With all of the fancy camping and caravanning set-ups these days, it’s easy to become overwhelmed with having too much stuff. Many of the items available these days claim to make life easier, but in the end just add more unnecessary ‘stuff’ to your space.
The Swing-away BBQARM is an Australian invention created by Kylie and Tony on the Gold Coast. It’s a brilliant, simple design that you can easily attach to a draw bar, rear bar or tow hitch in under two minutes.
The BBQARM can be swung away and locked in for travel, then you just slip in the tray table when you’re ready to use your BBQARM. It’s perfect for using as a happy hour table, serving station, BBQ cooking and anything else you like while caravanning, camping and 4WDing.
The caravan swing-away BBQARM will most certainly simplify your gear and reduce your set-up time for the better.
We’ve snagged our readers 5% OFF all BBQARM orders – just use the code below at the checkout.
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BBQARM Discount Codes
Here are two great BBQARM Discount Codes you can use anytime!
Caravan BBQ ARM Review
What is a BBQARM?
The Aussie-made caravan swing away BBQARM is a great invention. It’s basically an arm with a tray top that swings off your caravan or camper.
You can mount the arm to any trailer rear bar or draw bar. BBQARM now have a Tow Hitch Mount, so that you can attach the BBQ ARM to your vehicle, making it great for day trips as well.
It’s a very versatile contraption and great for housing your Weber or Ziggy BBQ while camping, or even to use as a nibblies table or work bench.
BBQARM Kits
Being a kit, the BBQARM bundle will provide the three pieces that you need for easy installation and use.
No drilling or welding is required, it’s a slip-on style design.
What you get in the BBQARM kit:
- Arm – 650mm, 850mm or 1000mm (choose your dimensions & colour)
- Tray – Aluminium or Black Powder Coat (choose your type & colour)
- MOUNT – Universal Draw Bar Mount or Vehicle Tow-Hitch Mount
*NEW* Swivel Tray!
It seems that many people were asking the question, “why doesn’t my BBQARM tray swivel?”
Well, the crew at BBQARM listened and are now making all trays with a round tube stem for full swivel-ability!
BBQARM Dimensions
| Arm Dimensions | – 650mm – 850mm – 1000mm |
| Tray Dimensions | – Regular 560mm x 360mm (suits Weber BabyQ + Q2000) – Large 700mm x 500mm (suits Ziggy, Weber Family + most portable BBQs) |
| Universal Drawbar Mount | – Fits 50mm/ 2″ Drawbar or Rear Bar – 75mm available for Mountain Trail Campers |
| Vehicle Tow Hitch Mount | – Fits standard tow hitch receiver |
How to Use the BBQARM
Attaching a swing-out BBQARM to your caravan or trailer is easy with three steps. It is so simple to use and will literally only take you a minute to set up.
You can simply swing the mount and arm away on your draw bar or rear bar and remove the table top for travel, making the set up even quicker for when you get to camp!
STEP 1
Slip your caravan BBQARM Mount over your draw bar or rear bar and tighten the screws on the back. For the Vehicle Tow-Hitch Mount, simply slide it into your tow-hitch receiver.
STEP 2
Unwind the handle to loosen the mount, slip your BBQARM in and wind the handle back up to tighten the arm in place.
STEP 3
Slip your Tray into the slot at the end of the arm and you’re ready to roll!
Why We Bought a Swing-away BBQARM
Back when we were still busily prepping for our caravan life ahead on the road, we had our Weber BBQ sitting on an old fold-up camping table that we’d had for years.
It had seen better days and to be honest, it was starting to get a bit of a lean to it, not to mention that it was fiddly to set up and pack away every time we needed it.
We’d had enough of the crappy table and knew that we didn’t want want to lug that old thing around the country.
In fact we didn’t want a fold-up table at all or anything where the legs were on the ground giving ants easy access up to the BBQ for a feed.
We had decided that we wanted some sort of an arm that folded or slid away on the caravan for our BBQ.
I was a bit sceptical, thinking we’d be spending a small fortune on some contraption found on the internet and was pretty keen to just hit BCF during their next sale and find something there.
Next thing you know, we’d found the perfect thing for sale online and even better, it was made just down the road at the Gold Coast. It went by the name of ‘BBQARM’ and honestly looked perfect for what we wanted.
The prices of the BBQARMs for sale were so reasonable that we didn’t even bat an eyelid and ordered one straight up.
