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One hot ride! Ripton Wedderburn installs fish grill under Surf
Published: Sunday | October 23, 2011 5 Comments
'Clarks' (left) gives Ripton Wedderburn's roasted red snapper, done on his car grill, his approval. - Photos by Mel Cooke
Ripton Wedderburn lifts the top of the grill to show the single burner set-up.
Ripton Wedderburn opens the back door of his 1997 Toyota Hilux Surf to show his sound system and his stove.
The one-burner stove and grill mounted under the Hilux Surf. - Photo by Mel Cooke
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The trained aircraft maintenance technician has installed a retractable one burner stove under the rear of his truck, using a cylinder of camping gas installed inside the trunk of the vehicle to keep the flames burning. He has gone further to create a flat-top surface over the burner, making for the ideal mobile grill, which he uses mostly for roasting fish.
Published: Sunday | October 23, 2011 5 Comments
'Clarks' (left) gives Ripton Wedderburn's roasted red snapper, done on his car grill, his approval. - Photos by Mel Cooke
Ripton Wedderburn lifts the top of the grill to show the single burner set-up.
Ripton Wedderburn opens the back door of his 1997 Toyota Hilux Surf to show his sound system and his stove.
The one-burner stove and grill mounted under the Hilux Surf. - Photo by Mel Cooke
1 2 3 4 >
Mel Cooke, Gleaner Writer
Ripton Wedderburn can easily lay claim to having the hottest ride in Jamaica and, chances are, for many a direct plane flight to any compass point from the country. He does not miss a cooked meal anywhere he drives to, not with a stove that slides out from underneath his 1997 Toyota Hilux Surf with the flick of a switch - or by pressing button on his alarm remote.
The trained aircraft maintenance technician has installed a retractable one burner stove under the rear of his truck, using a cylinder of camping gas installed inside the trunk of the vehicle to keep the flames burning. He has gone further to create a flat-top surface over the burner, making for the ideal mobile grill, which he uses mostly for roasting fish.
After acquiring the Surf in 2003, Wedderburn's first personal stamp on the vehicle was a customised sound system. However, he concluded that everybody has a sound system and DVD set-up. He decided "me need to separate myself. Me need something different. Even if them follow me is a first. Me is the pioneer, the man with the vision".
So in 2007, "me say me going to deal with a fish grill". He did the project over a week and a half, making all the plans, doing some of the work and showing those executing the parts he could not do himself what he wanted.
Mechanism
With the trunk already taken up by speakers and other sound equipment, the key thing was to make the grill able to move out from under the bumper when required and go back in for regular traveling. Fortunately, Wedderburn has the version of the Surf with the spare tyre mounted on the trunk door, instead of underneath the vehicle. He did not look far for the mechanism to move the grill in and out.
He simply looked up, to his open trunk lid.
"The trunk have a mechanism that make the glass go up and down. I decide me woulda buy a trunk like this one, with the mechanism in it. Me buy one, cut the mechanism out of it and it become the unit that move the stove out and in," he said.
He has also had to upgrade the alternator on his ride, using one from a Mitsubishi [COLOR=blue ! important][COLOR=blue ! important]Evolution[/COLOR][/COLOR].
Initially, he tried using the burner from a stove, with MAPP gas underneath it on the ground. However, Wedderburn said, "it no look so unique. Me still have to pick it up. Me always hear about camping gas". Carlyle Anderson at GasPro contributed a full cylinder, plus the regulator, Wedderburn installing the small cylinder in the trunk of his van and running a hose to the stove. The stove also needed some upgrading. Wedderburn bought a two-burner counter-top stove and cut it in half so he could use "the calibrated orifice from the factory".
"It is now much more effective. When me ready to light it, it light," he said.
He pointed out that the set-up is safe, although he has a fire extinguisher on hand - as any vehicle should. "Nuff people do things and no think bout the safety," he said. And he also has a spray can with bleach and water to keep the grill clean. Wedderburn can cook any meal, but noted that having one burner does not make it practical to do dishes that take a long time. "The fish so simple and unique for the purpose," he said.
And he proceeded to demonstrate the grill's efficiency, lighting up and roasting a set of red snapper in aluminium foil at Auto Wheels in Naggo Head, Portmore, St Catherine. The fish was complete in less than 15 minutes.
"Some people say them hype. But this is hype. This is what is called useful."
Melville.cooke@gleanerjm.com
So in 2007, "me say me going to deal with a fish grill". He did the project over a week and a half, making all the plans, doing some of the work and showing those executing the parts he could not do himself what he wanted.
Mechanism
With the trunk already taken up by speakers and other sound equipment, the key thing was to make the grill able to move out from under the bumper when required and go back in for regular traveling. Fortunately, Wedderburn has the version of the Surf with the spare tyre mounted on the trunk door, instead of underneath the vehicle. He did not look far for the mechanism to move the grill in and out.
He simply looked up, to his open trunk lid.
"The trunk have a mechanism that make the glass go up and down. I decide me woulda buy a trunk like this one, with the mechanism in it. Me buy one, cut the mechanism out of it and it become the unit that move the stove out and in," he said.
He has also had to upgrade the alternator on his ride, using one from a Mitsubishi [COLOR=blue ! important][COLOR=blue ! important]Evolution[/COLOR][/COLOR].
Initially, he tried using the burner from a stove, with MAPP gas underneath it on the ground. However, Wedderburn said, "it no look so unique. Me still have to pick it up. Me always hear about camping gas". Carlyle Anderson at GasPro contributed a full cylinder, plus the regulator, Wedderburn installing the small cylinder in the trunk of his van and running a hose to the stove. The stove also needed some upgrading. Wedderburn bought a two-burner counter-top stove and cut it in half so he could use "the calibrated orifice from the factory".
"It is now much more effective. When me ready to light it, it light," he said.
He pointed out that the set-up is safe, although he has a fire extinguisher on hand - as any vehicle should. "Nuff people do things and no think bout the safety," he said. And he also has a spray can with bleach and water to keep the grill clean. Wedderburn can cook any meal, but noted that having one burner does not make it practical to do dishes that take a long time. "The fish so simple and unique for the purpose," he said.
And he proceeded to demonstrate the grill's efficiency, lighting up and roasting a set of red snapper in aluminium foil at Auto Wheels in Naggo Head, Portmore, St Catherine. The fish was complete in less than 15 minutes.
"Some people say them hype. But this is hype. This is what is called useful."
Melville.cooke@gleanerjm.com
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