Re: [Paddlewise] Stove Oil

"Jim" <jimtibensky_at_fastmail.fm> wrote:

<Snip>

> For what it is worth, I always carry a spare stove that is a Trangia.
> Tiny, foolproof, no moving parts, and I use stove alcohol to prime my
> Whisperlite anyway, so taking a little more along is easy.  Once used
> the Trangia for the whole trip when I couldn't the Whisperlite to talk
> to me.

As a Swede I grew up with Trangia, but a winter expedition made me
see the light, as at those cold temperatures the Trangia took hours to 
boil
some water - some more experienced had modified their Trangias for
kerosene use, by adapting an old Optimus stove so it fitted to the 
Trangia -
their food got warm in a jiffy, while ours seemed never to boil (even 
with
the winter adaptor to the Trangia burner).

I then bought a small Optimus stove, but sadly it only ran well on 
white spirits,
an unobtainable liquid in Sweden (quite odd, as Optimus is a Swedish 
company).
I tried lead-free gasoline, and eventually gave the darn thing away to 
a guy in Ghana.

Then I discovered MSR and the XKG and have been happy ever since - but 
I did
like Trangia's expedition gourmet frying pan, but as with all things 
Teflon it survived
a few years and then had to be binned. I did get a Whisperlite, but 
that often
played bad tricks on me - I guess it also is made for white spirits, 
and had been
mislabled as Kerosene version, even if it isn't!

My XKG has been used for thousands of hours, so eventually it has become
the backup to the Dragonfly, which is slightly bulkier, but you can 
regulate the heat
very nicely, and is so nice with a decent frying pan. Most of my pans 
are MSR's,
both stainless, and more modern models!

When I bought the XKG MSR didn't sell their products in Sweden (they 
sure do now),
so I ordered mine via mail, and somehow it went wrong, so some poor 
girl at MSR
had to call me and tell me about the problem they had with the order. 
First call from
North America to little me (the second came from Steven King, but 
that's another story)!

While talking equipment we have two luxorious tents from Hilleberg: 
Stalon GT, a tunnel tent,
designed for winter expeditions (very big alcoves), and made for three, 
but we are very comfy
being just two! Sadly no longer made, but a bit like Nammatj 3 GT!

The other is their amazing Atlas, that sleeps eight, easily! We have 
two vestibules to it,
and in one of these we have our inner tent (borrowed from the other 
tent!). This tent
is ideal when the weather is bad, so you can sit dry and comfy fiddling 
with your gear,
reading a book, or what your pleasures are! Eight people can sit around 
a table inside,
or sleep, if they have to :-)! It has no built-in stove, sad to say, 
but otherwise is superb!

You can naturally buy Atlas inner tents for it, but those were not 
available when we bought our Atlas!
The smallest is designed for six :-)!

http://estore.websitepros.com/1764795/Categories.bok?category=Tents

It has been very slippery here for months now, so another piece of 
equipment has become essential:
IceBug shoes! Designed in Sweden, but made elsewhere, they look like 
ordinary jogging shoes,
but with a difference: Their soles are filled with small studs, like 
those used in car tires here, so you can't
really slip on ice! Waterproof as well, but naturally make a mess of 
wooden floors!

All the best,

Tord
***************************************************************************
PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed
here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire
responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author.
Submissions:     PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net
Subscriptions:   PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net
Website:         http://www.paddlewise.net/
***************************************************************************