Author Topic: Bought any camping gear today?  (Read 334966 times)

Re: Bought any camping gear today?
« Reply #700 on: 30 July, 2012, 02:15:47 pm »
Got one of those tiny little Fenix lanterns but got it from Maplins.

I'll leave it in the tent so it doesn't get forgotten. When I get my new tent, that is.

I’ve got one of those, bought in 2008. I still haven’t had to change its batteries, even if it’s not as bright as it once was. As you suggest, it lives permanently attached to the tent.

Wowbagger

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Re: Bought any camping gear today?
« Reply #701 on: 07 August, 2012, 10:48:19 am »
I have been rather extravagant and have purchased one of these with an appropriate fuel bottle. I might have to buy another gallon of paraffin.
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Re: Bought any camping gear today?
« Reply #702 on: 07 August, 2012, 04:01:25 pm »
An Exped Synmat 7 for Two_Flat_Erics  :-*

Re: Bought any camping gear today?
« Reply #703 on: 07 August, 2012, 04:13:30 pm »
A Trangia gas burner from Black in Keswick.  Cost £30 reduced from £45 in their apparently perpetual sale.  Also had them in Cotswold Outdoor for £53 so I rekon I got a good buy. :thumbsup:
Cancer changes your outlook on life. Change yours before it changes you.

Re: Bought any camping gear today?
« Reply #704 on: 07 August, 2012, 08:19:02 pm »
I have been rather extravagant and have purchased one of these with an appropriate fuel bottle. I might have to buy another gallon of paraffin.


And what pray, gave rise to this outlandish behaviour?
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rogerzilla

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Re: Bought any camping gear today?
« Reply #705 on: 07 August, 2012, 08:21:21 pm »
A spare generator tube for my Coleman stove.  I must find the paraffin generator tube and see how the stove runs on paraffin (far more easily available than white gas).  Apparently the British Army use alcohol hand gel for pre-heating.
Hard work sometimes pays off in the end, but laziness ALWAYS pays off NOW.

Wowbagger

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Re: Bought any camping gear today?
« Reply #706 on: 07 August, 2012, 09:19:53 pm »
I have been rather extravagant and have purchased one of these with an appropriate fuel bottle. I might have to buy another gallon of paraffin.


And what pray, gave rise to this outlandish behaviour?

I'm intending to cook a meal or two outside a tent or two  8) and I'm fed up with the gas stove I've been using, perfectly reliably, for a few years. I'm not so sure about the longevity/availability of Coleman gas canisters compared to paraffin/white spirit/white gas/barbecue lighting liquid/unleaded petrol.

Besides, as the owner of two very good Tilley lamps, which sadly are entirely unsuitable for cycle camping, I just love the pressurised combustion of paraffin.
Quote from: Dez
It doesn’t matter where you start. Just start.

Re: Bought any camping gear today?
« Reply #707 on: 07 August, 2012, 09:50:36 pm »
I have been rather extravagant and have purchased one of these with an appropriate fuel bottle. I might have to buy another gallon of paraffin.


And what pray, gave rise to this outlandish behaviour?

Indeed. That's the stove you buy when you are touring in places where you are unsure of a clean fuel supply, or when you anticipate having to melt snow for your morning cuppa.  A bit OTT for anywhere European...

It's also famous for being anti socially noisy in use.....

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/ccnFgpEFe28&rel=1" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/ccnFgpEFe28&rel=1</a>
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Wowbagger

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Re: Bought any camping gear today?
« Reply #708 on: 07 August, 2012, 10:01:42 pm »
It was also £50 off the normal price.
Quote from: Dez
It doesn’t matter where you start. Just start.

Re: Bought any camping gear today?
« Reply #709 on: 07 August, 2012, 10:12:28 pm »
You can use that £50 to buy a h*l*e* to protect you when sleepy campers start throwing things at you at breakfast o'clock  ;D
Not fast & rarely furious

tweeting occasional in(s)anities as andrewxclark

Re: Bought any camping gear today?
« Reply #710 on: 07 August, 2012, 10:25:01 pm »
Apparently the British Army use alcohol hand gel for pre-heating.

Yes, but only in the arctic and running naptha in the stove IME.

Hand gel doesn't work that well I don't think - you need a proper fuel gel like this:

clicky


Re: Bought any camping gear today?
« Reply #711 on: 09 August, 2012, 03:48:29 pm »
I have been rather extravagant and have purchased one of these with an appropriate fuel bottle. I might have to buy another gallon of paraffin.


And what pray, gave rise to this outlandish behaviour?

Indeed. That's the stove you buy when you are touring in places where you are unsure of a clean fuel supply, or when you anticipate having to melt snow for your morning cuppa.  A bit OTT for anywhere European...

It's also famous for being anti socially noisy in use.....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ccnFgpEFe28

They're great fun to play with, but dead scary in the confines of a small nylon tent. I gave up on mine ages ago and sold it to a friend who climbed regularly. She loves it.
Me, I have a tiny gas cartridge stove with piezo ignition. Turn on gas, click and the water is half boiled before you can even get a flame on with an MSR stove.

Wowbagger

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Re: Bought any camping gear today?
« Reply #712 on: 09 August, 2012, 04:54:49 pm »
I don't think I'd be inclined to use it in a tent unless I had to, but then that's the case with a gas stove as well.

My "solo" tent is actually a Nallo 3GT so I could, if I needed to cook in the porch, roll it back from the first zip and give myself loads of ventilation.
Quote from: Dez
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Kim

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Re: Bought any camping gear today?
« Reply #713 on: 09 August, 2012, 09:31:45 pm »
The thing with cooking in the tent, other than ventilation (which most tents can do, to varying degrees of letting the rain in), is stability.  You *really* don't want something that's easily knocked over - not just because of what might catch fire, but the more boring practical issues of what you do when you've got a boiling pasta slick edging its way towards your genitals/sleeping bag and your escape route is blocked by a hot burny thing.

