On Board
Barbecues
It has long
been recognised that an on board barbecue is a great addition to a Drascombe.
The benefits are many. It allows the skipper to show off his culinary skills, allows
meat or fish to be cooked whilst the vegetables occupy the single burner
camping stove, promotes socialising with other Drascombes rafted up, can be
shared with other boats and makes for a tasty meat dish. They are also a simple
and satisfying project to make.
Drascombe BBQs
come many varieties and although one or two have progressed to bagged charcoal, most rely on the ubiquitous disposable BBQ
sold in supermarkets. The essential elements are a couple of wooden brackets
hooked over the gunwale, a surface between them to support the BBQ and some
sort of wind break.
My procedure
for dealing with the spent disposable BBQ is first to douse it with water. I
then drain the water over the side and put the damp BBQ back in the cardboard
tray that it came in and put the whole in a carrier bag so that it can be
stored until it is convenient to put it ashore with the rubbish. Others skip
the water stage and leave the BBQ out overnight to die and cool.
The simplest
contraption to support the BBQ comprises a turkey roasting tin attached
between. In these pictures Richard’s tin is attached to the brackets with paper
clips.
The next
degree of sophistication is to secure the tin to the brackets directly with
wing nuts as in Jim’s version.
Here is a
different approach by from Bob. In this case a four sided
assembly allows the tin to rest on top and a baking tray is added to the back
as a unidirectional wind break.
Possibly the
ultimate Drascombe BBQ is here being demonstrated by Stewart. It is his folding
“two burner” version custom made in stainless steel.
This “balanced” design fits centrally over the gunwale instead of entirely
outboard like most.
Apuskidu’s Barbeque
Like Vernon’s,
the BBQ on Appuskidu is also a development of Peter’s two rod version except
that instead of threaded rods it has two aluminium tubes (from B & Q)
secured with beta clips. The sheet aluminium (also from B & Q) of the wind break is bent over stainless rod (cut from an old
fridge shelf) to make the hinges. Another fridge shelf was cut down to make a
rack to go on top of the tubes. This helps to prevent sausages from rolling
over the side. After watching a BBQ being knocked off a boat once during late
night festivities I resolved that mine would lock onto the gunwale so it has
hinged flaps on the brackets. These swing under the inside of the gunwale and
act as catches. Here it is keeping the midges at bay whilst anchored in Tinkers
Hole on the
These are the
components, the bag it lives in and a detail of the crude windbreak hinges.
Here is a
picture of the assembled unit and a photo of Margaret cooking some lovely venison
steaks in
No matter how
basic your construction or how simple your fare, you will enjoy making the BBQ
and the food will taste great.