Camp Oven 4.0

A camping trip is planned for the near future. I decided it might be time to build another camp oven.

The previous one (see Camp Oven 3.0 here) was very successful. We used it to bake cookies, cakes, brownies, muffins, bread, etc. on many trips to NC, TN, and AL. The only real problem it had was a hot spot directly over the burner. This tended to cause the food to cook unevenly sometimes. I would use a rock placed over the burner to spread the heat.

This is my latest attempt at a DIY light weight camping oven for back packing.



The oven itself weights 23 oz. That does not include the weight of the grill or burner. I reused the burner, grill, thermometer, and PVC from the previous design.

The oven is made from 20" aluminum flashing formed to make a cylinder. The cylinder is held together by 3 qty 4-40 screws. The diameter is 17" so that two 6-cup muffin tins will fit in it.

The top is simply another 20"x20" piece. The top is removed to gain access to the cooking rack. Because the top is so light, I expect a good gust of wind may try to carry it off. To resolve this and to improve the seal between the main body and the top, place an item on top. I have found a handsaw works fine. Alton Brown would be proud because this makes my saw a multi-tasker and gives it a legitimate use in my outdoor kitchen.
I hung a wind screen below the grill to improve its overall heating efficiently. (It will preheat to 350 F in less than a minute). The wind screen does not completely encase the burner for several reasons: ease of changing the tank, ease of lighting, and not wanting to get the burner valve hot.

The previous oven was used many times. From it we learned that a wind screen was absolutely necessary on a windy day. The outside temperature doesn't seem to matter much though, Oven 3.0 was used many times while the temperature was in the 30's or while it was raining. Simply adjust the valve to compensate for the current weather conditions.



Below you see the oven at 350 F. Reaching over 500 degrees is no problem. The lowest setting on my burner only reaches about 225 F. I have found most things I want to bake need 350 to 450 F.

I drilled a second hole in the top for a second thermometer. I don't expect I will have the diverse temperature range with this oven between the two as I did with the previous version. I haven't verified this yet, as I only have one thermometer. I will be borrowing the second one to verify this soon enough.

According to the spec's for my burner, the propane tanks last 2 hours on the highest setting and 4.5 hours on the lowest. Most cooking occurs somewhere in the middle.





The final picture was from the test-run. The oven heated up quickly. I cooked a few mini-corn-dogs. (My son ate them for dinner.) Below the pan you can see the blue ring of fire on the burner.

The rack shown here is simply aluminum wire. I drilled 12 holes evenly spaced 6 inches from the top. Six inches allows plenty of room for baking a loaf of bread. You can also see a couple of the screws holding the cylinders shape if you look closely.



If you have any questions or want additional details to build your own, email me and I will try to help you out.

The Fall of Rick

Fall semester is off to a good start. I have been busy, but not too busy. Definitely more manageable than the summer was.

On Wednesday, I substituted at a nearby middle school. Seventh grade math. This school was on a traditional 7 period schedule instead of the 4 blocks I have become accustomed to during my field work. The day flew by. I had the opportunity to apply a lot of what I have learned from the classroom management class I took this summer. Overall things went very smoothly, but I know I still have a lot to learn. I have 3 more days of sub'ing lined up. (AP Calculus, 7th grade math, and Spanish III).

I still haven't gotten around to buttoning up the differential. Only a couple hours effort remaining. I hear it calling from the garage. Soon, very soon. Unless of course I decide to take a nap instead.

Last Friday my sinus's started bothering me. I don't know exactly what caused it but I have been miserable since then. Taking meds helps, but then I end up feeling spaced out for several hours. I took some allergy medication at dinner last night which caused me to be very sleepy by 8:30 PM. By 9, I gave in and went to bed. The problem with going to bed early is waking up early.

The date for the Fall camping trip has been chosen. We have 4 ACKs, 3 NAKs, 2 MAKs, and several "No Replies". That usually means their wife hasn't decided yet. :)

Today the local blog critic awarded my blog the most boring blog in the neighborhood award. I guess he missed the geometric proofs from a couple of years back. And the lyrics for 'Oh, Yes Wyoming'. (If your interested, I recently proved the triangle inequality theorem for vectors.)

