We’ve only been talking about it for a year.... and it’s finally finished! Tom really blew this one out of the water folks, it completely surpassed my expectations.
You can see the teaser photo I posted of the box when it’s closed up. Now onto the good parts...
Pictured: Camp box side view while deployed for action.
There are two sturdy surfaces that we can use now, that are super easy to clean and access everything we need. On one side, we slid out the propane stove to use as a cook top. The other side is a dish washing station - a tub for dirty dishes that everything gets washed in, and a collapsible silicone dish drying rack that has a drain at the bottom as well.
Almost everything you see pictured is stored and transported in the camp box as well. All of our cooking, serving and washing needs are packed away just waiting for us to hit the road. I will make a more detailed list of the actual contents in a future post.
We already have some improvements planned. The handles need to be bumped out a little bit to make it easier to carry. We bought a bottle opener to put on the side when we first purchased the materials almost a year ago, but didn’t add it before the trip.We also want to add some small eye hooks from the inside to hang our utensils for easier access while cooking.
Pictured: “Front” of the camp box.
I want to slightly reorganize the contents of the clear boxes on the shelves, and label them on the front and back (since they are seen from both sides) so people can easily grab whatever utensils, napkins or seasonings/tea they need. People were just hesitant to go in “our stuff” and dig around. With the exception of the cast iron skillet, which we use frequently at home, the beer, tea and obviously the cooler, everything else pictured is stored inside.
Pictured: The “back” side of the camp box.
This is a better photo of the dish washing set up, excuse the dirty dishes. It was super easy for everyone to take turns washing. Throw a kettle of water on the fire before you start eating to heat up. Then when you’re done, you can immediately start cleaning up. This is great motivation for me because if I don’t do it right away, I am not going to want to get up later with a fuller belly around a warm fire!
Hot water goes in the tub with the dirty dishes on the left, tiny tiny bit of soap on the sponge goes a long way, then I put them in the dish drainer on the right. When I filled the dish drainer, I added cold water to rise them. Since our dish drainer has a drain... ha I could move them to an slightly area away from camp to dump the water so the dishes could dry. Everything contained in one place and broken down into simple steps made it go so much quicker!
Pictured: OK, one more of the camp box from the outside. I can’t resist. It’s gorgeous.
The box closes up using this clever toggle system that Tom made. You pull the light colored dowel and twist it until it tightens to close. The legs had to come into two pieces so we would be able to easily store and transport it. They connect to the box with the metal braces that tighten as well, and sit under the handles for additional support.
What do you think? Any other improvements you would make? Place your orders now because there is a long production time on this one!!
