Pack stoves and cook sets.

[>>>---WW---->]

Several years ago I was bushwacking across country on an elk hunt. It was about eight miles of some of the worse blow down and dead fall stuff I have ever encountered. At about the six mile point, I was one whipped puppy and completely out of gas. So I got out my little stove and had one of those Lipton's Cup-O-Noodles. And let me tell you something! They don't do a damn thing to help recharge your batteries!

I've always been a fan of alcohol stoves. And I've probably made a dozen or so of them myself. I've heard a lot of guys brag up their Jetboil stoves. But I ran into a forest service trail crew once that was trying to use one. I wanted to see just how well their stove worked. After all, a $100 dollar stove should really be the cats meow. Right! Well, it malfunctioned and they didn't have any coffee that morning.

So ever since then I've been really pleased with my little home made alcohol stove. The stove cost me about 10 cents for pop rivets to hold the two halves together and around 15 minutes of time to make one. LOL!

Then one day I was looking on You-tube and saw several post about the Trangia Swedish Army Stove. It was about the same as my little alcohol beer bottle stove. But you could put fuel in it and close a lid. Plus when you get through cooking, you just smother the flame, let it cool down, and recap it saving the unused fuel for the next time.

I really liked that idea of saving fuel so I purchased one and gave it a try. To give it a test, I filled it up with Heet alcohol and it boiled two full cups of water in 6 1/2 minutes. After the boil test I just let it go on and burn to see how long it would last. I was amazed when it finally shut down after a 32 minute burn.

Now I will have to admit that my home made stove will boil 2 cups in less time. But I have no way to shut it down and the total burn time is usually 8-9 minutes. So I think I'll be packing the Trangia this fall. A hot meal and some coca or coffee really hits the spot on a cold morning!

As for the rest of my cook set, I'm going with the one quart military canteen, canteen cup that I made a lid for, and the canteen cup stove. It all fits in the Canteen belt pouch. My stove fits inside a small little thermos that also serves as a cozy to help keep things hot.

And once you figure out how to use the small ziplock freezer bags in the cozy, there are no dishes to wash!

I almost forgot to mention that with the canteen cup stove, I can use the Trangia stove, Esbit tablets , wood, pine needles, leaves, or just about anything that will burn. So there is never a worry about running out of fuel.

[mtnmutt]

WW, Can you post pictures of all that?

I first used an esbit stove and then switched to an alcohol stove setup by traildesigns (stove, evernew Ti teapot, windscreen where the windscreen holds the teapot above the stove, plus a nice small plastic container to hold stove, windscreen and fuel bottle)

[>>>---WW---->]

Sure, I'd love to. But John won't let me! LOL! I used to be able to put pictures up but for some reason now I keep getting a notice even on the same pictures I have posted in the past that they are too large. I'll have to get with John and see what we can come up with.

[pointysticks]

Nice I carried a homemade job to cook meat or fish. I crushed it accidentally. I made it from a beer can so it isn't durable. I just got one from that white box guy. Nice and tough.
How many oz of fuel for 14 days! 24oz?48?

[>>>---WW---->]

OK Patrica: I had a talk with Paul and he straightned me out on the picture thing. GEE! I'm a computer dummy!!!

Anyhow here is a picture of the entire cook kit. It includes the canteen pouch which fits on the webbing of my Superday pack. Or, you could throw the entire thing inside the pack if you want. There is also the canteen cup and lid I made for it, the canteen stove , and the Trangia burner that fits underneath the stove. It all nest together except for the Trangia to make one small package.

[>>>---WW---->]

Here is a couple more pics. One is of the entire kit packed and ready to go. And the other shows a modification I made to the canteen cup stove. The cup is notorious for tipping off the stove. So I bent a couple of pieces of wire coat coat hanger and clipped them over the top of the stove. It makes a great stable platform for the cup to sit on.

[>>>---WW---->]

Also if you think you might be interested in something like this go to youtube.com and type in canteen cup cooking in the search box. You'll come up with a kajillion post and ideas. Some of the guys are even baking cakes and bread in these things.

[>>>---WW---->]

Nice I carried a homemade job to cook meat or fish. I crushed it accidentally. I made it from a beer can so it isn't durable. I just got one from that white box guy. Nice and tough.
How many oz of fuel for 14 days! 24oz?48?

Great question! It all depends on how many burns per day you intend to use your stove. But I'm betting you'll be closer to the 48 oz than the 24 oz for a 14 day trip. And by the way the home made alcohol stove I made was a copy of the White Box Stove. Great little unit!

But with the canteen setup I don't have to worry about running out of fuel. I can burn dried elk crap if I need to. LOL! Anything that will burn will heat up my morning coffee.

[mtnmutt]

Thank you WW. It may be too big for my small pack. I will check into the details.

My pack is volume challenged. Because I have a short torso, I only fit into Extra Small women's Gregory packs. For last season's backpacking hunt, I had to do a cold camp. I don't attach anything to the outside of my pack except either trekking poles or bow.

