[at-l] Zipitty do-da

[askowronek at mindspring.com (amy)]

On Tuesday, November 4, 2003, at 10:05  PM, Tim Woodworth wrote:
> So, a primer if you please on the success of zip stoves when it 
> raining like a cheap ....  No really, this summer I had rain 
> experiences like no other.  It gives me pause about trying to find 
> something dry to burn to keep myself from hypothermia and phycological 
> breakdown.  Do you carry dry tinder?  Is it timely?  I don't want to 
> wait 20 minutes to start a 2 minute cup of coffee.  Have you failed in 
> making a suitable flame?  How much stuff does it take?  How long does 
> the battery last? I tell you I"ve never had a trail acquaintance use 
> one of these things.

I'm not Bob, but I have used a Zip stove in the past, so..

I have yet to be unable to start a fire.  It doesn't take long to boil 
water, really.
That fan gets everything very hot.  But you need to keep small bits of 
stuff
on hand to feed it.

I start looking for fuel before I'm ready to stop for the day.  I like 
pine cones.
Also little bits of wood that you find under shelters are often just 
the right size
for a zip stove.   If you use a zip stove for any length of time you 
will become
adept at looking in the right place to find sort-of-dry stuff in bad 
weather.  :)

I carry a backup supply of burnables - either little firestarter balls 
purchased
at the store, or cotton balls jammed in a little case with (I think it 
was) vaseline.
I think you can also light purell.  Whatever you use, once you get the 
fire going
you can put wet pieces in no problem.

>
> There are downsides to Whisperlite's (clogging) and Esbit (btu).  
> What's the bad side of using Zips, practically speaking?  Are they 
> big, my pack is small?

They're fairly large and heavy (IMHO).  They make smoke, which has 
annoyed
my camping companions in the past.  They get sooty which makes them a 
pain
to pack.

>
> I like coffee in the morning, sometimes the carbohydrates of  hot 
> pasta lunch and good food at night.  I've seen stoveless youths on the 
> trail that confuse me to no end.  But then again I haven't see them 
> doing that in cold weather.  Raw ramen when its 10F, ha!!
>

I've not used my stove in cold wet weather.  *shrug*  Some days I just 
don't feel
like fooling with it.


-amy