Cooking shelf

[Louisd75]

Cooking on my tailgate was getting a little old and I didn't really want to drop the coin needed for a lightweight table. Instead, I whipped up a little shelf that attaches to the shell of my truck and hangs on the side near the wheel well, like so:

It's made of 1/4" plywood with an oak veneer screwed and glued to a frame made of 1x2:

The webbing is some 1" stuff I had laying around. I put grommets where the webbing connects to the shelf and to the S hooks. The S hooks connect to the underside of the fiberglass shell or to the underside of the truck bedrail:

I used nylon buckles to make the webbing adjustable because I didn't have any of ladderlock buckles kicking around. I can adjust the length of the straps to level the shelf out. The straps are attached to the shelf with #8 SS screws and washers. There's also a piece of rubber weather stripping on the edge of the shelf facing the truck to provide a little bit of grip and keep things from moving around too much:

I'll cut the excess of the strap off after I use it for a while and make sure that everything is where I want it.

-Louis

 

[Desert Dan]

Good idea and it frees up the tailgate/access

 

[nwoods]

I like it a lot, but does it handle wind? Nothing to keep the leading edge from blowing upwards. Also, I'd probably put some rubber or vinyl trim on the Back edge where it touches the vehicle. Other than that I really like it. I want to build something similar for my trailer.

 

[INSAYN]

I have played with hung attachments similar to this and if leverage is in the right place very near the front edge, the whole table will pivot somewhere between where the front and rear straps are attached, lifting the rear up, and the table will lay flat against the wall/truck, thus dumping your goods on the ground.

With that, I would suggest some kind of anchor point securing the rear edge down, or even a set of "J" hooks that slip under the fender opening keeping the rear edge from rising up.

Sure the front could lift like a tail gate, but it won't fold completely back without some serious effort.

 

[Louisd75]

I like it a lot, but does it handle wind? Nothing to keep the leading edge from blowing upwards. Also, I'd probably put some rubber or vinyl trim on the Back edge where it touches the vehicle.

So far it hasn't had any problems with the wind. We've been having windstorms roll through the past couple of days, and I've had it set up with nothing on it. It will flutter a little during some of the bigger gusts, but it hasn't folded up against the side of the truck. If I were out using it, I could always move it to the leeward side of the truck or to the front (ARB) bumper and hook it to the antenna mounts. I did use some rubber weatherstipping between the shelf and the truck. It's very soft and grippy and my fender flares are line-x'd, which helps keep it from moving around:

Eventually the wind will get to a point where it's not really feasible to cook outside, but I think this will work until then.

I have played with hung attachments similar to this and if leverage is in the right place very near the front edge, the whole table will pivot somewhere between where the front and rear straps are attached, lifting the rear up, and the table will lay flat against the wall/truck, thus dumping your goods on the ground.

The first shelf I built like this was a three level bookshelf in my dorm room. I learned about the leverage point the hard way early one morning when two years of textbooks came raining down on me

From that experience, I learned a couple of tricks. When the shelf is empty, it should slope downwards slightly towards the back. It's when the edge away from the truck gets lower than the edge against the truck that you start to have problems. I've cooked on picnic tables at all sorts of angles, so having a little bit of slope on the shelf doesn't bother me too much:

Also, for this setup, the rubber weather strip along the back is working far better than I thought it would at keeping that edge down. Here's a pic from my six gallon test:

Of course, the real test will be when the truck is parked on an offcamber downhill and I'm trying to cook in a windstorm with my fiance begging to go home :chef:

-Louis

 

[INSAYN]

Great test you have there. Looks like it has a solid hold.

I'd be interested in seeing what would happen to those jugs of water if the rubber padding in the back was wet like after some rain, or spilled drink? :coffeedrink:

 

[Qyota]

Why not just add some folding telescoping legs for the front edge? Could probably get away with a monopod.

 

[JLink]

haha thats a cool idea. definitely have never seen anything like that

 

[motoz]

Brilliant idea mate.

 

[Borrego60]

Cool idea.

 

[jeep-N-montero]

You should have this one pinned, very good idea to share with anyone searching the net.

 

[coloradowalt]

Simple fix if you are worried about the back tipping up from heavy weights on the outside edge: Add a pair of straps from the back connector to an anchor point beneath the shelf. This will hold the back in place.

 

[RedF]

Neat idea. A strap or two going down to the wheel or under the tire would add extra stability and wind resistance.

I might have to try this, only I don't have win-doors, so I'd be hanging off the roof rails.