Bergans v Helsport

  • Come along to the amazing Summer Moot (21st July - 2nd August), a festival of bushcrafting and camping in a beautiful woodland PLEASE CLICK HERE for more information.
Thanks for all the input folks. Just pushed the button on the helsport varanger 4-6. Clincher was an Architect mate of mine offering me an unused Helsport stove for the great price of bugger all. Looks like ill now have two stoves when my Russian job arrives :D
 
Hope you don't mind me throwing this one in Paul ..

Does anyone know if a brazing/soldering mat or houeshold fire blanket would be sufficient to protect a nylon groundsheet from melting under a Helsport stove? I've seen welding blankets too if they'd be suitable?

I thought I could stitch four or six of those cheap 300 x 300mm soldering mats together and use that? I know they'd stop sparks but how would they cope with a constant heat?

Yes, the solder mats would cope easily shewie. But they are normally made from fibreglass, so its best to go and have a look, and have a feel of them, in a merchants before you buy, as some are coarser and more prone to minute amounts of woven glass fibre coming off them than others. This shouldnt be a concern really, as they are bound around the edges, unless you begin cutting into them. If you wrap one around your baffle, to protect your tent it will work fine. You could hold the solder mat, even if the metal inside of it was red hot. Metal straps for an Exhaust, from a motors spares place work well to hold the solder mats onto the baffle. They look like metal cable ties.
I used a flat piece of quite thick aluminium under the feet, which worked well. but that was using a tentipi floor, unzipped.
 
Last edited:
Jammy git .

Certainly am :D

Right place at the right time. They purchased some Lavvus and stoves for a team building event that never came off as most of the staff were not prepared to 'rough it'. Kit got divided up to those that wanted it and its been sat in his garage for a year still in the box. Why he took a stove with no Lavvu is beyond me but thats Architects for you :D
 
I was looking into both of these for our trip to Norway this winter http://www.arcticheroeschallenge.co.uk. I came up with all sorts of pros and cons but the biggest 2 were space and cost. In the end, as we weren't restricted by weight (we are driving up through Norway) we found and contacted Belltent.co.uk who offer cotton bell tents and they kindly agreed to sponsor us.

The model we chose was a 4 metre version with built in ground sheet. The space inside compared to the same height Helstra (which one of the other teams is using) is considerable, from the outside it doesnt look much but from inside its huge.

The other advantage is that you dont have to have the flue running up the centre. We chose to locate it inside the door to right, this allows us to access/tend the stove from the doorway without removing our boots.

Weve tested it several times, most recently on the Welsh coast in the heavy rain/storms we have 2 weeks ago and it was superb. Robust, dry inside, toasty with the stove and best of all, not flappy like most nylon versions.

One thing that was interesting was the trial and error involved in finding a good balance heating the stove - small wood warms the tent quickly but requires a lot of attention, long burn logs are good but it will need to get colder before we can test properly.
 

BCUK Shop

We have a a number of knives, T-Shirts and other items for sale.

SHOP HERE