Camping Stoves

feck sake lads

i was about to ask what stoves or cooking systems you guys use,i had the optimus crux but when i sold all my gear that went with it great wee stove.
but i have 2 cheaper gas stoves that work perfect and the old fashioned optimus seve123 i use prtrol to fire thuis baby up still works great, bit dodgy to use in tent though.:eek:
lads have any of you photos of your set up dead curious to see how you go about things.


(I figured that this was probably worth putting into a thread on it's own)

Tokyo

MSR international stove, with a couple of lightweight titanium saucepans. The stove burns pretty much any fuel you throw at it, and the whole setup is lightweight for mountaineering. No photos at the moment I'm afraid One or two of the guys I've camped with swear by the Trangia cookers, but I find them too bulky to carry.

feck sake lads

mike_ie wrote: »

MSR international stove, with a couple of lightweight titanium saucepans. The stove burns pretty much any fuel you throw at it, and the whole setup is lightweight for mountaineering. No photos at the moment I'm afraid One or two of the guys I've camped with swear by the Trangia cookers, but I find them too bulky to carry.

trangia are to bulky and slow.

The Glass Key

I'd still recommend a Trangia to anyone starting out. Its bulky its slow but its reliable and will work in very poor conditions. I'm off out for a walk this afternoon and will have a Swedish Army Trangia with me for a brew, but will be changing that for a Svea 123R when it arrives hopefully on Monday.

I'd have, Primus 96L, Optimus 8R, Coleman dual fuel (can't remember the exact model), Kelly Kettle (base camp), several Trangias and numerous solid fuel stoves that I'd backpack plus a stack of heavier stoves you'd never think of carrying in anything but a car.

For anyone suffering from "Stove Pox" http://www.spiritburner.com/ is a good site to check out but it doesn't offer any cures

feck sake lads

i have a optimus seve 123 stove i use unleaded petrol in it seems to work no bother.lent it to a friend of mine for his trip to france few years back he used it everyday and loved it.dodgy inside a tent though:eek:

The Glass Key

Assuming you are camping in a tent then in cold weather afaik most people cook in under the fly sheet of their tent using the pegged back flysheet door flaps as wind breaks or am I wrong?

Tokyo

The Glass Key wrote: »

Assuming you are camping in a tent then in cold weather afaik most people cook in under the fly sheet of their tent using the pegged back flysheet door flaps as wind breaks or am I wrong?

Yep - no doubt your tent will come with a dozen warnings against cooking near or in the tent, but anybody I've ever camped with cooks out in the vestibule in bad weather. Obviously a certain amount depends on your level of common sense, and the stove you are using. Gas is pretty clean to cook with anywhere, however I'd be a bit more cautious if my MSR was loaded up with diesel and stinking up the place.

feck sake lads

yeah bit dangerous right enough, my gas stove is pretty controlable but the seve123 with all that petrol is another story:D:D

so any camping trips planned lads.
myself i'm still trying to buy a touring bike well frame once i get that sorted and a nice bit of camping weather i will try and sus out a few wild camping spots to test out all this new gear of mine. maybe up the coolies for an overnighter.;)

The Glass Key

Nothing wrong with the Optimus Svea 123R, just bought myself one, its a hell of a lot more controllable than my old favorite the paraffin Primus 96L and far easier to light than my petrol Optimus 8R.

There is one simple rule for the 123 and thats not to let it overheat so you can't use an additional windshield close up to it and shouldn't leave pans with a large base area on it for a long time.

I'm building my cooking kit around the 123R and have just ordered a new pan set for it the Optimus Terra Weekend He Cookset Panset - 0.95lt. To save cross posting you can bore yourselves with my experience of the 123R in the S&SF forum here

The advice I have for a "Swedish Hand Grenade" (123R) is to pour whatever water you have available onto it if it does ever start to go off, even the water you are boiling will put it out then you can just wait for it to cool down. I know its a petrol stove but in this case its OK to use water on it because you are putting the flame out and cooling the and stove not pouring water onto an open petrol fire.

Sorry no camping trips planned I just try and disappear with the dogs for a couple of hours everyday and have a brew while I'm out. Its a good way of testing various stoves without actually going camping, trying a stove out on your garage floor isn't quite the same. On its weight to power ratio the 123R is the best stove I have ever had. I quite like the Coleman dual fuel (petrol) stoves but they are a good be heavier (and more powerful). Trangia's are fine but too slow to boil water on my short trips. I've even tried a Kelly Kettle but thats too slow for my current requirements but recommended for making a brew for a group of people.

feck sake lads

i never actually tried the stove on a cycle touring trip but yes i have made plenty on cups of tea and coffee on it .i did loan it to a friend when he went to france he was running up alp duez :eek: but yeah he taught it was the dogs. easy on petrol boiled water in jig time, i guess like everything these things need getting used to if you want to cook a meal that is.

