[Paddlewise] Camp Stoves

Many kayakers are also avid campers and backpackers. Of course the
activities compliment each other nicely as many of the accessories can be
used even if you car camp. Even if you, like me, have also got boats and
RVs. My primary camping stove is a venerable Optimus stove-in-a-box which
managed to escape the shop fire last February by the simple expedient of
being in my drybag here at the lake house. I bought this stove in Paris in
1972 for about $15 (in francs). Back then I had naively assumed that camping
equipment made in Europe would be easier to obtain in Europe and so did not
buy the stove at REI. As it turned out, European camping was then being
overrun by the Camping Gaz craze and that was all the stores in Paris
carried. Until I asked at a climbing equipment store on a back street
somewhere in Paris. The owner held up 1 finger to wait and disappeared down
a dark flight of stairs to the basement. When he reappeared some ten minutes
later he had my Optimus new in its box and covered in dust. So I must assume
that the stove is at least ten years older than the 37 years it has been in
my possession.

There is now a plethora of camping stoves available in almost any
conceivable configuration from simple pocket-sized camp stoves to the
alcohol-powered Trangea. Wind is always a problem when using a camp stove so
now some stoves have special attachments to concentrate the heat or have
attachments to protect the flames from wind. The Trangea can be
self-contained with pots and pans and attachments that all nest together.
MSR now has something similar.

This morning I discovered that Primus has a very Trangea-like stove. I
discovered it by reading one of the blog excerpts presented on
www.paddlingplanet.com (where the blog entry I wrote last night is also
featured). Paddlingplanet is interesting because if you register your blog
it samples your site and whenever anything new is posted it scoops it up and
puts that posting onto its own page. So by skimming down through
paddlingplanet.com you can either read the comments there or click on the
title to go to the blog itself.

I did that and went off to seakayakphoto.blogspot.com; attracted by the
promise of photos of abandoned villages on isolated Scottish islands and
rewarded by now and "then" comparative pictures taken of one of the
villages. But in a sidebar to the right there were some links to reviews of
equipment and one of them is for the new Primus. The review is an extensive
one with photos, weights, alternatives, cooking times, etc. Clearly he had
used the cookstove in the wild, so to speak.

Here is the link:
http://seakayakphoto.blogspot.com/2008/03/primus-etapower-ef-integrated-stove-and.html

Very well done and worthwhile kayaking blog. I'm amazed at the number of
high-quality blogs on the Internet. And as for www.paddlingplanet.com ...
well, it has its own page on my firefox browser now. I have no idea how
magazines can compete with this but at least it's going to save a crap-load
of trees.


Craig Jungers
Moses Lake, WA
www.nwkayaking.net
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