My stove setup for use in a tent

This is now the only cooker that I use when I'm camping in a tent.

I've done away with the big heavy twin burner cooker and large gas bottle and gone for this little cooker that I had knocking about in the back of the car for brews and meals when out on the road.

 

Now I know the benefits of a twin burner with grill as I'm sure TG will tell me, but that's fine in his HUGE bungalow tent, but for smaller tents like my dome and tunnel tent, then one of these little gas stoves that fit into a compact case the size of a cordless drill box is the way forward for me.

 

You can see from the picture that I've taken an old curver plastic storage box and cut out the one side and then flipped the box over and cable tied an old wire rack where the box wall once was.  I've also blue tacked my cooker splash guard around the inside of the box to reflect the heat and to save me having problems with the box melting !

 

It's proved to be a great setup.  The cooker is fast and stable to have in a tent, the gas lasts for ages and the cans of gas are nice and cheap. The heat output is good so it also doubles as a tent heater.  The splash box I made not only gives me somewhere to store the pots but also keeps stuff from splashing onto the inner walls of my tent.

 

I used this cooker on a frosty week up in The Lake District and only used two and a bit cans of gas, which I was surprised about.  It's nice, clean and boils water fast.  This will always be the cooker of choice for tent cooking in future, and if I find I need another burner then it's only £14 to buy another one of these cookers.

 

Yes I have small gas cookers and meths burners, but who wants to burn meths in a tent, the smell and sooty pots is a bitch and then the chance of spilling it is not something I want to think about, and as for small gas cookers, well they're liable to tipping over wich is not so bad outdoors but for in a tent it's a HUGE problem.

 

I pull the cooker from this box and put it back into it's case and toss it in the back of the car for year round use so It's been a good investment.  I also like the Piezo ignition.

 

Anyway, here it is in it's splash guard box.

Rare footage of JB from HAE on a water run in Maine

Guestbook Closure

For sometime now we've made all our posts here so I've closed our

Free Radicals Guestbook

 

A link to all of our old Guestbook entries will go here soon...

 

Thanks to smartgb.com for our ever working FREE guestbook.

 

 

*** New Photos ***

I've been digging around and added 114 photos to our folder.

Some old and some not so.......

 

They're over there --------> in the "Radical Expedition Photographs"

Just click on the slideshow to see them all full size

 

The SnowClaw

I brought one of these back from my Canada trip, it was a gift from Her Indoors :-)

It's the cats whiskers for Backcountry Hikers.

People have them hung off packs and tossed in the backs of cars.

 

Have a look at the website and then take a look at the video.

 

My first thoughts were how usefull one of these would be on the mountain treks, but the more you look at it the more uses it has........shovel, fracture splint, snow anchor, glissade, pack support.....and at 6.1oz it's going to feature on the back of my pack on hikes, if not only for its use as a splint or a pack support to protect the contents of my pack, it's a great bit of kit and well worthy of hanging off the back of my pack.

 

Website

http://www.snowclaw.com/

 

Video

http://www.snowclaw.com/video.htm

 

 

R.I.P. My Trusted Friends

Sadly on the day of the 14th February 2010, after many years of trusted service, my warm dry cumfy boots have been invaded by maggots and have been put to rest.

 

Leason be learned, never leave your boots in the shed with a pair of used garden gloves on them, because you never know who or what's going to crawl into them !

 

Goodby my boots, you served me well :-(

 

 

Some of the guys at Sty Head

Mikey Dread, Van Cleef, Hawk, Mad Micky & Topgear

Memory-Maps Adventurer 2800 GPS

Is this a poor cheeky clone of the rather splendid Satmap unit, or will it perform !

http://www.memory-map.co.uk/adventurer/index.html

 

Satmap Active 10

http://www.satmap.com/about.php

 

 

 

 

British Army PLCE Bergen Maintenance

Well it's that time of the year where I give my main bergan a soak in the bath.

It's been hung up in the shed for a few months and has taken on that damp smell.

 

All I use to wash it is shower gell, as I've found in the past if I use washing powder it takes forever to rinse it out.

 

Now some people will be crying at the thought of me washing a bergan and killing its waterproof qualities, but save your breath, no bergan is waterproof, ok it might be for a few days when it's new if you're very lucky, but it's never going to be 100%, not even close.

 

The best way to keep the contents of a bergan dry is to line it with strong heavy duty rubbish bags.

You don't need fancy drybags, just a good strong rubbish sack to line the main compartment.

For extra security and peace of mind I also seal my sleeping bag inside a rubbish sack.

 

Water will find its way through the best bags in the world and even spraying the bergan with a proofing agent is a waste of time and money.

 

Save your cash and line the main compartment with one HUGE sack, then find smaller sacks to line the side pockets.

Nothing will get through plastic bags unless you puncture them.

 

Now I have to go and do a few fixing hoop modifications that are long overdue, including replaceing the worn out thin bungee that holds my Trangia fuel bottle on the one side of the bergan, and also replace the worn out bunjee on the other side that has held my Fiskars Axe in place for the past five or so years.

 

I will post a photo of the finisshed bergan and the mods soon...........

 

 

 

 

 

Tesco Rucksack for £9.50 is it any good !

I needed a mid sized rucsack to use as carry on flight luggage for my trip to Canada.

 

It needed to big enough to hold my laptop and all my goodies, but still be small enough to meet the airline size regulations.

 

I spent a week looking at various packs around the 35 to 45 litre size and to be honest none of them suited my needs or pocket, what with some of them hitting £50+

 

So.....walking around Tescos with food on my mind I came across the reduced section and found this gem of a bag that had been reduced from £18.50 to £9.50

 

Now if I had the chance and money to ask someone to design the ultimate 45Litre rucsack for my needs, then this was or is the pack for me.  It's loaded with features, it's strong, nice looking, cumfy to wear and for £9.50 it's pocket money priced.

 

I loaded this pack with the following:

Laptop + leads + psu

eTrex GPS

Camera + spare batts

Meds + firstaid

Fleece jacket

Snacks 'n' sweets

Pens, paperwork, passport, money, etc....

I had plenty of room left in it and had not used the side pockets.

The only limmit was the weight regulations or I could of got more gear in if needed.

 

I bounced it around three airports, took it on three flights and in the boots of two cars, sorry one was a trunk as I was in Newfoundland by then ;-)

 

It feels as cumfy fully loaded as it does empty. The padding on the straps and the ventilated back system do the trick just like they should on a pack £80+

 

I Looked hard for faults but can't find a single one, I even love the way that they've lined the zipped pocket that holds the rain cover, so if you put it away wet it will not be against your gear.  I also like the fact that the zip on the top pocket faces the back of my neck, making it harder for Mr Naughy to get at my goodies while I'm stood with my back to him.  The Ice-Axe/Walking Pole hoops are not mentioned in the discription, and under close inspection they're tuffer than they need to be so that's another bounus.  I do like where they have the D rings on the straps, my two way radio fits on the one in a perfect place to use without having to remove it, and the same can be said of putting my GPS on the other strap, it's just where I need it.  The chest strap is also very cumfy and incorperates a very loud whistle.

 

Seven weeks of abuse and it's still going strong.

I would of been happy to of paid more for it.

 

Go out and buy it.

 

Specs:

45 Litre Rucksack

600D Polyester with diamond Ripstop trim
Easy access vertical zip
Padded shoulder straps
2 bellow side pockets
2 side mesh pockets
2 quick release adjustable compression straps
Neoprene carry handle
4 compartments
Bright orange rain cover (elasticated)
ventilated back system
Hydration compatible

Dimensions L32 X W17 X H49cm
1.3kg empty