Stoves

[Manango]

Duel fuel is just Coleman fuel or unleaded petrol. Coleman fuel is, as far is I can tell, highly refined petrol with most of, or all of the impurities removed. Both coleman fuel or unleaded work fine, but unleaded will eventually clog up the "generator", or the tube that feeds the fuel to the burners. For that reason, the generator will need to be cleaned on a regular basis if only unleaded fuel is used. It is also recommended that injector cleaner be added to unleaded fuel to help burn off the impurities in unleaded fuel. For this reason, Coleman fuel is the preferred fuel. I will be getting a can from tentworld when I go down to the Sunshine coast on Wednesday. I used to have an old primas kero stove many moons ago and I can not see any reason why you could not use kero BUT, with a kero stove you had to heat up the generator using metho before it would start. If you heated up the generator with a handheld gas torch you may get it to start.

[Andrew]

The Coleman stoves should run ok on "Shellite" here in Aust (eg diggers brand at bunnings, aka "white gas" in the US). Its probably fairly close to coleman fuel for purity, is it not?

See they still make the kero pressure stoves in India (on ebay $54) and elsewhere. Second hand vintage ones are all over the net too. The kero fuel is safer on boats, and the small alcohol squeeze bottle for preheating should be a safe way to handle that small amount of volatile. Takes a minute to light up but once going they burn hot (with a blue flame and vague roaring sound) similar heat to a gas or coleman burner. they simmer well too. I used them long ago.

I wouldn't recommend them for 1563 use, as simpler alternatives like alcohol burners, "explodo's" and LPG gas more convenient. They are just here for those with a larger cruiser lurking behind the scenes.

In pic 2 it says "brass oil tank" its actually the "pressure kerosene tank with pump". The "copper burner" has the vaporizing generator tube and alcohol preheating cup, see the Indians still manufacture these as sell online. The good thing about the subcontinent is they keep producing good old British tech. This design is based on the "Primus" kero stove. (Optimus of Sweden was making them too?) This stove is sometimes used by frugal/safe/simple world cruisers (seen it fitted on several wylo2's, its what i would do on my wylo (plus have the CAN-2001 alcohol for quick billy boiling etc). They simply build a self levelling gimballed stove box for them. They have to be level to light up, can flare on preheating phase and could leave black soot on the cabin ceiling, a good stove for a safe gourmet cook on extended trips with a hungry crew to feed.

The main safety issues of these are during light up/preheating phase. If it blows out must wait at least 5mins to cool down, so the burner is hand touch warm, before relight attempted. NOT FOR KIDS (and adults must know the operating procedures blindfolded, practice allot on dry land first)

(i know this from experience, lit up a whole cabin cruisers roof and settees with a flame-throwing 1 litre meths bottle at age 10! The extinguisher stopped the cabin fire quickly and meths does burn cool so you have about 10 seconds before paint blisters but some settee covers were ruined) NEVER use an open meths bottle to fill the preheat cup, have it in a small plastic squeeze bottle with spout. If the meths ignites the subconscious reflex reaction is to pull the arm away quickly, in my case this had the effect of swinging the burning open meths bottle so it sprayed all over the cabin in a perfect arc, everything from walls ceiling to bunks when whoosh into flames in a second!)

Its the same (but worse) for relighting a blown out Shellite stove. Must let it cool. If this incident happened with Shellite, Petrol or Coleman fuel..i'll leave it to your imagination.

Petrol and gas on boats can be deadly. Outboard tank can be safely managed, but any petrol or gas fumes in cabin are potential disaster. I personally knew a guy who got over 80% burnt in a cabin petrol explosion and died after months in hospital. His boat a Hereshoff 28 was a total loss, blew the roof off. It was fitted with a petrol inboard and vapour accumulated in bilge, he was a heavy smoker too, so had lost his sense of smell. one day he went below, couldn't smell the petrol and lit a match...

[Ozzie]

Wow Andrew tragic story about your acquaintance. I had a music college who’s daughter has attended a party with a bonfire years ago but unbelievably rubbish piled in the bonfire prior to lightning contained a half empty butane cylinder or aerosol can they were not sure which. She was badly burnt but survived.

