If you own a pontoon boat, what can be better than upgrading the experience with a few extensions to it! A grill for your boat can be a spectacular complementary. Even if you don’t have a boat, you can still use this list as a guide for choosing a portable outdoor grill. In other words, a boat grill doesn't have to be “in a boat”, it is still perfect for any outdoor event since they are quite portable and easy to take care of. We have especially paid attention to picking diverse models for any need: from special marine grills that you can mount to your boat to tabletop grills and even compact grills that you can take anywhere.
We thought, it'd be timesaving if you had the options for your future grill directly on the table, by skipping the searching step. After a comprehensive consideration following top standards, we have chosen the best boat grills and prepared a buying guide for you. More details about them will be in the review section of each, but for a quick comparison you can straight off scroll down and look at our summary table.
Top 5 Pontoon Boat Grill Reviews
Specs
Features
Best Overall
Coleman 285
Specs
Features
Runner-Up
Nomadiq
Specs
Features
Best Mountable
Kuuma
Specs
Features
Best Budget
Masterbuilt
Specs
Features
Quickest
Cuisinart
Specs
Features
#1 Best Capacity & Power - Coleman RoadTrip 285 Portable Stand-Up Propane Grill
Top Pick
If you want to serve a crowd conveniently and have the best grill party on your boat, one of the most sophisticated boat grills, Coleman RoadTrip 285, will come to your help.
Power and Capacity
To begin with, this boat grill comes with 3 burners that reach approximately 20,000 BTUs in total. If you are not seeking a grill for professional purposes but to serve your family or friends, the power and burner count of Coleman 285’s overshadows most of the basic-everyday boat grills in the market. In addition, the cooking space of the grill is 285 square inches, again, it is one of the grills that offer the most grilling area. Overall, the grill is more than sufficient for daily use in a pontoon boat. It can easily serve a group or your family.
Appearance
Not only the grill is ample in power and capacity, but it is also quite advanced in design. Grates are porcelain-coated cast-iron and this is a great feature that we always look for in grills. A further great feature this grill has is the interchangeable tops. To illustrate, Coleman has designed griddle and stove grades that can be replaced with the regular grates for more diverse meal options (these accessories are sold separately). Moreover, the built-in thermometer of it is a bonus that many boat grills don’t have. Not only is the construction well made, but the grill also comes in many color options: the perfect way to customize your boat and add a little fun to the experience. Coleman offers black, green, orange, red, and blue lid options for this model. In addition to colors and changeable tops, this grill has a further superior feature: to carry the grill, all you have to do is close it and it takes a suitcase-like shape that easily moves on its wheels. Last but not least, this pontoon boat grill has a 3-year limited warranty offered by Coleman.
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#2 Best Portable - NOMADIQ Portable Propane Gas Grill
You might be surprised by seeing the best portable option on a grill list specially arranged for boats, however, by portable, we mean a slightly different attribute. To clarify, most of the pontoon grills are either made to stick to the rail of the boat or move around a small radius. NOMADIQ, on the other hand, is not a grill that you’ll assemble on the edge of the boat, but it can move anywhere in it. Thus, you can easily take it out of your boat or use it somewhere else: camping, road trips or any outdoor activity.
Runner-up
Small in size yet equipped with many features. Can be literally taken anywhere: NOMADIQ portable grill for a small-scale grilling experience on your boat.
Power and Capacity
The grill has 2 cooking surfaces when it's opened. You can light them one at a time or use both surfaces simultaneously. 2 burners that put out a 9,200 BTU in total and the total cooking space of 226 square inches are the primary features of this small grill. By small, we mean the closed and compact version of this grill, when it's opened up, it is no less, almost the same in size as other pontoon boat grills.
Appearance
As mentioned before, the grill’s design is quite impressive. When you are done with the grill, you can simply close it up and carry it anywhere. Not only is the grill lightweight, but also the compact closed version of it is almost round, so quite safe to handle and can be the best choice for families with babies or small children. Lastly, NOMADIQ offers 5 years of warranty starting with the date of purchase of the item.
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#3 Best Mountable - Kuuma Stow and Go Propane Tabletop and Mountable Grill 58130
Great Setup
A grill that is durable and particularly designed to complement your boating experience: Kuuma Stow and Go is the ideal mountable marine grill for your pontoon boat.
Power and Capacity
This grill comes with a burner that puts out 13000 BTUs and has a total of 160 square inches of cooking space. For a mountable grill that you can put on the rail of your boat, this is a great burner power and cooking capacity.
Appearance
The construction of this grill is %100 stainless steel, including the grates. Thus, the grill is specially designed for boats and resists rust caused by any water interaction. Kuuma Stow and Go comes in 2 fuel options: charcoal and propane gas. However, we recommend getting the one with the propane fuel since dealing with the mess of the charcoal in a boat might be quite challenging. Lastly, the grill weighs only 8 pounds, thus, it is a very lightweight one, and users state that they are satisfied with the durability and the security of their grills when mounted.
