Soliciting suggestions for our last grill...

J

JamesTXSD

Active member
Hi C-Brats. We are looking for a good, small propane grill - something for making burgers, steaks; something that can be carted around and used on the boat and with the RV. We have had a variety of grills over the years, from the cheapie rectangle box type to the Magma kettle type. The Magma held up well but got so hot (even on the lowest setting) that meats quickly over-cooked. The cheapie grills lasted a season or two. Had a Grill-To-Go, but didn't care for the grill plates inside, making it more like a propane version of a George Foreman.

Based on talk here a while back, we bought a Cobb - fine for slow cooking, but too slow and didn't care for steak with that. Not looking to do charcoal when all we want to do is grill up a burger.

Any particular model of Webber or other that you've used on the boat that works well, is easy to keep clean, and is small enough to find a place to put it?

Thanks in advance for your suggestions.

Best wishes,
Jim B.
 
Jim, we have two Weber Qs, a tiny one at Fall City and a bigger one at Birch Bay. These are the BEST, bar none. These two grills will outlast us. The tiny one would be best for the boat , but it is not anything like a rail mounted Magma, would need to sit on a cooler or something to use, and I am not sure where I would store it. No storage problem on the RV. But for what you describe, the smallest Q is what you want.
 
Hi JIm,

Looking forward to seeing you in the PNW next Summer. We use a party size Magna kettle. When we had a motor home, we mounted the same "Fish On" mount on the side of the MH that we used on the boat. The BBQ worked well in both applications. We never had the problem of heat control. Maybe the larger volume of the party size helps.
 
Hi Jim:

We have the Weber Q 100, and absolutely love it! For the last two seasons this grill lit every time on the first try. No drama.

It's made of a heavy cast iron, and if you follow directions, cooks very well. Once lit, you should allow the grill to become hot before you put any food on it. It stores a significant amount of heat, which is pretty evenly distributed (unlike many other grills with numerous "hot" and "cold" spots).

It is big enough to cook a reasonably full meal (meat/veggies/beans/rolls, etc).

The best part is, it doesn't blow out. We've used it in some pretty windy conditions, and the design is such that it stays lit. What a novel idea!

We once had a very expensive Magma grill that was nearly impossible to keep going (even in a really light breeze).

We lined it with foil before the first use, which made clean-up easy.

As for storage, we keep it under the dinette when not in use. It does take up some foot room, but is doable.

If you look, you can probably find one in the low $100's range.

HTH

Bob
 
Jim,

I am another satisfied user of the Weber Baby Q. It is bigger than it looks in the pictures and it does take up some storage room. It probably ways 30 to 35 lbs. It is very well constructed and cooks very evenly. I only keep it on C-Swell when I plan on using it. I made a platform similar to what C-Breeze shows in his modification album to set it on when I am at anchor and cooking with it.

Bill
 
I feel your grilling pain and have gone through Magma, cheapos, colman, and now have a Cobb and understand it's limitations as well. According to the Cobb site, they do have a larger propane version coming out soon and it could have some real promise if you liked the design and some of the options available on the original.

I have used the Baby Q as well and think it does a better than average job with some imperfections regarding storage and use on a boat. Love that stay-cool base on the cobb.....
 
Sorry, couldn't help it….. (First mental image to occur when reading Greg's post)

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Aurelia":wz7m0hx7 said:
I feel your grilling pain…….....
Click to expand...

Remember Reader's Digest's "Toward More Picturesque Speech"?

Joe. :teeth :thup
 
I appreciate the suggestions so far! Sounds like the Weber Baby Q is leading in the polls. We looked at a Coleman grill yesterday (new Bass Pro Shop just opened in the area), and that got us started on replacing our current grill... which does have definite hot and cool spots. Checking online reviews for the Coleman made us decide to keep looking.

Feel free to keep the reviews coming. Thanks!

Best wishes,
Jim
 
We grill on an 8 pack charter boat about 5 times a week.
I've been totally converted to the Magma Infrared type grills. I had a Force 10 before and swore it was the best available but it finally had to be replaced. Out of convienence we bought a Magma Monterey Infra-red from West Marine. Very uniform heating over the entire grill surface, flare ups with greasy food are rare and there is more heat than you can use. Only negative I see is that they smoke a lot more than a standard grill. Double wall stainless where get's hottest so it doesn't discolor which is important on charter boats. Very happy with it overall. They make smaller sizes also.
 
Jim,
We bought a Dickinson Spitfire grill which was not the cheapest.($306) We also have added the optional griddle plate. I have cooked bacon and eggs on it. The grills themseves are pretty heavy duty and it is designed to not blow out in the wind even on lower flame settings. See pictures in my album first page there is a sub album on the grill. We have used it on picnic tables, on the ground and in a rod holder type mount also made for the grill while on the boat. Seems sturdy, Dickinson has a decent name, we purchased it through Defender. It came with a nice little cover. It made through the first year ok. The other older models seem wll made also. http://www.dickinsonmarine.com/bbqs.php

http://www.defender.com/

D.D.
 
I've used plenty of propane grills and was happiest with the plain jane Weber grill. I was happy to leave the Magna with the previous owner.

My best solution, for both my RV and boat, is a George Foreman grill and a small microwave. To utilize this, you need an inverter or a genny.

-Greg
 
Thanks again for all the suggestions. Today, we brought home a Weber 120 - as many of you said, it seems to be well made. We'll fire it up tomorrow! Not sure where we'll keep it on the boat, but we did get the cover for it. It is surprisingly heavy for its size. Looking forward to a test run. :smilep

Best wishes,
Jim B.
 
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