New Stove: First Impresions...

[Martyn]

Do you know the way to San Jose... da da da dada da da da daaa da dum...

Got a package in the post this morning from a gentleman in San Jose Ca, but first a little background.

Everybody has a favourite cookpot right? Well mine is a 12cm Zebra billy, that I modded. I hacksawed the bail arm off and replaved it with some braided steel wire. The wire has hooks on the end, which hook onto the Zebra's hanging points, so you can remove the wire if you want to use it with ...say a trangia.

Problem is, there is no commercially available trangia stand and windshield that will fit my billy ....or is there?

Enter Scott (the chap from San Jose), he makes these great little trangia pot stands and windshields and this is what I got from the postie this am...

Neat eh? You cant get these in the UK (an the moment ), but it only took 7 days from the Sates, so no biggie really. All stainless steel construction (even the windshield). I'm not going into great length with this, as it's a "first impressions" look. I'm planning a big review with lab tests and field tests. But.... I will say this. There are some bits of gear that are just indispensible. I think RB said if he lost his Woodlore knife today, he'd order another immediately. I think we all know that feeling about certain bits of kit. Well this pot stand, burner and billy setup gives me exactly that feeling. Even on a "first impression" basis, I know this is going to replace my trangia 27, sweedish mess kit, snow peak trek700 and just about everything else I've looked at. I think I've found my holy grail.

But less of that and more of this....

and without the windshield...

It all packs away inside the billy...

...underneath the steamer part...

To make a light, robust, clean, effiecient, compact package.

The whole lot (billy can, steamer, lid, bail-wire, trangia pot grabber, trangia burner, pot stand and windshield) weighs in at 875grams. Lighter than an ALUMINIUM Swedish mess kit.

Full review to follow in about a week or so.

 

[jakunen]

Looks like a great bit of kit there mate!

I look forward to reading the results.

 

[hootchi]

That looks like a nice neat set up.

Iv seen instructions on the internet to make one of those burner stand things, with the three pieces of metel to make the triangle and the wind shield.

 

[Martyn]

That looks like a nice neat set up.

Iv seen instructions on the internet to make one of those burner stand things, with the three pieces of metel to make the triangle and the wind shield.

It's a great bit of kit with an awful lot of thought behind it. I doubt very much if anyone could make anything close to this kind of thing at home. It's made of steel for a start, thin, springy steel. It clips together to form a very rigid stand. The air holes are designed to mimick the original trangia airflow pattern, ...in through the sides and up through the bottom. It provides the trangia burner with tons of oxygen, but is a great widshield. The windshield part is also of very thin steel. It sits on those little tabls than extend from the stand. The whole thing is amazingly stable. The tripod effect means you only need 3 points of contact for a stable cooking platform.

 

[tenbears10]

Can we have an idea of price Martyn and does the guy have a website?

Thanks

Bill

 

[Martyn]

Can we have an idea of price Martyn and does the guy have a website?

Thanks

Bill

http://www.clikstand.com/

The stand retails for $30 and windshield for $15.

$45US or £24.40. ...plus shipping (about $10ish depending on what you order) - Scott uses USPS - It got to me in 7 days and I was NOT charged VAT or Duty.

Here's the wierd thing. When I emailed Scott with my original enquiry, he said yes he would ship to the UK, no problems. Then a couple of days later, I got another email from him telling me he was talking with somone who might be stocking and distributing them in the UK. He gave me that persons name and contact details and suggested I might save on shipping if I bought from him. Well you could have knocked me down, because "the person" Scott mentioned, is a member both here and on BritishBlades.

I'll let him chime in if he wants this public, but there should be a UK outlet for these in the near future.

 

[hootchi]

It was a long time ago that i saw it and this is the best that i can find. Its not a patch on yours! I cant view the pictures of the triangle base but they are on google images under trangia page two and three.
http://www.backpacking.net/makegear/mod-trangia/
Its definetly not as good- sorry to worry you! !

 

[Martyn]

It was a long time ago that i saw it and this is the best that i can find. Its not a patch on yours! I cant view the pictures of the triangle base but they are on google images under trangia page two and three.
http://www.backpacking.net/makegear/mod-trangia/
Its definetly not as good- sorry to worry you! !

Yeah, seen that one before. It's a good home brew setup, but the clickstand works with my Zebra and fits inside it. This means i can use the billy over an open fire if I get the chance, but have a really, really good setuip for use with a trangia. It rocks mate.

