2-Door JK JeepKitchen - AT Chaser - Globetrotter - National Luna build thread

[panhandlejensen]

Read your propane query. Got me looking at an aluminum tank now. Any regrets? Cost of new adapter fittings? I am looking at going w a 33.5 Worthington on top of a basket. It is about 10 lbs lighter than a 30 # Manchester. Plumbed a Portable Mr. Heater to my old vertical tank which is sitting on my cooler as I write this. lol. Which brackets did you get? From the thread it looked abit difficult. Anyway, thanks for your input & your threads. Cheers, Jensen

 

[jacobconroy]

Read your propane query. Got me looking at an aluminum tank now. Any regrets? Cost of new adapter fittings? I am looking at going w a 33.5 Worthington on top of a basket. It is about 10 lbs lighter than a 30 # Manchester. Plumbed a Portable Mr. Heater to my old vertical tank which is sitting on my cooler as I write this. lol. Which brackets did you get? From the thread it looked abit difficult. Anyway, thanks for your input & your threads. Cheers, Jensen

Regrets? Naw, I like it, and people keep telling me that it looks cool (in which case I tell them it's a keg). But, the part I like the most is the quick-release fittings. I'm told that it won't rust so it's been outside for a couple of months. But, a standard 20 lb steel tank is about $30.00. I could replace a lot of rusty steel tanks before I paid for one aluminum.

I'm pretty sure that all the new fittings were about $100.00 (one quick release female & three or four male fittings for the hoses/regulators & assorted bushings, etc. It's all brass.). An unexpected benefit, is that the female quick release has a valve in it that requires the male to be inserted (for safety I guess). If some ************ opens my propane valve at the grocery store...no propane will come out if the male fitting isn't inserted.

The brackets I bought can be found here. I did have to quite a bit of work to get them to fit the tank. Though they are inexpensive and pretty heavy-duty, they weren't well formed. Recently my bro-in-law welded a hasp into one and I moved them to the hinge side of the Teraflex. The Teraflex hinge seems to deal with the weight better on the hinge side.





The horizontal and/or aluminum tank option is pretty pricy. In my case the two-door is very limited for space, I didn't really have any place to mount an upright tank unless I bolted it to the Jeep or put it on the Teraflex rack. I'm saving that rack space for a night's worth of firewood.

 

[jacobconroy]

Lately I've been working myself up into backpacking...again. Specifically, winter backpacking. All that winter camping gear looks awesome, but expensive.

So, since I have several different down backpacking three-season quilts I slept in the RTT for a night with no heat while nesting a 20º quilt inside a larger 0º quilt. The lowest temp that night was 24º. I managed to get very sick for the next 10 days (coincidence? It has been going around at work). Maybe. I'm 42 years old and officially..well...just old.

Point is that I was very warm and comfortable in the Baroud RTT at 24º with two quilts. The outer 0º quilt was soaked in the morning. Though I did turn on the Baroud exhaust fan to avoid condensation, I didn't think about opening something at the bottom of the tent to let it pull air through. Dumb.

Perhaps a synthetic bag is the RTT answer in winter?

Thought that tent people may be interested. This weekend I will try again and make sure that the tent is vented.

 

[WranglerWideJKU]

Definitely synthetic..


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[jacobconroy]

Weather is breaking.

Disregard this post. Can't delete it. Can't upload pictures.

 

[Viatorem]

Nice build! Not much real estate in a 2-door Wrangler. Where do you store your recovery gear, tools, etc?

 

[jacobconroy]

Nice build! Not much real estate in a 2-door Wrangler. Where do you store your recovery gear, tools, etc?

Thanks. The top drawer in the back is for tools (air, knives, etc.). I don't really carry any mechanic tools to speak of because I don't usually go far from home. Recovery gear would need to go in a bag on the back rack, but I haven't hauled any of that around yet either.

Space is always an issue in this rig. Yesterday I put a different stove in the kitchen that allows me to carry the griddle in the same compartment. Bit accomplishment (and an expensive one). I'll post some pics later this weekend.

 

[RogueJK]

im trying to build myself a rear cook/storage system as well, im thinking of using the existing seat mounts for the front of the base plate, but how did you mount the rear of the plate, it looks like you drilled your own holes? i was thinking of using the stock little tie downs the jeep has but they are in awkward spots.

 

[jacobconroy]

im trying to build myself a rear cook/storage system as well, im thinking of using the existing seat mounts for the front of the base plate, but how did you mount the rear of the plate, it looks like you drilled your own holes? i was thinking of using the stock little tie downs the jeep has but they are in awkward spots.

I made my own holes after cutting/grinding all existing protrusions from the rear deck and making it as flat as I could. A clever guy might be able to sacrifice the rear seat and use that mounting system for a new flat area. Would be pretty cool.

 

[jacobconroy]

New Snow Peak stove in the kitchen

I'ver recently been infected with the Snow Peak bug and decided to mount a GS0-220 in the JeepKitchen. I removed the Partner Steel stove and gave it a shot this weekend:

Had to disassemble most of the stove to bolt it down:


Then drilled down through all the parts to mount with 1/4-20 stainless screws:


Here is an end shot. I had to use 3/4 inch riser tubes to raise the stove. This allowed the wind screen to clear the drawer slides when mounted. Be aware that raising the stove means that I can't use iso canisters below it anymore. I had to order iso to propane adapters (that haven't arrived yet). When they get here, I'll test and report back here. Upshot is that I should now be able to use cheap, readily available propane bottles with the stove:


Here is a shot from underneath. The JeepKitchen comes with a cutout underneath, but I had to make it a little bigger.


Here is a pic of the 3/4 inch risers installed:

 

[jacobconroy]

More of the stove install

One of the reasons I wanted the Snow Peak stove is that they make an iron griddle that is meant to work on this stove, and I suspected that I could mount the griddle to the stove itself while fitting it all inside the stove storage area of the JeepKitchen.

Checking fit an drilling some holes in a brand new stainless stove:


All four holes drilled:


And this is what I've come up with for a anti-vibration mounting system that's easy to deal with at camp. Everything is stainless except for the grommets:


Here is the griddle mounted to the top of the stove:


And stored in the JeepKitchen"

 

[jacobconroy]

Stove posing

After the install I had to drag out some of my Snow Peak toys and take some pics.

Here is some of the Cast Iron Duo kit and the large fireplace griddle on the GS-220 for size reference:


With the griddle in place (lunch and dinner mode):


Normally the stove grates sit down low:


But I bought this stove because if you reverse them (left to right) they raise up into griddle mode:


And when you put on the griddle you get "breakfast mode"!


Let's hope that the griddle doesn't suck.

 

[DallasJKU]

Inspired by what you have done with a 2 door JK. Gives me ideas.

 

[jacobconroy]

Pulled the trigger on an AluCab Shadow Awning today. I'll take some pics when it arrives and I get it installed.

 

[DallasJKU]

What are your thoughts on the TF Alta rack??