[pct-l] Cooking Within (addendum)

[CHUCK CHELIN]

Good morning, Gary,

Years ago when I was young, wild, and ignorant I had a significant love
affair with a little Swedish beauty by the name of Svea 123.  She seduced me
away from my previous love—also a Swede – by the name of Trangia.  While
Trangia was small, quiet, and unassuming, Svea was taller, more
sophisticated, and overall much more impressive.  Unfortunately she was also
much more difficult to turn on, and she was loud, but when she finally did
get started she was HOT! She provided me with the two best moments of the
day:  When she actually turned on and put out the heat, and when I was
finished with her and she finally shut-up.

Why had I made the change?  At the time I was impressed with sophistication:
Anything with more parts and processes had to be better – an affliction
common to many mechanical engineers who prefer twenty complicated parts when
one simple one will do equally as well.  Svea had lots of things to fiddle
with, and I could even add things like a mini-pump to avoid having to bring
that ice-cold piece of brass into my sleeping bag in the morning and hold it
in my warm crotch for ten minutes to warm it enough to create some internal
pressure in the tank; my hands being too cold to effectively do the warming.

Next came a really good reason why Svea should never be lit inside a tent:
With a bit of pressure in the tank the valve was opened slightly, and kept
open just long enough to pressure-dribble raw fuel down the generator stem
and into the little dam around the top of the tank.  When lit, the raw fuel
in the dam would then flame up and heat the burner plate sufficient to
vaporize fuel that was eventually to squirt out of the generator.  If the
valve was subsequently opened to soon – before the vaporizer plate became
sufficiently hot – there would be a really big raw fuel flame-up with the
possibility of burning fuel running out of the dam and down the sides of the
stove.

This process was really great for hikers who have trouble waking up and
getting started in the morning, being better than a double-tall espresso for
jump-starting the day.

Steel-Eye
Hiking the Pct since before it was the PCT – 1965
http://www.trailjournals.com/steel-eye
http://www.trailjournals.com/SteelEye09


On Mon, Dec 7, 2009 at 6:46 PM, Gary Schenk <gwschenk at socal.rr.com> wrote:

> On Sunday 06 December 2009 19:35:18 ned at pacificcrestcustombuilders.comwrote:
> > Please keep in mind regarding this article that the kind of stoves we use
> > are the commercial variety white gas (Svea, MSR, etc.) or canister
> > (Jetboil, Bluet...) stoves with good bases for predictable stability and
> > valves for flame control. We consider the use of alcohol stoves dangerous
> > for self and environment and not worth the weight savings in the long
> run.
> > Those who practice with them may have good fortune, but for the novice we
> > do not encourage their use.
>
> You light a Svea inside your tent?!?!? They don't call those things Swedish
> hand grenades for nothing, you know.
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