What do you use for a table?

[Glenn MacGrady]

When you're canoe camping or portaging and there's not one where you're eating or camping.

As a kitchen minimalist who only eats cold snacks and boils water to cook dehydrated foods, I've never needed a table or used anything other than the ground or an available rock or stump for one. Never had barrels since I've always been a Duluth Pack guy.

However, I do like the new collapsible Firebox Pack Table, which can be seen in this video:

 

[Cheeseandbeans]

I bought this one several years ago and have used it on most trips. No issues. It is very nice for next to a chair, cooking, or cribbage if a friend is along.

Amazon.com

Bob

 

[Mississippi Mud]

Depends on the type of trip I'm taking really. Back in the late 80's and 90's, we often did two pickle buckets with an inverted canoe on top. Made for a great table if there wasn't too much rocker. I also have a portable REI table much like the one Cheeseandbeans posted. I've also used the top of a hard cooler or camping dry box. I've been looking at small portable tables like the Firebox above for a couple of years, but haven't pulled the trigger yet. I own a few Firebox things, and he makes a great product, so I might go with that one.

 

[Alan Gage]

Like you I've never felt the need for a table and I'm also a minimalist chef. Food prep amounts to counting handfuls of ingredients dumped into a pot.

Rocks, tree stumps, and the ground all serve as a table as required. The uneven surfaces appeal to my inner bad boy. I like the sense of danger.

Alan

 

[recped]

My "table" consists of a piece of Typar which has a primary function as a groundsheet under sleeping pad. My knockoff helinox chair is already pretty close to the ground so I don't need height. What I need on bare ground is a place to put stuff so it won't get lost in the "dirt".

 

[billconner]

Piece of heavy poly. My "chair" is just a pad. I do "cook" with different ingredients and prep.

 

[Sweetfancymoses]

Flat(ish) rock.

 

[pblanc]

Yes, I have used that basic style of table for some years, primarily on downriver camping trips on which I will be cooking on uneven gravel bars or sand that makes using a stove somewhat precarious. This type of table has been around for a while. The GSI branded version, which I have, can often be found at a cheaper price.

GSI micro table

The table is a little fiddly to set up but not too bad, and it is stable and works pretty well.

 

[lowangle al]

Roll up table. It saves you from a lot of bending over, but it’s heavy.




The wannigan lid keeps stuff off the dirt.




The canoe also works, but it’s not always practical.

 

[clemency]

Wannigan in proper green.

 

[Boatman53]

As some have said before, a flatish rock or an overturned canoe is my go to table, I have made a table that I can tie to a tree and there are holes that I can put tent poles into to have a table with legs (it proved a bit wobbly) it also can be tied to a tarp pole if it needs to be under cover due to weather. I have not taken it on a trip yet. I don’t have any pics but I can if someone want to see that. I like to sketch and I made a small table to attach to a camera tripod to hold a drink or pens and supplies. Again no pics but I can take some if there is interest.

Jim

 

[jdeerfoot]

I have had one of these GSI folding tables for quite awhile. A bit heavy but I justify it as one of my comfort items which advanced age entitles me to. It is used on my increasingly common base camp trips.

I also have a roll up table about size of a card table which was used a lot when my card shark brother came along. It probably needs to be posted in the Sell/Buy section since I don’t play cards and he no longer comes along to fleece his trip mates.

 

[Chip]

I haven’t done many trips with portages. In the BWCA, I didn’t carry a table. I was sitting on the ground or maybe a log, so cooking on the ground or a rock worked fine.

If there are no or few carries, I bring a roll-top table and a folding chair. And beer!

One of the advantages of portage trips is the seclusion—after two or three portages, I found I encountered far fewer people. The advantage of portage-free trips is the luxury gear and provisions I can pack along.

 

[ppine]

For portage trips, the canoe makes a good table. .

I have used a blue roll up table for decades. We cook real food and it takes some prep work. The older I get the more I like furniture. I take a chair on backpacking trips now.

On rocky rivers with pool and drop rapids, the rapids typically form at knick points. Those would be the places with resistant rocks that cause rapids. There are some good natural tables around on those kinds of rivers. The Grand Canyon had some of the best rocks for camping and cooking I have ever seen.

 

[Boreal Birch]

Boatman53……
I am interested in just about everything you do, not everything, just about though. Pictures are fine, you are in the top handful of posters on canoetripping.net as a writer and craftsman. It would be fun to see the sketches that you make prior to starting construction. They must save a lot of staring at a project thinking, “wish I had a plan”.
I have never packed a table on a canoe trip. I use a wood paddle blade as a flat place to fillet fish, block of wood to hold cup at a convenient height.

 

[Boatman53]

I rarely have a plan but sometimes a sketch to try out different ideas, then maybe a mockup but usually three maybe four of whatever before I’m happy. I think I made four of the fireboxes before I actually made the one I liked out of titanium. I gave away the two steel ones, I kept the aluminum one as I am still testing how much of a fire I can build before it melts.
These two projects are not original to me but I did tweak it to make it my own.
This was inspired by posts on BWCA.com gear forum.
It can be set up with three legs so it is stable but you have to mind the corners and don’t put anything heavy there
Or four legs if the ground is level.

This is the underside, I doubled the edges to help it stay flat and add more thickness for the legs to bear on.

The four legs can be joined and it can be tied to a tree. It is extremely stable set up like this.



The small notch by the tree is to index and tie the table to the tarp pole. I have no pictures of that and full disclosure I have yet to use it. The trip we took last year after I made it had too many portages and I was flying to Minnesota and pushing the weight limits as it was.
Jim

 

[Boatman53]

The other ‘table’ I made is based on an artist easel inspire by James Gurney, he can be found on YouTube if you want.
My wife was going out to Ghost Ranch in Mew Mexico to paint with a bunch of friends last spring. She prefers to use her French easel but couldn’t fly with that so I made her a more travel friendly kit.
Everything she needs fits in the red backpack.


I took it to a smaller scale and made this.
Everything is sized for my mini tripod.

The top table could be used as an easel as I have a bar held with magnets that can be mover to the front. That is the sketches of the hook I made for the tarp pole I posted in another thread. The bottom one is the one I made. The tray with the pencils has a hole for a small metal cup to hold water and the square with the hold is to corral an ink bottle if I use a brush or dip pens. I’m just getting back into ink drawing so please don’t ask to see any of that work.

I also started another tray for the big tripod I got for my wife. Not only can it hook to the legs but o put a block of wood on the bottom with a threaded inset to mount to any tripod but the block is also shaped to fit the quick release holder of the big easel.



Jim

 

[snapper]

Back when I was leading trips I had a roll-up table that I used with adult groups. The legs unscrewed from the tubular aluminum frame and everything rolled up into one package. Easy to carry and stash in a canoe. With student groups I'd usually do the overturned canoe table option. When alone, I may bring a small table like the one in Glenn's video that my daughter gave me but usually I just use the ground, a log, rock, etc. Whatever is around can be made to work.

That's all for now. Take care and until next time...be well.

snapper

 

[Tryin']

I use a Nemo Moonlander. It's bombproof and super simple to set up, but has a pretty big weight penalty.

It makes a nice, strong flat spot in the pack, bottom or back, that makes things carry a bit better.

The no-legs height is great for pads or cots, and the legs bring it up perfect for a chair or hammock.

The solid surface makes a great stand for stoves, beverages, or anything else that can be finicky about being level.

Getting things up above the dirt-kicking level has been a nice luxury.

 

[Pseudonym]

View attachment 140794

View attachment 140798

Awesome!

I use the same concept to turn the steering wheel into a work surface: