Crusader cooking unit: hype or not?

[Ahjno]

At the end of 2004, up to summer 2005 there was a lot talking about the Crusader cooking unit. Though it's a bit quiet around this bit of kit at the moment ... and this made me wonder:

Is the unit actually a good bit of kit and is it still used widely, or was it a bit of a hype, and did the people who had a unit moved on to something better?

To those who still use it, did you encounter any problems when using it? Did you made any adjustments yourself to improve it? And ... well, everything else you want to tell me about it

Cheers,

 

[leon-1]

I must admit actually to having one and never having used it. They got such massively mixed press that I just left it in a box when I moved and it stayed there.

Comments along the lines of "greenheat is useless", didn't inspire me and neither did ones like "you can just about get your water hot enough for a brew".

What I have found more interestig recently is that people are making thier own micro stoves to fit in the cooking unit.

 

[falling rain]

I've used mine a fair bit but just for a brew up, and to make noodles. I use hexi tabs and wood slivers and they seem fine to me. I'd say that is pretty much all they're intended for, Boiling water or heating soup etc. and for that, they're quite adequate in my opinion.

 

[CLEM]

I've used mine a fair bit but just for a brew up, and to make noodles. I use hexi tabs and wood slivers and they seem fine to me. I'd say that is pretty much all they're intended for, Boiling water or heating soup etc. and for that, they're quite adequate in my opinion.

I think that sums it it well enough!

 

[gregorach]

Yeah, I'm quite happy with mine, using either hexi tabs or my micro burner. As an integrated pot stand / windsheild it's perfectly adequate, and it does stack nicely with the mug etc... I wouldn't necessarily want to rely on it entirely, but for brewing up and so on it's great.

 

[PC2K]

never had a crusador stove, the crusador cup, stove's bottles are to hard to get and to expensive compaired to the dutch ( i'm dutch) or US army version. Although i do have a pre-mac PWP and the bottle....

This is what i use for a quick brew. A dutch army cup on a US army ringstove (just a alu ring thingy), powered by a trangia. Highy inefficient, but very durable and simple.

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[hilltop]

never had a crusador stove, the crusador cup, stove's bottles are to hard to get and to expensive compaired to the dutch ( i'm dutch) or US army version. Although i do have a pre-mac PWP and the bottle....

This is what i use for a quick brew. A dutch army cup on a US army ringstove (just a alu ring thingy), powered by a trangia. Highy inefficient, but very durable and simple.

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ditto, mines U.S. cup and stand and i have used it for cooking everything for years, i am a big believer in the K.I.S.S. system, stuff thats worked for me in the worlds worst enviroments and under fire is enough endorsement for the wilds of yorkshire, lol

 

[Chopper]

I have had one since they first came out, I must admit I found the various heating methods not much more than useless, then along came this http://www.bushcraftuk.com/community/showthread.php?t=13005

Now, this micro burner has made all the differance, we had a day out canoeing today and this cooker done all the work, something that I would never have used before, other than with hexitabs.

 

[addyb]

I have the same US kidney stove as you do, PC2K. It works wonderfully well with Hexamine tablets, but trying to get hot water with Trioxane is an exercise in redundancy. Trioxane is terrible stuff, it burns too fast and not hot enough. I've never yet been able to get a proper boil with it, let alone trying to cook a ration with it. Hexy seems to be the only way to go, as far as rations are concerned. Of course, I have no experience with the new green jelly tablets.

Just my $0.02 cents!

Adam

 

[Toots]

Just a quick question. I also have a Dutch style cup but fancy trying a crusader cooker. Will the cooker still nest nicely on the bottom of the cup when not in use. It looks to me like the base of the crusader cup is a bit smaller than the dutch version.

 

[RAPPLEBY2000]

I Have to say i am a BIG fan of the Crusader cup, canteen, and cooker combo.

that old phrase is whistling through the air again.......what was it.....