For my scouting trips, that setup may fit in my pack. The fire bans the last 2 summers would require my canister stove.

I do like the flexibility of your setup and I am always searching for a better cooking setup.

[pointysticks]

now there is the rub.

48 oz of alcohol is pretty bulky and heavy, right? that is like 4 beer cans, right?

my brother and i burned two jetboil canisters for 9 days. two guys, coffee, oatmeal, dinners. we were pretty frugal with the fuel, and would jump on it the second we felt the water was hot enough.

i love my alcohol stove! i just packed one tiny heet bottle for fun. lessoned learned: heet bottles are crappy for closing and opening repeatedly. they will leak!! i think they dribble too much too when you pour into a stove. rebottle it in a secure squeeze bottle or a cheap reused water bottle. trust me. dont pack the original yellow bottle. the bottle was designed to dump one time into a fuel tank. haha.

[Z Barebow]

You have my interest peaked.

What do you use to pack your alcohol?

I have always steered away from alcohol stoves because I was worried about them leaking. I also cannot stand the thought of an empty canister taking up space in my pack.

I am also a fiscal conservative. Wouldn't an old contact lense solution container work for alcohol? It has a built in squirt nozzle.

Also, I assume you must use a pot stand for the Trangia. I might use my Esbit stove as a stand, (If it fits within the stand). I like my Esbit, but I also like the thought of not having a sticky pot when I am done.

[mtnmutt]

Friends complained about their canisters leaking all over their bags, so I avoided buying one until this year, 2nd year of fire bans. My alcohol and esbit stoves are illegal during fire bans since there is no on/off switch.

My alcohol has never leaked but I store it in one of those loksaks (super leak proof zip lock like baggie) for insurance so I can capture anything that may leak. I use the small naglene clear plastic accessories containers you may get at rei. I do have to be careful when pouring it. For awhile, I used a plastic syringe for measuring and dispensing. Now, I just pour from the bottle.

If denatured alcohol leaks, it evaporates quickly and won't be an issue like canister fuel. I do not use heet. Denatured alcohol I believe is more efficient than heet and cheaper.

I loved my esbit stove, but you need mounds of snow to clean the bottom of the sooty pot and the fuel cube smells terrible.

[elkmtngear]

Bill,

Very cool setup!

[>>>---WW---->]

Z Barebow: The Trangia holds enough fuel all by itself for 3-4 good burns. Since I'm basically a day hunter, that is plenty good for me. And that is the main reason I went with that particular stove. If I was doing the pack in thing, I'd probably use a plactic pop bottle or something similar for extra fuel. Then just burn the bottle when it got empty.

No stove stand or wind screen is needed as the canteen cup stove serves as both. This probably isn't the best setup for everyone but for now, I think I'll stick with it.

I'd like to hear some ideas from others. What do you use for a stove and also your cook kit?

[Z Barebow]

WW- I'll try and take some pics of my set up in a little over a week as I will be making a scouting trip. Need to look at my new area and test some gear. (Including a Trangia if it comes in time!)

[Herb]

I'm a big fan of the Trangia stoves. I have the large full cook kit we use in base camp, and the little mini that I'll toss in my pack on some of the day hunts. I got a couple of the Trangia fuel bottles too. They are nice, with a push button vent and easy pour spout.

Last thing I do before falling asleep, fill the stove with fuel, and fill the tea pot. When I wake, light the stove and wait for the pot to start rattling when it boils......my back country "snooze" alarm, warms the tent a little bit too.

[Herb]

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This is the Mini with the small pan/lid on the wind screen. There a small pot the screen and stove nest in.

[Z Barebow]

Got my Trangia a couple of days ago and experimented in the back yard last night.

Was able to boil 2 cups of water in about 8 1/2 minutes. I used HEET as fuel.

I built a windscreen/pot support out of material I had laying around. I used a piece of aluminum dryer vent pipe and cut it to height. I used a piece of old aluminum arrow to punch holes for air vents. I set the pot height ~ 1" above stove mouth. I used a couple pieces of ground wire from some 12/3 house wiring and bent as needed. I punched holes for wire with a nail. Winscreen weight= 1.1 oz. I can take it apart and stove in my 750ml Snow Peak pot. I will experiment with denatured alcohol as a fuel when I get back from my scouting trip. But for now, HEET will work.
I borrowed WW's idea on pot support. It won't win any beauty contests, but it works. (Sounds like I am describing myself! LOL!)

It might heat a little faster if I added a few more holes near the bottom of the pot, but I don't have time to tweak it and find out I screwed up. (It currently has 3 holes)

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[DirtyErn]

i bought i bio lite stove earlier this year. with a little practice this stove works fine and can charge accessries with a usb port. burning wood products their is no shortage of fuel.. takes about 5 minutes to boil water once its burning.
tried to up load photes having issues.

[JimKirk]

I picked up one of these two years ago. for an alcohol stove it works dandy with the adjust ability feature. I like a center burner on the fairly typical narrow backpacking type pots. It seems to heat up quicker. this stove is called a packafeatherxl http://packafeather.com/xlstove.html