After my UCO micro took a couple of candle extinguishing rain hits, spread over a number of trips, during our rather less than spectacular 2012 I had two moments of clarity.
The first time it happened I wasn't sure what had actually caused the issue. On recurrence I had a moment of realisation that my UCO really lantern needs a brolly, even more so than a chap in a pin-stripe
. The second moment of realisation coming when holding an empty SPAM can
.
A third, barely relevant, moment came when I finally accepted that some canines really do think that a SPAM can, empty or otherwise, really is the dogs in more ways than one !
.
The first thing to do was to see whether there's sufficient space in the can to allow the candle to burn properly ~ there is
.

It's yet to have weather checks, time will tell
. Rain from above shouldn't be too much of an issue, but impact splash might be. There wasn't much in the way of a breeze during the test either, so again, time will tell.
The light is very directional. Again, some play time will tell whether the idea is sound ~ but UCO sell light deflectors for their lanterns and this one will have it built in. The candle will also need a 'placing tray' ~ it'll make positioning and relighting the candle a whole lot easier
.
There's a fair chunk of wasted space if it's sole purpose is 'lantern'. So I turned my mind to what do use it for during packed time and, at this point in time, I'm thinking 'extraneous fire lighting kit' ~ Bit of inner tube, gas lighter et.c, the stuff which doesn't usually make it into a traditional fire lighting kit but is really useful to have to hand when I want a brew asap and don't want to play dodge the rain drops.
So time to give it a carry cap
...

The lid is spalted beech, soaked in Boiled Linseed Oil.
I'm still finalising _exactly_ what I want from the closure / carry strap and (pending remembering to do so) I'll add what I end up doing to this post at some point in the future. But it's likely to resemble the rather skeletal '37 pattern water bottle carrier.
And if I damage the tin it's easily replaceable
Thanks for taking the time to look in and have a read.
The first time it happened I wasn't sure what had actually caused the issue. On recurrence I had a moment of realisation that my UCO really lantern needs a brolly, even more so than a chap in a pin-stripe


A third, barely relevant, moment came when I finally accepted that some canines really do think that a SPAM can, empty or otherwise, really is the dogs in more ways than one !


The first thing to do was to see whether there's sufficient space in the can to allow the candle to burn properly ~ there is


It's yet to have weather checks, time will tell

The light is very directional. Again, some play time will tell whether the idea is sound ~ but UCO sell light deflectors for their lanterns and this one will have it built in. The candle will also need a 'placing tray' ~ it'll make positioning and relighting the candle a whole lot easier

There's a fair chunk of wasted space if it's sole purpose is 'lantern'. So I turned my mind to what do use it for during packed time and, at this point in time, I'm thinking 'extraneous fire lighting kit' ~ Bit of inner tube, gas lighter et.c, the stuff which doesn't usually make it into a traditional fire lighting kit but is really useful to have to hand when I want a brew asap and don't want to play dodge the rain drops.
So time to give it a carry cap


The lid is spalted beech, soaked in Boiled Linseed Oil.
I'm still finalising _exactly_ what I want from the closure / carry strap and (pending remembering to do so) I'll add what I end up doing to this post at some point in the future. But it's likely to resemble the rather skeletal '37 pattern water bottle carrier.
And if I damage the tin it's easily replaceable

Thanks for taking the time to look in and have a read.