Magma Kettle Barbeque

[reiner]

We bought our boat with a Magna Kettle Barbeque fitted. It is messy and needs pulling apart. Wondering if they are worth having?
Do they work ok?

[bill good]

mine is gas & it works well. easy to clean up.

[TopHat]

They are definitely worth keeping!
Snags & steaks taste great cooked on the heat beads.
Your right they are a little messy, take it home to clean it up first, i keep mine in an old canvas sailbag & stowed away inside along with its own dustpan brush to give it a quick sweep out after use.

[fishwife]

You'll be hard pressed to find a better one that withstands the salt air. If you like grilling, keep it.

P.

[reiner]

Ours is gas too , thanks for your replies. I better give it a good clean and see what it can do. Handy to have more than just two burners inside too.
Cheers

[JusDreaming]

I tore the guts out of mine and use charcoal, and it works great. TAke some "bar keepers friend" to it and it will look like new

[MarkJ]

I think Sea Life's has been used only once or twice. And now maybe less as I have to solar panels on the pushpit.

We found that trade winds anchorages can be a bit windy about the nether regions of the boat. I wonder how much a dodger would help... and how much one would cost...

[stevensc]

I've have one of the round ones, gas fired, for about 6 years now use it all the time when we are cruising. It is mounted on a hand rail with a canvas cover it has a folding stand so I can use it onshore too. I added a wok and fire ring, works great for stir fry, curries etc.
When it gets too grungy I bring it home and give it a good shot of oven cleaner an hose it off.
Steve

[bill good]

make sure the control knob is not "jammed up" check out a new one to feel how it should work. very useful to be able to cook on the outside & the results will be better than expected.

[annk]

We are on our second one after 10 years of cruising. Yes it gets mucky, and it's a pain to keep clean but it works and wears well in a marine environment. Ours is gas fired and we carry a spare burner and 'venturi' valve. We have found that the burners have a tendency to rust. We'll certainly replace it with another of the same model when the current one finally 'bites the dust'.

[Mule]

I had the 12 inch round one and I got rid of it. When being used with the top on you have to have a mitt to remove the top while cooking and the thing will take the hide off your arm if you brush up against it and wind was a problem. It cooked good while lit.

Perhaps a better choice might be a Weber Q-200. 12000 btu, comes with a cast iron grill. Made of Aluminum. Has disposable drip pan $189. @ Home Depot.
I am thrilled with mine and I am fabricating a rack to hang it over the side of the cockpit off the rail. If it last 5 years, it will have paid for itself, and rather than rebuilding for that price just buy another. I am running it off my big lp gas cylinder (or tank). Weber Q 200 Portable Liquid Propane Gas Grill - 396002 at The Home Depot

[onestepcsy37]

if you bbq at home a lot, then it's probably worth having. we don't even have a bbq at home but the admiral insisted we needed one so we've had the new magma lpg version for a couple of years. i'm sure her thought process was that, if we used it, then i would be cooking and not her. i've used it maybe a dozen times, although i do cook on our regular shipmate stove.

it's dirty and messy. hate to clean it. i've actually dumped it in the dinghy and cleaned it on the beach rather then get it all over the boat.

i suppose it's a good backup but then so is a cheap coleman camp stove....

by the way, those little valves they sell which allow you to fill the small coleman bottles from your big lpg tank actually work. i've done it many times and highly recommend it. at three bucks a bottle you can save money pretty quickly if you use the bottles a lot (we used them for the catalytic heater last winter).

the trick is to get the small bottle cold by putting them in the fridge for fifteen minutes or so. then connect it up and invert the large tank over the small bottle. you can actually 'feel' it getting filled.

[Islandmike]

We love ours, have been using for over two years 4-5 times per week.. We have not had any issues to date.

[Winedown]

Best burger is a boat burger on the Magna. Love ours.

[reiner]

Since I posted the question we have used our Magna a few times with very good results. The starter is broken and gets fixed one day but it is not hard to light with matches.
Thanks for all the replies and we keep learning.