What do others use to pack their non-steel or non-aluminum cased stoves into during trips to keep them safe/protected? Trips that will expose their cases (and contents) to moisture, impact, dirt, heat, sand, harsh chemicals (e.g. bug juice), freezing, pressure, etc etc - anything mother nature (and you) can throw at them. The thin tin-type cases that some stoves come with ('L' designations type and early faux-leather cases) are too weak imo to withstand these rigors. Unfortunately some versions of camping stoves only come with the frail tins or none at all. For the Coleman single burners such as the Peak line they have the dependable 2-piece aluminum nesting pot/case kit. Many other stoves likewise come with the 2 piece aluminum case, or those with pot sets like the SIGG/123 combo or Trangia. The 'sp' or 'sport' designated cases are also very durable, as are the Optimus 111, 8 and similar style (Svea Campingo, Radius 43s, etc) cases. The double+ burners (Optimus 22, Coleman suitcases) are also adequately protected by their cases. For the umbillical-types such as MSRs/Coleman Denalis/Primus Himalaya/Optimus Nova/etc they come with a stuff sack. I have a few of these but never used them under field conditions. I'd be leaning towards putting them in some hard-sided case though on any trips. The Coleman Sportster types come in a plastic case - but to me they seem a little weak and I don't like the idea of plastic in combo with a stove. Can't pack them when still a little warm (may melt), plastic may melt in contact with certain solvents and they can crack, twist or pop lose as their fasteners and durability may be suspect. Pelican, bear-proof containers or ammo boxes would be too heavy, expensive and/or bulky imo. I'd also be a little hesitant putting a stove in an air-tight, water tight container - would prefer to have ventilation to reduce rust, reduce pressure, mold, etc. I've used thickened tin containers (cookie tins) for Svea 123s, perfect size, but tin is weak and again not much of a clasp. All my stoves do have sleeves, made from nylon, that provide a level of protection when packed and avoiding scratches. But it all starts with the container's shell, and tin just doesn't cut it, regardless of the sleeve. So I'd be curious to hear others' suggestions on what has worked for them for these types of stoves.
Plastic tubs are my favourite. That said, this thread is timely, I've been playing about with an army respirator bag which will hold a 111 and fuel bottle and bits and bobs or I could use it for a day bag with a 123 and bits for a brew. Be a good 'back of the car' bag too.
4 pint aluminium billy. Any stove I chose from my collection fits and its big enough to do a meal for four or a drink for 6. Had a stainless billy before that and it cracked.
I found the Coleman box to be the best all around for me. I carry not just the Peak stove but when I want to take a Gaz, I can get a cartridge and the burner in. To back up the case/cook kit, I put that in a 3 quart billy with some odds and ends to wedge it in tight. All that goes into a nylon bag. Canoe tripping is hard on gear because packs get tossed around at the portage landing which are most often just a rocky break in the shoreline with no place to stand.
I traveled to Vermont from North Carolina for the last NE stove meet. The best of all the boxes I used were the boxes I got peaches in over the last few years. Solid construction and fold-over lids. They stack well also, so I use them at home. I then put rags or bubble wrap in between the stoves. Other boxes I used were the boxes that (4) gallons of milk come in. They also are of (less) solid construction and also have fold-over lids. Ken in NC
I think that your dislike of the Coleman plastic case is unfounded. Surely after you've eaten your meal or had your drink, the stove is sufficiently cool to pack away? I've never managed to drink a cup of tea before the stove that made it is stone cold and I don't believe that our American friends would be daft or cheap enough to make them out of heptane (white gas/naptha/panelwipe/aspen4) soluble plastic, would they - surely that sort of trick is reserved for other manufacturing nations? Maybe the answer is to get a Trangia or a Kelly kettle. They take the beatings so well they don't need a case 8)
I favour stoves that come with decent packing cases, like the 8R and the Coleman 530 and M1950 types. They have the packability problem solved from the get-go. I do, however, occasionally use a Primus Gravity II or a Coleman Peak 1 Apex II, both, of course, lander style umbilical remote bottle stoves of fragile natures... Each of them fits nicely in my mid-sized MSR pot from my stainless steel "cascade" set. I generally take only the medium and large pots. The small one is easily replaced by a steel mug in all functions. I'll usually stuff the excess space around the stove and between nested pots with paper towels or other similar stuff. It's light and always useful on the trail and a quiet pack is a boon. Indeed, I stuff inside my 8R and M1950 for the same reason. J