"Horses for courses"

if you like the 58 bottle and cup, you'll have a Crusader cup canteen(metal mug).
the cooker is the ideal partner to it, tough and simple.

before we moan about the heat, you have to look at it's design.....

it is designed to make drinks or heat boil in the bag rations(that don't need thorough cooking).
it is not designed for fully cooked meals that require simmering or more than 5 minutes cooking.

i use it for making hot drinks, from being in my army pouch i usually have a hot drink and packed away again within about five minutes! but that's what it's designed for!

it is not a system i would use up a mountain or for normal camping as it isn't up to the job. my MSR petrol stove steps in here or my trangia.

i take it with me whilst teaching bushcraft just because it's really hand first thing in the morning whilst in bed, or in torrential rain when the campfire has died.

i use a mini coke can meths stove design, it is the same height as the lip of the burner dish, it's quite adequate.

my system is probably more efficient as i have made a metal lid for my mug, also having everything black(non-stick) everything heats up alot quicker.

another advantage to the system is it is not fuel specific.
i use as i said a meths stove but because of the crucible(burner cup),
i could also use just meths on it's own,
Hexamine
Fire gell
or simular burnables (glue, wax, parafin, petrol, oil, vodka or whatever....)
try doing that with a hexi cooker

for me it comes down to these few things:

it's tough, non-stick, easy to use, multitasking, little if any risk of fire spreading, compact, you can use a messtin or other pans on it(with less effect), it fits into my pouch and makes a neat package with the rest of the set, you won't mark the ground, good wind resistance, far safer to use the flames are centralised as oposed to a hexi cooker.

( and it's all black and looks cool! )

i love it, but i understand why others don't, same with anything know it's limitations and you woun't go wrong!

 

[Rocket]

I use mine to make a cuppa whenever I'm out. Ony problem I ever have is getting it hot enough to boil properly, but with my homemade lid, it gets there in the end. I also have an American cup but it's smaller than the Crusader one, therefore you lose some of the heat from the sides.

I bought mine for £5.99 new, and never regretted it.

Stu

 

[hilltop]

had my yank cup bottle and burner since the mid eightys before the crusader came out, i use it for weekends sometimes for longer spells, its great, if i ever lost it i would buy the 58 crusader set up, seen them used many times and like them a lot, but my set up is vertualy the same just a little more compact, a few years ago a got a 44 pattern cup and bottle of a spook that wasnt so impressive, but the SAS swore by them,

 

[addyb]

Well then I guess my next question is....is Hexy no more? Is the green alcohol gel the new craze? How does it compare to smelly, sticky, goopy hexy?

Adam

 

[gregorach]

Greenheat is bugger all use in the cold - it'll barely burn at all once you get sub-zero. Never actually used the proper old-school hexi, but from what I've heard it must've worked better. Esbit tabs are also better than greenheat IMHO, if a little difficult to light sometimes.

However, over 20 degrees C greenheat seems to work OK. Not great, but OK. I have a sachet or two in my kit, but more as an emergency fire lighter than for use as a fuel on its own.

 

[hilltop]

Well then I guess my next question is....is Hexy no more? Is the green alcohol gel the new craze? How does it compare to smelly, sticky, goopy hexy?

Adam

hexy is great fuel, it does what its made for,its hot burning, comes in handy small packets, and is wax covered so it stays dry, whats not to like,,,,,,,,,,,lol,

 

[addyb]

Thanks for the answers, I appreciate it. Esbit fuel is hexy, and although it smells like a dead fish, it burns hot, and I've actually cooked a meal on it. The only complaints with it that I have is that it's very difficult to light, and leaves a horrible greasy black soot on the bottom of my canteen cup. Trioxane fuel tablets light in about two seconds and don't stain my cup, but they don't burn nearly hot or long enough to satisfy me.

Nothing in this world is perfect!

Adam

PS: Is hexy still issued to the UK army? My buddy at RMC is still using hexy, he sent me a box a while ago. The tablets are huge, they make esbit tabs look like children's chewing gum.

 

[gregorach]

I get confused by all these different solid fuels... Especially since I always seem to buy ones that don't actually say exactly what they are...

 

[Nemisis]

I thought esbit fuel and hexy are different as esbit is claimed to be none toxic on there site which hex isn't.
Dave.

 

[hilltop]

Thanks for the answers, I appreciate it. Esbit fuel is hexy, and although it smells like a dead fish, it burns hot, and I've actually cooked a meal on it. The only complaints with it that I have is that it's very difficult to light, and leaves a horrible greasy black soot on the bottom of my canteen cup. Trioxane fuel tablets light in about two seconds and don't stain my cup, but they don't burn nearly hot or long enough to satisfy me.

Nothing in this world is perfect!

Adam

PS: Is hexy still issued to the UK army? My buddy at RMC is still using hexy, he sent me a box a while ago. The tablets are huge, they make esbit tabs look like children's chewing gum.

if your having trouble lighting hexy, scrape the wax coating off with a knife , lights first time