Up there with other classic Aussie inventions such as; the Hills Hoist, Vegemite or Boxed Wine, the BBQARM is the perfect companion for any portable BBQ. This gadget mounts to your trailer’s drawbar or rear bar to make a strong, sturdy table perfect for outdoor adventuring!
Who is it for: Anyone who owns a caravan, camper trailer, toy hauler, motorhome or just a normal everyday trailer, and wants a simple, sturdy table set up, ideally suited for a small, portable BBQ.
What we like: The overall finish is top quality and the table can handle a fair bit of weight.
What we don’t: The arm is not adjustable, meaning whatever length you choose is what you get.
The sun is shining, the birds are chirping, a pleasant breeze rolls through your caravan’s kitchen window. Don’t you wish you could be cooking outside instead?
Not only does our food always taste better when cooked outside, but we aren’t stuck sweating over a hot cooktop inside the caravan.
So how do we do it?
Well, the best way would be to start our own raging campfire, but that isn’t always an option, especially when staying in a caravan park. So, the next best thing is to have a classic Aussie BBQ. If you packed smart, you wouldn’t have brought your huge 12 burner snag-cooker-extraordinaire, but something more manageable.
This is where the BBQARM comes into play. The BBQARM is a crafty little invention designed to attach to your trailer’s drawbar or rear bar. It provides a stable surface to place a smaller BBQ (like the Kiwi Sizzler Two Burner Portable BBQ) on.
To help us with our first look, we got our good friends and avid outback explorers, Paul and Ellen, to share their thoughts on the BBQARM.
First Impressions
Out of the box, we found the BBQARM came in three pieces; the table top, the arm itself and the multi-fit mount that came with it. Each hand-wrapped with care like a present from Santa.
No instructions were included, but it’s fairly obvious what to do with the bits and pieces. The package even came with a little, ‘Thank you for your order’ card, which we reckon is a nice personal touch from Tony and Kylie, the owners of the business.
First, we unwrapped the multi-fit mount and whacked it onto Paul’s camper trailer (covered in dust from their recent trip up to Alice Springs). The fit is fairly good straight off the bat, but we had to crack out the spanner to tighten up the two bolts on the back to make it tight against the drawbar.
Next, we unwrapped the ‘arm’ of the BBQARM. By itself, it looks like a long, square ‘S’, – one side has a square end and the opposite has a larger circular end. Common sense says the round end fits into the multi-fit mount of the drawbar, while the square end is where the table will go.
Once the arm is in the mount, close the clamp over it and tighten the screw handle to make it secure. After that, put the square pole under the table into the square hole in the arm.
The table can be mounted to either face horizontally or vertically along the arm, while the arm itself offers 360 degrees of movement, depending on if anything is in the way or not.
The table we received with the BBQARM featured aluminium propeller plate (similar to steel checker plating) which would probably improve the grip of the tabletop.
Uses
One of the best things we reckon about the BBQARM is that you aren’t really limited to just using a portable barbeque.
It works great just as a standalone table too. Paul and Ellen could see themselves using this when they go camping on Fraser Island.
“I can see us there, sitting by our trailer with a couple of biccies and some freshly made tea, watching the waves roll in on the beach. When it gets to dinner time we wouldn’t have to leave the wonderful scenery behind, just pull out the BBQ and put it on the table – easy as that,” says Ellen.
The Good and The Bad
The good
- The table is very stable once a bit of weight is placed on it
- Aussie made from Aussie materials by the team up in Queensland
- The table is big enough to hold most small BBQs easily
- Has a great many uses beyond holding a BBQ
- Once the mount is on, you don’t have to take it off every time
- Will fit pretty much every drawbar or rear bar of your trailer or motorhome
The bad
- The arm comes at a fixed length and is not adjustable. Although this may not be a problem for many, you will need to pick which length you want carefully. Probably best to measure the arm sizes against your trailer to see which one suits you best.
Final Thoughts
If you own a portable barbeque, you would be mad to not want a BBQARM! They’re a great, Aussie-made gadget that you’ll find yourself wondering what you did all those times without it.
If you are tossing up between taking this, a card table or trestle table, this not only takes up far less room than the other two but also weighs far less
We would like to thank BBQARM for supplying us with a sample of their product range for this article.
For more information or further questions, check out their Facebook page!
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