Kitchen Kit/Chuck Box

[DirtWhiskey]

D-Flite Tack Box (Chuck Box) – Overland Tested

overlandtested.com

Great work! Glad to see somebody has tried it and it's still holding up. I'm still considering the D Flite 1000 model. A little bigger. Do you think that if you removed the insert on the top lid you could fit a stove in there?

 

[whitenoise]

My kitchen kit has evolved arguably the most out of all of my kit, including even the vehicle itself. My first setup was a pair of Really Useful Boxes, one each for pantry and kitchen along with a $20 butane stove and a cheap tool roll for all my baller Asian store utensils. Then I replaced the pantry box with an attic rack and a couple of overhead drawers in my LX470. Upon finding a Beavertree kitchen for sale locally, I immediately switched and found the level of organization I was looking for in a nice portable solution. Once I added drawers I could store a lot more food in a very organized way for longer trips, while still using the Beavertree for a chuck box.

Because I sleep inside the vehicle it is very important to clear out the cargo area and store everything on the front seats and footwells. The hard-case kitchen box, although very convenient, was the only thing that didn't fit on the front seats, so it had to be outside or on the roof which doesn't work in all situations. There are other reasons why I switched away from hard-cases to a soft bag:

1) Weight. The Beavertree fully loaded weighs 50lbs which isn't bad but I could do better.
2) Shape. Hard-cases are less flexible to fit into odd spaces like a footwell.
3) Noise and wear on contents. This one is obvious.
4) Uses other than camping where the kitchen has to be carried by hand. Picnics, sporting events etc.

I searched long and hard for a suitable bag, looking to adapt various ammo cases, shooting range duffel bags, fishing bags, tactical cases, etc. but nothing was a perfect fit. Ultimately I had to have this one though it wasn't (isn't) sold in the US: https://www.campcover.co.za/product/kitchen-caddy-ripstop/ After exchanging several emails with Camp Cover, they steered me toward OK4WD, who very graciously agreed to include one in their following shipment from South Africa. It took around 2 months, but I think it was totally worth it.

Old vs new footprint:


Inventory, all up weight is about 18lbs, less than what the Beavertree weighed empty:
MSR Windburner 1.8L with 230g canister
MSR Whisperlite Universal with 230g canister
Stainless plates, bowls, cups, spoons & forks - 4 each.
Turner, ladle, spatula, tongs & 2 stainless serving spoons
Egg beater, can opener, bottle opener/corkscrew, shears & Peeler/Grater
Pot holders
Stainless nesting pots, 2 & 3L
Stainless frying pan and lid
Snow Peak small cutting board & knife set
2 Dish Towels


All closures drop down for good access:


Side pockets are quite generous to hold a lot of stuff:




Interior is PVC lined and has dividers to organize and prevent rattling:


Pantry drawer, enough space to store dry foods for a month long trip for 2:


Poor pic of how it all fits together:

 

[Farfrumwork]

We are a family of 4 (my wife and I and two kids, currently 17 & 9). We used a couple big totes for a LONG time, with the same basic gripes that have been conveyed here - it becomes a jumbled mess quickly and you can't find stuff... which tote had what, and where is the COFFEE!?

We would set our stove up on a aluminum slat table and prepped meals there as well. Well, the table takes time to assemble, and when cooking and prepping on the table, it becomes small pretty quick. Not to mention that those tables aren't the most stable platform to care for my French toast or Char fillets!

I wanted to improve our cooking setup for many years and researched lots of options. We also live and camp mostly in the Rocky Mountains here in Colorado, and in Wyoming. Being as we are in critter territory, we cleanup camp every night (and when we leave camp to bike, hike, whatever) so the setup and teardown is something to consider. In that teardown I need to be able to carry the gear back to the van without killing myself, so weight is a consideration (and I'm not going to get younger, despite my desires). I love home built wooden chuck boxes, but the weight pushed those off the possibilities.

This summer Kanz had a sale, which coincided with bonus time at work. Voila - I had a Kanz field kitchen!

We have only used it a few times so far, but it has been really cool. I need to weigh it loaded, but I'm guessing its ~50lbs. And it looks awesome.

