Jeff Johnston here for “Rollin’ on TV.” Joining us today is our associate Chris Hemer from RV Enthusiast Magazine, and Chris is an enthusiastic cook. Today we’re here at the Adventure Van Expo in Hood River, Oregon. And the Adventure vans are more or less Class B van camper motorhomes that are set up for off road or back country or a lot of dry camping use; and that means they’ve got to take everything with them, and that means they’re going to have some very interesting kitchen gadgets.

Chris Hemer: Yep, compact and useful. Sometimes they’ll have several uses in one item. So a lot of cool stuff. Jeff: Yeah, so we’re going to take a look around, and Chris is going to see if he can pick out some of the really interesting new devices, new arrangements of kitchens, and so on. So let’s go around and take a look.

Chris: People that are coffee enthusiasts usually prefer a French press, right? So you have something kind of interesting here. It’s a–looks like a rugged portable French press. Jess Nepsted: Exactly. That’s a great description for our BruTrek; and this is our most recent edition called the Ovrlndr, this specific model. We have other French press models as well, but really, this is a great all-purpose French press for both single serve, as well as multi serve. It comes about in 24-ounce container and–has a locking top so you can actually drink directly from it, and make sure it’s spill proof as well, or you can go ahead and just pour it into like a mug if you like.

This is just a standard French press, but we do have one added feature. In our mechanism we add a metal plate here called the bru-stop, which basically after you press the French press unit down, the metal plate then rests and resides and basically creates a barrier to prevent any further brewing, so that we’re not over brewing, and creating a bitter cup of coffee, so. And it just keeps all the grounds out from floating into your coffee. This compartment is very unique. It is one of the only products out there in the French press market that has a removable bottom. So you tell me–usually we hear, you know, “We hate to clean a French press.” Chris: “What do we do with the grounds?” Jess: That’s right. But the grounds are in this little container, after it’s all pressed and after you’re done drinking or pouring your coffee out. Then you’ll have a little fluid left in here, but you can slosh it around and just dump it out into your compost. Throw it into your garbage as normally. But this is one of the unique features of this specific model of the Ovrlndr.

Chris: So now we’re at the Storyteller Overland display, and with me now is Overland Jones. Andrew Cooley: That’s right. We’re so excited to be here. ROTV is here inside of our van. This is awesome. Chris, check this out. Look in that top drawer. You’re going to be amazed at what this is.

Chris: Okay. We have– Andrew: Boom, freedom of functionality with an induction cook top, okay? Now you can move your cook top, your cooking service anywhere that you want to anywhere inside the van.  And this is on the workbench side, so you just simply take it and you plug it in right over here, okay? And now you can use induction cook top pans or you can use cast iron pans, which I love cooking my steaks in. So I like putting it over here. You have all this countertop space. My wife sits over there. She has a glass of wine. She looks at me like she likes me, which is nice, right? That’s incredible. And it’s all done inside of a Storyteller

Chris: We’re with Duane at Spencer Aircraft. And, Duane, it looks like you got kind of a unique take on a portable table. What’s that about? Duane Wetherbee: Yeah. We sell our lightweight foldable stuff that crosses over. This is our table. It can be adjusted from this level to this level down, anywhere in between. It can hold up 300 pounds on the table. It’s very strong. It folds up very small into this package right here. So it’s lightweight, folds up small. Chris: So these are like sections. There you go. Okay. Duane: Yeah, just like accordion. You can use it for barbeque or whatever or it can go down to a coffee table for your cocktail hour or drinks.  So it goes up to, you know, about– Chris: Hip height. So it’s about right size for a stove. Duane: Yeah, it’s perfect for grilling, you know, right ’cause you– Chris:  With the ground unlevel, you can actually get one leg longer to keep it–the table level also too.

Chris: So is this all aluminum or is it aluminum and…? Duane: Aluminum and plastic, yeah. So–and we’ve been selling these for like probably 8 years now. Chris: Oh, all right. And pretty lightweight. Duane: I think these are like 10 pounds

Chris: So space inside of an RV, especially a camper or a van is always at a premium when you have things like cooking utensils, spices and that sort of thing, and we came across Overland Gear Guy who has a few solutions to that. Rob Daugherty: We do. You know, we’ve been manufacturing for 30 years all in the USA. Currently we’re in Salt Lake; been there for– since 2005. Chris: Okay. What have we got here? Rob: So we got some different ones. Some space here is at a premium. So we’ve got some that are vertical, some that are horizontal shape. We got some much larger ones down here, and we’ve done in much smaller ones and stuff. So it’s kind of based on what the customer’s needs are and stuff and– Rob: A lot of them just hook on with carabineers like this. This one I believe–yeah. This one has Velcro. So this is kind of like the–your campers with carpet in them. So this will just Velcro right to the–yeah. Chris: Oh, that’s perfect. All right. Chris: Okay. And these are made of nylon? Rob: Yep, cordura. Like a cordura nylon polyester.

That’s great. Where can people find your product? Rob: So overlandgearguy.com. And all our social media platforms are the same. So find us there.

Chris: So there you have it. Just a few of the cleverly engineered products for storage and cooking at the adventure van expo. Right, Bones?