Thumper Club Forum
Club House => Chatter => Topic started by: trophydave on January 15, 2011, 09:09:39 PM
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A question for the camping stove experts.Does anyone have one of those Swedish Army Trangia stoves?The ones that sell on ebay for about £15.00.Are they any good or a pile of poo?
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They do the job, though no doubt one of the paraffin/petrol mafia will be along to challenge me in a moment. They are slow, but ultra reliable and fairly indestructible. Small changes like an insulated base to the burner help, even better use a Tatonka burner.
The pots double up over open fires with a bail arm and two rings that mean you can use a stick to hold the frypan.
I use mine primariloy to cook ration packs and heat mulled wine at rallies. When it is slow I just slope off and have a beer.
If speed matters buy a Jetboil or get a gas conversion for a Trangia or clone.
Richard
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As a member of the petrol/paraffin mafia ;) nope, meths is a good fuel, works in almost all temps (unlike gas which is a summer fuel :P ;) )don't know the particular stove you mean but if the Swedish Army use it it will be reliable, and the trangia stove (and operating principle) is a good one :)
Kind of depends how the price/weight/equipment compare with the high street variant.
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Gas is just a summer fuel!!!??? Old wives tale Smudge, modern blends are good below zero and British winters are rarely cold enough to challenge a good gas stove. I should know I use one all year including at the Dragon. In fact I can remember using mine to make GC a cuppa while he tried to get his pre-heater lit/blow up his tent! If you're on top of Everest get liquid fuel, if you're in a field in Wales, use gas.
I've got one of these trangias and converted it to gas after trying to use the meths burner at a Dragon rally. Bl00dy thing wouldn't light until I'd kept the burner in my armpit for 10 minutes so it was warm enough to vapourise to light. >:( >:( I love the trangia now and can cook up quite a feast on one. The alpine burner I've employed can get two mugs of tea brewed in the time it takes a petrol head to prime his stove. ;D ;D ;D
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.... and another thing. The trangia gets through meths like it's going out of fashion! The little bottle they come with wouldn't last a weekend ans as it's meths you won't be re-filling it from the bike.
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.... and another thing. The trangia gets through meths like it's going out of fashion! The little bottle they come with wouldn't last a weekend ans as it's meths you won't be re-filling it from the bike.
So your bike has been converted to gas ???
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The Swedish army stoves work well (for a spirit burner) but to be fair you'd be better off waiting for Aldi or Lidl to do that blinding Trangia clone set that they sell for about £8.
One nice feature of the (oval) Swedish stove is that you can easily boil your water in the main pan whilst this heats the food in the lid pan above. Of course you can do that with most pan sets, but it works very well on this one.
For ease of use (and massive heat) the old Coleman petrol stove is the winner, but I will concede that few petrol/paraffin stoves are as trouble free as a small gas stove.
GC
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.... and another thing. The trangia gets through meths like it's going out of fashion! The little bottle they come with wouldn't last a weekend ans as it's meths you won't be re-filling it from the bike.
So your bike has been converted to gas ???
Ha Ha! That was more a reference to the petrol stove chaps, but I've been told I'm full of gas :-[
Small cylinder of gas takes uo as much or even less space than a fuel bottle, they don't leak and (at least in the UK) you're never far from a stockist. I reckon I can get two weekends worth of hot drinks and grub from a small cylinder.
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Thanks Pat ;D I knew you'd bit like a pirahna ;) :D
I use gas, it's convenient and clean and available, I've also sat in the back garden and tested butane, propane, mixes, hexamine, meths burner (trangia) and petrol stove on a frosty -3 night... gas failed, not enough heat and the unprotected pan was losing heat faster than the gas could heat it, I gave up before the water boiled.
Given we were hitting -15 deg last month.....
As I say though, I continue to use gas for all the positive reasons and in some pretty unpleasant locations(!) I just like to have the ability to choose the best tool for a particular job ;-)
Surprised at you saying the meths burner guzzles fuel, I can only speak for a trangia, haven't used the others, but I normally take a sigg type bottle and can't remember running out over a weekend? Maybe some are thirstier than others?
Anyway, as long as you get a brew who cares! Where are the kelly kettle afficionados? About time they joined the argum.. erm discussion ;) Away collecting twigs maybe? ;D
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I'm not trying to raise hackles when I say this, but I know a fair number of people who own Kelly Kettles, but I've yet to see one being used. They strike me as being a bit of a fag (imho)
GC
If you don't know what a Kelly kettle is then click HERE (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kelly_Kettle) for the Wiki page
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The kelly kettle works well. If you'd got/get up early enough you'll seen mine in use at the Dragon. They are quicker than some petrol stoves and you should never have fuel issues. That said, I rarely use it as they do in the adverts. Options are:
1. Use it like a normal kettle on the stove and have boiling water faster.
2. Stick it on an open fire or BBQ and have hot water quickly, plus it'll draw the fire and you'll be stewing/roasting/grilling sooner.
