The Ultimate cook setup for me

[DanShell]

I have a surplus of old fashioned aluminium billys if you want to try one out for size and ease Postage cost only as it's not quite "new" but you can probably find one closer and cheaper than a 500g prepaid

Thanks MD I appreciate the offer but yeh a bit of messing around. Hopefully my paper samples Im making will be enough to get a look at the sizes

[DanShell]

Ok I think I have settled on a system that should be ok for me, and can also be used when my wife comes along also.

Evernew 900ml Pot 99g http://www.traildesigns.com/cookware/ev ... pot-eca267
Caldera Cone approx 50g http://www.traildesigns.com/stoves/caldera-cone-system
Kovea Spider (i like they way it packs) 168g http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/251766137112

So that will reduce my old cooking system from over 1kg with out fuel to around 500g with fuel for several days. I am confirming the pot size but it appears as though the 110g cylinder will fit and so should the burner and my other bits and pieces.
I will also buy one of trail designs 12-10 burners when I get the other stuff so I can still go with metho if the need arises.

And of course I still have my old faithful Trangia and host of other alcohol burners and holders and wind shields etc!

How does that final system sound? Any issues you can see?

Thanks everyone for the advice.

EDIT: Having said all that, I am still going to look at a jetboil titanium before I spend any money

[Scottyk]

remember to get the ti-tri cone as it can handle the heat a gas cooker generates. The normal cone is just aluminium and they don't recommend them for anything but metho

[DanShell]

remember to get the ti-tri cone as it can handle the heat a gas cooker generates. The normal cone is just aluminium and they don't recommend them for anything but metho

Yes I am communicating with Trail designs now about it and he has pointed that out and also that the fissure system won't pack into the pot I want, so Im considering other options he has suggested. None of which are ideal, they are a compromise.

[dplanet]

Have used it and like it. There is a wind shield attached to my pot and it takes only a few minutes for boiling water. It holds a 230g gaz canister, a lighter and washing & drying stuff. A 460g canister fits in it too. Pix attached.

Does your burner also fit in there? Is that a fire maple?

The burner fits in nicely. It is a macpac. Forgot to let you know that it is not the frying pan lid. It is handy for soup and cuppa.

Attachments

cooking set_2.jpg (99.3 KiB) Viewed 27991 times

[DanShell]

Thanks dplanet, so many options!

Ok so after talking to trail designs it appears as though I need to go down this line.......
http://www.traildesigns.com/stoves/fiss ... tri-system
http://www.traildesigns.com/cookware/to ... tanium-pot

It all packs into the pot.

Here it is bundled.....
http://www.traildesigns.com/stoves/toak ... tri-bundle

[Strider]

Macpac = Fire Maple FMS 117

[DanShell]

Thanks strider I was just in paddy pallin and they have a set there that ticked all the boxes.
It's not titanium but it's light, it even holds the 230g canister, gas burner and still has room to spare for other bits and pieces.
http://www.paddypallin.com.au/optimus-c ... okset.html
Has anyone got this set?

[corvus]

One of my stoves is the original Optimus Crux great product however I found that it underperformed in very cold weather at reasonable altitudes that I ended up needing the Brunton remote stove convertor (no longer available) to improve the performance (needed to rig up my own copper wire heat exchanger to this so I could invert the cans ) good but not good enough for my liking so moved on(after a few more) to at this stage FMS 100-T,who knows what my next stove will be if any .

[DanShell]

Thanks corvus I'm not 100% sure what way I'll go yet.
So many option, they all work but I'm thinking of going with a complete kit as such rather than making a Frankenstein set up from different manufacturers just to save a few grams.
I could lose a few grams myself rather worry about an ul stove set up

[DanShell]

Just a bit of an update for those that may have been following to get ideas.

The Optimus Crux weekend set is not 275g as advertised (well the pots on their own are) but once you add the burner, bag etc the set is well over 400g. Its a little bit misleading. I like it because the burner goes into a little neoprene pouch that then wraps around the bottom of the 230 or 110g gas canister and sits nicely under the gas can which nests in the pot. Shame its all a bit heavy, but at $100 its cheap.

So I am back to making up my own kit or getting a jet boil titanium.

I am going away for the next 4 days to sit on the edge of a lake and paddle around in the kayaks so Ill ponder the options and FINALLY make up my mind next week.

