Tom & Shelly's build

[noseoil]

Just a follow-up to the Dutch oven question & cooking heat. TimC had asked (off-list) about the relative size of today's newer charcoal, being smaller lumps now than in previous years, & the chart I had linked to in my post. I'm not sure how much compensation you would need to use for today's smaller lumps, but an upward adjustment would most likely be in order. My main concern would be that small lumps will burn for a shorter time, so it may require a second batch of coals, part way through the cooking process, to keep the temperature even for long enough cook times.

That being said, Tom's picture does look like it might have been a bit too much heat on the sides & bottom for a good temperature. The top looks to be a bit over in heat, but the temperature from the top won't typically burn things too badly, as there's not actual contact with the food at that point. From what I've done in our cooking, the bottom & sides can be a problem with "hot spots" since there is direct contact with the coals, the iron & food. Another thing to keep in mind, the oven needs to be turned fairly often (I use 15 minutes) to keep the heat even as the food is cooked.

[Tom&Shelly]

Thank you for the comments Tim and Bruce. One thing is clear, we overdid the coals that time. I'll try the chart and Bruce's method, and will definitely turn the pot every 15 minutes or so. Lot's of our baking calls for a 350 degree oven for a half hour, so we'll work on getting that down.

I saw Tim C's post about briquette size. hadn't noticed these were smaller, but maybe. Too bad: Two years ago I "gave away" several bags that were ten years old to my office's Friday burger burn club, so I have nothing to compare to. I seldom used charcoal when tent camping, and never dutch ovens, so this is a (fun) learning experience.

Tom

[Tom&Shelly]

New piece of equipment to try on our next trip: A portable 100 W solar panel



Seems to work fine, but the battery is already topped off, so who knows. Seems to put out a little more voltage than the one on the garage (20 vs 18 volts). With a PWM controller, I expect that's wasted anyway.

The thing came with some cheapy plastic struts to hold it at an angle, but flat works fine as well, and is less susceptible to wind.

It also came with MC-4 plugs and several adapters for plugs we don't need. They claim one is an Anderson plug, but it doesn't look like one to me. Anyway, I cut it off and soldered an XT-60 connector on so we can plug right into the teardrop. I also made an extension cord out of 9 feet of 12 gauge DC underground wire I had leftover from our build.

Tom

[Tom&Shelly]

finally decided to hide the rest of the wires, and make a lid for our electronic test thingy bin



The square hole to the right will hold a cheapy thermometer/hygrometer. (I don't want to put it in until the wood is varnished--it may not come out too easily.) We're mostly interested in the thermometer. A Chinese company on Amazon sells four per package, so, of course the first thing everyone does is take them out and compare the readings. Lot's of bad reviews by cannabis growers who bought them for their terrariums and who are complaining about the hygrometers not agreeing too well. I can't help thinking if they spent as much time in high school studying science as they did smoking marijuana, they'd understand how expensive a really accurate hygrometer costs!

We also have a barometer we could've stuck in there, but it was sold as an altimeter, so it's calibrated in feet or meters. Since it assumes standard pressure and temperature, it's not very good as an altimeter, and we're holding out for the GPS based variety. To use it as a barometer, I would need to make a plot to convert to inches of mercury based on the (faulty) altimeter reading and the temperature. But honestly, what would I have to be smoking to want to do that while on vacation!

Shifting subjects only slightly, after two trips, we decided there is room in the galley shelf that holds the counter light for a small spice/condiment rack



After a scientific survey, I decided there are two types of spices (as far as the spice rack builder is concerned), those McCormick sells in a short jar 1 7/8 inches in diameter, and those they sell in a taller jar of the same diameter. Shelly and I also determined that we have NEVER actually used up any of the spices in a container. Once-a-decade or so, she goes through her kitchen and throws the old ones away. When we got married 8 years ago, and combined kitchens, she threw out many of the spices I owned, many since the 80's. But I digress--the point is--the taller jars won't fit, and we would never use that much of any single spice on a single camping trip anyway.

So, in some cases, we'll buy spices from McCormick in the short containers and use those. When necessary we'll buy the taller container and dump some into a short container. Shelly bought a bunch of smaller jars that are the same size as McCormick's short containers (those on the left)



We have room for salt, pepper, and six draft picks to be named later.

