# New Firepan Option



## greenwater780 (May 31, 2007)

Hey all,
I hope it's ok that I post this here. We (Nightfall) are super excited to introduce our new firepan. Nightfall is primarily an overland/van directed company but I think our new firepan works well for river users as well. I am a co-owner of the company and have been a boater of all sorts for quite a while. Let me know what you think. It's definitely an out of the box in design but it works well for grilling and DO's alike.





Helios Firepan — Nightfall Overland


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## zbaird (Oct 11, 2003)

Good looking pan. Good idea. 

Have you gotten them blazing hot yet, or is it a lighter duty pan? Much warpage? If so how does warpage affect assembly? It looks like the bottom could have issues staying in if it got warped much.


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## greenwater780 (May 31, 2007)

Yes we have had some hot fires for testing. The floor floats, so warpage is less of a problem. We have adjusted the length of the tabs (in thousands of an inch several times) for optimal performance to prevent problems. This sucker is solid. Obviously metal is a fluid and moves around when it get's hot enough. That's a design concern we have mitigated. Hopefully. (Is there a wink emoji here?)


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## zbaird (Oct 11, 2003)

It does look solid the way the ends all slide together. Makes sense that only being attached at the tabs would help with warpage.

Grill options? As you know, that's a necessity for a raft firepan.


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## theusualsuspect (Apr 11, 2014)

Yeah, I gotta cook brauts. On the website they have a grill option in the drop down menu. I'm intrigued. 

Zach,

I was at DRE recently with my kids. They had a bunch of Rapid Rungs there setup and they were climbing in and out of boats incessantly on your device. I guess I'm needing to buy one of those soon...


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## greenwater780 (May 31, 2007)

We have both a stainless steel grill and a mild steel grill. Stainless if you don't want to have any fuss and mild steel if you like to season your steel like cast iron for non-stick properties. The pan itself is actually pre-oiled by hand so you can toss it in the oven when you get it to season it. (we have instructions) Helps with rust and ash tends to cling less during clean up.


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## Pine (Aug 15, 2017)

Nice design, I've been looking for an alternative to the clunkers for a while now.

Is the fire pan made of stainless steel? Or just the grill?


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## greenwater780 (May 31, 2007)

Pine said:


> Nice design, I've been looking for an alternative to the clunkers for a while now.
> 
> Is the fire pan made of stainless steel? Or just the grill?



At this point just the grill. We can do the whole thing in stainless but the price is pretty high. One thing to consider is that we pre-oil each firepan (vegetable shortening) so that you can pop it in your oven when you get it and season the whole thing. Cast iron style. It works great and goes a long way toward keeping the firepan rust free. Also makes ash clean up easier.


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## Pine (Aug 15, 2017)

greenwater780 said:


> At this point just the grill. We can do the whole thing in stainless but the price is pretty high. One thing to consider is that we pre-oil each firepan (vegetable shortening) so that you can pop it in your oven when you get it and season the whole thing. Cast iron style. It works great and goes a long way toward keeping the firepan rust free. Also makes ash clean up easier.


Right on. I looked into having one made from a Beryllium / Aluminum alloy, which is good for high temps, a few years back. It was way too expensive. Spacex was buying up all the Beryl Aluminum for their rocket boosters.


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## grumper13 (Jan 14, 2008)

greenwater780 said:


> Yes we have had some hot fires for testing. The floor floats, so warpage is less of a problem. We have adjusted the length of the tabs (in thousands of an inch several times) for optimal performance to prevent problems. This sucker is solid. Obviously metal is a fluid and moves around when it get's hot enough. That's a design concern we have mitigated. Hopefully. (Is there a wink emoji here?)





Yes, as others have said - looks like a solid design and your comment about adjusting the tabs shows you are trying to anticipate the effects of heat, etc. What I wonder about is the snugness of the fit between the tabs and their slots. It seems to me that with repeated heating and other abuse, those tabs will end up slightly out of alignment with the slots, making assembly a bit harder - but if the slots were made slightly sloppy to begin with, I think the assembly would remain pretty easy (as in your video) for a long time. And of course, the user can tweak the tabs or enlarge the slots, if needed. My "lay-observation". Thoughts?


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## MT4Runner (Apr 6, 2012)

Sweet design! I'd buy one, but just bought a popup and my wife was already rolling her eyes that I needed a 2nd pan.





greenwater780 said:


> At this point just the grill. We can do the whole thing in stainless but the price is pretty high.


Maybe offer the horizontal plate only in SS as an upgrade. That's really the part that sees the most direct heat and most likely to warp.


Cool tip on seasoning the pan.


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## uh eau (Jun 12, 2008)

Hey, looked at the Nightfall website. Nice design. Does the grill fit in the carry bag?


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## greenwater780 (May 31, 2007)

uh eau said:


> Hey, looked at the Nightfall website. Nice design. Does the grill fit in the carry bag?


It does. The firepan plus the grill ends up being around 5/8"-3/4" thick when packed up.


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