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Post by ryanward10 on Feb 16, 2010 10:18:40 GMT -5
It's late winter, if you're like me you're bored and thinking about what equipment purchases you'd like to make this year. I've been an open fire chef for my few camping expeditions, but i'm tired of hot dogs. I was thinking about getting one of those fancy little stoves from MEC or Cabelas, so I figured I'd ask you the experts how you like to cook while paddling and what equipment you've found most durable.
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Post by Jamie on Feb 16, 2010 12:44:25 GMT -5
The single burner coleman stoves (naptha gas) are pretty good to take on a canoe trip. You can get more expensive / better quality (arguable) from MEC but i've never had an issue with mine... The colemans do not pack as light as the higher end products. If you plan on backpacking as well as canoeing it may be something to consider. Strictly for canoeing I'd stick with the coleman (naptha not propane). If you have the space the full 2 burner coleman stove is even better. Any stove will work, just don't buy junk if you can help it. Better yet, buy a nice cast iron fry pan and a grill and keep cooking over the fire. PS I have 2 single burner stoves and 2 cast iron pans if you are interested in cheap and used to get ya going  Jamie |
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Post by kyle on Feb 19, 2010 8:35:21 GMT -5
i have 2 single burner colemans, they are the toughest naptha stoves i have been around. mine have never been cleaned or maintained, and i tend to abuse my gear a bit, they are much simpler design than the ones with the seperate tank. the ones with the seperate tank are almost imposible to simmer on except for a few models. for the last few years i have been using a homemade stove i made. it is based on the sierra zip stove but bigger. basically a small woodburning stove with a fan to force air through it. it will burn almost anything twigs leaves pinecones wet wood, twigs. it will boil water almost as fast as my coleman . its pwered by a small fan from a old computer and a 9 volt battery that lasts for many trips. it weighs almost nothing , theres always fuel around. i dont bring my naptha stove very often anymore.
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Post by Jamie on Feb 19, 2010 8:54:49 GMT -5
Hey Kyle, you should post some shots of your homemade stove and a little description how you made it. I might be intersted in making something like that.
Jamie
.. or send me the some pics and i can post them for you....
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tgneal
Voyageur
Little Falls - St. Croix River , NB
Posts: 229
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Post by tgneal on Feb 19, 2010 14:25:00 GMT -5
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Post by kyle on Feb 20, 2010 8:06:23 GMT -5
i stole the idea of some backpacking sites, i made a couple of pepsi can alchohol stoves. they were kind of neat to build and weigh nothing but they dont put out a lot of heat, then i came acoss a stove called risks forge. and copied the idea. mine does sound like a forge when its running. a couple of good sites are, zen backpacking stoves and wings the stove archives. my first one was built with a crappy alluminum pot for the outside and a metal can for the inside burn chamber. i made mine with a removable fan screwed to a soup can, i use it to coax the campfire sometime, works amazing.
i just looked it up. go to zen stoves and click on links and then click on wood burning stoves now scroll down to risks forge and enjoy.
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Post by ryanward10 on Feb 22, 2010 11:36:27 GMT -5
I had a look kyle, i'm gonna start saving cans and screw around with them. I've got a line on a few computer fans if anybody needs one. I also like some of the bigger wood stoves made from scrap metal. The joy of paddling is that weight isn't so critical so you don't have to use flimsy materials. I wonder how long these little stoves will run without needing more fuel, how many times do you have to fill the firebox to boil water, cook a hamburger etc.?
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Post by kyle on Feb 22, 2010 12:32:08 GMT -5
when the fan is on you have to feed it almost constantly but you only use the fan for the high setting and turn it off for the low. i have seen pics with a 3 way switch for high low medium. when the fan is off you only have to feed it every few minutes or so. usually i take a cook pot or other container,bag or whatever i have and scrounge around for some tinder( pine needles, birch bark or dry grass) and pick up some dry twigs pencil size and thumb size and have a nice little pile ready to go. i just built another one today and took some pics along the way i will try to post some pics.
this might take a while.
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Post by kyle on Feb 22, 2010 19:03:48 GMT -5
tried the new stove out today. i wanted to burn off any toxins off the metal, i figured i would stick a pot of water on and time it as well.
once i had the stove going i put 1 litre of water on and set my timer. it came to a vigorous boil in 3 min. and 50 seconds. the pot i was using had a really thick bottom on it, i think i could shave off a good 20 seconds off that with my regular camping pots. i will try to have some pics on tommorow hopefully.
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Post by kyle on Feb 23, 2010 10:25:41 GMT -5
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Post by mitchell on Feb 23, 2010 10:58:29 GMT -5
Another nice looking stove Kyle. Have you ever tried to make a wood/gas stove? They are supposed to burn longer and be more efficient. I have found a few plans but nothing in great detail yet.
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Post by tickles on Feb 23, 2010 17:04:21 GMT -5
I got one of the little stoves off Kijji that are $20. Cool little stove boils a litre in about 3min. Don't think I would trust my life to it but its part of a two stove set with the other being a colman. Also got a set of the folding diner plates and bowls. www.orikaso.com/Kind of cool. Joel |
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Post by ryanward10 on Feb 24, 2010 10:29:13 GMT -5
Mitchell I saw those diagrams for the wood gas stove too on the zen site referenced above. It seems like a straightforward plan, the obvious drawback I see is the difficulty in adding fuel once the fire is set. Have you seen a pellet stove in operation? I have one at my house and it works in a similar fashion by having the fire burn down from the top, and exhaust being drawn out the base instead of escaping upwards (assuming the inverted design). The trick seems to be a method for inserting additional fuel under the fire once it's burning, or else use batch burning as described "http://www.woodgas.com/Woodgas%20stove.pdf". It seems once perfected you could safely use inside your tent because of complete combustion, with nothing but charcoal as your left over by-product. I also found some easy instructional videos on youtube, i'm gonna make one after my trip next week
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Post by ryanward10 on Mar 17, 2010 17:11:03 GMT -5
I built a little wood gas stove from a demonstration video i found on youtube. The one i tried was w/o fan so it was trickier to keep the fire burning in the sweet spot. If you're able to maintain the optimum operating temp it burns really completely, barely any smoke or ash leftover. The drawback is the constant attention it requires because after all wood is a much less energy dense fuel than naptha or propane. Given the drawbacks I think i'll take Jamie up on his offer of an old Coleman naptha burner. My email's posted on my profile Jamie if you're still interested in parting with some of your surplus gear.
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