Trangia (ideally with a gas burner, to avoid fuel spillages) is probably the gold standard for cooking within tent, on that basis.  Precarious little gas stoves that perch on top of the cylinder are right out.  That MSR looks acceptably stable, so it comes down to whether you're skilled enough to light it without creating a fireball...

Re: Bought any camping gear today?
« Reply #714 on: 10 August, 2012, 02:13:35 am »
http://zenstoves.net/COHazard.htm

I'm pretty sure I found this article on this forum, but I'm going to re-post it anyway. Reading it cured me of any desire to cook inside my tent except in the direst of emergencies. If necessary I will light a stove outside the tent and place it in the open vestibule or where I can reach it from inside the tent to cook with, but that's about it. And yes, I have cooked in my tent before, and used a Coleman lantern in my tent.

Knowing what kind of fireball an MSR stove is capable of creating, I would be very careful about lighting one anywhere in range of my nice new Hilleberg tent.

rogerzilla

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Re: Bought any camping gear today?
« Reply #715 on: 10 August, 2012, 05:57:06 pm »
I wouldn't trust any stove not to put out CO, since the flame is being quenched by the pot (or kettle), leading to incomplete combustion.  This is why car engine exhaust needs cleaning up; gas turbines only really emit H2O and CO2.
Hard work sometimes pays off in the end, but laziness ALWAYS pays off NOW.

Kim

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Re: Bought any camping gear today?
« Reply #716 on: 10 August, 2012, 06:55:37 pm »
Yeah, I'd work on that assumption too.  I'd only want to cook in an open doorway, or with a consistently strong wind.

Re: Bought any camping gear today?
« Reply #717 on: 10 August, 2012, 10:25:44 pm »
Every tent I've ever owned has been so damned draughty I've never considered for a minute that 5-10 minutes of gas burning would generate enough Carbon Monoxide to do me any harm.

Assuming I burnt 10% of my gas, I'd use about 10-15g, equating to about 1/5th of a mole of gas. Assuming complete combustion, assume 80% of a mole of CO, equivalent to about 18 cubic metres of gas generated in about 5-10 minutes.

Actually, thinking about that, you'd need a pretty drafty tent to clear that safely!

simonp

Re: Bought any camping gear today?
« Reply #718 on: 20 August, 2012, 06:03:25 pm »
Replacement pole for our Nallo2, which broken on the sem fed.

Re: Bought any camping gear today?
« Reply #719 on: 20 August, 2012, 09:44:58 pm »
Replacement pole for our Nallo2, which broken on the sem fed.

Yes, we broke our tent. We have no clue how it happened, honest gov  O:-)

arallsopp

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Re: Bought any camping gear today?
« Reply #720 on: 21 August, 2012, 10:46:02 pm »
Yes, we have. Evey bought a tent/mansion with room for 6. She's spent the day telling me how wonderful it will be and even set it up in the garden so that we could all try a night under canvas.

Which is why I'm sitting here watching the kids sleep, swatting ants off, and generally enjoying things. She's retired to iPlayer and the comforts of a suburban semi and won't be seen here until breakfast.

Is this 'the life'? :)
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rogerzilla

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Re: Bought any camping gear today?
« Reply #721 on: 22 August, 2012, 06:42:32 pm »
A Coleman 533 stove, so I can convert my 550B over to paraffin.  Everything they say about paraffin is true though - spills stay there for ever, it smells (actually not very strongly, but its the persistence that's the problem - white gas smells stronger but evaporates leaving no trace) and it's hard to get a clean burn.  I'm determined, though, and the advantage is that you can buy the stuff in handy bottles from any garden centre.  White gas or Aspen 4 may involve a week-long search.

EDIT: got a clean extended burn now - the secret is to turn it down slightly, as the fuel doesn't fully vapourise in the short generator when running at full blast.  Doesn't smell either.  Not too convenient for a cup of tea as it needs pre-heating with alcohol gel for about 1 minute, but it's as cheap as running it on petrol and a lot less dangerous.
Hard work sometimes pays off in the end, but laziness ALWAYS pays off NOW.

Kim

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Re: Bought any camping gear today?
« Reply #722 on: 22 August, 2012, 08:02:47 pm »
Last week, but: Heavily discounted Trangia gas burner.  Because everything they say about paraffin is true.   ;)

(More seriously: gas wins when real cooking is more important than being lightweight, and effective use of the meths burner simmer ring required levels of dexterity that barakta doesn't really have.)

I've also obtained one of those dubious adaptors, that lets you remove clarion's eyebrows run it on liquid butane from those really cheap cartridges.  The trick seems to be to be aware of the subtleties of the cartridge design re: orientation, so you're certain that it's dispensing vapour when you first open the valve.

I haven't done SCIENCE, but thanks to the Trangia windshield design it seems substantially more efficient than my Pocket Rocket clone.

rogerzilla

  • When n+1 gets out of hand
Re: Bought any camping gear today?
« Reply #723 on: 23 August, 2012, 06:51:54 am »
White gas is the best all-round fuel I've used, except that it's hard to find and can cause FLAMING DETH.
Hard work sometimes pays off in the end, but laziness ALWAYS pays off NOW.

Re: Bought any camping gear today?
« Reply #724 on: 23 August, 2012, 07:42:38 am »
Posted by: Kim: Yesterday
 Last week, but: Heavily discounted Trangia gas burner.  Because everything they say about paraffin is true.   

How heavily discounted gas burner and from whence?