Thread: Improving the Camping Experience

Originally Posted by Bob Harding

THe Tucker still tastes better cooked this way

Cant beat a plow disc bbq .

Andy
A couple of points about fuel stoves, I use them and love them, wouldn't change. I do have a cheapy single stove because they are quicker for a cuppa, meals are done on the fuel stoves.
There are several brands of hiking fuel stoves that you might look at as well as the coleman, though these might not be the in the layout you are looking for. MSR, Primus and Nova. I use a MSR Simmerlite (small) and MSR Dragonfly (not so small) which are great esp for hiking. The main benefits of these are; they are small and many of them use various fuels, Petrol, kero, shellite and (with a jet change) diesel, but they aren't cheap. Point to consider is compared to a gas stove they are noisy.
I've not had a problem using them in Qld during a fire ban, and have checked with QPWS, they have to at least 20cm off the ground.

Camp fires, fuel stoves and barbecues (Department of National Parks, Recreation, Sport and Racing)

Dorian,
Thanks for that, personally, i would not have any form of naked flame on a high danger day, even in my home BBQ but that's just me. One Ash Wednesday experience is enough in one lifetime.

Looks like Butane for a quick cuppa, and dual fuel for the nightly meat fest.

Andrew

When buying butane cans, make sure you get Isobutane, not Butane. Isobutane will work in colder conditions than butane by about 10*C.

Isobutane boiling point = -11
Butane boiling point = -1

It's possible that butane isn't even sold anymore and they're all isobutane, but it's worth checking the label.

Secondly, if there are cans that are a mix of propane / isobutane, that would be even better. Not sure if they exist in the cans you need for the cheap stoves though. Some specific brands like JetBoil definitely make them and they will work the best in cold temperatures.

We have a dual burner gas stove in the camper which works fine. Gas bottles are no problem as long as they are stored outside, such as on a roof rack.
We also carry a butane stove and some gas cannisters because they are very convenient. Be careful though to get a good brand such as Oz-Trail as some of the cheaper ones don't work very well.
As for storage, consider some plastic tool boxes from Bunnings as an alternative as they're much lighter and cheaper than the Pelican boxes and are flexible enough to cope with being banged around in the back.
As for lights, we find the LED types to be far more foolproof and easy to use than gas lights. We carry a battery box so we can use them either plugged into the vehicle or camper or connected to the battery box away from the vehicle. We bought a set of Korr lights with leads, plugs and dimmers.
Throw in a couple of 20 litre water drums and you're away.

Can the butane tins from the oz-trail type burners go in the recycling?

Although I favour the dual fuels; for a day trip it's sometimes easier with the butane, but I wince at the amount of packaging for a small amount of fuel

We just chuck them in the general garbage when they're empty.
The Oz-trail one seems to burn better and last longer on the same cannisters than the Gasmate one.

Originally Posted by DiscoMick

We just chuck them in the general garbage when they're empty.

Much more fun to build another fire a good distance away and chuck the empties in it.