Sea Island Forge – First Impressions

I met Sandy and Steve of Sea Island Forge at SEWE in 2018.  They were set up in the Galliard Center, and I remember being taken with their fire pits.  I spoke to Steve for about five minutes, and it was obvious that he was extremely passionate about his kettles – every inch of them.  They had just released some grilling attachments (designed by Steve), and he was very proud of them – for good reason.

Fast forward a few years and we reconnected.

Mrs. RCS and I were in the process of completely re-vamping our backyard, and the Sea Island Forge kettle made perfect sense for us.

I opted for the 30-gallon grilling system.  This included a 30-gallon fire pit and a number of grilling/cooking accessories.  Our justification is that our family will use this for years, so it’s an investment in our memories together.  The good news is that Steve has designed these pieces to do just that – last.  A Sea Island Forge kettle system is designed to withstand any and all that is thrown at it.  They like to say “your kids will fight over this in the will”, and after seeing it in action, I get it.  While it is a big upfront cost, it’s an investment in family memories for today, tomorrow, and for when your kids have kids.  It’ll be around.

Sandy and Steve happened to be coming through Atlanta, so they offered to drop it off and we’d have a cook to celebrate.

We got to work on our backyard, and specifically the pit area, and got ready.  Install day finally arrived…

Steve has a trailer that he uses to haul his wares.  Our kids absolutely loved it.

The kettle itself isn’t light.  Utilize physics to move.

We had help:

This is the Gear Truck with the cooking and grilling accessories.  Extremely useful for moving gear around as well as storing it all.  It backs right into a spot in our garage.

I was pretty obsessive about creating a flat space for the pit.  I was about 97% there, but the good news is that the kettle rests inside of the stand without any bolts, and can adjust to a perfectly flat top.  Very convenient.

Grill tools – forged the same way as the rest of the Sea Island Forge materials, carefully designed, and extremely sturdy.

And we had to get the marshmallow roasters (they call them the Forks & Quiver) …quite a step up from the coathangers we used to use as kids…

Houston, we have liftoff:

Installing the grill for what’s to come…

My first impressions:

• The cost is absolutely justified.  The whole setup is extremely well-built and should last forever.  Not only that, everything can be repaired.  Nothing is what I’d consider being ‘disposable’.  It ain’t cheap, this isn’t a discount buy.
• So far, it’s been very easy to use.  There are different setups for cooking (charcoal) and a fire pit (wood), and the accessories are easy to clean.  We’ll cover that in subsequent posts.
• It’s not just a dinner setup.  The cooks are GREAT for breakfast.  There is a flat top griddle attachment that works perfectly for bacon, eggs, hash browns, pancakes, etc.
• There is a lot of thought in the designs given to safety.  The depth of the kettle, the spark screen, all of it.
• My kids are obsessed with it.  It’s hard to peel them away during any part of the process…they love making the fire, watching me cook, and then roasting marshmallows.  It could all be for the marshmallows, but I’ll take it.

Next Up: THE COOK.