Barbeques on boats. Worth having?

[Robin]

Surely not an exageration!
The barbeque I was refering to was a charcoal Magma, its sitting in my garage after only being used 3 times - it just was not suitable, you can operate the vents to your hearts content, it still got far too hot to use in any breeze and sadly invariably when we wanted to barbeque there was a breeze, the pushpit was just too exposed a position

I did replace our charcoal Magma with a gas one, but only for the convenience of less time to get it ready for use. We used the charcoal one (and gas one) very successfully mounted on the pushpit in all reasonable winds. The lid fits on vertically to make a windshield if use as a plain grill or it fits like a lid for a closed or oven grill. The food grill height is adjustable to different heights above the coals. Possibly you used too many charcoal briquettes as the amount the instructions say seems small, I know we did initially before realising fewer was quite adequate. The vents in the lid are to get air to the coals and you close them for less heat, opening them increases the heat by making the coals burn hotter.

Many thousands of Americans can't be that wrong because Magmas are the most popular marine BBQs made!

 

[Alcyone]

Just got back from three weeks sailing in the Caribbean. Most boats there seem to have BBQs on the pushpit, as stated. We had a few beach barbies, and the boat owner was considering a rail fitted one.

Wind was my concern. Every time we wanted to have a BBQ, we seemed to have to search for an area of beach with little wind. I was concerned that the rail mounted ones would almost always be subject to a fair bit of wind, blowing hot ash and sparks across the boat.

Catching a fish and grilling it was great fun, though.

 

[Robin]

Just got back from three weeks sailing in the Caribbean. Most boats there seem to have BBQs on the pushpit, as stated. We had a few beach barbies, and the boat owner was considering a rail fitted one.

Wind was my concern. Every time we wanted to have a BBQ, we seemed to have to search for an area of beach with little wind. I was concerned that the rail mounted ones would almost always be subject to a fair bit of wind, blowing hot ash and sparks across the boat.

Catching a fish and grilling it was great fun, though.

We mounted ours on our last boat on the side of the pushpit as far aft as possible as that allowed the lid to be used as a windshield (if lying to the wind) whilst being able to access the grill from the side. Anything that blew off still went away from the boat, including rolly things like sausages...

On our penultimate boat we had the BBQ right on the aft rail itself, again no problems except that the lid when used as a windshield was a bit in the way of inspecting the goodies..

The most important thing IMO is that the grill must be outside of the boat boundary not facing inside it over the decks. That is less for fire control than to prevent any grease dripping and staining the hull.

 

[Ex-SolentBoy]

Wind was my concern. Every time we wanted to have a BBQ, we seemed to have to search for an area of beach with little wind. I was concerned that the rail mounted ones would almost always be subject to a fair bit of wind, blowing hot ash and sparks across the boat.

We have had many BBQ's on our boat. So long as you are at anchor, and the boat is lying to the wind, a location at the stern of our boat has meant that no mess has landed aboard at all. Having said that, we do not have a sugar-scoop transom, so perhaps that is a consideration.

Another advantage of the type we use (C-CHEF) is that it has sides and a back that are raised. This means that you can rotate it to shield from the wind as required.

 

[samsplaceuk]

C-CHEF Barbecue

THe latest version of C-CHEF has now been upgraded,
The new version,
has all Stainless steel Thumbscrews, and built in Kebab slots into the sides,
www.cchef.co.uk

 

[tcm]

I'm with photodog. It just feels a rubbish idea having hot flaming coals in a plastic/wood boat within yards/feet/inches of all manner of things that can also catch fire. Also, a barbie on the back always looks a bit manky, rusty etc.

 

[Ex-SolentBoy]

I'm with photodog. It just feels a rubbish idea having hot flaming coals in a plastic/wood boat within yards/feet/inches of all manner of things that can also catch fire. Also, a barbie on the back always looks a bit manky, rusty etc.

If you have flames you are not doing it right!

Rusty - certainly not! High quality stainless steel old chap. Beautiful.
Looks manky. Not while you are cooking, and then you store it in a locker.

Bring on those sausages.

 

[tcm]

hm, not very beautiful, sorry. Not as beautiful as if it wasn't there at all, imho.

 

[Ex-SolentBoy]

hm, not very beautiful, sorry. Not as beautiful as if it wasn't there at all, imho.

I would agree with that, But I feel the same about lots of stuff appended to the boat like the outboard, aerials, lifebelts, Danbuoy, and even some of the crew!

I am just happy to put up with the ugly for the short period of cooking - and no comments about SWMBO please.

 

[Major Catastrophe]

Of course, no BBQ is complete without a Kebabacue.

I bought two yesterday from Home & Bargains for 49p each and will be manufacturing kebabs in the summer that don't fall to pieces on the beach.

I believe the Kebabacue was a failed Dragon's Den pitch and as their website no longer works and Home & Bargains have thousands of them, I assume it enjoyed only a limited commercial 'success'.

 

[Alcyone]

Solentboy, Robin, cheers. I guessed they must work without too many problems, by the sheer number I saw. Beach barbies sound fun, and the missis loves them, but a lot of hassles, carting everything ashore, and sandy fish is a bit crunchy.......

 

[JayBee]

Surely not an exageration!
The barbeque I was refering to was a charcoal Magma, its sitting in my garage after only being used 3 times - it just was not suitable, you can operate the vents to your hearts content, it still got far too hot to use in any breeze and sadly invariably when we wanted to barbeque there was a breeze, the pushpit was just too exposed a position

How many briquettes were you using? Most novice (not suggesting you're a novice ) bbq'ers seriously overdo the amount of charcoal required in a kettle type bbq, such as the Weber, Magma or their many cheap imitatations.

A single, well spaced layer of dry, good quality briquettes on the fire grate is all that's usually needed. On a standard Magma, that's about a dozen, no more.

As someone said earlier, if there are flames, you are doing it wrong. If the food is burnt you are doing it wrong.

We Brits are generally clueless about these things. Urgent lessons are needed from our cousins in the USA, Oz and SA, where it's just an ordinary outdoor cooking method and not a high summer only, sausage and drumsticks incineration party.

We use our Weber throughout the year for roasting legs of lamb, chickens, the Christmas turkey etc etc. Get the bbq going in the indirect mode, place food on grill, lid on, back indoors, check an hour later. Slightly modified procedure on the boat, but always a great result.

Sourcing charcoal is a problem in the UK in winter, but I can recommend www.wowbbq.co.uk for fast, low cost mail order service all year round.