Hi all
Well I fired up my Fourdog stove for the first time on Friday and was impressed. As a complete beginner I managed to get 6 hours out of a handful of logs (not enough to fill the stove).
The stove is a Fourdog Ultra Light II with side shelf (warming tray), extra pipe, spark arrester and sleeve (to protect the tent). Don at fourdog was familiar with the Tentipis and was happy to help. It took about 3 months from order to arrival. I used one of these 0.5p/minute phone numbers so that I could talk for a while.
After tax, vat, delivery, etc it cost a whopping £665 but I try not to think about that. The steel models would have come in at around £250 I think.
Even when it's all packed in there, it's easily carryable with one hand, which is what I was looking for. We have lots of steps to our house and I have a bad back!
I will definitely be requiring some tips though as...
1) I couldn't get the damn thing to go out! How on earth do you get it in a fit state to leave behind for the day quickly? After my 6 hour burn it still took 3 hours for it to go out completely! No good for getting away early in the morning.
2) I have a lot of creosote in the pipe - so much in one of them that the next pipe down wont fit inside it any more. I guess I had the damper closed too much, but would appreciate any tips.
Anyway - on to the photos. All photos click through to a larger version.
This is how it arrived. Because I have a 9-man Tentipi - all the stove pipe doesn't fit into the stove itself - there's a couple of spare bits left over.
The main box measures 11" x 11" x 22"
Here it is with the legs folded out and the rest of the pipe, damper, side shelf and sleeve (to protect the tent) inside.
This is it all unpacked. Everything is titanium apart from the bolts, side tray legs, front regulator door hinge and main legs.
The side shelf hooks on the side and is very snug - maybe a bit snugger than it needs to be on mine as you can the front edge is slightly high when fitted - can't see it being a problem though.
The first section of stove pipe contains the damper. This is a sliding type. Not the same as the steel versions I don't think. Initially I was surprised and a little concerned at the fit of this, but it seemed to work great in practice and I assume that Don has designed it purposely to leave a gap.
Note that another thing I was surprised about given the blurb on the site was that the titanium stoves don't have a baffle (the plate inside to force the air up to the cooking zone and to create turbulence. This was one of the things which attracted me to Fourdog in the first place. But again, I trust Don to know what he's doing.
In the above photo, you can also see the false floor in this design - it has gaps all around which might help with air flow, but I'm not sure. I can't take it out (it moves), but it seems to be about 10mm off the main box.
ok - so then I built a small fire in the bottom of the stove and enjoyed the lovely colour changes (and warping
) You can see the colours below. The sides and top went fairly wobbly to begin with but then settled down to just a gentle wave - all expected and fine.
I boiled a pan of water (this is the large pan from an MSR cookset) in about 15mins when the door regulator and damper where fully open. Then I moved it to the side shelf to see how hot it stayed. Even with everything damped down, the water was too hot to drink 2 hours later!
I haven't tried it in the tent yet, but hope to this weekend - we'll see.
My initial observations are that this thing can kick out far more heat than should be necessary and Don did in fact recommend the smaller versions, but I decided that the extra volume would be useful for overnight burning and with the light weight and big tent, there weren't really any downsides (maybe cost).
Any tips will be gratefully received.
Cheers
Alex
Well I fired up my Fourdog stove for the first time on Friday and was impressed. As a complete beginner I managed to get 6 hours out of a handful of logs (not enough to fill the stove).
The stove is a Fourdog Ultra Light II with side shelf (warming tray), extra pipe, spark arrester and sleeve (to protect the tent). Don at fourdog was familiar with the Tentipis and was happy to help. It took about 3 months from order to arrival. I used one of these 0.5p/minute phone numbers so that I could talk for a while.
After tax, vat, delivery, etc it cost a whopping £665 but I try not to think about that. The steel models would have come in at around £250 I think.
Even when it's all packed in there, it's easily carryable with one hand, which is what I was looking for. We have lots of steps to our house and I have a bad back!
I will definitely be requiring some tips though as...
1) I couldn't get the damn thing to go out! How on earth do you get it in a fit state to leave behind for the day quickly? After my 6 hour burn it still took 3 hours for it to go out completely! No good for getting away early in the morning.
2) I have a lot of creosote in the pipe - so much in one of them that the next pipe down wont fit inside it any more. I guess I had the damper closed too much, but would appreciate any tips.
Anyway - on to the photos. All photos click through to a larger version.
This is how it arrived. Because I have a 9-man Tentipi - all the stove pipe doesn't fit into the stove itself - there's a couple of spare bits left over.
The main box measures 11" x 11" x 22"
Here it is with the legs folded out and the rest of the pipe, damper, side shelf and sleeve (to protect the tent) inside.
This is it all unpacked. Everything is titanium apart from the bolts, side tray legs, front regulator door hinge and main legs.
The side shelf hooks on the side and is very snug - maybe a bit snugger than it needs to be on mine as you can the front edge is slightly high when fitted - can't see it being a problem though.
The first section of stove pipe contains the damper. This is a sliding type. Not the same as the steel versions I don't think. Initially I was surprised and a little concerned at the fit of this, but it seemed to work great in practice and I assume that Don has designed it purposely to leave a gap.
Note that another thing I was surprised about given the blurb on the site was that the titanium stoves don't have a baffle (the plate inside to force the air up to the cooking zone and to create turbulence. This was one of the things which attracted me to Fourdog in the first place. But again, I trust Don to know what he's doing.
In the above photo, you can also see the false floor in this design - it has gaps all around which might help with air flow, but I'm not sure. I can't take it out (it moves), but it seems to be about 10mm off the main box.
ok - so then I built a small fire in the bottom of the stove and enjoyed the lovely colour changes (and warping
) You can see the colours below. The sides and top went fairly wobbly to begin with but then settled down to just a gentle wave - all expected and fine.I boiled a pan of water (this is the large pan from an MSR cookset) in about 15mins when the door regulator and damper where fully open. Then I moved it to the side shelf to see how hot it stayed. Even with everything damped down, the water was too hot to drink 2 hours later!
I haven't tried it in the tent yet, but hope to this weekend - we'll see.
My initial observations are that this thing can kick out far more heat than should be necessary and Don did in fact recommend the smaller versions, but I decided that the extra volume would be useful for overnight burning and with the light weight and big tent, there weren't really any downsides (maybe cost
).Any tips will be gratefully received.
Cheers
Alex