[horsecat]

You might want to check out the MSR range before going Jetboil. Personally, for a variety of reasons, I much prefer the MSRs, particularly the Reactor. Burner and 230g gas fits inside pot (1.7l for memory) with no problem

[Bubbalouie]

Just a bit of an update for those that may have been following to get ideas.

The Optimus Crux weekend set is not 275g as advertised (well the pots on their own are) but once you add the burner, bag etc the set is well over 400g. Its a little bit misleading. I like it because the burner goes into a little neoprene pouch that then wraps around the bottom of the 230 or 110g gas canister and sits nicely under the gas can which nests in the pot. Shame its all a bit heavy, but at $100 its cheap.

So I am back to making up my own kit or getting a jet boil titanium.

I am going away for the next 4 days to sit on the edge of a lake and paddle around in the kayaks so Ill ponder the options and FINALLY make up my mind next week.

For what it's worth you can do OK with a frankenstein set, I've attached some quick photographs of what I've got:

Full set including "empty" gas canister:



Lid off to show items packed in:



Items laid out:
* 650ml Toaks titanium pot
* Toaks Folding titanium spoom
* BRS-3000T titanium stove
* Exotac nano striker
* 100g gas cannister (almost empty, has enough left for one boil)
* Folded Chux wipe
* Folding canister stand
* Stuff sacks



Assembled for use:



Other weights:

Stuff sacks add a lot of weight, you could save on that easily enough:



Gas canister accounts for 107g of the kit weight, when full it'd be about 200g worth.



The stand is actually from a jet boil & is also quite heavy (about an ounce), but good to have I think. You can also save weight by swapping the nanostriker for a small 10g Bic lighter.

Total kit costs about $100.

Gas usage is about 7g to boil 500mL, though I tend to boil to a light boil rather than rolling as it only takes 15 seconds (sometimes less) to drop from the full 100c rolling boil to the less vigorous boil.

Re. the titanium jet boil, I have one, it's a solid bit of kit (though I think a bit unnecessary for shorter hikes), my partner & I spent 6 days on the OLT and only needed the second gas canister (we had 2x 100g canisters) on the final day to make a few cups of coffee & porridge for her. It's a very well thought out & remarkably efficient unit.

Last edited by Bubbalouie on Fri 23 Jan, 2015 8:22 pm, edited 1 time in total.

[Picaro]

275gm is the weight of the Optimus pots, not the whole kit. The heat exchanger pot is fast ( I use it with an FMS 117T ) if just boiling water is your thing.

I've put together some other options with a soon to arrive Firebox Nano, since I want reasonable weight with flexibility. Check out the vid on this page and have a think if it will suit...http://www.fireboxstove.com/3-inch-folding-firebox-nano

An alternative to the Trangia gas burner...at a good price
http://www.cotswoldoutdoor.com/au/go-sy ... lsrc=aw.ds

[toughfeet]

To give my thoughts on some of the comments in the OP;

I've found my trail designs stove to be MUCH more efficient than trangias. Both time and fuel wise. God I hate trangias.

If you do go that way, I would recommend the collapsible one, the classic one takes up more space than I thought when I ordered it.

EDIT: did the classic rookie mistake of not reading the whole thread before posting.

Last edited by toughfeet on Fri 23 Jan, 2015 8:12 am, edited 1 time in total.

[DanShell]

Bubbaluie thanks very much I really like your setup. What do you do for a wind shield?

I'm in a very bad reception area for the next few days so my reply is brief atm but thanks for the advice everyone it is helping me work it all out.

Think I'll go for a paddle in the kayak soon

[Bubbalouie]

Bubbaluie thanks very much I really like your setup. What do you do for a wind shield?

I'm in a very bad reception area for the next few days so my reply is brief atm but thanks for the advice everyone it is helping me work it all out.

Think I'll go for a paddle in the kayak soon

I'm envious....

Usually I sit with my back to the wind, that doesn't work so well though. However, I've got a sheet of titanium foil from titanium goat (bought it years ago, aliexpress.com would be cheaper now) that I plan to cut to make a nice rollable wind shield. Most people use aluminium (often the bottom of a cooking tray or similar) but I wanted something that would do a very poor job of conducting heat, hence ti.

[phan_TOM]

For what it's worth you can do OK with a frankenstein set, I've attached some quick photographs of what I use:

Full set including "empty" gas canister:

Nice looking cooking setup, it's all so shiny and new!

I like the idea of using a fire steel. That looks like a good one too, how easy is it to light the stove with it?