There are also two types of condiments, those that we have to buy ourselves, and those we swipe from fast food restaurants. The latter usually come in little packets (as I suspect you know) which is what the clear container is for. The oval containers to the right are for sugar, minced onion (we use it in our scrambled eggs, so go through more than would fit in a small McCormick's jar), brown sugar (for our oatmeal; you can't have eggs for breakfast every morning!) (Actually, that's Shelly's opinion. I respectfully disagree, but not enough to not eat her oatmeal!) and one more to be decided later.

Shelly also bought taller versions of the oval containers. They won't fit on the shelf, but we'll make a rack for the back of the counter that holds those for instant coffee, creamer, Pero (chicory based coffee flavored drink--actually not too bad), etc.

While camping last week, we also found a great place for the tin foil



so I'll make a holder for that roll.

Tom

[tony.latham]

a cheapy thermometer/hygrometer....

Got a link? We've got an indoor/outdoor inside but I'm curious to see what you bought.

It was 36º at 3:00 this afternoon and snowing. Yahooo.

Tony

[Tom&Shelly]

a cheapy thermometer/hygrometer....

Got a link? We've got an indoor/outdoor inside but I'm curious to see what you bought.

It was 36º at 3:00 this afternoon and snowing. Yahooo.

Tony

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07TRKGW9G?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2_dt_b_product_details

Small and cheap. Temperature seems fairly accurate. I'm sort of curious to see how it tracks with the battery temperature, read from the controller. In Arizona, at dawn, the air temp was obviously rising faster than the big thermal mass of the battery, shaded under the drop.

We've had some unseasonable weather down here a few days ago. I had to build a fire in the cabin (our only practical source of heat) this past Monday. On Tuesday we actually had rain; a nice soaking rain for most of the day, which, of course we love, but it's strange to get it in May.

Tom

[tony.latham]

This is the one we have inside. The sending unit is behind the tongue box. It's good to take a peek at the temperature in the morning.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B06XKH666P/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Tony

[Tom&Shelly]

This is the one we have inside. The sending unit is behind the tongue box. It's good to take a peek at the temperature in the morning.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B06XKH666P/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Tony

We have a few of the old wired kind in our "junk box" (aka, the entire basement) and have thought of using one of those, or buying a wireless version. Might happen one of these days.

We have a battery operated LED clock in the cabin that we like

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B074QLZ7TK/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o09_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Runs for months on the battery. Anyway, if we flip it over, it reads out the cabin temperature. That part's a bit gimmicky. We're trying to figure out a convenient way to mount it so we can see the time (and maybe the temp) when we want to, but not have the LED in our faces while sleeping.

But since we have three more of the little LCD temperature/humidity instruments, we might put one of them in the cabin. Their temperature sensor is in the back, so we might even figure out how to mount one in the door, or something, to measure the outside temperature. Lot's of possibilities....

Tom

[rjgimp]

...brown sugar for our oatmeal...

Try a spoonful of pure maple syrup on your oatmeal or even in your coffee sometime. The REAL thing from an actual maple tree. Not the fake garbage they sell at Walmart that got squeezed out of an ear of corn. It's about $9 - $12 per quart but worth every penny.

[Tom&Shelly]

...brown sugar for our oatmeal...

Try a spoonful of pure maple syrup on your oatmeal or even in your coffee sometime. The REAL thing from an actual maple tree. Not the fake garbage they sell at Walmart that got squeezed out of an ear of corn. It's about $9 - $12 per quart but worth every penny.

We're heading to Upstate New York later this summer just to get some! My grandfather used to make it.

(Yes, it's out of season, but I ain't goin' back there in the Winter! Joined the Air Force just to get away from Northeast Winters! The other three months of the year are fantastic!)

Tom

[Tom&Shelly]

Trickin' out the galley:



We added a tin foil holder right above the electrical box. It happened to fit in there, and it keeps alien satellites from probing our solar controller's memory. (I don't believe in that non-sense, but who knows what the solar controller believes.)