Remember, you saw it here first. :super:

 

[leon-1]

Nice one Martyn :biggthump

 

[Roving Rich]

Hmmm, someone was asking my opinion on a bunch of these a while back, and this one appeared the best of the bunch to me too.
Now who could that have been ???
of course, Woodland Organics, I think they've had them on the Trade site for a little while now, just waiting for stocks i expect.
http://www.woodlandtrading.com/clikstand/

Unfortunately, they won't blow there own trumpets on here, as this is not a commercial site. But they certainly seem to be on the ball with there new products.

Cheers
Rich

 

[Martyn]

Hmmm, someone was asking my opinion on a bunch of these a while back, and this one appeared the best of the bunch to me too.
Now who could that have been ???
of course, Woodland Organics, I think they've had them on the Trade site for a little while now, just waiting for stocks i expect.
http://www.woodlandtrading.com/clikstand/

Unfortunately, they won't blow there own trumpets on here, as this is not a commercial site. But they certainly seem to be on the ball with there new products.

Cheers
Rich

LOL, yeah that was who I was referring to. Scott told me they may be available through some bloke called Jack from woodland organics. Never heard of him. :rolmao:

 

[SquirrelBoy]

Interesting bit of kit there Martyn - can always count on you to find some ):

Am wondering if the military trangia stove would fit in it ?

Also any chance of a close up pic/description of the hooks on the end the wire hanger ?

Cheers :biggthump

 

[Martyn]

Interesting bit of kit there Martyn - can always count on you to find some ):

Am wondering if the military trangia stove would fit in it ?

Also any chance of a close up pic/description of the hooks on the end the wire hanger ?

Cheers :biggthump

The hole in the stand is cut out precisely to fit the commercial trangia, which is smaller diameter than the military. However, I just tried it by placing the stand "over" the military burner and it works. The military burner sits on the floor, with the chimney comming iup through the hole. You get about a 1mm clearance from the ...aww hell, a picture will show it better, hang on....

It might block off the airholes though, or retard the flow a little, though there looks to be enough clearance.

The hooks - actually I used ordinary picture hooks flattened a bit and bent into shape, attached by crimping on with some elercrical connectors. Cheap & dirty, but it works well. The braided wire was from B&Q - 46p a metre I think. Again, I'll cover that with pics in the full review.

 

[SquirrelBoy]

Cheers Martyn for such a speedy response with pics :biggthump

Cant wait for the full review :You_Rock_

 

[Danceswithhelicopters]

Nice bit if kit-How can I justify 4 Trangias!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Martyn]

Nice bit if kit-How can I justify 4 Trangias!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

You dont need to buy the stove, just get the stand and windshield. :biggthump

 

[tenbears10]

You dont need to buy the stove, just get the stand and windshield. :biggthump

Excellent I have a 'lightweight' trangia which has a big white base thing to it but there is no decent wind shield and it's hardly lightweight. This would be the perfect upgrade and no need for a new burner.:biggthump

Bill

 

[Martyn]

I cant view the pictures of the triangle base but they are on google images under trangia page two and three.

Ahhh, I think you mean the westwinds trangia stand.

It's a good design, similar to Scotts, but lacks some important features. As tenbears mentions, the windscreen is everything with alcohol stoves. Good designs allow lots of oxygen in, but prevent wind hitting the flame directly. In an open breeze, trangia's are hopeless, but with a good windshield it's a different story. That's why the commercial trangia's are marketed as "storm cookers" as indeed they are - it's entirely down to the windshield. The westwinds stand is little more than a stand, while scott's clickstand employ's the clever oxygen routing design of the original commercial trangia stove. It makes a BIG difference. I'm gonna cover the design elements in the review, but this is one very well thought out little stove stand cooker thing. :biggthump

 

[Stew]

I know you haven't properly reviewed it yet but do you think it could be improved by having one side with no (or reduced) holes to alter the air flow in the same way as the trangia?

 

[Martyn]

I know you haven't properly reviewed it yet but do you think it could be improved by having one side with no (or reduced) holes to alter the air flow in the same way as the trangia?

Dunno, gonna have to give it a field test to see how it works first. But a similar thought did occur to me. I had thought that orientating it "point into the wind" might produce different results from having it broadside onto the wind. Judging from how this has been put together (very professional package - build & fit is superb), I'm sure Scott has R&D'd the holes aspect and no doubt tried variants on the number and position of holes and settled on this one.

One thing that can be done, is to block off the holes with aluminium flu tape if this presents a problem - I'm betting it's already at optimum.

Thanks for the question though, It'll be something I take time over when field testing it.