The Vault Regulars

Thursday, February 25, 2010

Stoves epic.

Following on from October 19th post. I cannot believe it was so far back.
I have been making some new burners and testing out how they work. I have completely discounted using a gas burner this year as the lightest set up is around the 200 gram mark and it would mean i needed a new pot to store it in. I am not going to buy new gear so thats out.
I am now down to the Esbits and Meths. I am putting my findings together and will post my thoughts early next week.
This weekend i am on a double birthday bash and an anniversary bash so thats the weekend gone again.
Fortunately its up in the Lakes but i doubt that much walking will be taking place, except to the Loo of course.
Never know, might meet Mr Sloman in one of the hostelries?  A bearded bloke with a belly carrying a settee, shouldn't be hard to spot.

14 comments:

  1. He visits this blog you know...

    That's a great idea about the settee though... Do they come in sil-nylon?

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  2. Hope it made you laugh Alan.
    I think i will probably need one myself by sunday evening.
    The Wasdale Inn. The screes and Strand at Nether Wasdale and then the Gosforth Hotel Inn.
    Maybe i could get one made in Carbon Fibre. It will probably be cheaper than buying a round of drinks.

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  3. When you say that the 'lightest set-up is around 200g mark', what are you including?

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  4. I am including the burner, fuel canister and windshield. If i am completely wrong then please let me know.

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  5. I'll have to check, but I think my gas canisters weigh around 380g and my burner 70g, so I was wondering how I can lose around 200g!

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  6. Please don't hold me to this because i have not checked it out but i think the optimus crux and cylinder weighs around 180 gr. and then a windshield weighs 20+.
    The weight shown might just be the content of gas minus the cylinder but as i say,i am not sure 100%.
    When i get home i will confirm all.
    Changing the subject i drove over Corney fell tonight and it was very bad. Not icy but visibility was about 30 yds and heavy snow, very heavy!
    We are now in Gosforth Hall inn having a good beer.No sign of Mr sloman! Although we were overtaken by a settee on ski's.

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  7. afootinthehills - Yes i was talking rubbish. Found the weight of the 110g optimus canister is 450gr and the lite burner is 73g. Therefore i will not be considering this for this years kit list.

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  8. My Vargo Jet-ti burner from Backpackinglight weighs 70g and a canister 380g so I'm not that much lighter. I'm happy with that though.

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  9. Hi Gibson and Lynne. My only downside to the gas direction is that most of the weight is with the canister and therefore it barely reduces as the trip goes on.
    With Meths and Esbits the load reduces to almost nothing by the end of the trip.
    But the important thing is that what ever we choose we have to be happy with it and confident that it won't let us down. If your happy with gas then thats great.

    ps (re phones. have a look at gsmarena site for independent reviews.)

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  10. I'll do that - thanks for the information.

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  11. Regarding gas/meths/fuel tablets and the most reliable/convenient. I use the msr pocket rocket (weight = 86g + canister at around 230g = 316g). I generally find really convenient as it gets water to temperature in no time at all and for me is nothing to carry. The serious downside with this though is that at any kind of altitude it really struggles (don't know if anyone else has experienced the same) wheras meths will never have the same problems I don't think. That said I will stay with gas unless I know I'm going to camp at any kind of height, then I'll be looking for another option and will no doubt revisit these pages - many thanks Alan.

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  12. The weekend dude:-
    That sounds like a really light canister. What is the gas content of it?
    You can improve the efficiency of gas by having a butane/propane mix.
    I think the Optimus gas has this but there will be others.
    I havn't gone into the gas comparisons in my stove/fuel tests because i want to keep my existing cooking pot that allows all my stove bits/cup etc to fit together and therefore taking up less space in the rucksack. (the windshield lies flat in the rucksack space where people put platypus type water systems.)
    It would be interesting to find out which was the lightest gas canister though.

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  13. I tell a lie, I actually reweighed it and it comes in around 260g but even at that I'm not complaining. It contains 396ml gas and it's a mix of butane/isobutane/propane mix. It does state that it "provides increased flame temperatures even in cold weather" which raises a point. I wonder if it was due to the ambient temperature (generally being around zero) that the gas wasn't that efficient - that might be something to check for the future, possibly take a couple of canisters to compare against each other. I initially thought it was the altitude (I think I was around 550m - Corrour Bothy) but that temperature issue has really thrown a curveball, I don't know if you are able to enlighten on this one.

    I don't use a windshield, I generally fashion one out of my pack or rocks or whatever I can conjure up from what's around me at the time which generally turns out to be a bit Heath Robinson but it does the trick. I generally only carry a mess tin, cup and spork too so it doesn't take up a great deal of space really.

    I'm thinking all the gas canisters this size will be of a similar weight (pending the material it's actually made out of) although would be interesting to see which was the lightest and how it actually performed vs the rest then finding a balance somewhere.

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  14. Yep, that makes sense now. I thought they must be making canisters from titanium.
    It will be the cold temperature affecting the efficiency of your gas, it can make a big difference. Just as a comparison if next time you take 2 cans. Leave 1 loose and wrap the other in either bubble wrap or something similar. The "warmer" you can keep the gas the better it will perform. Do a comparison.

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