Minibull Design burner (survivor CAB) with Crusader kit

[Andy BB]

Got one of these from Tinny at Minibull Designs, as I was looking for a burner that would fit nicely with the Crusader cookset (and maybe some others!). I also got the "birdfeeder" thingy and bottle that keeps a continuous flow of alcohol to the burner.

The burner is beautifully made, with pre-fitted nipple and using a carbon-fibre wick ,and also has a carbon-fibre pad on the underside to act as insulation. The carbon wick would make lighting in sub-zero temps a doddle - no pre-heating like you'd have to do with Trangia burners for example. The bottle fits onto the bird-feeder, which also has a nipple, and silicon tubing to carry the alcohol. I did a quick test with 250ml of water in the crusader mug, and it boiled in about 6-7 minutes (no lid on cup, and a fair bit of wind with no other windshield.)

Didn't measure how much fuel I used, but it wasn't much - with the bottle used full I'm guessing several hours burn time.

All in all, lovely bit of kit - very light, brilliant with Crusader kit, very long burn time, and virtually indestructable carbon wick. Very impressed indeed. Couple of photos of the set-up.

 

[Andy BB]

Oops - that should be carbon felt, not carbon fibre!

 

[MartinK9]

Would like a look at that system some time

 

[Outdoordude]

Where can one buy one of these?

 

[beamdune]

er, here at minibull designs

 

[Golb]

Does this design includes any valves or something? What you are basically doing is to set a non pressurised bottle of alcohol on fire.
It might be just me, but I would not be relaxed if I had to use this system.

 

[Andy BB]

?? No, its gravity feed from the bottle (some distance away from the burner) into the burner unit via a heat-resistant silicon tube. By altering the height of the birdfeeder you can adjust the flow and hence the burn, although it seems pretty flexible on this. ie, you are not constantly having to move the feeder up or down a fraction to avoid over or under-fuelling.

Personally, I think its much safer than using any pressurised system, where you're only one valve/seal failure away from a full-on conflagration and potential explosion!

 

[Andy BB]

I have also used the bird-feeder with the M4 - also from minibull designs, and it works just as well in that. Great for a long-burn heat source for the Army trangia setup - perfect for stews etc where you might want to burn for an hour or more. With the M4, you can go from full-on heat to simmer by adjusting the height of the bird-feeder.