Camping Kitchen Box vs Cabela's Deluxe Camper's Kitchen
by Kurt Huber | Published 5/27/2018
I just had someone email me and ask me how the Camping Kitchen Box stacks up against the Cabela's Deluxe Camper's Kitchen. I guess I should mention that I have never actually seen this particular item in real life, so my opinions are based on what facts I can get from the web site and experience with similar products. I am sure that the Cabela's kitchen is a fine product, I am just making a comparison of functionality and features. My response follows:
I don't know all the reasons folks purchase one or the other, but when comparing the Camping Kitchen Box to the Cabela's camp kitchen (or similar) , ease and speed of use, as well as the light weight are what I think of as the main advantages.
With the Cabela's camp kitchen (or similar) there is a lot of setup involved. When you arrive at the campsite and first you have to unpack and set up the camp kitchen (5 Minutes with practice?) . After it is setup you then take your camping cooking gear out of whatever it is packed in then put it into its place in the Camp Kitchen (5 Minutes? 10 Minutes?) You are now ready to start cooking. At the end of the trip you have to unpack all your equipment from the kitchen and put it back in the containers you bought it in (5 -10 Minutes) and then take down and pack the kitchen itself (Longer then the 5 minutes setup time because you have to stick everything back in its travel case.)
With the Camping Kitchen Box you arrive at the campsite and put it on the picnic table and open it up and secure the doors and all your cooking gear is right at hand in 30 seconds. If you are camping at a site that does not have a table, this typical folding table (which has about the same work surface as the camp kitchen) sets up in less then a minute and comes down as quickly. All you have to do with the Camping Kitchen Box is close it back up and it is ready to go.
Weight is certainly advantage of the Camping Kitchen Box. The Cabala's kitchen is 57 lbs according to the web site. The CKB weighs around 10 pounds if you add in the weight of the table I linked to(25 pounds) the total is 35 pounds.
The Cabela's Kitchen does have a couple other features that are noteworthy. First would be the sink, but I replicate similar functionality with a Plastic Dishpan, The lantern hangers are a nice feature that the Camping Kitchen Box does not have, but placing a lantern on top of the box sitting on top of a table does offer similar functionality. :)
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Connecting Corrugated Plastic Sheets with Pop Rivets
by Kurt Huber | Published 2/16/2018
Since I have been making the Camping Kitchen Box I have been using plastic ratchet rivets to hold the box together, and they have worked well, except for two of issues. First, if you really pull on them they can come apart, which was not an issues except for a couple of boxes where I used them to hold the straps for the buckles.. When I replaced rivets that held the straps with some pop rivets and fender washers and that worked great. The other issue is that occasionally the plastic rivets would break when I assembled them. This was not an issue when I caught them and replaced them, but it seemed that more and more were breaking and I was not catching them all, which caused a quality issue. I have decided that even though I liked the appearance of the plastic rivets and they were working for the most part, using pop rivets and fender washers for all the connections made for an even more well constructed box.
Old Plastic Rivets
Pop Rivets and Fender Washers
Pop rivets with fender washers, outside view
Inside View
For those interested in the technical details, I am using 3/16 inch pop rivets. The rivets are backed up on both sides by 3/16" ID , 3/4" OD fender washers. When I am attaching 2 pieces of 6MM corrugated plastic together, I use a pop rivet with a depth is 5/8 of an inch. When attaching a piece of strapping to to a single piece of 6MM corrugate, I use 1/2" depth rivets.
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DIY Rope Cutter
by Kurt Huber | Published 1/1/2018
I have posted a quick video on my very simple rope cutter made with nichrome wire, a PC Power Supply a some bits laying around the shop. Please use common sense when playing with electricity and hot wires.
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Camping Headlamp Lampshade Take 2
by Kurt Huber | Published 8/26/2017
f you follow this blog you may notice I that some posts are experimental projects . This was the case with the Head Lamp lampshade made from thin plastic cutting sheets (link). I thought it was sort of an interesting idea, and I actually continued to play with the concept event after the blog post, until I stumbled across the Monte Bell Crushable Lantern Shade, which is basically a small stuff sack that you slip over your headlamp and it diffuses the light. Once I saw that I realized that the cutting sheet derived lampshade was kind of silly, and was able to move on to some other things.
Recently one of those other things to trying to teach myself sewing. Looking for some practice projects, I remembered the stuff sack lampshade. After a couple prototypes here is the result. Like I said it is just a basically a small stuff sack, but it really is successful on two fronts. It does a great job diffusing the light and a very easy project to practice sewing on.
The next two pictures try and illustrate the difference the lampshade makes. The first shot is the naked headlamp pointed at the greatest book ever , “The Golden Book of Camping”. The second shot has the lampshade on. Note the much more pleasant and evenly diffused light.
Making it
As I mentioned, I am just learning sewing and this is not a sewing tutorial. In addition to what I have described below you might want to search youtube for tutorials on basic sewing (if you are a beginner like me) and making a stuff sack
It looks like the Monte Bell is made from polyester tent fabric (30 Denier according to the description) . My version is made with something called non woven polypropylene. If you are not familiar with this material, it’s most common use is in the making of reusable shopping bags. If you happened to have a white reusable shopping bag , you are all set, just start cutting. If you need to track some material down , it is sold under the the Oly Fun brand name. One of the nice things about this material (besides that it does a very nice job of diffusing light) is that since it is not woven, it does not unravel and there is no need to hem.
Besides the non woven polypropylene and the usual sewing supplies, the only other thing you will need is a something for the draw string. I am using paracord.
The only thing slightly unusual from making a typical stuff sack (besides the diminutive size) is that I have doubled over the material to increase the diffusing effect.
On with the instructions
First start with a piece of 7 X 9 inch material
Fold it in half horizontally. Pin the material to keep it from moving and mark a line ¾ of an inch down from the fold to mark the sew line for the drawstring channel . Cut out some 45 degree cuts on each side of the drawstring channel which will make the openings neater.
Fold vertically and pin in place
Sew along the open side and bottom, then remove the pins.
Thread the drawstring, turn the sack right side out, and you are done!
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