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Post by cweston on Jul 14, 2024 5:32:54 GMT -8
Earlier this year, I replaced the Primus remote canister stove I've been using for years, due to a gas leak in the connecting line. (Inefficient, dangerous.)
I bought a Soto Windmaster, which is a great little stove. The piezo igniter does not alway work, which is an expected irritant, but otherwise, all good.
The old remote canister stove was way heavier, but one nice thing about it is that you can use a conventional cheap folding windscreen, since the canister is outside the windscreen.
The Windmaster definitely struggles a little in wind on it's own--I've been kludging windblocks behind logs or in firepits where available.
On trinity 's recommendation, I bought an Ocelot windscreen from Flat Cat gear. Nice little piece of custom gear for $32.
Of course, the small-ish cookpot I've been using for some years does not fit inside the windscreen, so I had a good excuse to get an Evernew Ti cookpot.
I went with this 750 ml cookpot that nest inside the 400 ML mug. I wanted a solution that works for solo (mug only), but also works for when I have a partner.
(I only boil water for coffee and for freeze-dried/FBC meals--no actual cooking)
So, I've gram-weenied a bunch of grams from my kit, and should get excellent fuel efficiency. (Flat Cat recommends running your stove at about 1/3 "throttle" with their windscreens for max efficiency. That's fine with me: most of my BPing is at high elevation, so water boils crazy fast.)
Unfortunately, I had fuel consumption pretty dialed-in under the old set-up. I could calculate with pretty high confidence how much fuel was needed for a trip based on the number of boils. I'll probably be carrying more fuel than I need for a while until I get it dialed in for the new set-up.
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rebeccad
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Post by rebeccad on Jul 14, 2024 6:36:48 GMT -8
THat’s a nice-looking windscreen. I’m still creating make-do screens from pie plates  . |
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Post by cweston on Jul 14, 2024 7:01:28 GMT -8
I’m still creating make-do screens from pie plates . One could definitely fabricate something like this pretty readily. With the advantage that you could make it whatever diameter fits the cookpot you're using. These only fit fairly narrow cookpots (up to just over 4" diameter), although they do have another windscreen designed for larger pots that is only a semicircle. (You have to position it windward of the pot, obviously.) Seems like there must be a pretty substantial effectiveness cost, though. It's all a little sub-optimally fussy, IMHO, but when I'm not in grizzly country I often just leave it all assembled overnight anyway, so that it does not have to be re-jiggered for morning coffee. |
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gabby
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Post by gabby on Jul 14, 2024 7:15:12 GMT -8
Nice.
I looked at those Fat Cat Ocelot windscreens some time ago, but I’m so bogged down in “projects” of all sorts I decided I needed to explore some of that other stuff I was working on before “investing” even more cash in readymade “buy” stuff.
OTOH, I was cleaning in the garage (again) this week and rediscovered an ancient stove project of my own - that, of course, remains unfinished: a bag of parts from a disassembled SVEA 123 I bought on eBay about a decade ago from a guy who was, coincidentally, and after his father’s death, cleaning his father’s garage and found this UNUSED SVEA on a shelf, still in the original box, still marked with a little white price tag that said “$12.95”.
But it had sat on that garage shelf far too long; it wouldn’t light. The tank had never (before I got it) been filled with fuel, it had been stored upside down (or something), and the wick inside the tank had been rendered stiff and useless. I was going (10 years ago) to replace said wick, but stopped, mid project, and put the bag of parts in a bin on a garage shelf and forgot about it. Maybe it’s time to reboot that “project”. :^D
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Post by stevet on Jul 14, 2024 9:22:20 GMT -8
should you choose to rebuild the SVEA be sure to replace the pressure relief valve in the fill cap. I lost both eyebrows in a most impressive fireball.
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swiftdream
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Post by swiftdream on Jul 14, 2024 10:11:11 GMT -8
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Post by va3pinner on Jul 15, 2024 5:32:42 GMT -8
should you choose to rebuild the SVEA be sure to replace the pressure relief valve in the fill cap. I lost both eyebrows in a most impressive fireball. Gabby yes finish the svea! 12.95 is what I paid for mine about 1972. And that was a lot then! Rebuilt it once, runs like a champ. Its a fun project. My wife and I used that stove for years. On a test fireup after the rebuild, my wife heard the familiar chugging, stuck her head out of the door and asked "is dinner ready yet"? |
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Post by va3pinner on Jul 15, 2024 5:37:27 GMT -8
I have a Windmaster as well and learned I need to open the valve quite a bit to get the pizeo to ignite it. Works every time for me.
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trinity
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Post by trinity on Jul 15, 2024 6:12:05 GMT -8
cweston , nice! That should be a great setup.
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