Thanks for all the responses. Nesting in a size-appropriate metal pot (billy?) seems like the easiest and most popular container to use for those requiring more protection. I don't currently own a camping pot that would fit an Optimus 45/Primus 100 sized stove, but for the < 1 pint stoves I do. I'll look out for a 3-4 pint camping/nesting cookpot for the larger sizes. I have a few old WW 2 gas-masks cases/slings that would fit the Optimus 111-type + a few bits of other gear. But mine are not braced/framed with anything stiff to provide rigidity. They would protect and help manage whatever gear you put in them for travel. Hi Dave - exactly, I love Duluth packs (the best canoe pack imo), and jam even the Paul Bunyon model pack full to bulging 80+ pds and cinched down tight. Heaving, lifting, rolling, throwing, sitting, pounding, swimming, broiling, squishing, etc - they and the gear they contain go through it all. I've had a few items break inside (lexan and plastic nalgenes), but Coleman aluminum cases or those with steel cases never fail. The perfect stove travel container for me for the 1.5-2 pint camping stoves would be a 2 piece one similar to the Peak 1 or 502-type aluminum (square or cylindrical). I would just need to be larger in width and length. I don't use these stove cases for cooking, they are strictly for protection. Hi Ken - these are wood cases for the peaches and plastic for the milk cartons? Hi Tetley - You may indeed be correct. I have never used the plastic case in field conditions, so they may stand up well. I rarely if ever pack my stoves if they are too hot to touch, even in metal containers. I do use the metal containers though to rest hot pots on, so I'm just leery with plastic around stoves and kitchen duty. It's more the fastener I was concerned with and how it would stand up to be twisted, scrunched and pressurized inside a pack surrounded by other gear. It may hold up just fine, I just don't know. The 533 model (and older equivalents) is a good stove. I don't like Trangia kits, had one years ago but sold it. Thanks Jason - I do the same with the contents of my stove inside their cases. Tuck anything loose into a sleeve or covering anything that has metal on metal contact that can shift. This includes covering the roarer burner to keep the flame spreader/draughtshield in place and if a silent then the top of the burner gets covered, even if it's one that has a wire over the outer cap or has slots into the burner top for it to fit into. Stretchy Nylon stockings are great for this. If I find what I would describe as a 'perfect' case for those 1-2 pint stoves like the Primus 54, Radius 17, etc I'll post it here.
Since my attitude is that "No stove is an island," any item; stove, 1st Aid Kit, breakable messy food, camera, fishing tackle box(es), whatever, goes inside something protective in my pack. Something protective being a roll of clothing, a set of cook pots or a Tupperware container. I have favored Tupperware for years 'cause the stuff is light, seals well, is nearly bulletproof, and comes in myriad shapes and sizes. Tupper also updates and improves their products regularly. I usually got mine from Da Missus as she updated or got "Hostess Prizes" for hosting Tupperware parties. Latlely though, Good Will, Deseret, and Thriftco have had nearly anything I could desire along those lines for mere pennies. I used Nalgene bottles before they were camping gear 'cause I had a girlfriend who was a Med. Tech. and got empties in many sizes for free. So water, sauces, fresh eggs without the shells went into Nalgene medical bottles and flasks. Even liquor. Especially liquor. I remember one Mom at a 50 Miler pack check asking me where my stove was as she inspected my stuff, carefully laid out. "Inside my clean undies." I said. "Where are your clean undies", "Inside my cook pot", "EEW!", "They're clean" "Oh", "For now." 50 or 60 years of packing in the hills and one gets clever about where and how to pack things. After I broke a much loved and hard to replace little Quick #110 Microlite reel, I got much fussier about how things were packed. My new (er) 110 Microlite now resides in a Tupperware box with my high lakes fishing tackle box. I could go on for a day or two about the eight or nine things in that box, but every fisherman has stuff he cannot live without and strong opinions about the silly crap other fishermen bring with them. Gerry
lol Gerry. To protect reels when packed, I use neoprene cases for each of them. The UL models and fly reels/spools may go into the large-mouth white-topped Nalgene (1 liter-sized) while the others get stowed at the very top of my REI day pack I wear when portaging the canoe. I used to keep them in a Pelican box but it was too bulky. When they are on the rods but not actively fishing, the neoprene cases stay on them (easy on/off). I've never broken a reel or rod in the last 20 years of tripping/fishing (knock on wood). The last time that happened (1992, July 30th) I let the wife (then gf, now ex) carry the rods. She laid them down on the ground at the portage landing and another group stepped on the tip and cracked it off. Rods, if deployed are always propped up hugging trees, grouped and well off the trail at landings. If not deployed they are in their hard shell cases.