Then I remembered my blog wasn't really meant to be entertaining, it was intended to document my current obsession, whatever that might be, for example a Miata, a 1925 Chevrolet,rebuilding a 1972 GMC pickup, hoping to acquire an unspecified year Corvette or Volkswagen Beetle, building Furniture, hot tubing, auto body repair, camping, hiking, biking, welding, metal-meet, camping, Dodge Chargers, low carb dieting, school, procrastination, hypermiling, building a foundry, melting aluminium, state quarters, container gardening, MDF, STL, model railroading (n gauge), tenth scale RC cars, RC airplanes, Vertigo, slot car racing, Formula One, the US Grand Prix, attending car shows, Mini Coopers, ping pong, foos ball, chocolate chip cookies, fembots with a penchant for evil, cast iron skillets or even fried okra. Whatever. I feel so validated now.

Mmmm, fried okra.

iMike and Terry did not even get an honorable mention because their blogs are too interesting. Sorry guys.

Hello, Hello, Hola!

Press Button, Get Bacon

I went camping again this weekend. Also to the Sipsey Wilderness. We started at a different trail head and camped at a different site. I don't know where we were relative to the last trip but I plan to check the map later.

We had a small group this time: myself, Brian B., Chad E., David M., and Billy T.

There were a lot of folks (including two Boy Scout Troops) out camping this week. More than I have seen on any other trip. I am not sure if it was the weather or just a more popular area.

The hike in and out included 15 yards through a cave called fat man's squeeze. The packs had to come off to make it through the cave.

We had a nice flat campsite between two ridges with easy access to water. We setup in the fork where a major and minor creek met. It was fairly obviously from looking at the ground that the area was frequented by wild pigs though we did not see any. We did think we heard one the second night.

The evening meals this trip consisted of Jambalaya the first evening and red beans with rice the second evening. Dish duty was easy with the water access only 50 feet away.

Overall it was a great trip.

I went camping this weekend in the Sipsey wilderness. Our camp site had a 100'+ rock wall one side, and a stream on the other. The scenery was spectacular. Lots of rock formations and flowing water. The temperature was perfect all weekend and we only had a couple of minor rain showers. Everyone managed to stay dry.

I saw one rattlesnake too many. And two ticks.

And tonight I will be very happy to be sleeping in a real bed again.

The End.

Can you believe I didn't think I would be able to write a post about camping this weekend without mentioning how many times our trail guide took us down the wrong path? Even so, it was an excellent trip.

Summary For iMike

I am home again. The camping trip went well though the weather tried not to co-operate.

For Fridays hike it, we had temperatures in the low 60s. Almost perfect. The hike in was uneventful, except for a broken bottle of pepper sauce at the parking lot.

Friday evenings meal was the traditional ribeye. That was 5 pounds we were definitely willing to hike in.

Saturday we had a thunderstorm. At one point I heard a thunder clap that lasted no less than 30 continous seconds.

A couple guys (David and Alan) went for a hike Saturday morning. They were out when the bottom fell out. Even with parkas, they were totally drenched. The rest of us (myself, Billy, and Chad) hung around camp and kept the fire burning. This was a bit of a challenge at times.

Saturday during the rain storm I had a drip in the tent and a small puddle accumlated. This was resolved by simply tensioning up the rain fly. This is a rookie mistake, so I had no excuse. Chad had a drip problem also. His sleeping bag ended up getting wet. I think he came pretty close to burning the tent instead of packing it out.

Sunday mornings was cold. How cold? Don't know. But it warmed up some before the snow started to fall. The snow changed to sleet and then back to a very heavy wet snow. The view over the gorge was pretty awesome with the heavy snow.

Sunday morning we heard a wild Turkey call. Didn't see it though. Actually other than a few ants, we didn't see any creatures.

We saw one other group of campers. They were hiking in Saturday afternoon during the rain. They were headed for one of the other primitive camp sites. Their destination had been undersireable to us. It did not allow campfires. What is camping without a campfire?

The oven got put to good use. We baked bread, muffins, CC cookies, and brownies. Saturday night we had Jambo and red beans and rice.

The cold weather from this morning stuck with me all day. This evening I was still chilled when we went out for dinner, even though it was a warmer 55 degrees outside.

I had a good weekend and I am glad to be home. I enjoyed a warm shower and a nice nap this afternoon. I bet I will sleep good tonight also.

Three Day Weekend

Yesterday went by very fast. I had a full day for sure. I believe I ace'd the final and as far as I can tell, I managed to acquire everything at Wal-Mart that I needed for the camping trip. I also remembered to purchase the mandatory civil war re-enactment supplies.

At this point everything is packed and I am waiting for my ride.

Camp Oven 3.0 is making the trip again. Check it out. I suppose I should post another picture of it packed down. Don't hold your breathe.

That is all.