The rest as they say is history! Well, almost…
How We Use Our Swing Out BBQARM
Our caravan was our home and we really hated the idea of having to cook out in the elements.
We didn’t have an oven in the caravan, so the Weber BBQ was our main cooking station. Hence why we chose to have the BBQARM under the awning.
This all sounds simple enough, except that there was no suitable chassis rail under the van where we could easily slip the BBQARM Mount over.
Custom Bracket Mounted Under the Caravan
We designed a custom-made support bracket and had it fabricated by Stealth Welding Industries in Brisbane.
Once it was made, we simply bolted the bracket under the van, which was where our BBQARM Mount sat permanently.
Mounting the bracket and getting the levels right…
Pulling the carpet back to drill the holes and mount the bracket…
DIY custom bracket is now attached.
The BBQARM Mount sat on the caravan bracket permanently, while the Arm folded flat against the van for travel. The table top slipped off and went into the tunnel boot until we’d arrived at our next camp.
| GOOD NEWS! BBQARM now have an under chassis mounting kit in their range, so no more mods are necessary! Check out the video below to see how easy the Under Chassis Mounted BBQARM is to use. |
VIDEO: How to Attach an Under Chassis Mounted BBQARM
Caravan BBQARM Benefits
One of the best things about the BBQ ARM is that you are not limited to where or how you use it. The possibilities are only limited by your imagination.
After multiple years of full-time use, we’ve had no issues at all and love it just as much now as the day we bought it.
Caravan BBQ ARM Benefits:
- Mounts to the Draw Bar, Rear Bar or Tow-hitch
- Will fit over some Drawer Systems in the back of the vehicle
- Very compact – takes up much less space than a camping table
- Arm & Mount can stay permanently attached to the bar, reducing set-up time
- Set up in 1 minute flat!
- Use on day trips or while 4WDing
- Also great for picnic lunches, happy hour drinks and nibbles, as a tool or work bench and more
- Easily holds the weight of a family-sized Weber BBQ or similar
BBQARM FAQ’s
BBQARM is a detachable swing out arm with a tray. It’s designed to attach to your caravan or camper drawbar and holds your portable BBQ.
Absolutely! The BBQARM is designed with the Australian outdoors in mind using durable materials.
The Arm and Mount are designed to stay permanently attached to your caravan or camper drawbar (if you wish), but you can remove them at any time. Just swing your Arm away for travel. However, you will need to store your BBQ and Tray away for travel.
It’s totally up to you and what works best for your set-up. The BBQARM can be used on both the front drawbar and the rear bar of your van.
The full kit (Arm, Tray and Mount) weights between 7.5kg – 8.5kg, depending which kit size you choose.
The BBQARM is rated to carry up to 30kg.
For Weber BabyQ & Weber Q2000 – Regular Tray (560mm x 360mm);
For Weber Family, Ziggy & other portable BBQs – Large Tray (700mm x 500mm).
BBQARM Discount Codes!
Now head on over the check out how you can get the best satellite internet reception on the road with the BBQARM Starlink Pole Mount.
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Hi sounds like a very good idea. How much does the caravan version weight and when travelling on country corrigated roads can it come free or swing out. Thanks claude
The whole kit weighs around 7.5kg. You do need to remove the table/ tray for travel. If you swing the arm back out of the way for travel and secure it tightly, it will not come free or swing out. We’ve definitely put ours through the ringer!
Every time I click on your link it takes me to the wrong page to order. The bbq arm page doesn’t seem to exist. Have tried multiple times on different says.
Hi Suzanne. There was an error today when I tried as well, but it seems to be all fixed up now. Sorry for any inconvenience, I hope you’re able to access the site now.
Hi, we have a 3 burner Coleman gas cooker. What size tray would you suggest? And also can you put a lock on the arm?
The ‘Regular’ size would be plenty big enough for a 3-burner stove. You can’t really put a lock on the arm, unless you wanted to put a chain and padlock around it while it’s swung in the closed position for travel. We would always put an alarm lock through the Weber if we went out for the day.
Hi, We interested in one. On your video the arm looked like it was flixing a fair bit. What length is the arm & can be shorter as we have a baby Q great idea.
Hope you don’t mind me asking the above question look forward to your reply.
Regards
Daryl
Hi Daryl, thanks for getting in touch. The arm is designed to flex a bit. We’ve been using it daily for 1.5 years now and never had any issues with it. Our arm is 850mm long, but there is also a 650mm arm available, which may suit you better. Your Baby Q would be lighter than our Weber 2000 as well.