As it has been mentioned here above, the Rotary shelterbox program has, in the past used the Nomad, but they are now going to a wood burning stove. My contacts with Rotary here told me the Nomad hasn't been as robust as they thought, and since most of the people who need shelterboxes aren't hiking in the mountains above 12,000 feet, and aren't located in the arctic or antarctic, a "solid fuel" stove that can burn anything burnable is a better idea. Stan
Sometimes the mind plays tricks or ones memory of what was written in a book can be an amalgam of writings from the same author. So, for historical accuracy, as far as I can find out from all of Colin Fletcher’s books, and I do have all of them, he used air drops only once and that was during his 1963 walk through the Grand Canyon National Park when he used the SVEA 123 exclusively. Inso far as his books go, the SVEA 123 appears throughout the decades and the MSR is only referred to in his “how To” book The Complete Walker in its various editions. It does not appear in any of his prose writing of his long or indeed short backpacking trips. Here is what Colin Fletcher wrote about the MSR X-GK in The Complete Walker 3, published in 1984. This also appeared in The Complete Walker 4 published in 2007. It may also be in The New Complete Walker 1974, but my copy is out at the moment. MSR X-GK, Made by Mountain Safety Research of Seattle. Burns white gas, leaded and unleaded automobile gas or aviation fuel; also, once you have made a simple switch of jets, kerosene, deodorized kerosene, Stoddard solvent, #1 diesel fuel, #1 stove oil and even, as I have learned, other unfairly noxious concoctions. But note that "some auto fuels" can cause stoves to explode. The radically designed MSR is probably the safest and most efficient stove around, and one of the most reliable. It's a tankless "tank" stove: you pump fuel directly into the burner from a spun aluminum Sigg or MSR bottle (page 252) and so save weight and increase safety and stabil¬ity. The MSR is a veritable blowtorch (it was originally developed to melt snow quickly in high-altitude cold), and the effective if Rube-Goldberg-looking windscreen and heat reflector keep fuel efficiency high even under atrocious conditions. With gasoline you do not need matches: a built-in sparker ignites it. Well, mostly ignites it. Ten years' wide¬spread use has proved the MSR's reliability and safety. (My stove-repairer advisors rated it a close second to Svea for reliability, and tops for safety. As one of them said, "I've heard of MSRs blowing up—but there are people who'll catch water on fire.") If something does go wrong the MSR is almost always easy to repair, even in the field—especially if you carry the 1-ounce maintenance kit ($6). At first the stove's odd architecture suggests difficulty in assembling and operating. Yet, although erecting windscreen and reflector remains a mild fiddle even when you've grown accustomed to them (especially after repeated folding ages them into premature wrinkles), using the stove soon becomes very simple. True, you must take care not to screw the fuel knob too tight (or you may damage the plastic O-ring) and must keep the pump leather lubricated with oil or, at a pinch, saliva; but the very full instructions alert you to such matters. And I have found the stove's reputation for poor simmering to be somewhat overblown—certainly if you use a wundergauze (page 260). Warning: Make sure the thin metal tube that draws fuel out of the container is bent so that it touches the container's bottom side: otherwise the supply will fade long before the container empties. Even with the tube properly bent, a small but annoying residue always remains unus¬able. (Later: New models have a flexible plastic tube, and it deflects the problem.) The MSR is now my choice for really tough conditions and sometimes for not so tough conditions. On one relatively easy twelve-day trip a year or so ago, I soon became intensely grateful that I had chosen it. On the second day out I discovered that through a series of unlikely errors which do little to soften my shame my fuel bottle held not white gas but a mixture of regular, leaded automotive gas and SAE 30 oil, intended for a chain saw. By that second day the stove was repeatedly blocking. Yet when I switched to the K (for Kerosene) jet it once again functioned. I do not say it functioned at full roar. I had to keep cleaning the jet with the pricker provided, too. But I could cook, always. On the sixth day I reached my halfway food cache and found to my relief that the spare bottle of fuel indeed held white gas, and all I had to do was change back to the G (for Gasoline) jet and decoke the surge filter (which has been eliminated in later models). For the rest of the trip I had to clean out the jet occasionally; and the heat generated fell short of the stove's normal blowtorch level. I was back in something close to full business, though. And I doubt that any other stove would have seen me through so gastronomically unscathed. (Exceptions, just possibly: the new Optimus 111 or even 199, neither available at that time.) Afterward I had the stove cleaned and was told it needed very little attention. It now seems as good as new. Note that the MSR's jet cleaner is an important accessory. You will probably have to use it occasionally with almost any fuel except white gas. None of the above takes anything away from Doc's appreciation of the X-GK, or his relatively accurate synopsis of what CF wrote - it is just that as a great admirer of Colin Fletcher's writings I do like exact quotes!! Cheers, Rob
Ah shoot, becouse of this thread I gotten meself bidding on an MSR XGK. Now how am I going to explain this to the missus...
Why just mentioned that it can burn leaded automotive gas and SAE 30 oil. Details like that can really bring a woman around. They love that kind of stuff. HJ
Thanks for that, Rob. I actually chanced upon it yesterday at the bookstore in Complete Walker IV. Colin Fletcher's books just fascinate me. I really enjoy reading them. HJ
Easy, Hi Honey, Great news I just got a new stove, it's totally different to all the others I own, this one nearly always gets kerosene on my hands when I pack it away. Wanna Hug
Howdy, Rob, Oops!! Indeed, I got two different trips confused, for which I apologize. However, the gist of CF's comments on the X-GK, are sound, which was my point in the first place. But, you are right, I should have checked the exact situation, and gotten all the facts right, and not just the stove stuff! I have almost all of Fletcher's books, and have read them many times over the years. I never tire of his manner of writing, nor of his wit, which was wonderful, indeed! Thanks for setting the record straight, Rob. Much appreciated, and well taken! Take care, and God Bless! Every Good Wish, Doc
Answering both interpretations of the question - I'm pretty much married to the Coleman 502 (battle axe that she is but reliable!) Falanderer that I am, my current extra-marital fling is a Turm Sport. You guys can see why can't you? One's slender and fast, fun for a quickie but I can't see a lasting relationship there. The other will take my neglect, rough treatment and never give up on me! God, I feel so guilty!!!
I think Doc was just trying to feed us the same kind of stuff the Colin Fletcher was trying to feed to his stove. HJ
That almost certainly comes from storing the filled burner inside the SAT - any remains of meths on the outside, or a poor o-ring on the cap will do this. To get round this, I always put my burner in a zip-lok bag to avoid taint
