Thanks friends for your show of sympathy, and all the mails! It was Katadyn, makers of Katadyn water purifiers, Optimus stoves, and other outdoor equipment, that forgot to mention that the stove was temporarily out of stock - most companies, like Amazon, will not charge you till they have the stuff in their warehouse(s), ready for delivery - a very sane arrangement, I'd say. Hopefully I'll get my stove next week, but I would not bank on it. Until now I've used various MSR stoves (all used with kerosene as fuel, as I didn't know where to find white spirits - but Craig has told us that it is the stuff dry-cleaners use, so now I know). I probably have used our MSR stoves more than a thousand hours (in the field I am the cook, at home it is the wife). The first I ordered via mail (yeah, a long time ago), and then bought one, or two, locally, when available, and then the latest one when visiting Craig, and others, in North America. The only one that does not work too well is the Whisperlite (we got ours very, very, cheap), as it probably needed white spirits to work properly - so one day I'll go to the cleaners and get some suitable fuel, and try it in earnest! The only fault with MSR stoves are that all I've used sound like small jet turbines, when at full throttle, while the ordered Optimus Nova+ is said to much quieter! Hopefully, I'll soon experience that :-)! As yet the old XKG (original version!) and the Dragonfly are the backbone of our setup, with XKG nowadays being back-up, and for cooking that doesn't need an exact temperature, but lots of heat, say boiling water! The Dragonfly is much easier to control, so suitable for frying things that shouldn't be overcooked, like onions, peppers, fresh fish, and sirloin steak! Yours, Tord S Eriksson, MA in Journalism; ex Editor-in-Chief; Avid Photographer; Pentax Fan, Articulated Bus Driver; Hon. Member of East Horsley Aerospace; Hon. Member of PAN, the World's Oldest Photo Club; On FlickR: Tord55; *************************************************************************** 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/ ***************************************************************************
On Mon, Apr 18, 2011 at 12:59 AM, Tord <tord_at_mindless.com> wrote: > Thanks friends for your show of sympathy, and all the mails! > > It was Katadyn, makers of Katadyn water purifiers, Optimus stoves, and > other > outdoor equipment, that forgot to mention that the stove was temporarily > out > of stock - most companies, like Amazon, will not charge you till they have > the > stuff in their warehouse(s), ready for delivery - a very sane arrangement, > I'd > say. > > I'm glad you'll be getting your new stove. My Optimus 8R, which I bought in 1972, is still my primary source of cooking in the field (however little of it there seems to be these days). I have eschewed (I love that word) the cannister-powered stoves simply because of my antipathy towards getting "locked in" to any brand. There's enough of that going around anyway so if it can be avoided, then I avoid it. Besides, I don't like having to pack out something that is bulky and empty unless it's my stomach. The Trangia stoves - and other alcohol powered stoves - seem to be gaining a wider acceptance; especially among the paddling public. I've avoided alcohol stoves because I don't like the fumes. Some say that there are no fumes but I find that alcohol stoves emit a particularly nasty odor; apparently not everyone is affected by it the same way. The Trangias come as complete cooksets with stove and pots and pans. I'm not convinced of their effectiveness at high altitude but since most paddling is done at lower elevations that's probably not an issue. Alcohol does not contain as much heat energy (BTU) as naptha or kerosine or gasoline so cooking might take longer even at sea level. Additionally, alcohol is somewhat expensive (as are, in my opinion, the Trangia products themselves). Tord mentioned the jet-engine whine of a naptha-powered stove (what we, here in the USA, generally refer to as "white gas") and there is no doubt that the noise is obnoxious. If it scares wildlife my hopes are that the bears are the most affected. They do discourage chatter around the cook table. In the mornings that doesn't seem to be much of an issue; at least until a couple cups of coffee. Wood-fueled stoves are gaining ground and there a couple worth noting. One is the stainless steel camping stove built by a paddler in B,.C., Canada which folds up; there is a new wood stove built in B.C. which doesn't fold up but seems to be more widely available (the folder required that you know him or someone in Canada who can pick it up and bring it down into the USA). The commercial product has a PayPal payment method (I'm not a big fan of PayPal) and is not folding but seems robust and effective. The foldhttp:// www.bushbuddy.ca/ing stove can be found by reading the posts on www.westcoastpaddler.com. The second, non-folder, has two versions (one slightly lighter in weight) at www.bushbuddy.ca. Another wood-burning stove is the Kelly Kettle (description here: http://www.survivaltopics.com/survival/the-kelly-kettle/) which is a wood-burning stove designed to efficiently boil water. These little stoves are remarkable for their ability to boil water quickly on very little fuel and are handy for soups, instant noodles, tea, hot chocolate and coffee pick-me-ups on a beach or mountaintop. Not so handy for steaks and burgers. The wood burning stoves are interesting because they work on twigs and scraps of wood you might find laying around almost anywhere - even in the desert. You don't have to pack anything in (or back out) and you don't have to buy the fuel. The stoves themselves are not expensive (I think the folding stove in BC is about $60 and the BushBuddy is about $100 while the Kelly Kettle is also about $100). If I camped more I would be a proud owner of at least one of those. Craig Jungers Moses Lake, WA www.nwkayaking.net *************************************************************************** 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/ ***************************************************************************
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