For those who still have old pressurized alcohol stoves, they might
consider the following. Remove the stoves innards from the burner
wells.
Now, get on the web and google "Beer can stove" and you will find
several "designs" for unpressurized alcohol backpacking stoves made
from two halves of a beer can nested in such a way that the alcohol
wicks up between them. One could make such from a wider can and put
it down in the burner wells. The advantage is the unpressurized
aspect, no more priming where you nearly set the boat on fire because
you thought the original prime was out before you poured on more
alcohol or otherwise having pressurized alcohol spraying over the
inside of your boat. It will burn cooler though so you wont prepare a
6 course meal. I want to nest more burners inside the first one but
haven done so yet.

On Tue, 12 Feb 2008 19:21:37 -0800, ohara5.0 wrote:

For those who still have old pressurized alcohol stoves, they might
consider the following. Remove the stoves innards from the burner
wells.
Now, get on the web and google "Beer can stove" and you will find
several "designs" for unpressurized alcohol backpacking stoves made from
two halves of a beer can nested in such a way that the alcohol wicks up
between them. One could make such from a wider can and put it down in
the burner wells. The advantage is the unpressurized aspect, no more
priming where you nearly set the boat on fire because you thought the
original prime was out before you poured on more alcohol or otherwise
having pressurized alcohol spraying over the inside of your boat. It
will burn cooler though so you wont prepare a 6 course meal. I want to
nest more burners inside the first one but haven done so yet.

Or you could just look for backpack stoves. It amazes me that I can buy
an ultralight, machined, finely crafted backpack stove that burns
anything from white gas to diesel for $140, and that includes the burner,
fuel tank, pump, and everything - yet virtually the same thing for a boat
costs $1,000.... The only difference is some more steel/iron, a
gimbal, and pot holders. Heck, I can buy a Primus stove for $140 -
that's the same Primus that makes marine stove burners....

It's all in the marketing. Google for Optimus Hiker 111c and tell me if
it's any different from the liquid fuel stoves for boats - except for the
case and gimbals. I've seriously thought of buying an old defunct stove
and sticking the guts of 111c in it. For less than $200 I can have a
nice reliable stove that will last 20 years. (I have a 111b that I got
in the 70s and has seen some serious use.....)

(Slightly frustrated ATM looking for a stove - can you tell? :-) )

Spirits of past stove articles

I hope Joseph O'Connor's light-hearted foray into the complexities of
pressurized stoves does not result in the baby being thrown out with the
bathwater. When one encounters a mechanism with an unreliable nature, the
obvious solution is to take it to the nearest nautical museum and donate it.
The tax deduction from such charitable giving can go toward the purchase of
a "non-pressurized" alcohol stove (read Origo here). The problem is not the
"evils of alcohol," the problem is trying to coax an antique device to
perform reliably. Perhaps the subtitle for Joe's article should have been
"Good spirits, bad gadget."

I have removed pressurized kerosene stoves and pressurized alcohol stoves
from previous boats, each time replacing them with an Origo non-pressurized
stove. When operating an Origo, I have never experienced the heart-stopping
misadventures that Joe describes when he experiments with those abominable
antiques. A non-pressurized Origo stove lights every time - no pumping, no
priming, no flare-up, no explosion. Just a simple, quiet blue flame that
boils my coffee water in a reliable and confident manner. It is good to have
something on board that always works.

Another bit of nonsense is that alcohol fuel is not widely available. It
is. Any hardware store will sell shellac thinner - which is just alcohol -
and the label on the can will state that it can be used for marine alcohol
stoves. The price is less than what is often charged at marine supply
stores. When traveling to remote parts of the world, alcohol is always
available. It is called vodka, tequila, rum, Jim Beam, etc. I have tried
vodka in my Origo with excellent results. Burning the Jim Beam should only
be done under the most desperate circumstances. Alcohol is alcohol; it does
not have to be purchased in a marine supply store.

Average heat content of marine stove fuels

Fuel type Btu/lb Btu/significant unit Cost Cost/500,000 Btu
units/500,000 Btu
Alcohol 11935 80,919 Btu/gal. $9.00/gal. $55.61 6.18 gallons
CNG 23,601 1,000 Btu/ft $0.16/ft. $77.38 500 cubic feet
Diesel 19,557 139,400 Btu/gal $1.30/gal. $4.66 3.18 gallons
Kerosene 19,800 134,950 Btu/gal. $2.07/gal. $7.67 3.7 gallons
LPG 21,560 21,560 Btu/lb. $0.50/lb. $11.60 23 pounds



Joseph mentioned that he continues to use the antique stove because
non-pressurized alcohol stoves are expensive. That is not correct. It is
true the Origo is the Cadillac of alcohol stoves, and it is expensive, but I
bought one Origo from eBay for a reasonable price. Another option is the
Trangia, which is available at any outdoor outfitters, such as REI. The
Trangia style of stove has been around for more than 100 years. It is made
of brass and is about half the size of a coffee cup. The Trangia consists of
a double wall brass vessel, a perforated burner ring, and inner pre-heat
chamber. The double wall acts as a gas generator, heating alcohol vapors
that travel up and through the perforations to form a ring of fire.

A similar stove is the Simon (or Safesport), which is made of stainless
steel and is a bit larger than the Trangia. The Simon is the size of a
coffee cup and works just like the Trangia. The alcohol will initially burn
in a lackadaisical manner for about 3 minutes. The small stove then appears
very much like a propane burner, with a ring of blue flames jetting out
around the rim. It will burn for about 24 minutes on a half cup of alcohol.
A half cup of alcohol has about 2500 Btu. The Simon costs about $25; the
Trangia is about the same price.