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Cons:
#4 Best Budget - Masterbuilt SH19030819 Propane Tabletop Grill
Cheap Pick
Classic marine grills are usually not that pricey. However, Masterbuilt is the one that outshines the budget-friendly grills with all the features it offers for a small price.
Power and Capacity
Another model we've examined is Smoke Hollow by Masterbuilt. This grill is a tabletop version that comes with a burner that puts out 10,000 BTUs and a quite large cooking space of 288 square inches. This option can be the perfect one when you are going for a picnic or boating or even if you are just looking for a simple portable grill for your backyard and not seeking so many features.
Appearance
The grill has a stainless steel structure, and that is what makes this portable grill a good choice for boats. Your grill will be sturdy and resistant to any possible water damage. Moreover, different from the other models, this grill has a warming rack to keep or warm up the food. A built-in thermometer on the lid of this grill is also included in the design. However, we should again note that this is a tabletop grill, so it is not normally made to be mounted on the rail of your boat but to be used on your counter, table, etc. Last but not least, a manufacturer's warranty can be requested from customer service with your purchase.
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Cons:
#5 Best Indirect - Cuisinart CGG-306 Chef's Style Two-Burner Propane Tabletop Grill
The last model on this list is Cuisinart CGG-306 Tabletop Grill. While there is also a one-burner variant of the brand, we've chosen the upgrade with two burners for those asking for a larger cooking space and cooking for a crowd.
Versatile Pick
Indirect and slow cooking features together with widely operable grill surface makes Cuisinart Chef's Style Grill a special choice for foodies.
Power and Capacity
At first, that is to say, easy set-up with no toolkit made us fall in love with this BBQ. No assembly is needed, you just open the legs and there you go. Coming to the power features, this grill comes with 2 burners offering a total of 20.000 BTUs of heat, which let's you easily prepare big-batch meals for a larger group or portions on your marine boat. Burners, which produce 10.000 BTU each, are made of stainless steel and warms up really fast along with the help of its nippy propane gas fuel source. Each gas burner has its own ignitor and temperature knobs, so you aren't necessarily to light both of them at the same time or you can set different temperatures for your different size cut meats.
The cooking surface on the grill is 275 square inches, again, this provides reasonably a large area for a pontoon boat grill and we think it's a great asset to save time cooking all in one batch. It weights 22 lbs making it easy to carry with the handle on the lid.
Appearance
The grates are stainless steel, and there are built-in temperature gauges on the lids of the grill. This grill comes in a metallic gray color with a handled chart design and a portable size. It's not truly flawless as the pans underneath the grill are really close to the top, it may lead the food drip to catch on fire and throw back a bigger fire flame causing the food to be burnt.
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How We Rate Our Picks
There are no specific lines that we can draw due to the variety of boat grills. There are so many shapes, material, power, and capacity differences in almost every grill model. However, in our opinion:
Accessories
A thermometer and a lid is a plus every time buying a grill in general, but not included in every marine grill model. Thus, they are not essential when it comes to boat grills. It's up to the user.
Grate size
Always decide on the cooking surface before buying. Most of the time, boat grills have surfaces that vary from 100 square inches to 300. Note that the grate size will be the factor determining the burner number you need.
Power of the burners
By power of the burners, we are not recommending going and buying the grill with the highest BTU on sale. You should consider your needs: 1 burner can still be a sufficient burner, if you are going to serve a small group on a small cooking grate. The principal point here to pay attention is the surface/burner ratio. As the cooking surface you want increases, total burner power of your grill should increase too.
Durability
Boat grills are naturally made to resist rust, however, double check the material and its durability in any water encounter. Grills that are constructed out of stainless steel are the perfect marine grills and will be long lasting.
Fuel type
Marine grills come in charcoal and propane gas options mainly. Since charcoal tends to be a messy fuel and especially can be troubling on water, we suggest buying a gas grill; nevertheless, if you don’t want to lose the smoky flavor coming from charcoal, you can still get one without gas, thus, decide on your fuel type before searching.
Extra features
Pontoon grills are made a bit differently than regular grills. It is common for a regular grill to have warming racks, side tables and even storage space but this is not feasible for every type of boat grill. Nevertheless, there are some specifications they do tend to have: there are boat grills with warming racks or front tables.
Conclusion
We're pleased to share our own outcome about best pontoon boat grills after spending in-depth effort and time. Now, we can take an overall look at the boat grills and finally discuss the positive and negative sides in general.
Ups and Downs of Owning a Boat Grill
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We wish all our reviews and findings will shed some light to your selection according your needs and likes. Enjoy great meals on the water!
