Protecting my solar oven from any welcome rain

I love my solar oven - I reckon you all know that :)

But, RMan and I aren't necessarily getting younger, and having recently discovered that I have an early touch of arthritis in my right hand, shoulder and knee, I am finding it more and more difficult to move heavy things.

And, at 13kgs (22 1/2 lbs), picking up the solar oven from where it sits at ground level in order to bring it indoors is not the most comfortable experience.  In addition, having it cluttering up the floor in our open plan lounge / dining room has been irritating - and dangerous at night.

Now, the instructions told me that my SunCook solar oven is not waterproof and should not be left outside in the rain.

The cover closes onto the inner lip

 This is because the cover closes onto an inner lip...

The inner lip slopes down towards the glass oven lid

 The inner lip slopes down slightly to the glass lid / oven door...

And below the glass oven door is the heat seal
which is loosely glued to the interior reflecting
walls of the oven and the inner lip which the lid
closes onto

And the glass lid / oven door sits on the heat seal below the glass.  The heat seal is not fixed in a waterproof kind of way, so any liquid (in this case rainwater) will seep into the insulating lining of the oven.

And, as I discovered when I accidentally left the oven outside one rainy day a few weeks ago, sodden insulation does not encourage maximum heat within the oven, because it seems as though that sodden wetness affects the temperature one can achieve within the oven...

Follow instructions, Dani.  You know that... :)

Ahem - I didn't!

So, after managing to successfully drain out the excess water, I had to come up with a solution as schlepping the oven indoors after every use is completely unnecessary...

57cm Weber braai cover

The SunCook's footprint is 59(l) X 56(w) X 29cms (h).  And the Weber braai cover is to fit a 57cm braai.  Obviously, I deduced, it will be slightly larger than the braai.  So I purchased a cover at our local Co-Op, rushed it home, and tried it on for size.

My waterproof solar oven :)

A perfect fit :)  Slightly baggy, but rather that than too tight.

I'm not too sure if the seam of the cover is that waterproof, so I am angling it away from that vulnerable part of the oven, and tucking the excess bit of the cover under the oven so that it can't blow away.

Now - I can happily leave my oven outside on the patio where I use it.