Introduction Having a place to do your food preparation is rather important. One sunny Saturday morning I woke up agitated and adamant on this issue. So I walked through my garage and house three times, and formulated this design from scraps and available parts. Then I ate breakfast.
This design should lend itself to all sorts of improvements and augmentation.
I wanted something with an overhead shelf and a rod to hang stuff, and also that might provide a bit of wind blocking for the burner. (No, I'm not worried about the propane stove burning down the structure.) We haven't set it up on the playa yet, but I think some rebar and cable ties to hold it down should make it stable enough in the desert winds. I'll let you know.
Materials NeededInstructions For Construction
- A 3' x 7' bit of scrap plywood
- A four foot collapsible table from Costco
- Pink paint
- 6 long cable ties per setup
- A jigsaw
- A drill
- A couple of short 4x4's
- A dowel or rod 5' long or so
These instructions are optional. Just look at the picture below and everything will be quite clear.
Instructions For On-Site Setup
- Cut along dotted lines
- Cut notches in top shelf that line up with your table's width and plywood thickness
- Paint all parts pink
- Place 4x4's next to table legs, to keep sides spaced correctly.
- Place side panels along sides of table
- Drill 8 holes, 2 near each leg. Attach cable ties.
- Insert top shelf.
- For each side, drill 2 holes in shelf and 1 hole in side panel. Attach cable ties.
- Drill appropriate holes for the rod across the top. Insert rod
Special Thanks
- Urrr, just do everything in the construction that doesn't involve power tools.
- Do something with rebar, if you're in the desert.
Martin Gardner, whose books of mathematical puzzles and diversions introduced me to dissection problems at an early age.
Features
- Made from scraps (if you have some plywood bits)
- ...and a cheap Costco collapsible table, $35, useful year round
- Packs flat for transport
- Fast cable-tie setup
- Provides some wind blocking, so water can actually boil
- Shelf to put things on
- Rod to hang things on
- Lots of areas to decorate, put hooks on, clip garbage bags to, &c
(The pvc rod up there is just resting...)