Yak-camping stove recommendations?

[mingle]

I was going to buy one a year or two ago. I'd heard good reviews of them and for the price at the time (around $AU120), they seemed like a pretty good deal.

And now the price is down to around $52 shipped, you can't really go wrong...

Mike.

[missingdna]

i know there are dedicated metho stove users here, including trangia owner, and i thought u might like this
http://www.packafeather.com/index.html

like the ability to adjust the flame.


frankie

[mangajack]

I was going to buy one a year or two ago. I'd heard good reviews of them and for the price at the time (around $AU120), they seemed like a pretty good deal.

And now the price is down to around $52 shipped, you can't really go wrong...

Mike.

Thanks Mike I just bought one to give it a shot.

[indiedog]

I was going to buy one a year or two ago. I'd heard good reviews of them and for the price at the time (around $AU120), they seemed like a pretty good deal.

And now the price is down to around $52 shipped, you can't really go wrong...

Mike.

Thanks Mike I just bought one to give it a shot.

They look pretty good especially at that price. Not that I need a new stove....

[slagbag]

Looks like they burn a nice hot and efficient flame, and good for the price too.

[slagbag]

Looks like they burn a nice hot and efficient flame, and good for the price too.

Went back to the site to look at how the heat is adjustable! Hmff all that they do is raise the height of Billy. Look at the pictures on their site under the heading(The Heat out-put is Fully Adjustable) Wow what a break through
IMHO if you were to put some thought into a V.B can cooker one could come up with something similar.
I have about 1000 empty vb cans sitting around if you's want some? All for Free If you pay for the postage

[mangajack]

Has anyone seen or used these before?
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/320848954606 ... 1423.l2649

Well I received this in the post yesterday and I must say when folded out it is a very impressive and large strong piece of kit!!
It would be easily large enough to use a 12-14" skillet or boiling pot on. Try doing that with a triangia cooker.
All parts seem to be well made and tolerances are good, comes with some spare parts and a different sized jet for using diesel fuel.
Takes a wide range of fuels from shellite, kero, petrol, diesel, and gas cartridges, so being stuck without a fuel source is pretty slim.
I will fire it up over the next weekend for a test run on multiple fuels. The flame is fully adjustable via a valve on the pressure pump on the fuel bottle

It packs down into a small drawstring sack that is included to about the same size as the 500ml fuel bottle (same as the alloy Wanderer water bottles).

Did I mention it is bloody tough design and sturdy as a besser block??

All parts are either stainless steel or diecast alloy of a strong weight.

For 52 bucks it is amazing value.

[slagbag]

Manga I had a look at his store and has the same buy now $43.00, get in quick because they sound like the goods

[mangajack]

Well I fired up the stove on ULP and I am impressed.
Fuss free setup, no leaks, fired up well, took about a minute to get it perking along with the hot flame. Once it was running properly i adjusted the valve to see how low and high it goes, right down to a light simmer or up to a pretty large crisp flame thrower if desired.
I placed 1.25 litres of cold water in the old billy and set it upon the stove and cranked it up, from dead cold to full on had bubbling boiling was about 6 minutes, 23 secs, 5 mins 40 secs to a simmer. It used about 23grams of ULP on flat out to bring it to the boil so it is pretty efficient I think.
Packed away in the bag the unit and pump and tool comes to about a double fist size and the fuel bottle is a standard 1/2 litre water bottle size.

Thew only thing it needs is a small collapsible wind shield I think, maybe $10 from a camping store.

[mingle]

Very nice! Might have to get one...

What other fuels will it run on?

Does it fit standard primus-type gas cylinders too?

Cheers,

Mike.

[mangajack]

Spec sheet says White spirit (shellite) kero, diesel, petrol, or gas cartridge. I have not bought a gas cartridge yet but will this weekend to see how they fit up. Looks to be about a 12mm gas thread assembly, so it looks standard atm.
Online it also states that oils such as canola can be used???? I don't think I will venture that road myself and stick to diesel, ULP or gas.

[slagbag]

Thats the one for sure. It runs on the smell of a rag soaked in different types of fuel and packs tight.
Boiling that amount of water in that time is good but how much breeze did you have that day. The wind plays a big factor in boil time, hence Wind break

[mingle]

Just gave the Trangia another couple of tests - all indoors again, I'm afraid...

Test 1 was to boil 800ml of water and and cook 500 grams of lamb mince in a 1.6lt pot on a single 'charge' of fuel.

I filled the stove up to about 5mm from the top and fired it up. It quickly fired-up and in a little under 10 minutes
the water and mince were happily boiling away - so much so that I had to chuck the simmer-ring on to settle it down
a bit. The lamb was done in a shade under 25 minutes from start-up.



The stove was just on empty as I snuffed the flame. I was actually very impressed with how effective it was.
I'd always believed trangias never had the umph to quickly boil a big pot of water.

Test two was to fry a couple of pans full of beef chipolatas. Added a bit of butter to the pan, chucked them in and
off it went. Again, I had to use the simmer ring to keep the heat down a bit. But after 10 minutes, the first lot
was done and the second ones sizzled away until they too were cooked to perfection. This time there was a bit
more fuel left in the burner.



Now I just need to find the time to actually get some outdoors cooking done!

Cheers,

Mike.

[Macbrand]

Now i'm hungry.

[goanywhere]

Over the years I've used all sorts of camp stoves, from Hexamine tablet, to metho to Propane.Butane types and two burner camping stoves. The best I think for yak camping is the propane/butane type like this:

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/elementaL-Kovea-X1-Solo-Gas-Butane-Propane-Compact-Camping-Hiking-Stove-/140742427063?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_15&hash=item20c4e701b7

These are very light, if packed in dry sacks will not rust, and the cylinders last for about 2-3 days if used sparingly. You can make a very easy windshield out of a long sheet of aluminium foil folded a few times to give it stiffness, and wrapped around the burner with enough space for the pot or pan you are using. You don't need a very expensive one unless you really know what you want and do something like extreme mountain climbing.

Metho is very dangerous, especially if the bottle leaks, or if the burner is tipped over in a tent, and the cartridge types in the plasic case are pretty bulky for what they deliver. The cylinders can be hit and miss in quality, some freeze up at the gas nozzle point in cold weather and block the gas flow.

If you camp somewhere where an open fire is a possibility all you need is a small grid to sit a pot on.

Horses for courses really....