Portable Stoves - What do you use?

S

Sarge

New member
Hello,

I searched long and hard to find what kind of portable stoves C-Brats use on their boats. Yes, there is some information already on the site, but it is scattered around in a hundred email threads. I hope with this email thread we can 'organize' it a little better for future reference.

Quick background:

We have a Wallas stove and we like it, but as mentioned in an earlier email, it can take 20 minutes to make a can of Dinty Moore stew because of the heat up time, cool down time, etc. Plus, if you boat in an area that is warm it can increase the temperature of the cabin.

We recently bought a Kuuma Stow and Go gas barbecue grill that we have mounted to the stern of the boat and we have used it to cook, but it is inefficient when it comes to boiling water for pasta, especially if you are only using half of the grill. (It does work wonderfully as a barbecue!)

So, we'd like to get a portable stove to use outside the cabin. This portable stove would also share duties when we go camping.

Since I said I'd like to have this organized for more than just my use, I thought that I'd ask people what they use and why and set up a simple format for replies.

If you would, when you reply please do so in this format?

Make/model:

Fuel type: (propane, butane, etc.)

Number of burners:

Guesstimate of cost:

What you like about the stove:

Improvements, if any, you would make:

Would you recommend it to others?:

Any information you think others would find useful:


Thanks in advance,
 
Neat Link Sarge !

Good idea !.

I agree with the wallas, plus, it takes the long heat and cool cycle..but, it is a great gizmo for the boat.

I have a 2,000 watt inverter, so my cooking habits may be a bit different, as those who carry a gen set. I like the electric stuff.
Crock Pots, George Foreman type portable grills that I can use either in the cabin, or set out back in the cockpit depending on meals and weather. I also use the microwave to re-heat some things previously cooked at home and have in zip lock baggies in the cooler.. Just heat-n-eat.

For the non-electrical side of the house, I have that folding red coleman two burner gizmo that works on the 1 pound LP bottles. It does a good job too, but, I like to have it on the dock or camp site. Just not real happy with moving flames on the boat... You never know when someone will pull back in that private cove with you to.....as we know....see that neat boat.

Byrdman
 
I have an MSR Reactor that I use backpacking. I haven't really used it on the boat but I'm sure it would work fine.

Make/model: MSR Reactor

Fuel type: (propane, butane, etc.) MSR IsoPro (Not really sure what this is, this is just the brand name)

Number of burners: 1

Guesstimate of cost: $120

What you like about the stove: Insanely fast for boiling water. Boils a liter in 90 seconds or so, very fuel efficient, not effected by temperature, wind, or altitude, or other environmental factors.

Improvements, if any, you would make: Lower heat settings available for heating, larger model for non backpacking applications.

Would you recommend it to others?: Yes, for the right purpose.

Any information you think others would find useful: This stove works great for boiling water quickly, making pasta, and that sort of thing. You can't really use it for cooking much else. It's just too hot. Also only useable for 2-3 people generally because of the limited size of its integrated pot.

We also have several other stoves. The MSR Pocket Rocket works well for a lot of things, but unless you really need the tiny size of it a big Coleman propane model would probably work best.
 
Sarge,

Agreed on the Wallas, great unit but slow and too hot in the summer. We use a single burner propane stove with a small disposable cylinder for morning coffee, boiling water and such.
I wish I could tell you the make and model, it's pretty old. I used to use it to heat a portable ice fishing shanty.

If you are concerned about the open flame, you may want to look at the newer catalytic propane heaters. Most can be used for cooking and are very common here in MN for ice fishing heaters.

We also use a smaller Coleman propane BBQ. Same cylinders.

Good luck,

Capt Dan
 
We use a Brinkman, SS, 2 burner, uses the small screw-on gas bottles.
842-A250-0-L.jpg
We place it on a shelf at the stern, which is part of out cockpit roof frame, the shelf has a cutting board next to the stove.

Brinkman
Propane
2 burner
$39 at Walmart
Love the stove!
Piezo still works after 2 years!
Flame adjustment is touchy...hard to find a mid-way point between simmer and wide open.
The grate is NOT SS...but I duplicated it using 1/4" SS rod.
Yes I would recommend it.
 
You can't beat the ol COBB grill for cooking a meal while on the move. On my Texas trip. I set it in the cockpit on top of the cooler. Loaded it with 10 pieces of charcoal and got it going. Is does take about 20 min for the coals to get right to start cooking but then you can toss a 4lb roast in there go about you business and forget about it for four hours til its done. With the cobb it is easy to move around while cooking.
COOKING.jpg
DONE.jpg

Some more info here
http://www.c-brats.com/viewtopic.php?p= ... ht=#112424

Roger
 
After reading a post from Greg on the old RedFox Web site, I bought a cheap, very lightly used, induction cooktop about a year ago on ebay for about $75. I haven't used it on the boat yet but used it in the kitchen and made sure it works on the inverter I have for the boat.