TireeTerror

I just bought a Coleman Unleaded double burner stove. It just arrived yesterday. I've been cooking with it in the car port just for the fun of it.

Its no use for walking around with, its a suitcase design, but I have a Land Rover so most of my camping will involve going off-road somewhere.

The Glass Key

TireeTerror wrote: »

I just bought a Coleman Unleaded double burner stove. It just arrived yesterday. I've been cooking with it in the car port just for the fun of it.

Its no use for walking around with, its a suitcase design, but I have a Land Rover so most of my camping will involve going off-road somewhere.

Those Coleman Suitcase stoves are famous for being the first and last stoves that some people ever use. Often bought be americans going camping for the first time and their first experience is a "never again" fire ball.

I have one as a backup to a backup they must have been mispriced in a shop and I picked it up brand new for £20 (in the UK) only last year.

There was even a 3 burner version at one time.

feck sake lads

The Glass Key wrote: »

Those Coleman Suitcase stoves are famous for being the first and last stoves that some people ever use. Often bought be americans going camping for the first time and their first experience is a "never again" fire ball.

I have one as a backup to a backup they must have been mispriced in a shop and I picked it up brand new for £20 (in the UK) only last year.

There was even a 3 burner version at one time.

I'd say TT is glad to hear that piece of news.:)

The Glass Key

feck sake lads wrote: »

I'd say TT is glad to hear that piece of news.:)

What the price

Or the flame effect :eek:

There's a discount store in the UK I visit twice a year and save up before hand. I had planned to buy a Coleman single burner Dual Fuel stove as they have had them there for ages at about £50, and the Twin burners were always over £100 so when I saw 12 of Twin burners marked up with £19.99 price labels I asked if the price was correct. The sales guy was too lazy to check and said of course it was so I bought one, nearly bought two but couldn't think of anyone at the time that would want one, unleaded petrol stoves aren't everyone's first choice.

TireeTerror

Fireball?

I read loads and loads of reviews on them and I never saw a single mention about fireballs. Nearly every review was very positive, in fact people were raving about owning them for the last 20-30 years!

I paid 109GBP for it from Amazon. I spent a bit of time looking online at various shops to see if I could get it cheaper, and never saw any selling it for less. Is it the same as this one in the link?

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Coleman-Unleaded-Double-Burner-Stove/dp/B000QUIKX8/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1392307688&sr=8-1&keywords=coleman+unleaded+stove

It was 106, but went up to 109 when they adjusted the VAT to Irish rates!

feck sake lads

looks good to me and i'm sure it works to perfection. not much use for back packing or in my case cycle touring to bulky and heavy, but for car camping loks fantastic.

Tokyo

These are reasonably popular in Australia, when camping out in the bush, as it's easy to get fuel for them. TBH, only time I've seen fireball issues with them has been with people who didn't bother reading the instructions and hadn't a clue how to prime it properly and get it started. Other than that, they work just fine in my experience.

TireeTerror

I probably should have read about a few more modern models before buying it, but I was so excited about getting one. I saw a few of them in the back of Land Rovers on various galleries and made a quick assumption they were the stove of choice for 4x4 camping/overlanding.

I like it anyway, so as long as I don't incinerate myself then all is good.

The Glass Key

TireeTerror wrote: »

I probably should have read about a few more modern models before buying it, but I was so excited about getting one. I saw a few of them in the back of Land Rovers on various galleries and made a quick assumption they were the stove of choice for 4x4 camping/overlanding.

I like it anyway, so as long as I don't incinerate myself then all is good.

Don't let me put you off that stove they are great for anyone with the least bit of common sense and an obvious choice for 4x4 camping trips.

Its just that stove is a little more complicated than most webpage here and instructions here. If you've never used one read the instructions, nothing complicated but you'll see there is room for error particularly for those that don't like to wait.

OR Watch the video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vkx0DtXlJZY looks simple and I don't know how people mess it up but they do.

The problem is the old story of people not reading the instructions, I used to work in a place that sold the single burner Coleman Dual Fuel stoves and they are even easier to get going but we used to get the odd one back that had been completely burnt out due to misuse it was always the stoves fault not the user. A mate in the UK is a Health and Safety Inspector and he'll tell you that there is nothing that is too stupid for some people to do.

