What camp stove?

Rusty,

One question that is probably relevant to the opinions being sought is what will be the predominant use for the stove.

If you are doing shortish stays (3 -5 nights) not too far from civilisation then I would go with a gas stove.

I have a Coleman 2 burner and it is great, very fast, clean and pretty efficient on gas use. Also you can get small canisters for short breaks or bottles for longer stays.

Over the Easter break I was in the VHC and enjoyed about 2 inch of snow fall and pretty cold temps. Had absolutely no issue cooking breakfast in the morning on the coleman and this allowed me to stoke up a nice fire to warm the kiddies up rather than playing around to get a good cooking fire. I did cook over the fire for dinner which is my preferred method but everyone but me was pretty cold.

I have a small MSR backpack style camping stoves, again used regularly in very cold condition on back counrty skiing and camping trips and the like and never had a problem with the cold. I think you have to be dealing with temps much lower than we get to really be concerned about the performance of gas stoves.

I have in the past used metho/kero style back packing stoves and they are great but very slow.

I have never owned a dual fuel style but have been with mates who have then and generally I find the burning fuel is not the most pleasant thing to cook over. However if you are doing long trips in really remote places or at proper high altitude then they would be a great choice.

Hope this helped.

George

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Bazzle218

I recently bought a duel fuel coleman of ebay, second hand in good working condition ( not) It has a leaking fuel tap and trying to find parts in australia is like finding rockiing horse poo. Not worth the effort. Now sitting in the shed taking up space.:mad:

---

There is a place in Melbourne (sorry can't remember their name) that carries the parts that you most likely need.

They stock parts for old world lamps etc. and I found them thanks to members of this forum - if you post in a forum that is viewed by more users (eg general) you should get a number of posts with the name of the company.

The Melbourne stove parts shop may be this one;


T W Sands & Co: citysearch


By the way I have two little coleman dual fuel stoves. They put out 10,500 BTU of heat, which is better than a portable gas job in my experience, and I can space them to manage any size cooking vessel.

After trying various options over the years, we've ended up with the $12.95 wok burner and cheap six-pack of cannisters. Use this for boiling the billy and sometimes for cooking vegies etc - but for everything else - Cobb cooker. We have two of them now, and there's virtually nothing you can't do with them.

Of course, the preference for an open fire / BBQ plate / camp oven is still there too.

Hi Guys, I use a Trangia storm cooker. Years ago, we had one member of our camping trip turn up with one of these. We all laughed at this "toy" but this little powerhouse cooked faster in the wind & rain than we could with 2 burner gas cookers. Because the heat is contained by the windshield the harder the wind blows the better it seems to perform. I purchased one soon after & have used it extensively. It comes with 2 pots & a frypan, as well as a teapot for around $130 now. It runs on metho which is available anywhere. I have even take this thing on overseas holidays with me. Because it doesn't require gas cylinders etc you can take on planes etc. Just buy metho when u arrive! Simple to use & never breaks down. It's a winner for me.

Hi Bazzle218

Try All Camping Supplies at Thornleigh in Sydney. I believe they are a service agent for Coleman and carry a good supply of parts.
Their web address is:All Camping Supplies
Allan

Quote:

---

Liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) consists largely of propane and/or butane. ................. Because of the large difference in temperatures in different parts of Australia the composition of LPG is altered for different states. In NSW it contains mainly propane, while in Queensland and the Northern Territory it consists mainly of butane.

---

With propane having a boiling point of -42C and butane boiling at -0.5C it's probably a good indicator why those from the northern states don't get good performance from gas stoves in the colder weather.

For me personally I've never had a problem even down to -8C. gas would have been purchased in NSW or SA though.



Martyn