I also got a jet boil for heating water - breakfast is usually granola and coffee, so we don't always set up the stove (or want to). Breakfast and noodle lunches are easy now with a quick setup of the jet boil. Its all coming together! A few decades of van camping later

 

[Pinnacle Campers]

Been following this thread since it started. Thought I would make my contribution.
For the past 25ish years I have carried my kitchen kit in many types of containers.
Being a carpenter I always knew I could build a chuck box but felt that wood wasn't the best material for a strong, lightweight box without bulkiness. That is until I started using epoxy.
Unfortunately I lost my build pics.
View attachment 455125
I used 5mm Baltic birch plywood and dadoed/or rabbeted all of the joints.
Before assembly I coated the panels that would be hard to get to afterwards.
Then I started coating the joints with the epoxy and assembling the panels.
The whole box was assembled in one shot using a few micro pin nails from a pneumatic nailer to hold things together while the epoxy set.
I then used 4" wide 4oz fiberglass tape, https://amzn.to/2MzW8U4 on the corners, wet it out and coated the whole exterior in epoxy.
After the lid was cut off I put a double layer of material so the lid seam has an overlap.
Then I added a near full length stainless piano hinge for the lid, and the front panel, https://amzn.to/2JXGqQZ
I used some Southco slam latches for the front door, https://amzn.to/2JM3TbB
I used 1/8" steel cable and ring terminals for the lid and door "catches"
Not shown, I ordered these recessed handles, https://amzn.to/2MxUPVu, they are yet to be installed.
I have considered (and even ordered) some sort of hardware for the lid closure but haven't really seen anything I want yet. Where mine stows, on my under bed slider I don't feel it really needs a lid catch.
The epoxy I used was this, https://amzn.to/2tfAcVf, I only used about 1/4 gallon
I had intentions of doing a final coat of either, Monstaliner or, Raptor liner but thought the natural finish looked cool and showed off the construction details better. The surface isn't perfect because of the fiberglass tape edges and a textured paint would be the way to go to help hide that. Additionally the epoxy I used isn't UV resistant so it will fade or get chalky eventually.
View attachment 455126
All opened up, on the right lower is double containers. We usually throw/do our dirty dishes in the lower one. The top one has cups, mugs, sauce pan, plates, a fry pan and other misc.
The left lower has the dutch oven, tongs, hatchet, coffee mug.
The upper right is silverware, upper left is seasonings, tin foil, ziplocs, soap, scrubby pads, IR thermometer (essential for dutch oven cooking IMO)
The right side cubbies are shallow allowing a slot for my griddle behind the stove. View attachment 455128
This box fully loaded is 65lbs and measures 15 1/2" wide x 16 1/2" tall x 27 1/2" long
Hope you enjoy checking it out and that it inspires others.

Replying to my own post here as I decided to build another one of these 5mm birch/fiberglass tape/epoxy chuck boxes.
I did make some design changes, some for better, some for the worse.
One major change was the lid/front 1/3rd is one piece. This makes it easier to get to the front controls on the stove. It also would have made it easier to get the grill out of the back, you can slide the stove forward rather than have to lift it out for access.
However, I didn't put the grill slot in this one with the thinking that I was going to simplify construction, and not be so specific to my "wants". This one actually took longer and was more difficult to put together. I think the grill slot adds another element of "self squaring" that really helps with the build up and overall strength.
I also got the rear hinge bevels dialed in so the lid is self supporting when its up, although a slight adjustment would have it sitting back further and not be susceptible to closing in wind.
Maybe a locking upright piece of hardware is in order?
I did make the interior slightly wider so my stove and a fuel can aren't so tight allowing space for hardware or even the steel cables I have used. I added a magnetic catch for the top.
I used scrap laminate material on the inside of the drop down shelf.
I added large handles on the sides rather than the "climber" recesses on the sides of the old one. The bigger handles are nice for hanging things and carrying the box with gloves on.
I used Raptor liner tinted to the color of my lower rockers for the full exterior. It looks pretty good with the minimal sanding and fairing I did. A huge benefit to textured paints is less prep work. I hate sanding!
I made some rather chunky HDPE feet for this one and they interlock to my vans drawer system and are held down with two M6x1.0 screws.

 

[WVI]

Very nice setup Brian.
What kind of stove is that?

 

[Pinnacle Campers]

Very nice setup Brian.
What kind of stove is that?