TireeTerror

The instructions that came with it are the same. Its pretty straight forward really.

Now I just need to find some places to explore so I can use it. Im already planning taking ti to work tomorrow just so I can make myself a cup of coffee on the go. I work outside, so it will be loads of fun!

The Glass Key

TireeTerror wrote: »

The instructions that came with it are the same. Its pretty straight forward really.

Now I just need to find some places to explore so I can use it. Im already planning taking ti to work tomorrow just so I can make myself a cup of coffee on the go. I work outside, so it will be loads of fun!

Just don't forget the output of the main ring on that stove is 7,500Btu which is about 2.2kwW so don't go leaving anything on it. You have an advantage working off a 4WD that you haven't got to stick with light weight pots and pans so get some decent ones with thick bases and you'll find they work much better. Particularly for frying a big heavy cast iron pan works great on those stoves and I'd even get one of the kettles sold for use on a range as they will last forever. The other advantage of tradition heavy pots and pans is that they can be used boy scout style on an open fire, not that you can have open fires in many places now. Some people would still go for light weight space saving stuff and there are arguments both ways.

TireeTerror

The Glass Key wrote: »

Just don't forget the output of the main ring on that stove is 7,500Btu which is about 2.2kwW so don't go leaving anything on it. You have an advantage working off a 4WD that you haven't got to stick with light weight pots and pans so get some decent ones with thick bases and you'll find they work much better. Particularly for frying a big heavy cast iron pan works great on those stoves and I'd even get one of the kettles sold for use on a range as they will last forever. The other advantage of tradition heavy pots and pans is that they can be used boy scout style on an open fire, not that you can have open fires in many places now. Some people would still go for light weight space saving stuff and there are arguments both ways.

I have a Stanley oil fired range at home, I bought an AGA kettle a few months ago for that, so I will use that as it is really heavy with a very thick base. Most of the stuff in my kitchen weighs a ton, so I will just steal it when the OH's back is turned!

feck sake lads

TireeTerror wrote: »

I have a Stanley oil fired range at home, I bought an AGA kettle a few months ago for that, so I will use that as it is really heavy with a very thick base. Most of the stuff in my kitchen weighs a ton, so I will just steal it when the OH's back is turned!

so you obviously can cook, me i just heat things up;)
i camped in mullingar last year lovely campsite lough ennell but there was loads of car campers there didnt see anyone of them cooking i think i was te only one with a stove :D.
so when your car camping how do you spend your time once your set up,usually when i cycle to these places i'm knackered and its usually around 5 pm, so its tent up cuppa tea shower maybe heat up some soup relax and hit the bed (tent).
btw i'm in louth as well useless county for campsites.

The Glass Key

TireeTerror wrote: »

I have a Stanley oil fired range at home, I bought an AGA kettle a few months ago for that, so I will use that as it is really heavy with a very thick base. Most of the stuff in my kitchen weighs a ton, so I will just steal it when the OH's back is turned!

Any chance of an update on how you got on with that stove, a review even

Mycroft H

feck sake lads wrote: »

trangia are to bulky and slow.

I wouldn't call them bulky at all. Not at all.

Put together, it's not that big at all considering the amount of stuff that comes with the standard kit.

Here's mine put together, fits in your hand.



And now split apart into its many components; 2 pots, fry pan/lid, windshield, tea pot, handle, burner, regulator, strap.

Like there is not other stove/cookset combination that has so many accessories; when you think of it like that it's not so big at all!



It's also ultra reliable too; I've had this 8 years and it's not like a MSR multifuel one (I've a whisperlight too) that needs regular replacement of seals and cleaning. The trangia burner is simplicity itself, I think I've only cleaned blocked ports on the burner once or twice.

It's quiet too. The whisperlite and the coleman stoves are noisy aul things when they get up to pressure. Trangia is silent in comparison.

They're not *that* slow; 7-8 minutes would boil one of the pots full with water. Realistically not much in the difference compared to a petrol one. They're also quicker to set up than a multifuel stove (fueling pressurising/heating); so when you factor that in there is very little difference in boiling your tea.

Lastly, the fuel is cleaner, less smelly and more environmentally friendly. You don't want to spill petrol out camping, it's toxic whereas meths is just alcohol, no damage done.

TireeTerror

I have only used the stove a couple of times as I've been busy. The first few times were when i first bought it, just using it to figure it all out in the car port at home.

