Northern Ireland Outdoors Forum - Hiking, camping and more
General => Gear Questions, Information, Reviews and Competitions => Topic started by: Kirth on May 03, 2010
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I bought a wee Trangia 27-5 Stove today. After seeing Billy Backpacks one the other night, thought I would give it a whirl.
(https://media.thesimplygroup.com/Trangia27-5ULCookerNonStick/23185/1.jpg)
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Can't beat it. Bit heavy for one but well functional.
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Kirth I'm thinking that we need to arrange therapy for all the gear collectors, either that or announce we have a gear buying pandemic. lol
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I've all the gear and no Idea'r
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Trangia's are awesome def imo one of the best pieces of kit you can get. As j says a touch heavy for a long solo trek but if your spliting gear with a partner then you'll thank yourself for carrying it! Just remember that stuff will continue to cook once its off the heat, i.e bring your pasta to the boil then set the pot to one side while you use the other to prepare your meat, sauce etc. once you get that going you can cook anything!
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I'm quite a fan of my Trangia. It came with me and Kat on the West Highland Way and served us well for the week. I took the 27-UL with one graded pot, kettle and frying pan. It worked out around 750g or so. Kat took the Trangia fuel bottle with 500ml meths which probably works out around 700g. So split between two people the weight is actually fairly reasonable. We only cooked 1-2 meals a day on it and managed to make the 500ml last the week.
There are a few good tips I've come across on the internet for using meths burners. One mistake I used to make was to light the burner and put the pot on straight away, but its definitely better to allow the burner to vaporise and start burning properly through the holes on the rim rather than the centre. Priming the holes on the rim with a drop of fuel helps speed this up.
I've also been mixing in 10% water with the meths, and this definitely makes for much cleaner burning. That said, with the water added I find that I can't get the fuel to light with a firesteel but boil times or performance doesnt seem to be affected noticeably. One other common tip to extend burn times is to fill the burner to the recommended fill height. If you give it a moment or two the fuel level will drop as it fills the sidewalls of the burner. Now you can top it up with a bit more fuel.
I recently found that Ray Grahams, a builders merchants in Newtownards, sells meths in 4 litre bottles. It works out around £14 for a 4 litre bottle, so thats £3.50 a litre. Not bad when you consider that most camping shops sell 500ml for £3, which is £6 per litre. Its dead handy having a bigger container to top up a fuel bottle from as well.
Any body got any good Trangia tips?
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I cant wait to get it and put it through some riggorous testing in the field. (when I say field, I mean the back graden)
I think a Trangia cook off could be arranged!
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Have any of you guy's tried making and using a coke-can stove??? They are dead easy to make and you can make them out of any sort of soda pop can or beer can(best about these one's are you have to drink the beer first) you can make them as big or small as you like. I have made one to fit inside my small mug so it's handy when you want a quick brew when your out, there is a few links for how to make them on you-tube.
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I converted my Trangia to work with a gas burner.
Trangia's own gas conversion kit was a little bit on the pricier side so I bought another one for £20 and modified it to fit the Trangia. I only needed to make some modified legs to raise the burner height up to the same as the Trangia base - a coupla steel wire coathangers bent to shape soon took care of that.
The hole things fits inside the Trangia, apart from the gas canister, that is.
Alan.
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Why convert a Trangia to a gas burner??? I mean these things were designed to be used with meths, the Swedish army who these were designed for use meths instead of gas for the simple reason that meths burn at a far lower temp than gas so it makes sense for even mountain climbers to take meths instead of gas.
I just don see the sense in a gas converter for a Trangia, why not just buy a gas stove instead???
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Well, since I don't ever envisage being in any temperature zone that would get as low as Sweden, the arguement about gas v meths at low temperatures doesn't really apply to me.
Since I like to use the trangia for quickly boiling water for a cuppa tea or snack meal the gas set up is far quicker and more convenient for me to use. Any proper meals at an overnight camp would be cooked over a campfire.
I have been using various types of these heaters and cookers for 35 yrs now and they all have their pros and cons. My current Trangia/gas set up works well for me now - and the whole kit cost me a mere £25 (including the current Trangia)
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Mate I wasn't trying to knock your gear, I was just making the point that trangia was designed for use by the Swedish army, I to prefer to cook my meals over the fire at any time, I have seen gas fail me in this country which is why I prefer to use the spirit stove for a quick brew but if I was stopped for any length of time I would prefer to get a fire going and brew up on it. Another reason for carrying a spirit stove is it wont let you down when you need it most as there is no mechanical parts to fail.
Buzzard