Stoves

[jakunen]

Hi folks,
Despite having had a very successful weekend cooking on a real fire with Womble in the New Forest, what do people reckon is the best stove to carry?
And why?
cheers,
Jakunen.

 

[Womble]

<keeps stumn, and looks on with interest>

 

[Kath]

I use an MSR whisperlite 600 for camping with the family. Or hexy for just myself.

 

[Great Pebble]

Trangia 27 generally, hexy for short/light trips, burner no.2 Mk.2 if the wagon is handy.

 

[SquirrelBoy]

I use a MSR Rapidfire - very similar to the Whisperlite but is only able to burn gas :-(
Would really like to get the Primus Omnifuel as it can burn any fuel, its quick and easy to judge how much fuel to take - bit pricey though.

One thing I dont like about gas is its hard to tell how much you have left - I normally end up carrying a few cans of it, just in case :roll:

 

[PC2K]

trangia stove or home made halcon stove's.

 

[Andy]

been on a low budget its a colemans sportser stove. very fast at cooking but a little heavy. hexy for little day trips

 

[C_Claycomb]

Pepsi Cans Rule!!!

Sorry, just had to say it

Being new to the idea of a stove, I too am interested in what people use.

 

[jakunen]

Wouldn't have thought a drinks can wuld be much good.
The embers that Womble and I were cooking on would have melted so thin a metal.

 

[grumit]

i use a whisperlite internatoinale for myself or a coleman alpine if there is more than just me a mini bbq :-D

 

[C_Claycomb]

You don't cook IN the Pepsi can, you cook ON it :-D

Take three cans and make a meths stove.

 

[steve a]

I use a hexi for day walks, coleman duel fuel for longer stays, coleman double burner petrol stove if using a base camp and can get the vehical there, and I just got hold of a Swedish army meths cook set that I shall be trying out this weekend as well as using the alter fires.
As you can guess I like my food.

 

[sargey]

the swedish army trangia set is probably the ultimate bushcrafty stove. especially if you find a s/steel version. ideal for open fires and a pot crane, but still conventionl enough for those lowland commercial campsites when you come down out of the hills for a shower having said that, i usually use a homemade trangia/multifuel kit which offsets the cost of my Ti mug!

cheers, and.

 

[Wayne]

Womble /Jakunen.

Where did you guys camp in the New Forest? i fancy an outing there myself this weekend. Might bit alittle crowded being a bank holiday weekend though.

Oh i use kelly kettle with the accessories , or MSR Whisperlite. i generally carry titanium markill gas stove for quick brews inside my mug when i don't fancy the bulk of the kelly

 

[Treebeard]

I used a Swedish Army Stove for the first time over the weekend. Great bit of kit!

 

[Leon]

I also tend to switch between hex, trangia and a coleman butane catridge jobby.
Has any one tried the variation on the stick tin can stove shown in Ray Mears' Bushcraft book, the one pictured with the wok, using charcoal as fuel?
My one attempt last year failed miserably; seemed to take for ever to get charcoal lit :roll:

 

[alick]

Trangia is bombproof but very heavy and meths has less than 60% of the energy per unit weight than gas - so for a longer trip, meths is too heavy compared to petrol or gas - it's stable so the kids can learn on it though.
Coleman Peak 1 is v heavy but powerful and uses easy to get petrol - it has been good when travelling abroad (I don't have any reliability problems with the peak1).

Latest acquisitions are all gas : MSR pocket rocket and optimus crux are both tiny, effective, light (100gram stove plus 100gram gas cartridge for a day trip) they don't work well in the cold though.
The primus himalaya gas stove with preheater has phenomenal output and a preheat coil which means in the cold, you can just hold the cartridge upside down and let liguid gas flow to the burner where it vaporises and gives full output. It's heavier than the other two but very effective.

Cheers

I pick and choose according to the job - if four of us are out together, we'll usually take 2 stoves so people don't have so long to wait.

 

[alick]

ps - on managing gas

One small 100g cartridge is more than enough for two people for a day, so there's rarely a need to carry more than one of these as backup in case a big 225g cartridge runs out.

One to one and a half 225 g cartridges of isobutane fuel is said to be enough for two people for a week. By getting an idea of how many pints of water your stove will give from each size of cartridge, and even weighing part / empty cans, you can make better estimates and minimise the number of cartridges you carry.

the primus website has some info on this www.primus.se I think.

Cheers

 

[stevec]

i carry a msr pocket rocket on day trips, got a coleman alpine, better for windy days, also got a msr whisperlite 600 int. never had reason to use that so far. pocket rocket does me fine most of the time. its less weight to carry my small pot, stove and 100 canister of gas than my thermos. gives me more flexibility as well.

 

[Gary]

I would recommend the Swedish army mess set - as an all in one kit its excellent - no breakable parts, good in the cold and the fuels cheap. Plus if your using a camp fire as well you can use the pots here too.

For longer base camp operations go for a coleman stove that will burn unleaded fuel (the same as your vehicle) that way you never run out of fuel. Plus with a stove like that you can cook faster and excercise more control.

Gas stoves are light and quick but it depends on where your operating - in cold climates gas suffers alot. In remote areas if the gas runs out can you replace it?

To my mind cost of fuel and availability is more important than anything else the finest, lightest stove in the world is no good it the fuel costs a fortune and can only be bought from Millets.