Its fairly straight forward, no issues at all.

I later tried it on resting on the back bumper of my Land Rover Discovery with the wind howling in. I parked it without shelter on purpose just to test how it would work in adverse conditions. I made a cup of tea and fried some sausages and then bunged a tin of beans on top and heated it all up. Its a very powerful stoves, much hotter than a few propane stoves I've used that friends owned. I don't think the propane ones I've used before would have stayed alight in the wind if I'm honest, but in reality I would always be able to shelter the stove depending on the direction I parked the car.

One thing I did notice, is that for a little while after lighting it while it was exposed to the wind, the flame remained yellow, and it became more yellow the more I turned up the heat. I had given plenty of time for the generator to get hot so Im not sure what happened there. Its not great to use while yellow as it coats the pans in charcoal!

Overall Im happy with the stove, the flexibility of being able to use unleaded fuel is what won me over. BTW there is no smell of petrol on the food or any tainted flavours while cooking with the stove. When first lighting you get a whiff of petrol, which is pretty much to be expected.

I guess the ultimate test of anything is if I would buy it again if it were lost, and I would without a second thought.

Carawaystick

Mycroft H wrote: »

Lastly, the fuel is cleaner, less smelly and more environmentally friendly. You don't want to spill petrol out camping, it's toxic whereas meths is just alcohol, no damage done.

Petrol is natural though, while Meths is synthetic

ShadowFox

Has anyone any experience with this type of stove http://www.ebay.ie/itm/Camp-Stove-multi-fuel-camping-stove-Kerosene-Gasoline-Burner-Gas-Propane-Petrol-/321332770099?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item4ad0ecf533 Im mostly interested in it because it uses diesel or petrol as a fuel type Im not worried about weight or size just is it reliable

The Glass Key

Its sort of a Coleman copy, the Coleman stove I'm thinking of is only a dual fuel though (White Gas/Unleaded). Similar look to the Coleman 442 (no longer made but still available online).

Apart from it being a Chinese stove I'd be a little skeptical of it running well on all the fuels listed without some change to the jet and an additional preheat system. You can light it from petrol easy when running on petrol but I can't see the same system working for paraffin and if you read the ebay listing how on earth do you fill it with butane? My guess is it will run OK on white gas but wouldn't be so sure of it running well on diesel oil.

Definitely an outdoor stove.

The only Coleman single burner now is the 533 and which is just about a single burner version of the two burner suitcase stove we have just been talking about because they both work in the same way. Anyway the Coleman 533 is a great little stove a little heavy to backpack but a good fast boil.

The real gem of multifuel stoves is the old Optimus 111T if you can ever find one at a Car Boot sale or S/H it runs on paraffin (or kerosene), unleaded, white gas and meths.

Some of the Russian Optimus copies are supposed to be quite good but the new Optimus 111 is rubbish and very very expensive.

ShadowFox

The Glass Key wrote: »

Its sort of a Coleman copy, the Coleman stove I'm thinking of is only a dual fuel though (White Gas/Unleaded). Similar look to the Coleman 442 (no longer made but still available online).

Apart from it being a Chinese stove I'd be a little skeptical of it running well on all the fuels listed without some change to the jet and an additional preheat system. You can light it from petrol easy when running on petrol but I can't see the same system working for paraffin and if you read the ebay listing how on earth do you fill it with butane? My guess is it will run OK on white gas but wouldn't be so sure of it running well on diesel oil.

Definitely an outdoor stove.

The only Coleman single burner now is the 533 and which is just about a single burner version of the two burner suitcase stove we have just been talking about because they both work in the same way. Anyway the Coleman 533 is a great little stove a little heavy to backpack but a good fast boil.

The real gem of multifuel stoves is the old Optimus 111T if you can ever find one at a Car Boot sale or S/H it runs on paraffin (or kerosene), unleaded, white gas and meths.

Some of the Russian Optimus copies are supposed to be quite good but the new Optimus 111 is rubbish and very very expensive.

Going by what ive found on American sites you unscrew the petrol can and screw in a butane can and away you go im mostly interested in it running on diesel as I have access to it easier than petrol may just have to bite the bullet and buy one to try it out

The Glass Key

ShadowFox wrote: »

Going by what ive found on American sites you unscrew the petrol can and screw in a butane can and away you go im mostly interested in it running on diesel as I have access to it easier than petrol may just have to bite the bullet and buy one to try it out

Not checked if it has the info you need but there's a good bit about this stove here on spiritburner.com . If I find anymore info I'll post it.