[pct-l] Super Cat stove anyone?

[CHUCK CHELIN]

Good morning, Mike,

I feel rather manic/depressive about the SuperCat Stove, having made and
used a half-dozen or more of them over time.  Assuming I want to carry a
stove and enjoy hot food, the (lack of) weight of the SuperCat is truly
attractive.  On the other hand – the downside – the stability of the thing
is very troubling.  In use SuperCat is a contact stove.  With the pot placed
directly on the stove’s top rim the fuel gasses are forced out the side
holes to be burned beneath and up the sides of the pot.  If the pot does not
remain in contact with the stove it seems thing becomes much less efficient.



Starting any contact-type stove is a bit tedious because even though the
pool of fuel begins to burn instantly, gasses won’t exit the side holes and
begin burning until the pot is slowly lowered onto the stove top:  Lower too
fast and the fire goes out.  Lower too slowly and it’s a pain in the butt.  At
best it’s a nuisance to bend over and lower the pot, all while peeking under
to judge whether the nearly-invisible flame has spread to burn out the side
holes.



Once lit and generating it works pretty slick, except the diameter of the
stove is – for my clumsy use – much too small to reliably support a pot.  Help
in the form of an auxiliary pot support is not very useful because it is
then difficult to keep the pot in contact with the stove top, thereby
assuring efficient gas generation.



I think about the SuperCat every time I want to cook ultra-lite, but I then
return to a square of solid fuel on a piece of folded aluminum foil on the
ground with three tent stakes supporting the pot.  Both need a foil wind
screen.



I use both cat food or pop can stoves.  The Trail-Dad cat food stove is very
simple to make, not relying upon the precise hole size and placement
necessary with the pop can stove.  If there is any difference in the fuel
efficiency or time-to-boil of any of the simple alcohol stoves it’s a pretty
thin point in real practice.



My preference is to use a regular, non-contact, cat food or pop can
stove.  With
these stoves I can burn alcohol as intended, or I can turn the stove over
and place a solid fuel square on its bottom for equally good results.  In
either case the same pot support and wind screen are used.



Steel-Eye

Hiking the Pct since before it was the PCT – 1965

http://www.trailjournals.com/steel-eye

http://www.trailjournals.com/SteelEye09


On Sun, Jan 2, 2011 at 10:31 PM, Michael Pinkus <mikepinkus at hotmail.com>wrote:

>
> Has anyone ever used these? Pros or Cons? What other alcohol stoves are
> people using? I was originally planning on using Evernew's DX but it would
> seem that it's quite the fuel hog....
>
> cheers,
> Mike
>
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