My Primus 71, with it's flimsy tin case, fits nicely inside a pot set from a Vulcan Safety stove. My 123 fits inside an old Globetrotter set. But for me, some of the above sounds like overkill. While I take care of my stuff, I don't sweat it too bad. Backpacking, all those stuff sacks etc weigh plenty. My pack rod goes down inside my pack without a case or sock, been that way for years. If I tumble down the mountain, is likely gonna get crushed, but I try not to tumble down the mountain. OK, I did tumble down mountain last January and broke my leg, but rod wasn't with me Car camping I have an old tin breadbox that fits a Coleman 500 or 502, with plenty of room for pots, food etc. Keith
For keeping kits in vehicles, I find Cordura tool bags with the heavy zippered opening to work great. I have one in my truck with a Trangia mini set, two fuel bottles, Ramens, coffee and tea fixings, and assorted utensiles. Not a good backpacking kit, though.
Some of my rods are worth more than my digital camera body, the reels the same. I treat them carefully and limit the chances/risk of them getting snapped. The rod cases, imo are more important when travelling in the car. Lots of hazards - from a trunk, pet, kid, pack or car door. SNAP. These are the 2 piece 7.5' spinning/baitcasting rods, the fly rods I take are all 4 piecers (9-11') and come with with their pack case. I'm far from babying gear, what I take has proven itself, although catastrophic failures can and do occur over time - regardless of how you treat your stuff. Father time and use weaken everything and chance will slowly get the rest. That's one reason why one has to keep upgrading, purchasing, swapping, fixing gear. Ouch on the tumble down the mountain - I hope you were with someone that helped you back to the trailhead/car. Sounds like a close call.
Most of my fishing gear is old, I enjoy old glass rods and vintage reels, and the stuff that goes fishing is usually not worth much in terms of $$. ' ELEVEN FEET?? my backpack fly rod is 6pc 8ft, an old glass Berkley. ' Search and Rescue had to come get me off the mountain. Was a real adventure. LIke I usually do, I had lots of wool etc with me, and was really not doing too bad despite the snow and the cold. Moral...pack lots of warm stuff and ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS tell someone where you are going. Keith
The 9 weight 11' is a salmon rod I picked up in PEI. Here I take it northern and laker fishing. She's 4 pieces and nests in a nylon-wrapped tube. The tube is less than 3' long (meter). Wow Keith, you were very lucky on that tumble it didn't end worse. Off a cliff or just rolling down a slope, must have been pretty scary. Either way sage advice on pre-trip planning and notifications. I do the same on my trips, include a map of the area, dates, lakes traveling through start and end points and send it via email to family members. Never had a stove fail me during a trip (that I can remember), come close to running out of fuel though. I use fires almost more often than I do stoves, many times in combination, to help with meal prep.
As a rule I go looking for stove containers if the stove I have does not come with one. I've been lucky in that I have found tins or other containers which fit or can be made to fit. Good choices are 1, 2, and 3 pound coffee tins or now the new plastic containers. I am also fond of the flattish file boxes common to an earlier time, for my classic brassies. These are about 11 inches square and about 4 inches high with a wire handle in the middle of the lid. With careful arranging I'm able to get all the bits and pieces of a brassie in one. Plus some fuel, spirits and wooden strike anywhere kitchen matches. I think I've posted a picture of such a gitup somewhere on the site. If you can find one of the old Sunbeam iron boxes, it fits a 96 or double aught brassie just right and you don't have to take it down unless you're planning to backpack it. And you can add a bit of fuel and spirits and matches in one too. My case of #9's stay locked securely in the dungeon and I have an ugly old ogre with a long sharp knife to stand watch over it. He is backed up by an vicious and deadly looking cat with fangs and claws near to 12 inches long. It's all I have to keep Doc Mark out of the dungeon. Oh, and that new Colt, Officers Model, 45 auto I keep hidden in my ute. lance
I've been thinking along these lines, as to building a stove/ cooking gear box for car camping. It would be shaped like an old suitcase and just deep enough to hold a Coleman 502. In one end of the box there would be two compartments side by side one for a Coleman 502 and one for an MSR Internationale with fuel bottles in each compartment. The rest of the box would hold a skillet, plates, cooking utensils, staples like soy sauce, salt & pepper etc. Most likely made out of plywood with two hinged lids, one for the skillet, plates etc. compartment and one for the stoves, fuel bottles... It would lay flat in the back of the Subaru wagon. If it had handles on either side of the box it could be lifted out and stashed in the garage ready for the next expedition. Sort of a updated version of Kephart's kit box What do you guys think? Anybody have such a thing? Thanks for your replies Buzz
Hey Celsius - very cute looking stove, what model is that? Aluminum shell would be perfect, akin to a Peak 1 or 502 nesting stove case, top 1/2 would fit over the bottom, no handle, stickers, paint job, wires or hinges necessary. I'm going to give a call to a metal-works place not far from here to see what they advise.