I had a 2-burner, cast iron, propane cooktop I got from Cabela's but like others here the idea of open flame in the cabin - not to mention all the extra moisture from the propane - turned me off.

The induction cooktop was a new concept to me. I still don't know the physics behind it, but basically it causes ferrous (iron) molecules in the pan to get hot. The cooktop itself doesn't put out heat or get hot; just a little warm after cooking by conduction transfer from the pan but I can usually touch the top when I'm done with it. I like that because I can just slip it into a storage sleeve and put it away with no cool-down period.

Induction cooktops only work with pots and pans that have ferrous material in them. Stainless steel won't work unless the stainless is one of the varieties that has a fair amount of iron in it. I know 18/10 cookware doesn't work but have read that 18/8 stainless works just fine. I've only used cast iron, which seems to have a suitable amount of ferrous material. I've read that if a magnet sticks to the pan it'll work just fine.

One last thing. On my induction cooktop, the pot or pan will get hot RIGHT NOW. Forget about warming it up, it's hot to the temperature I've set on the cooktop when I push the ON button. If you remember how slow it was cooking on electric coils and how fast a gas cooktop would heat up a pan, this is the next leap.

The picture below is of a model similar to the one I have.

Induction_Cooktop.jpg
 
I've got a both a single burner Coleman (that runs on either Coleman fuel or unleaded gas) and a propane double burner very similiar to the one pictured above.

I use the double in our '66 VW camper bus and the single burner was in my hurricane kit back in Hawai'i. Both are quick and effecient. The single is so small it doesn't take up much more space than a large coffee mug and the fact that you can run unleaded in it made it extremely useful in an emergency. I've put the single on the boat for a just in case scenario.
 
Patty here. We LOVE our Coleman "Fold n' Go" two burner propane (small bottles) stove. We have not worried about the open flame aspect. It folds in half into a very convenient case with side pockets for the fuel and regulator. It costs about $70, we got ours at REI. For all the reasons already mentioned, it boils water quickly without heating up the s-l-o-w Wallas.

PICT0040.jpg

PICT0041.jpg
 
tomherrick":51twsdn9 said:
After reading a post from Greg on the old RedFox Web site, I bought a cheap, very lightly used, induction cooktop about a year ago on ebay for about $75. I haven't used it on the boat yet but used it in the kitchen and made sure it works on the inverter I have for the boat.

I had a 2-burner, cast iron, propane cooktop I got from Cabela's but like others here the idea of open flame in the cabin - not to mention all the extra moisture from the propane - turned me off.

The induction cooktop was a new concept to me. I still don't know the physics behind it, but basically it causes ferrous (iron) molecules in the pan to get hot. The cooktop itself doesn't put out heat or get hot; just a little warm after cooking by conduction transfer from the pan but I can usually touch the top when I'm done with it. I like that because I can just slip it into a storage sleeve and put it away with no cool-down period.

Induction cooktops only work with pots and pans that have ferrous material in them. Stainless steel won't work unless the stainless is one of the varieties that has a fair amount of iron in it. I know 18/10 cookware doesn't work but have read that 18/8 stainless works just fine. I've only used cast iron, which seems to have a suitable amount of ferrous material. I've read that if a magnet sticks to the pan it'll work just fine.

One last thing. On my induction cooktop, the pot or pan will get hot RIGHT NOW. Forget about warming it up, it's hot to the temperature I've set on the cooktop when I push the ON button. If you remember how slow it was cooking on electric coils and how fast a gas cooktop would heat up a pan, this is the next leap.

The picture below is of a model similar to the one I have.

Induction_Cooktop.jpg
Click to expand...

Hello Tomherrick,

What size/wattage inverter is required to power your induction cooker? And what size battery bank?

That looks very interesting. Thanks for sharing.

/david
 
I am not so much concerned about a flame inside the cabin as I am a flame next to pressurized fuel in the cabin. Our CD-22 came with no stove which was a positive to us. We use a Cook Mate 3100 non-presurized alcohol stove. It stows under the counter when not in use and with stick on rubber feet it stays put on the counter when in use. Cook Mate is supposedly a company made of ex-Origo employees whose objective was to "build a better mouse trap". I've used the Origo and this is at least as good and may look better.

Of course these alcohol stoves are slow and put out a lot of condensation but there are always tradeoffs.


