but I converted long ago to propane. It sits out in all kinds of weather, and great for something that you may not want to do inside, steaming shrimp, hardshell crabs, etc. There is also some room inside of it to pack some necessary items.

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So my question to the full-timers out there, would a camp stove or butane/propane burner be of any use out there for boondocking? Wondering if in the summer heat would cooking outside be preferable to heating/smelling up the inside of the RV?

In reading this thread I find myself wondering how it makes any difference how we do or do not use a camp stove while traveling by RV? I would bet that the vast majority of fulltimers do not carry one of them, but even if none of us do, that doesn't prevent you from using one. Because of limited space in the RV, we didn't carry one but I did cook outside quite often on charcoal or propane. I actually prefer to cook over a campfire but there are places that don't allow open fires if you stay in commercial RV parks & campgrounds and Pam's breathing issues also limited my use of one. I would say that if you decide that you want to use it, then take it along and make use of it for any of the suggested ways or even create new ones of your own.

 

Not only that, but if you take it along and find you don't use it, you can be rid of it pretty easily. We always lived pretty much by the one year rule. If something went a full year without being used, it was left behind. The key is to decide what makes the best use of the space that you have for storage. If you will commit to using it, keep it!

Good travelin !...............Kirk

Full-time 11+ years...... Now seasonal travelers.
Kirk & Pam's Great RV Adventure

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We got a lot of good out of our two burner propane camp stove over the years, having an adapter to go to a big bottle and a quick-connect to tap into the RV's tanks were both useful. It was small enough we even took it along in our VW Vannagon we'd converted to a camper.

 

Depending on the stove it can be pretty small ours was the cheaper of these two, not sure which would be the better deal today:

 

http://smile.amazon.com/Coleman-2000005189-Two-Burner-Propane-Stove/dp/B00005OU9D/ref=sr_1_sc_1

 

http://smile.amazon.com/Coleman-Triton-InstaStart-2-Burner-Stove/dp/B00AU6GHCY/ref=sr_1_sc_2

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We did not carry one with us for the 11 years we spent full timing and one year snowbirding. Don't feel it would have been worth having with us. We had a Weber BabyQ for a grill and cooked some things on it in a pan once in a while.

One thing we did use pretty often was a large electric turkey roaster. It could hold up to a 22 pound turkey. Also used it for making big batches of Texas Red chili, stew and racks of ribs. It was stowed in a rear basement compartment when not in use.

 

Now that we are in a stick and brick house I unpacked the two burner Coleman butane stove and gasoline lantern from the box they were stored in for 12 years while we were on the road. Figure they might come in handy in case of an extended power failure.

Clay(WA5NMR), Lee(Wife), Katie & Kelli (cats)
Full timed for eleven years in our 2004 Winnebago Sightseer 35N Workhorse chassis. Snowbirds for 1 year. Now settled down in western CO.
Honda Accord toad.

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We do not have one. Because we live full-time in our RV, we are not on a camping trip and cook meals just as we would at home. We do take advantage of cooking outside on a small gas grill, or sometimes over a fire, but the majority of our meals are prepared in our kitchen, in our RV.

Pat DeJong

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Where I volunteer a lot they have commonly restricted outside open fires of any kind at least part of the time due to danger of wildfire. This is becoming more and more common in forests and parks in the west. A lot of the local counties or states will have their own bans even before the NP or Forest Service but you can normally use any stove with a shut off. This is just FYI for you.

 

Another guy I know does a lot of fish frying. Even at home he cooks outside some distance from the house just so all the oil doesn't get scattered around. He has done them for us at work and cooks outside. He uses a coleman stove I think converted to use propane but still can use unleaded if he finds it better for the circumstance,

 

There are some things I won't normally cook on my rv stove inside just so I don't have to deal with the clean up. My stove is the smallest Coleman dual fuel stove. Another good thing is in some locations you can cook further from the rig an slightly lessens the the chance of attracking some animals directly to the rig. (read bears) my stove got slightly bent once when one knocked it off the table in the night. The stoves can be a good thing but if you don't have one already or have a place to store it maybe wait to get some experience before you decided. The small propane grill type stoves can be really useful and in recent history I have seen them as cheap as $20-$25 which a good tryout price. They can be slightly more difficult to carry and store depending on your sitiuation.

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Wow, thanks everyone! Where to begin.

 

2Hams, that is exactly the unit I started looking at when I first started my searches. Still might go that direction. It would be nice if I could hook it into the 5th wheel tanks and not have to carry extra fuel just for the stove.

 

The other route is exactly what BigJim says. Buy a smaller/cheaper unit and see if something like that is workable as it would be far less of a hit if it were damaged or stolen.

 

Rosita, that's an option I hadn't put much thought into other than seeing one of those being used at a restaurant some time ago and thinking it was pretty neat.

 

I will be bringing along a Weber Jumbo Joe Platinum that I scored at a garage sale several months ago. I can use it as a grill or a smoker and it doesn't take up much space or weight. I'd be lost if I didn't have a grill.

 

Again, thanks for all the input everyone! This newb appreciates it!

 

Russ

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we use a propane stove to cook outside when we want to. It has come in handy for us.

Joani & Alberto, 1999 Rexhall Rexair 3550

We named our RV Our Casita and got personalized Idaho license plates "RCASITA" because it is our little house in spanish,

Our two dogs always travel with us, Badger 12 years old & Sheba 6 years old

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We no longer start "camp fires" but spend a lot of time outside and often prepare our meals outside (and very often roast hot dogs). We use a propane stainless steel grill (two burner) that fits into the basement storage easily.

 

We quit doing camp fires because it is difficult to find wood (and usually not allowed to "glean" wood from the area), it's no longer safe to have a camp fire in many areas of the west (where we are most of the time), and buying wood just to burn it up seems counter productive. So we just light the grill and roast hot dogs and marshmallows over that fire.

 

These are often available for under $100.

 

WDR

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I looked at the local WM today and this location didn't carry the propane coverter. I got to playing around and found 2 brands on Amazon 1.Century Regulated Propane Converter (grey) $27.98 2.Stansport Propane Converter $15.99. They also are are carried by Bass Pro and probably other places. I don't get the grey part on the first one. These are for the dual fuel or Coleman fuel stoves.

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