A funny story about two Coleman 502 stoves and a horrible vacation

There was an elderly couple that lived in the neighborhood and when the husband passed away the family had kind of an estate sale/yard sale. So like other nosey neighbors I went to go see what they had and just about walking out I noticed they opened the garage and started bringing stuff out. These two boxes were stacked on top of each other and the daughter wrote $20 on a note and stuck in on top. I thought they were just the pots but looking inside I saw two identical stoves. I asked “like $20 dollars each?” and she asked her elderly mom who said “no…for both…I want those gone”.

Her tone was mean…like mad so as I pulled my wallet I asked “why do you have two of them if I can ask?” and the old woman said “now that’s a story”. She explained that back in the early 1970’s her late husband was something of an amateur carpenter and an avid outdoorsman. He had bought the stoves, typical camping gear and made a large “coffin” like box to mount to the station wagon they used to have. NO JOKE now this reminded me of the movie “National Lampoons Vacation” as she described the big family camping trip. Originally slated for 2 weeks him wife and kids went on a long camping trip changing camp sites every couple of days. She described those two stoves coming out every morning and it was her job to cook breakfast…clean up….make sandwiches for lunch…and off they went. Every day the same…just a new place to go. “Go see this…lets go see that” while she rolled her eyes…never saw such a sarcastic old lady. Also they went to public pools to use the showers etc. I guess by the end they were ready to go home. NOPE. He called in to work and extended the vacation for another 2 weeks. He was “having a blast”. This woman got up every day…7 days a week…making breakfast on those stoves, made sandwiches for everyone, then made dinner on them…cleaned them up and put everything away. Now that the vacation was extended they had to get to a laundromat and wash clothes a couple times. By week 4 she was “whoops” dropping his sandwich in the dirt then putting it together, or would leave a few shells in his scrambled eggs, or purposefully smashing sandwiches for him by sitting on them until they were flat or soaking them in mustard…among other silent protests. She was embarrassed to go to a public pool to shower, and the tent smelled bad like old canvas tents do. When they got home from this trip they had a huge argument and she vowed never to go camping again.

So she had tossed all the rest of the stuff years ago but since the garage was being cleared out these stoves emerged and she said “I got chills and a laugh seeing them…but no…I absolutely hate camping and never want to see those stoves again”

Hope this story made you all laugh as much as I did.

The stoves are marked 1967 and 1968 and work perfectly...like frozen in time from that camping trip hahaha.

 

Good story, thank you for sharing.
Duane

 

Nice story. Fun to know the story behind the stove.

 

LOL!

Yepper, there are reasons so many thousands of "used once" (if that) pieces of nice $$ camping gear are sitting on shelves in garages all over the country.

 

Quite true of Coleman suitcases!

@Remus1956 Great story. Four weeks of camping! I'm surprised the marriage survived.

I have a different camping story. In the early 1960s, we'd camp at Saltwater State Park, a park on Puget Sound midway between Tacoma and Seattle. We'd be there for a week for a few summers. Our mom would be there all week with us 6 kids, and our dad would commute up after work every day from Tacoma for dinner and to spend the night, then back to the office in the morning. A not untypical 'vacation' for those times.

In 1961 our campsite was next to one occupied by a couple about my folks' ages (late 30s). They had two or three kids. They were from New Jersey, and were camping while looking for a house here; he'd just been hired by Boeing. Anyway, our folks hit it off with them, played cards and talked into the night, etc. A fast friendship ensued, and they all remained good friends for many decades; 'til the end indeed...they've all been gone for decades now.

 

One of my uncles was a U.S. Army WWII European Theater vet, was famous or maybe infamous for taking his family on epic road trip or camping vacations to places like Grand Canyon and Yellowstone.

What it really was about, he was tighter than bark on a tree, and so camping was a way to save on Hotel or Motel charges. He never hardly stopped anywhere except for fuel, just driving straight through to wherever they were going, kids had to piss in a pop can kind of thing.

Not all of that generation was all that interested in the outdoors, another WW II veteran I knew, one time I complimented him on a small Chevrolet truck with a topper he had, it was obviously well maintained, maybe I should buy it, and I allowed that "it would be good for camping". Oops.

He just looked at me like I was a complete idiot. "Camping!" (he sort of spit the word out like camping was the dumbest thing ever)

"I did all the camping I'd ever want to do in New Guinea in 1942!"