The holder is made from pre-COVID/pre-inflation 1/4 inch Baltic birch and holds a 100 sq foot Great Value Heavy Duty Aluminum Foil. Strong enough for grilling! (As if we could afford the meat these days!) They suggest we compare to Reynolds Heavy Duty, but I didn't compare their box size. I'm pretty sure we can find Great Value at any Walmart, and will if it's cheaper than Reynolds.

Oh, we now have the thermometer/hygrometer installed



and that's why the metal building with the Sun beating down on it is our garage, and the cool basement under our cabin is the workshop. Imagine double digit humidity!

Finished the top shelf condiments and spice racks



They're held in with magnets and remove easily to go into a bear box or the truck when necessary. I limited the length so they can store in one of our black bins.



So, I thought these would be a breeze to make, but I was using a 1 7/8 inch Freud Forstner bit for the round spice holders, which worked fine for a few cuts until I hit a hidden knot in the middle layer of the Baltic birch. Tore the wood right from my hand. From then on, the bit, though it has no visible damage, just didn't cut right. I finished by carefully cutting the holes with a scroll saw. Very rustic, and I may re-do it later when I get a new bit (1 7/8 inch is not common in hardware stores). Sours me to Freud's special design!

Tom

[Tom&Shelly]

Here's our version of Tony's countertop organizer, obviously, in our case, for the right corner.



It won't go all the way to the electrical box, since we have outlets on the side of the box.

From right to left, the magazine rack will hold zip-lock, kitchen trash, and plastic grocery bags. The blue caddy holds a sponge, a brillo pad, and a really cute small bottle of dish washing detergent we stole from a hotel room with a kitchen that we stayed at once. (We actually dumped out the detergent so we could bring it home on the airplane, then refilled it here.) (Or does that make us sound crazy?) (If it does, that never happened!) The caddy comes out for dish washing. The green caddy came in a three pack at the dollar store. The yellow one came broken, but I don't care for green, so we may spring for another set. We may use it for packets of Starbucks instant coffee and packets of condiments that are too big to fit in the plastic box above the light. The four oval containers will hold instant coffee, creamer, Pero, and hot chocolate mix. Behind them we have room for ketchup, yellow ketchup, and virgin olive oil which Shelly claims is even healthier than bacon grease.

Oh, there's a notch to the right of the magazine rack allegedly to hold a small cutting board. The real reason it's there is that we didn't quite get the galley walls and bulkhead square, and this will hide the difference.

Tom

[tony.latham]

Dang. I should go out and stare out our galley and dream up some wizardry.

Tony

[rjgimp]

We added a tin foil holder right above the electrical box. It happened to fit in there, and it keeps alien satellites from probing our solar controller's memory. (I don't believe in that non-sense, but who knows what the solar controller believes.)

Those solar controllers do come up with some crazy ideas sometimes.

The holder is made from pre-COVID/pre-inflation 1/4 inch Baltic birch...

You probably could have sold that and earned enough to cover your travel expenses for the rest of the year.

The blue caddy holds a sponge, a brillo pad, and a really cute small bottle of dish washing detergent we stole from a hotel room with a kitchen that we stayed at once. (We actually dumped out the detergent so we could bring it home on the airplane, then refilled it here.) (Or does that make us sound crazy?) (If it does, that never happened!)

Crazy like a fox!

Dang. I should go out and stare out our galley and dream up some wizardry.

You and the rest of us. Dang, indeed! There is some nifty stuff going on in this thread.

[Tom&Shelly]

Thank you Tony and Rob!

These particular projects would have been even easier with a CNC machine, especially the part about the large diameter Forstner bits.

We're also planning on mounting a few clothes pin style clips to the Galley sides for leather gloves and pot holders. Still need to figure out a place to hang dish towels.

I need to take and post some pictures of the teardrop cabin interior: Shelly's made some fabric pockets for our wallets, keys, and other odds and ends.

On our first camping trip, we found the sliders in the clothes cabinet tend to open while bouncing down the road. Our jury-rig fix are a couple of foam rubber wedges we shove in between them, but we need to come up with a better fix.

Longer term, the lead time for Partner Stoves convinced us to stick with the Coleman this year and the little green tanks, but I suspect we'll order a Partner over the Winter and may plumb a larger tank in.

Tom