3. Chuck a hexamine tab in the ashtray, this working faster than;
4. Start the fire with paper, a copy of the Sun being good for three or four cuppas but also getting the heat and draught going to;
5. Burn chips of dry fire wood, these burning easier than;
6. Bashed up charcole which is messy and slow to get going and;
7. Twigs which are never dry and hence hard to burn. The ones on the adverts are probably imported from Arizona, I've never had any with a smoke:heat ratio better than 99:1.
Sand soaked petrol is one for suicidal survivalists ;).
They come in a bag for a reason, mine is a sooty mess.
I'm starting to view the stove as part of system. The Kelly kettle gives me means to have a cuppa and warm my hamds in a not too shabby time period. The bucket BBQ cooks my tea and gives the usual warm hands and something to poke on dark nights. The stove is there for places where fires aren't allowed or days I don't want stew or dead cow. I guess this is one of the advantages of an outfit, weight and size ceases to be a real issue. My days of "ration pack 1 person 48 hours, meat and beans plus coffee Nato, vomit induction and causing Diabetes, for the use of" are well past. If all you plan to do is heat beans, the little Swedish cook sets work pretty well IMHO.
Andy
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Thanks guys,plenty to think about there.I have got two Coleman gas burners and a selection of assorted,mismatched pots and pans.None of them fit inside each other so my cooking gear ends up taking up far too much space.I was looking at the Trangia as it is fairly cheap and self contained.My camping cooking is pretty much a brew and heating up tins,so nothing complicated.
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I use my kelly kettle usually when with the kids on the beach, a bit too big to cart around on a bike though.
Just been given a small coleman stove which I may take on the dragon, on the other hand I might not bother. I could get the stove fanatics to demonstrate how quick they can boil water then test boiled water for them to confirm it is hot ;D ;D ;D
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i use a trangia all the time,i find a 500ml bottle of meths lasts for a weekend camping. (two days breakfast and two teas plus a few brews) . they are slower than gas but you have the advantage of knowing how much fuel you have left so you dont have to carry a spare cartridge with you. we have managed to cook a steak dinner for 4 on two trangias in about 45 minuites. the're great :)
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we have managed to cook a steak dinner for 4 on two trangias in about 45 minuites. the're great :)
How would you like your steak done Sir?
Rare.
1/2 hour each side then? ;D
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Thanks Pat ;D I knew you'd bit like a pirahna ;) :D
what about moutaineers - they all seem to use gas, although they also tend to hang the cylinder upside down
Steffan
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we have a kelly kettle and a ghillie (same principle but better built and with a whistle! we take it with us when we go canoeing and camping. too bulky to cart on the bike. ive an aldi trangia clone too, a brilliant piece of kit and half the price of the real thing with no difference in performance, we also have several gas stoves, and they arent too good, jetboil is ok its quick and useful, but the problem with gas is the cold. ok modern blends are better, but when it gets below zero, you struggle to get the gas to evaporate in the can and you care constantly shaking it up to see if its empty. best stoves by far, are petrol powered ones though. especially on the bike, cos you need carry no spare fuel to cook with. we also have a coleman dual fuel which runs on unleaded which is the hottest burning of all the stoves we have. i have to say however that my fave of all is a small american fan assisted woodgas burner that we use from time to time when we go out travelling light, fan is charged with a small solar charger so never runs flat, and it burns wood and other solid fuel down to absolutely nothing with loads of heat, a flame like a gas burner and no smaoke at all. its a stunning piece of kit, though it wasnt cheap when i got it.
incidentally, if youve a panset, then look on youtube for 'penny stove' for a trangia style burner made from 2 old beercans and a stanlet knife. easily the cheapest stove out there!!
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The penny stoves were a development of the American ultra-lightweight backpacking movement. Apparently the Trangia was never really imported to the States so they didn't have a massive store of used old burners like us Europeans have. They set about making their own spiritburners and it evolved into a battle to see who could make the nicest, cheapest and lightest burner. Some of the Pepsi can burners are real works of art.
GC
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Come on GC, you were there when I used my Kelly at the racetrack Dragon. Soup and a burger.
I have also used my homemade 'hobo' stoves as well. Sooty, messy things that are fun to make and use with the Scouts. Too many stoves really, not enough opportunities to use them these days.
Richard
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well that's BS pick a night and we'll take the willing...up early and back to work.
Steff