Magma A10-205 Marine 15″ Kettle Gas Grill Review
Boats and fire notoriously don’t go together. Yet many boaters love to take a grill with them out on the water. Especially those who like to say out all day, rather than deal with the clogs and chaos of the public landing or the cramped marina.
One of the best ways to answer this concern is with a grill that is specifically designed to secure tightly on a boat rail. At the same time, things like saltwater and even freshwater spray can cause rusting and corrosion for grills that aren’t made from high-quality stainless steel.
Magma answers all these concerns with their line of marine-grade portable grills. One of their more popular units is the A10-205 Marine 15-Inch Diameter Kettle gas grill.
It is made entirely from 18-9 mirror polished stainless steel. This gives it an impressive gleam on the boat, while also imbuing it with superior rust and corrosion resistance. The grill body and lid measure in at a 15-inch diameter. The stainless steel grill grate inside has a 13-inch diameter.
The lid is engineered to act as a wind buffer to make easier to start. You can also position it to face the prevailing wind to prevent wind from blowing it out when you check or flip the food. The hinges were also designed not to slam the lid, which is handy if you need to step away from the grill for a moment and breeze whips up. It also has a cool-touch handle.
The valves and regulators are designed to run off a standard DOT 39 one-pound propane canister. The stainless steel burner element is rated to produce up to 10,700 BTUs of heat. There’s also a radiant heat plate which helps with even heating across the 13-inch diameter grill grate.
Construction & Ease of Assembly
The 18-9 mirror polished stainless steel both looks good and helps resist chronic problems with rusting and corrosion. The fact that Magma used it throughout with this grill is a statement of their eye toward quality.
The lid design also helps set the A10-205 Marine 15-Inch Diameter Kettle Gas Grill apart. The cool-touch handle, slam-resistant hinges and ability to position it against the wind all speak to thoughtful design engineering. As does the internal radiant heat plate. Not to mention the convenience of running off a 1-pound propane canister.
The initial assembly takes a little bit of time. Which is to be expected with a portable gas grill with some special design features. Still, it shouldn’t take you more than an hour to get it fully put together.
Just keep in mind that you will need to purchase the Magma Products, A10-175 Power-Grip Grill Mount to safely connect it to the boat. https://www.amazon.com/Magma-Products-A10-175-Power-Grip-Fishing/dp/B0018Y6SXU/
Grilling Performance
The 13-inch diameter grill grate gives you enough cooking space to hamburger patties for four people at one time. Yet the radiant heat plate helps distribute the 10,700 BTU heat potential to do more subtle things like grill up chicken breasts or a skin-on freshly caught fish fillet.
While the heat characteristics and radiant heat plates are all fine and good, it’s the lid that really lets you make the most out of this grill’s performance. The wind is a major problem for all modest-sized gas grills. It’s especially troublesome at ignition or when you open the lid to flip the food.
Being able to adjust the lid and trusting that a strong gust isn’t going to catastrophically slam it shut might not seem like a big deal at first. Yet it’s something that you will definitely come to appreciate.
Grilling Areas
The 13-inch diameter stainless steel grill grate provides you with 132.7 square inches of cooking space. This is big enough to cook up a serious mess of hot dogs, up to four hamburger patties at a time, or a fresh-caught skin-on trout fillet.
Special Features
The lid is the most special feature of the Magma A10-205 Marine Kettle Gas Grill. It has a cool-touch handle, slam-resistant lid, and the ability to buffer against the wind.
At the same time, the radiant heat plate isn’t something to sneeze at. Many smaller gas grills around this size struggle with either having too much heat, which burns the food as it cooks it or too little heat leading to frustrating cooking times.
Ease to Clean
There isn’t much in the way of special cleaning features with the Magma A10-205 Marine Kettle Gas Grill. If you love to grill up things that have a lot of greasy runs off or dripping marinade, you might find the lower portion of the fire bowl to be a little small and leaky. If you are going to grill up a messy marinade chicken breasts, you might want to lay a little heavy-duty aluminum foil down.
Warranty
Like many grills in the Magma line, the Magma A10-205 Marine Kettle Gas Grill comes with a one-year limited warranty. This is somewhat middle of the road compared to some stainless steel gas grills in this price range, which often come with a three-year warranty.
Conclusion
The Magma A10-205 Marine Kettle Gas Grill has the material quality and many of the design features you are looking for in a boat grill. The engineering design of the lid is something you might be tempted to look past, though it’s definitely the sort of thing that you will come to appreciate.
Especially, with how windy it can be when you are out on the water. Still, you shouldn’t let it lure you into thinking that you can still grill with it while you are underway. You will still need to anchor, moor, or tuck into a bay to fire it up reliably.
