Bolted to the boat roof since May, the Weber Q1200 portable propane grill

Mine, for once, rather than somebody else's. The Weber Q1200 portable propane grill, model 51060001, has been bolted to a board on the boat roof since May, the one flat space I own. Cost wise it's silly money for a single burner next to the supermaket kettle grills, and nowhere near what any three burner gas thing costs. Nine years of using other people's gear taught me to buy the small one that lasts. 8,500 BTU sounds weedy on paper and cooks four burgers and two chicken thighs without complaining. Steaks want the lid down and a bit of patience, but they get there.

Check the gas fitting before you buy anything else. It runs the standard 16.4 ounce screw on canisters you find in any camping shop, no proprietary tank nonsense, and an adapter hose gets you onto a bigger bottle if you're staying put. Canisters go quickly at full whack, so I keep three in a locker. Regulators are the usual failure point on portable gas grills, and a friend lost a bigger model to exactly that, so I keep the connection clean and covered.

Cast iron grates hold heat properly, which is the reason this cooks like a real grill and not a camping toy, and they clean up with a brush while still warm. Cooking area suits one or two people, three at a push if nobody minds waiting. Flip down side tables are genuinely useful when your entire worktop is a roof, and they fold in so the thing stows in a locker. Electronic ignition has needed a new battery once already, which is a two minute job and not worth the fuss people make.

4.8 stars across 8,234 ratings with 1,200 going out in a month is about as proven as a grill gets, and the ten year old ones still in service back that up, usually with a few replaced parts along the way. Parts being available is the thing that matters on a boat, since the nearest Weber dealer is not a walk away and posting a burner tube is cheap wheras posting a whole grill is not. Coleman and Cadac both do portables cheaper and lighter, the Cadac being better for a windy mooring honestly, but neither has grates like these. Salt air has started spotting the stainless handle already, which is on me for leaving it uncovered rather than on Weber. Anybody run one of these through a full winter outdoors, does the burner tube corrode or does the ignition module give up first?