One possible use for those antique pressurized stoves is to remove the
tanks, burners and other plumbing and use the stainless cabinet as the
support to mount either a Trangia or Simon stove in place of the original
burners. Navigator Stoveworks http://www.marinestove.com/ makes such an
adapter for a Trangia http://www.trangia.se/ to be placed in their Sardine
marine woodstove.

And frugal sailors can make their own non-pressurized alcohol stove. A
tuna can with a handful of perlite or rock wool makes a simple
non-pressurized alcohol stove. The perlite absorbs the alcohol and prevents
spills. It will burn with a nice flame and cost is minimal. Hundreds of
sites on the web offer advice on how to make your own alcohol stove. It is
not hard and is even a bit of fun to experiment with.

Theresa Fort's article, "A clean look at the dirty half dozen," in the
March 2000 issue of Good Old Boat, discussed the pros and cons of five main
fuels for galley stoves. I have added one column to her data to show the
units/500,000 Btu. The $55.61 for 500,000 Btu is for 6.18 gallons of
alcohol. I might use a gallon of alcohol each sailing season, but usually
less than that. So at $9/season to fuel the Origo, the expense becomes less
of a factor, considering the safety and convenience of alcohol fuel.

Brooke Elgie praised the Fatsco Tiny Tot solid fuel heater in the March
2001 issue of Good Old Boat. I had a Fatsco stove on one boat, and it worked
well. I did not like the mess of using charcoal, so I put the
stainless-steel Simon alcohol stove in the Fatsco stove, and it worked. A
cup of alcohol would burn almost 40 minutes, though under windy conditions
it would blow out easily.

Alcohol is an excellent fuel for safely and conveniently cooking on board.
There are inexpensive alcohol burners available; there is no need to risk
body and boat to an unreliable pressurized antique.
Lon Zimmerman
Lon, we like our Origo non-pressurized alcohol stove also. Karen and I
find that when we're cruising, more or less continuously, two gallons of
stove alcohol will last for three weeks of cooking. We don't eat out much,
if at all, while cruising, so that really means all meals for two people for
three weeks.

There is one safety issue to be aware of with the Origo: you must be
careful when turning the burner off that it really is off. Don't run the
burner when fuel is very low in the canister. This situation may be
aggravated by our oven, which heats the canister above it. A couple of times
we've had flash fires, which were extinguishable with water. But we're
catching on and did not experience this during two cruises in 2005.

I lived with a pressure alcohol stove on a cruise from St. Leonard,
Maryland, to St. Augustine, Florida. I discovered that once you learn how to
follow the instructions in lighting these devices, they work fine.

You mentioned Theresa Fort's article in the March 2000 issue of the
magazine. In the April 2000 newsletter, Larry Govoni, of Boston, Mass.,
wrote a nice set of instructions for lighting a pressurized alcohol stove:

"I bought a used two-burner pressurized alcohol cooktop a few years ago
and installed it in my 1964 Pearson Vanguard. After almost half a season I
decided to READ THE DIRECTIONS. Fortunately, they were on a metal plate
fitted to the stove. The correct way to light my stove, that works every
time, is to pump it up, open the valve to get the puddle, shut the valve,
and light the puddle. You then wait until the flame has gone completely out!
Then and only then, you turn on the valve and relight the burner.

"I hope you'll pass this on because I can see many boatowners being
frustrated and throwing away perfectly good pressurized alcohol burners and
stoves. The two-burner unit I have works fine, and I haven't had to put out
a curtain fire since seeing the light (pardon the pun)."
Jerry Powlas, technical editor



"CptDondo" wrote in message
...
On Tue, 12 Feb 2008 19:21:37 -0800, ohara5.0 wrote:

For those who still have old pressurized alcohol stoves, they might
consider the following. Remove the stoves innards from the burner
wells.
Now, get on the web and google "Beer can stove" and you will find
several "designs" for unpressurized alcohol backpacking stoves made from
two halves of a beer can nested in such a way that the alcohol wicks up
between them. One could make such from a wider can and put it down in
the burner wells. The advantage is the unpressurized aspect, no more
priming where you nearly set the boat on fire because you thought the
original prime was out before you poured on more alcohol or otherwise
having pressurized alcohol spraying over the inside of your boat. It
will burn cooler though so you wont prepare a 6 course meal. I want to
nest more burners inside the first one but haven done so yet.

Or you could just look for backpack stoves. It amazes me that I can buy
an ultralight, machined, finely crafted backpack stove that burns
anything from white gas to diesel for $140, and that includes the burner,
fuel tank, pump, and everything - yet virtually the same thing for a boat
costs $1,000.... The only difference is some more steel/iron, a
gimbal, and pot holders. Heck, I can buy a Primus stove for $140 -
that's the same Primus that makes marine stove burners....

It's all in the marketing. Google for Optimus Hiker 111c and tell me if
it's any different from the liquid fuel stoves for boats - except for the
case and gimbals. I've seriously thought of buying an old defunct stove
and sticking the guts of 111c in it. For less than $200 I can have a
nice reliable stove that will last 20 years. (I have a 111b that I got
in the 70s and has seen some serious use.....)

(Slightly frustrated ATM looking for a stove - can you tell? :-) )

"Sir Thomas of Cannondale" wrote:
Spirits of past stove articles

I hope Joseph O'Connor's light-hearted foray into the complexities of
pressurized stoves does not result in the baby being thrown out with the
bathwater. When one encounters a mechanism with an unreliable nature, the
obvious solution is to take it to the nearest nautical museum and donate it.....

Excellent post TC. Thanks for the links to Trangia & Simon units.
We've used the Origo non-pressurized alcohol stoves for years and I
have raised some of the same points here.

DSK