[corvus]

One of my stoves is the original Optimus Crux great product however I found that it underperformed in very cold weather at reasonable altitudes that I ended up needing the Brunton remote stove convertor (no longer available) to improve the performance (needed to rig up my own copper wire heat exchanger to this so I could invert the cans ) good but not good enough for my liking so moved on(after a few more) to at this stage FMS 100-T,who knows what my next stove will be if any .

Did I say if any?? thanks to BB I have just bought this 25g Stove
http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Outdoor- ... 55891.html
Not a "Pocket Rocket " but another pocket size back up, shees it does not even weigh 1 ounce I thought the FMS300T Wasp was light weight however Fire Maple have managed to shave 20g off that,doubt they can get any lighter
Stove collection now 14

[dplanet]

fyi http://www.dx.com/p/outdoor-camping-min ... MIPUSxZMdt

[stry]

FWIW, I use "Frankenstein" sets as bubbalouie describes them.

I've never found a ready assembled answer to my needs. The offerors of these sets always seem determined to add value (for themselves ) by including stuff that I don't need, which in turn has always made them far heavier than I want.

[corvus]

fyi http://www.dx.com/p/outdoor-camping-min ... MIPUSxZMdt

Cheap but a tad heavy

[dplanet]

Weight: 106 g

[Bubbalouie]

Nice looking cooking setup, it's all so shiny and new!

I like the idea of using a fire steel. That looks like a good one too, how easy is it to light the stove with it?

It is new, so far I've only had a chance to test it at home. I'm still healing up from an accident so having swapped the pot and burner out I've not had a chance to use the updated set "in the field" (hoping for April).

Fire steel is actually easier to use than a lighter, there's no risk of a scorched finger (the baby Bic was awful for that).

[corvus]

I use a cheap flint fire steel as my fire starter (cost me around $2.00 ) have several and they work first time every time for me both in gas ignition and fire starting if you know how to use them.

[Bubbalouie]

Did I say if any?? thanks to BB I have just bought this 25g Stove
http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Outdoor- ... 55891.html
Not a "Pocket Rocket " but another pocket size back up, shees it does not even weigh 1 ounce I thought the FMS300T Wasp was light weight however Fire Maple have managed to shave 20g off that,doubt they can get any lighter
Stove collection now 14

You're welcome.... though, at 14 stoves I'm unsure if I've really done you any favours. That's a lot of stoves (I admittedly have 4 or 5 myself ).

[DanShell]

Once again I have to be a bit short as I'm having fun in the sun, although this place is now packed so it's taking the enjoyment away but anyway what's allied express?

I've heard it mentioned quite a lot lately. Is it trust worthy?

[Strider]

Aliexpress is the Chinese version of eBay

[icefest]

While there are junk sellers on aliexpress, their escrow and scam system seems quite decent. Pay with a credit card for extra safety and the most you'll loose is time.

[dnaylor]

i'm 52 now and in my early 20's-late 30's i use to do a lot of ski touring/snow camping/snow cave building in KNP and cycle touring through NSW, in those days it was one of the early MSR multi fuel stoves and Kero.. worked well and made melting snow fast..(on a rare occasion we found that it put out enough heat to heat bend metal tent pegs) kero mainly because if you spilt it on your skin in freezing temps you didn't get localized frost burn, also you could actually drop a match in it and it would put the match out (assuming it wasn't warmed already) so no accidental ignition... also if you had it in a hut or food dump no one else could really use it because most people used trangias or shellite... (it stripped wax off your skis nicely too)..
Once i was set up in a snow cave or tent I'd melt some snow, replenish water bottles as it melted, then made a cup of soup/coffee etc, used some of the boiling water to make jelly/pudding (set that aside) poured some into a wide mouth thermos which had dried veg and jerky in it (set that aside to rehydrate), had more coffee then added flavorings to the thermos contents and instant mash potato.. one pot meal and no long cooking times over gas.. still have the old MSR around but as I'm getting back into walking again i decided to have a smaller unit for day and basic overnight if pushed...
currently i'm using a "GSI outdoors Halulite Minimalist" with a 100g jetboil gas cartridge and a mini burner that screws ontop.. the 600ml "pot" comes with a lid, small silicon gripper and an insulation sleeve to put the "pot" in so you can use it like a cup.. full weight 450g with a full gas and everything packs into its self.. so far its working great but its size obviously limits what you can do...