We always fancied having a compact fire pit for when we are away travelling, Thoughts of sitting on a beach or by a lake with a few twigs and bits of drift wood burning away to keep the mossies away and extend our days into the night. Toasting some marsh mellows and a few horse chestnuts complete the scene.

Typical folding fire pit

Just make one from some large stones that are laying around I hear you say. Sure no problem but they are not always available and some places don’t allow fires that are on the ground. Well we have seen a few of the folding style fire pits in use and they do look quite good.  But we weren’t sure how well they hold up after a lot of use. You can get the larger cast iron style too which are great and would probably last a lifetime. Downside, they are heavy and needs lots of space, so we thought what else could we use that also fit well into the van?

After visiting a few different shops looking at different BBQ’s and DIY shops we had little luck. We turned our attention to large roasting trays (Joanne wanted it to be round in shape so they were no good) and before we know it, we ended up at an asian supermarket. They stock loads of different cooking pans, pots and woks of all shapes and sizes so we were in luck. We nip home, get one of our plastic storage boxes (for size) and then head back.

In the shop we go with a plastic storage box in hand trying anything and everything that goes inside. We ended up with a strong aluminium cooking pot with a flat lid that was just a little too big to fit inside our box because of it’s outer rim at the reasonable price of £12.99.  Haggle and you get it for a £10. That will do nicely and off home we go.

Now being an Englishman it was time for a potter in the shed or in my case a grind in the garage. First job was trim the outer rim down a little so it fits inside the box properly, 15 minutes later after a bit of grinding and filing it fit in the box including the lid. Next job was a stand to keep the fire pit/pot off the floor. Off to the van and grab our Cadac gas BBQ. Well it just so happens that the steel middle section of the BBQ fits in two places, upside down it makes a perfect base for the pit/pot to keep it off the ground, turn it over and it sits snuggly inside so it easily converts the pit/pot into a non gas BBQ and all our Cadac accessories obviously fit correctly.

Even though the heavens opened and it started raining it was time to put the pyromaniac cap on and make a fire and test out the pit/pot. Twigs and old branches were snapped and sawed down but everything was soaked, A ripped up Lidl brochure and a capful of white spirit made it all burn nicely though and the pit/pot works a treat.

Yum Yum

The pot will no doubt have some other uses later down the line too such as a large washing up bowl for outside or some other silly task. So for the same price as a cheap flimsy BBQ we ended up with a sturdy fire pit, BBQ and storage box that doesn’t take up any more floor space than before we used before. Fingers crossed it lasts and provide many hours of use. Now where are those marshmallows?

This was taken on another day when it wasn’t raining, but as you can see it works a treat.

Fire Pit on Tour

Prior to leaving for our 2017 trip I drilled a few holes in the side. This aid oxygen circulation and works a treat. So how does the fire pit do on tour? Blinking marvellous!