[at-l] Deck Journal, 6/6/02

[rafe.bustin@verizon.net (Raphael Bustin)]

A package from Campmor arrived today.

Among several items was a Zip Stove.  As a long time
Whisperlite fan, my curiosity has been bugging me for
years about this thing. And of course, a number of AT-Lers
rave about it.  The thought of not carrying fuel, and not
being dependant on volatile liquid fuel, was intriguing.

[Other items in the kit:  a pair of collapsible poles, a
Petzl Tikka headlamp, a new MSR water filter to replace
the one I left behind last year, and a pair of Dunham
lightweight boots.]

Upon receiving the package, I opened the carton for the
stove, read the friendly manual, and popped in a battery.
The fan worked.  The stove isn't all that stable on its little
base -- it wobbles a bit.  Plus, that flimsy wire from the
battery compartment to the motor makes me nervous.

Got home a bit late today.  It's been raining steadily
since last night.  There are dense woods 50 feet from
my back door, so it was no problem finding suitably-
sized twigs and such.  But all quite wet, of course.  I
set the thing up on the picnic table on our deck, in
a light rain, with my wife watching in amusement
from the kitchen.

In short order I began to doubt my fire-starting skills.
Using book matches and a few small shreds of news-
paper under the twigs, I was not able to get any twigs
to catch fire.  I whittled a handful of slivers from a stick.
Still no luck.  Somewhere on my fourth or fifth attempt
I managed to get a few twigs to catch fire and turned
the fan on LOW.  Great.  I guess I need to work on
my fire-starting skills, especially in wet weather.
(This is not really a vital skill for liquid-fuel stoves,
but apparently more so with a Zip.)

Ran inside and filled a small pot with two cups of
water and ran back out.  Nursed the fire to what
seemed like a suitable size and started heating the
water.  It seemed to take a long time to boil.  Even
worse was having to add more sticks several times,
before the water began boiling.  I guess you can
add wet sticks once you have a good fire going in
the pot.  It'll take some practice, I suppose, to figure
out how big a fire is needed for any given cooking task.

Five, ten minutes later (I wasn't really timing it) I
had boiling water.  Dumped in the Ramen.
Wouldn't you know it, this is when the fire in
the stove really starts to take off.  How the heck
do you turn this beastie down??

All in all, I'd say the operation of this beast is far
from intuitive.  In bad weather, I think I'd miss the
convenience of the Whisperlite.  Plus, I'll need to
change my "kitchen" packing regimen.  With the
Whisperlite, the stove (burner) actually goes inside
my cooking pot, along with the cup and spoon; the
fuel bottle goes into a compartment near the bottom
of my pack.

Not totally sold on this thing, not quite yet, but ready
to admit that it will take some practice.  Your comments
and advice are more than welcome.


rafe b.
aka terrapin