Thanks,
The stove is a Century Ultima 4586
I found it at a Big5 sporting goods just before a fly in/rent a campervan trip to Hawaii. Its small enough to fit in a cooler I have so it has been on many fly-in trips over the past 5 years.
The really sweet feature not seen on many camp stoves is the broiler feature. Open face sandwiches, toast, or just keeping something warm while you wait for other food to finish is nice. It also allows for a very low simmer on the "third" burner.
Downsides are its difficult to clean. It jambs up a bit which has damaged the lid but as a cooking device it has never failed me. I should really look for another rather than try to clean this one.
Looks like they have become difficult to obtain....

 

[WVI]

Thanks.
The cleaning was something i was wondering about. I do like the set up it has.
I'm guessing it does good fuel consumption wise? The burners look like they put out good heat.

 

[I play outside]

ive made a few chuck boxes and pantry boxes from old ammo boxes. I was wondering if there would be any interest in these or other custom made lightweight boxes? Im considering starting w a 1650 pelican case and making them custom ordered to your gear. Any takers? Cases would be used and show signs of wear unless you wanted to pinch for new ones. The goal is no holes drilled through the case so it’s still water tight. Just throwing it out there.
Here’s the 80mm ammo boxes I’ve made. i custom made another for a buddy to his specs but don’t have pics off hand. The two of them are exact same size as a yeti 45. And of course you need booze. So I’m working on a liquor cabinet as well. I don’t want hear any rattles so I’m working on some super simple way to isolate the bottles. Great part is it holds a lot!! And tall bottles too! The pantry box holds 2 bottles of wine in the fleece lined divider.
The 80 mm boxes are hard to find these days.

 

[I play outside]

Pics of liquor cabinet.

 

[Louisd75]

Made one out of scrap from building my teardrop. I took these pics before securing it, but it's held into the trailer galley with bolt latches through two holes drilled in the top and a small wood cleat on the galley counter between the hatches. The front door just slides up and down for access. I covered the corners with leftover aluminum trim from the teardrop body. We cook in the trailer galley most of the time when traveling solo but we tend to cook communally when camping with friends. The chuck box makes it easy to move to a picnic table or the like. It's also handy when we get home from a trip and do the big clean up. It's one trip to bring it all into the house from the trailer, one trip to return it to the trailer after running everything through the dishwasher.

It's small enough and light enough that I skipped out on handles. It's easy enough to just pick it up on the bottom corners and carry it.

 

[Herbie]

I'm putting my rig on a diet. One step in that process was that I recently went through my 30" toolbox-based Chuckbox (link) and pared down my kit (and reallocated some gear) to get everything to fit into a much smaller surplus tool case:

Old:


New:


I relocated some gear into a secondary box, but the biggest shift was to use lighter-weight molded plastic cases instead of the aluminum toolbox. Switching to movable coroplast dividers also saves weight and adds flexibility versus the hardboard I was using previously:


Full writeup on the new box here.

 

[WVI]

I like that setup. Is part of the current Kitchen kept in the file box as well?

 

[Herbie]

I like that setup. Is part of the current Kitchen kept in the file box as well?

Yes, the file box is my "coffee kit" - Aeropress, kettle, two double-walled travel mugs, a vacuum flask, and a tin of coffee.



I've started keeping that separate from the main kitchen because I don't want to have to worry about moving that gear between the "big" kitchen and my smaller "solo" kitchen if I'm going out with or without family. It also means I can keep the coffee in the van and either brew a pot on my single burner inside (when it's really cold), or easily grab it when I'm up before dawn for photography, etc. Usually, I even remember to fill the flask with water the night before so I can brew up without having to run the water pump while the family sleeps.

 

[jgaz]

@Herbie
I like the changes you've made to you chuck box setup. Love the dividers.

Maybe I missed it but did you post the size of the lighter box you are now using?
Im interested especially in the depth of the bottom and bottom and lid.

 

[Herbie]

@Herbie
Maybe I missed it but did you post the size of the lighter box you are now using?
Im interested especially in the depth of the bottom and bottom and lid.

I hadn't posted them:
Old toolbox: 13"w x 30"l x 10’’d 15lbs empty
New box: 14"w x 20"l 9.25"d (the depth splits evenly lid/bottom), 4lbs empty