Stove

Kim wanted to be able to cook inside in grotty weather. We had a look at the options and those small camping stoves seem quite good. Clearly, it had to be fixed somewhere and the existing 'kitchen' top looked convenient. We were not going for the whole cooking under way option so gimbles are off the list. Three criteria for this; had to secure so that it didn't fly around, had to protect the kitchen top from heat, and had to be as far away from the hull as possible so that the carpeting didn't catch fire. It is also useful to have the whole thing removable for cleaning.

Parts List

• 2 x Offcuts of metal shower rail a bit shorter than the width of the stove.
• 4 x Metal tool clips with a nominal internal diameter a bit smaller than the shower rail.
• 1 x Stainless steel tray - the sort the staff might serve drinks on at a posh party (ahem).
• Screws, nuts, bolts, etc.

How It Was Done

Underside showing the clips attached to both the tray and the stove, with securing poles in place.
Mount Clips on the Stove

Best to plan this stage. There needs to be a clip at each end of the two poles and the screws into the stove need to miss all the internals. Drill the stove and mount 4 clips with self tappers.

Mount Clips on the Tray

Marking out is the fiddly bit here. Clip the poles onto the stove mounted clips and then fit the tray-sided ones on to the same poles. Place the assembly on to the tray and then use a sharp point to mark around the base of the tray-side clips. This should allow you to drill out the tray - don't fix the clips to it yet.

Mount the tray

Drill 4 holes in the tray, use these as a guide to drilling the kitchen top mounting holes. Using the holes for the tray-side clips as a guide, drill another 4 holes in the kitchen top to recess the clip mounting screws. Screw on the tray-side clips with self-tappers, drop the protruding screw-ends into the recess holes and bolt the tray down with nuts and bolts.

Assembly

Clip the poles into the tray-side clips, align the stove-side clips on top of the poles and push the stove down until all the clips are home.

The finished article.

What should have been done differently

A sharp - i.e. good quality - drill would have been nice for drilling the stainless steel tray.