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

[jacobconroy]

Got my "attic" net today. After a little shopping, the TruShield Rear Overhead Net seemed to be priced reasonably. It appears to be pretty heavy duty. Thick webbing, buckles, and solid stitching. I really yanked on the buckles to tighten things up and had no issues.

First off, the buckles for this are meant to go on top of the speaker bar. I'm not taking the top off for that. And, I want more space to stuff soft gear in there...so I mounted it upside down. This is a loose fit to see what's what.




I tightened the crap out of it, tied off the extra webbing, and stuffed some goodies in there. Down quilt, insulated jacket, hardshell jacket and hardshell pants, and puppy jackets:



Then "oops". The rear part of the net that drops down interferes with the National Luna lid.


I moved the rear part up and tied it down. Now everything works.


This is why I don't like fridge slides. Unlock the slide, pull out the fridge, undo the latches, open the lid, pull out a tray, return the tray, close the lid, close the latches, push in the fridge, lock the slide. Then CRAP!!!! I forgot to grab the mustard! Start over again. TOO MUCH SCREWING AROUND!!!!. Now I open, grab, and close. Highly recommended.

I had worried about not getting webbing that has mesh sewn in. Now I'm glad I didn't. The holes in the webbing will make the soft gear stick there by trapping it in. Overall, I like it. Really, really easy to grab things and stuff things back in. After I use it for a trip or two, I'll either figure out a way to mount the rear section higher to get more storage space...or cut it off with the hot knife.

 

[Lee_N]

Thanks for documenting your 2 door build. I have a YJ but your build gives me some good ideas on what works.

 

[jacobconroy]

Thanks for documenting your 2 door build. I have a YJ but your build gives me some good ideas on what works.

Welcome sir. Thanks for reading it!

There will be more little things as I can afford to do them. Right now I'm ordering a single-burner Partner stove so that I can install both my Snow Peak grill and the single-burner in my Kanz Kitchen chuck box. Should be really cool (in my opinion).

 

[jacobconroy]

OK...turns out that Partner Steel does make a single 9 x 12 inch stove. They don't have it on their website though. I ordered one today in preparation to do this:



I never use more than one burner at a time, so I'll take out the 22 inch Partner, install the single-burner Partner on the right, and drop that Snow Peak grill down on the left. The SP grill will fit in there with just a tad of room to spare under the lid. A bit strange...but this setup will be perfect. I tend to grill some good meat for camp dinner and have a burner left over for veggies or whatever. Breakfast only needs one burner anyway.

I can see this would probably be too limiting if you are camping with family, but I almost always camp alone.

The Coleman camp stove will still fit in there while folded up on top of the Partner. I'll be able to bake, fry, and grill with one small, complete setup. My OCD is really pleased about that. Hope it works out.

 

[jacobconroy]

I've got a hi-temp thermometer probe system that I use with my BBQ smoker unit. I'm thinking I can use it to test the stability and consistency of the heat distribution in the Coleman oven.

Cool! Let me know what you find.

 

[MattJ]

Cool! Let me know what you find.

Here you go - I've turned a $30 Amazon purchase into a $100 project. Welcome to my life. The circular pizza stone is a heat sink, and the automotive heat/noise suppression roll will be used as an outer wrap to fine tune the system to cook on multiple oven racks at the same time.

 

[MattJ]

Here's how I spent my Sunday: I built the collapsible thermal layer with velcro connectors, installed extra cooking trays and bought a round pizza stone that should function as a heat sink to even out the cooking temperature. I'll give it a test this week with my thermal probe and some cookies.

 

[jacobconroy]

Cool. What are the little widgets that are holding the insulation together?

 

[MattJ]

Velcro strips that I cut into pieces and stapled on.

 

[jacobconroy]

Velcro strips that I cut into pieces and stapled on.

Is that a temperature sensor with remote I see in the parts pile?

 

[MattJ]

Yep - that’s my plan for the test cook. Probably won’t need the remote sensor since I’m assuming I’ll have to adjust the stove flame a lot and will be standing next to it the whole time. I’m hoping the pizza stone helps a lot.

 

[jacobconroy]

I played around with the new Kanz config today. Dreadlocks gave me a tip about firing the charcoal on the propane side and it worked. I used the Snow Peak grill mesh to play around with it.


This is where I plan to put the grill. It worked too, but the bottom got a little warm on the plywood.


The wings on the Kanz are really handy.


You can see how hot the grill was...it burned the finish on the plywood. So, I have a couple of options:

1. Rebuild the inside of the Kanz to lower the upper shelf by 1 inch (to allow the lid of the grill to fit when in storage) and replace that shelf with stainless steel as well as the "backsplash"
2. Change my incoming Partner Steel order to the regular 9" 2 burner compact stove, mount the stove on the right side, and lift out the grill to use it (and place it on my stainless camp table). This would allow me to retain the use of 2 burners when needed by opening the stove.

I'm thinking about going with option 2 but will have to mull it over a bit. I will get break-away hinges on the dual 9 inch stove though...so I have options. The downside of option 2 is I don't think the Coleman oven will fit inside the Kanz anymore. Maybe it's time to start learning how to use my Snow Peak dutch overn....then I won't need the folding oven?

 

[MattJ]

Here's how I spent my Sunday: I built the collapsible thermal layer with velcro connectors, installed extra cooking trays and bought a round pizza stone that should function as a heat sink to even out the cooking temperature. I'll give it a test this week with my thermal probe and some cookies.

Success!

 

[jacobconroy]

Cool. How steady (and accurate) was the temperature on the built-in guage? You should cut a little hole out so you can read the guage while the front flap is down.

 

[MattJ]

Like all the reviews online suggested, the built-in dial read 50F low. I actually don’t mind bringing the digital probe along with the kit. It certainly small and helps me calibrate the stove flame because you can see how rapidly the temperature is rising/falling.

I will say, I had an easy time with this test due to lack of wind. In windy conditions, there will be dual challenges of more rapid heat loss and more difficulty to fine tune the stove flame control.