there are simple approaches to solve this, my brother refined a design for an oven to use canoe camping which could certainly be used in our vanagon camping expeditions...
http://www.blazingpaddles.ca/outdoor_cooking/reflector/index.htm

personally, i enjoy using his portable sauna much more on a canoe trip... jumping out of a sweat into a cool lake is an amazing experience. it's not as compact as the oven though :)

Regards, Peter Kraiker
kraikerphoto.com / studiofstop.com
Toronto, ON, Canada
'82 L Westfalia 1.9 TD 5 Spd (Babe)
'05 Jetta Wagon 1.9 TDI 5 Spd (Blue)

On 2010-11-10, at 8:45 PM, Daniel O Stevens wrote:

> When we camp as the full family (3 vans 6-7people) we tend to take a camper oven. especially in the fall.
> we have it hooked to a 20# BBQ bottle, which is way plenty for a weekends worth of lasagna & Apple Crisp
> here's an image I have over at thesamba in the gallery
> http://images.thesamba.com/vw/gallery/pix/527521.jpg
> we've always talked of building it into a box, bot that'd make it heavier.. it's not too heavy now, but add a full 3/4" playwood box with handles etc.. 
> 
> my plans is for a homebuilt Syncro hightop with the oven for fall/winter camping useage.. 
> don't use the oven for comfort heating, but why not throw in a pan of cinnomon buns or such.. 
> 
> it was about $40 at the local pick-n-pull from an old beat/retired RV camper..  in fact I usually see more than I can save.. and we have 3 of these mini propane powered ovens,  I even use it on the deck in the summer BBQ party season. corn bread and 4 more burners.. frankly they're a great little overlooked treasure. 
> 
> Dan in NY
> VW Club of Central NY
> www.vwccny.com 
> Empire state VW camping Club
> www.empirevwcamping.org