Make/model: Cook Mate 3100

Fuel type: (propane, butane, etc.) Alcohol (non-pressurized)

Number of burners: 2 (Model 1600 comes with one)

Guesstimate of cost: $200

What you like about the stove: Safety, stowability

Improvements, if any, you would make: Faster and less condensation

Would you recommend it to others?: Yes

Any information you think others would find useful: We may take one of a number of backpacking stoves for unique occasions and/or some electrical appliances.

Harper
 
David,

I have a 1,500 Watt inverter and the cooktop draws a maximum of 1,200 Watts. My house battery bank consists of two Trojan T105 6-Volt batteries that are rated at 225 Ah. I figure I can use about half or 112.5 Ah at the maximum before having to recharge. My projected non-conservative - leave the lights on and turn the stereo up - calculations for power consumption come in around 55 Ah per day. The T-105s seemed like a good matchup.

I don't remember the specific battery usage numbers I used for the induction cooktop, but I'd imagine using it twice a day for maybe a total of 30 minutes which I think would pan out around 5 Ah. That doesn't take into account any inverter inefficiency though.

Tom
 
We use a toaster oven with a 2000i Honda. The Honda will carry about 1300 watts so you may have to stop something to cook but it only takes a few minutes. Also, griddles,coffee pots, electric pans and microwaves work great, pressure cookers can be used. There is a fully electric one on Amazon. It all depends on how much cooking you want to do. We do not cook much mostly heat and serve.
 
We use the one burner butane camp stove by Kenyon and a bunch of different manufacturers. Available at most hardware stores or camp stores. It takes the small disposable butane cartridges and ignites by piezo and is really hot. George :lol:
 
I've got a Magna 2 Kettle grill that uses the one pound propane bottles and to tell the thru other than boiling water which it does well it's useless. It burns so hot that to me it's dangerous to cook meat on. Even though it has a thermostat you can't turn it down low enough. For grilling I really like the Cobb Grill. I thought it might be inconvenient using charcoal but what I do is put 10 bricketts and two lighter sticks in a vacuum bags and seal them up without vacuum and it works great. This prevents them from getting wet or messy and when your ready just cut open the bag and dump in the grill. As Roger said I use mine on top of the cooler also and it doesn't really get that hot on the outside although the top gets hot.
 
We have used the small butane stove and like it very much...however, the canisters don't last long and can't be found in BC. So...we are considering purchasing a coleman single burner to attach to our small propane tank. The wallas was not an option this last BC cruise as the temp was in the 90's. We don't like disposing of all those small canisters either. The two burner folding stove looks like a good one but we think we would only use the one burner at a time. Would also like to get one of the new fiberglass propane tanks as they are so much lighter than the steel tanks.
 
We use the Coleman Fold and Go, like the one that Patty posted on this thread. If I'm not mistaken Patty and my wife Carol were introduced to it by another C-Brat at the '08 Friday Harbor Get Together. If using only one of the two burners on it, I found that I could hinge the other burner up at a 90 degree angle and utilize it as a shield against the wind. We have also used this stove while anchored out, by placing it on a large cooler in the cockpit. While in marinas we place the large cooler on the dock and the stove on top of it....works great! (A Whole Lot better than the larger 2 burner Coleman stove that we used to use as it is more compact). I'll give it a :star :star :star :star :star rating. (That is 5/5 if wondering.... :wink ).
 
We have an Origo alcohol stove on our CD 25 which we really like. On our sailboat - an S2 7.9 we use a small single burner Kenyon butane stove that really works great.
Eric
 
On my 19 there is not much space for a stove, so I use a Force 10 gimballed single burner stove to do most of my cooking.
It attaches to a bracket and can be stowed easily. I think that Force Ten has stopped making this stove as I can not find it on their website.
Heater_installation_022.sized.jpg

I also use my JetBoil which I bought for kayaking. I use it mostly for quick stuff like coffee, soups and freeze dried meals, and hot water. It uses a small butane/propane canister and is extremely efficient. I have a hanger for the stove (used by mountaineers hanging on the side of El Cap :shock: ) so that I don't have to worry about the stove tipping over. It is very small, uses little fuel, and the burner and fuel pack away in the pot. Nice for a small boat, and one person.

Robbi

jetboil.jpg
 
Sarge":3s0owbyz said:
We recently bought a Kuuma Stow and Go gas barbecue grill that we have mounted to the stern of the boat and we have used it to cook, but it is inefficient when it comes to boiling water for pasta, especially if you are only using half of the grill. (It does work wonderfully as a barbecue!)
Click to expand...

Sarge, I had not heard of the Kuuma so went and looked it up. Someone mentioned the shortcomings of the Magma (all on or all off, allegedly to prevent the flame from being blown out on the water) so I was wondering if the Kuuma allowed you to control the heat better? Also, did you have to fab a custom mount or do they offer rail mounts?

Warren
 
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