Comprehensive history of the stoves. I inherited something similar from my grandfather but sold it on eBay to a collector as I was too scared to light it. It can’t be overstated how much fire on a boat can go pear shaped very quickly. I’m still using my single maxi but for daysails and cup of tea we take a hot thermos mostly to save the worry.

[Andrew]

It boils down to safety everytime Ozzie,

My Bonetti CAN FN 2001 alcohol stove arrived in the post yesterday. Matches don't cut it with this type, so used a long gas flame lighter. Improved starting by bending the internal lockdown tab up a few mm, to let more air mix in.

It's stealthily silent, and boiled some eggs up ok, with simmer easy to control. It's affected by wind easily, so waiting on a folding panel windbreak.

Its very small and has no pot holders, though 4 holes in corners look made for them. Its got holes to screw onto wooden bench top. So must make up a fireprpoof galley box to fit around it, plus some pot restrainers

(So will use Trangia awhile more. For 1-2, It's hard to beat a Trangia, has wind break, pots and pot holder all built in, ready to go out of box. Plus its price, weight and ultra small stow size) A fireproof box around it would stabilize, contain and make it safer.

[Watto]

I’m a charcoal man. Take my Weber go anywhere with me. Haven’t braved using it onboard only when able to get ashore.

Thinking a plank of cement sheeting below and I should be able to use it on the cockpit seats while at a calm anchorage.

[Andrew]

Just found another type of alcohol stove - Salsa , made in Germany. Might work on Investigators.

Its has a non pressurised tank , but still vaporizes the fuel to make a blue flame, has a long runtime. Flame can be ajusted like a maxie. Here is a detailed story

https://thailand-travelbase.com/2020/07 ... hol-stove/

There is one agent called Reimo in aust,

[Andrew]

Have not commented to date on this post, but just felt a need to put it out there. The dual fuel Coleman stove. I have both a single burner and twin burner unit - the one I will be using onboard. FYI https://www.snowys.com.au/2-burner-dual ... ouse-stove. I would be interested to get peoples comments. I have been using the single burner for years and love it. Sure it takes a bit of getting used to, but I had a twin burner gimballed kero sove on my previous yacht and it was great. Definately safer than any form of gas cooker, hotter than metho, and you can see the flame, so likely hood of getting into trouble minimised. Just for added safety, I plan on only using it in the cockpit. on the rails.

Hi Rick,
Checkout "Bear prepper coleman stoves" vid on u tube. He does a great comparison between propane and dual fuel coleman 2 burners. Also has a procedure to run a dual fuel on kero (would make it safer in cabin) . He can also run it on small refillable coleman propane. Very versatile, good in cold plus many other things. But don't cry when he tells us the second hand price in California! They must be crawling out of cupboards over there.

Have got a 533 on the way by post now. The dual fuels, seems like a good 4wd overlanding or doomsday machine to have, can fry a steak up quick smart.

[Manango]

Thanks for that Andrew. I will check it out. Have not had a lot of luck getting Coleman fuel, but was advised to try Bunnings Diggers brand Shellite.

[Ozzie]

Both your Bonetti and the German stove are improvements on my single Maxi Andrew . The high mounted Maxi tank makes even the single bulky to store. My old double took up half the v berth which is why a sold it.

I keep mine in a plastic container as it stops the oxidation of the chrome and steel bits and that is quite big to accommodate it. I pack cooking stuff and tea and coffee around it so as not to waste the storage space but an ideal stove would fit in the depression under the quarter berth, which is where my Aldi nesting pots/kettle go. The Salsa looks like it would fit there. At that price it’s cheaper than buying a replacement burner for the Maxi. If the burner eventually goes I’ll get one.

[Ozzie]

Last night while searching eBay, on a whim, I put in alcohol burners and an amazing array of Chinese products came up. Also in the mix was the mount for a gimballed vintage boat cooker, the Bremer sea swing . Further research turned up the whole story. Alcohol or sterno. Anyway FYI

https://classiccampstoves.com/threads/o ... ing.15673/

I’m surprised Charles Stock didn’t use one.

Collecting old camp stoves as a hobby is quite a thing on the net apparently. Note the first statement in the story how the writer promised his wife he would not collect stoves. I promise my wife all the time I won’t collect stuff off the council throw out . She knows what a bleedin’ lie it is by now.