Then he spit out "Camping!" one more time for effect, and shook his head. LOL

 

Greetings, All,

Great stories! I just read them all to Sweet Bride, and we both got a good laugh from them! @Remus1956 , great score on your two 502's and their accouterments!! You should try to join us at a future CASG event, where we camp, fettle, and enjoy one anothers company for 4-5 days! We've been talking about getting one together, here in So. Cal., in the Fall, when it cools down a mite. You'd be welcome to join us! Thanks for the excellent story, and again, great score on your 502's! Take care, and God Bless!

Every Good Wish,
Doc

 

I have the 426D my mom made many a vacation meal on.

 

@Ed Winskill now that's a good story with a decent ending for sure. This lady and her daughter told me tons details about the trip but yeah apparently he went fishing on his own a few times more but that was the end of the "hey kids... who wants to see the largest ball of yarn in the county" trip lol

@Doc Mark CASG as in sea grant? Isn't that also associated with a tall ships festival as well? Sounds familiar though. Sounds interesting for sure! Lemme know where and when

 

@snwcmpr I have the coleman made sears stove my dad used. Him and I recently rebuilt it and I found a tank for it since it was lost somewhere and he had one of those propane conversions on it. Weird to see a sky blue stove.

 

Coleman Collectors like the Sears line of stoves and lanterns. A different color for sure.

 

@Remus1956 Great story and great deal!

502's are my favorite single burners. They're not powerhouses, but are classics and have the ability to simmer like no other.

 

Hah!
The stories I could tell about family camping trips. I'm actually surprised we ever went again after that first trip, which was an unmitigated disaster.
Dad bought a cabin tent from Sears and never opened the box to check it out before tossing it in the back of the 59 Rambler Cross Country Wagon, along with four kids and two dogs. The tent was missing a few frame parts. He also bought some cheap a$$ sleeping bags from some surplus joint that had zero insulation, and was bound and determined to cook on an open fire. It poured all weekend. The tent leaked, we all froze at night, and we ate cold food.

It did get better after that.

 

Aw, the infamous Coleman 502.
Taking the burner off is not an easy task. So, not so easy to maintain in the field.
Or, am I wrong?

 

@Jim Lukowski I am just starting to appreciate them now and have a nice quiet hiss when they run. Was thinking to cook on one this weekend to try them out finally. I have had them for a few years now and had given one to my dad. My dad brought it back to me a few days ago and said "nah...jetboil is easier to make coffee so thought you would like to have it back" so now I have 2 and he snaked my jetboil in trade to go to the high sierras for a fishing trip.

@bikamper where was the 4th rider of the apocalypse? hahaha...man...thats a bad trip. Its weird but when I go on a camping trip like that I take everything out including lanterns/tents/stoves and make sure everything is there and it works

 

@snwcmpr Its ehhhhh like a 50/50 on easy and hard. The generator is fairly easy to undo but it has 3 screws for the burner but it does come apart fairly easy. To remove the generator I remember having to slightly bend a tube to get it to clear the intake manifold (or whatever the official name for the part between the generator and burner)

 

To access the F/A Tube the whole burner needs to be removed. An oil filter wrench, and whatever else, is needed.

 

I love mine, easy to maintain,decent amount of fuel when filled, as you said, simmer nicely, and of all my stoves, it was the easiest to mount a spark lighter to! Rule of thumb here, I have to fire up my stove in total darkness by feel, or it's near useless, IMO.

I've got a Primus 2260 "grasshopper" propane stove modded the same, light it up in total darkness in seconds. Sometimes, some places, you don't have time to sod about - get 'er done!

 

@snwcmpr

>>Taking the burner off is not an easy task. So, not so easy to maintain in the field.

I think I have seven of these stoves now, but only one was really tough to remove the burner bowl. I found that heat and quench worked well to break it free. It was in the winter and there was snow, so I heated the center of the bowl where it screws down with a blowtorch, and then stuffed the stove head first into the snow. I did this a few times and it broke free. I know some recommend getting a three jawed oil filter wrench, but I do fine with my channel locks. The problem many folks have is a lack of patience and try to force it. When you see in the classifieds over on CCF that someone is looking for a Bunsen and a bowl, well, we know what happened.

Once fettled, I see no reason to ever tear into one again. I only remove the valve if I can't get good flow or just get air. This is most likely from being run on gasoline that was left in the stove for many years. The only field maintenance I can envision with one of these is a generator swap, but I only use naphtha, so I've yet to need that. Other than maybe inspecting or cleaning the burner rings when I first obtain a 502, I see no need to tear into it again.

 

@Remus1956

I wouldn't make coffee on a 502 from start to finish. I'm not that patient. I heat the water on a 'Born to Boil' M-1950, then when hot, transfer to the 502 for the percolating. This is where the 502 with its adjustability really shines.