I use a Vintage Trangia 27 alcohol stove for boiling water and warming up meals.
These stoves are made in Sweden and designed for hiking for 1-2 people. All the pots, pan and components pack down into an incredibly small space, ingeniously fitting inside each other. It's made from aluminium alloy, quite lightweight at about 1kg. (vintage has thicker aluminium) Modern Trangia 27s weigh 0.9kg.
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| Cooks view from hatchway, sit on port berth |
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| Burner out, everything cooling down. 2 litre water bottles are always within quick reach. Use them to fill kettle and pots, but also double as emergency stove fire extinguishers. |
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Terias galley, the custom bridgedeck seat has space to store unused pots etc under it while cooking. Billy boiling. Stove and galley box stored in cockpit locker to starboard, (next to bilge pump)
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| All the components. 2 Pots hold 0.75L each. |
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| The burner is simple to use, (but carefully designed and built) the winsheild and pot/pan holders ingenious. |
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| The 0.5L billy is handy |
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| The pot holders fold up to become fry pan holders |
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| Frys an egg and ham quickly |
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| Compact stowage |
It's used in the cockpit just outside the main hatch, feel its the safest spot for it on the boat. If burning alcohol were spilt there, then it could be extinguished with a pot of water quickly and not cause much damage (keep the cockpit petrol locker hatch on portside closed for more safety too)
It's been my trusty compact camping stove for over 30 years. Not much can go wrong with it, starts every-time easily, alcohol fuel is fairly safe on a boat. I store it in Trangia bottles, the special pouring spout makes re-filling burner easy and far safer than from an open spout bottle.
I was introduced to the stove on a backpacking trip in New Zealand during 1983. Travelled around North Island by small car with 3 Swedish guys. They quickly made hot drinks or food with their Trangia at any roadside stop or campsite. It operated flawlessly on an exposed public camp tables in strong winds and cool 10-20C air temperatures. It was an impressive introduction. Finally when they reached Auckland to fly back to Scandinavia, they gifted the great little stove with me. Many thanks for that and the great time exploring an amazing country.
Decades later the same, now vintage, stove was put aboard Teria as it was well suited for the job. It had minimal maintenance in all that time, had aquired a few dints and scratches, yet has always worked reliably. Trangias never let you down. (Only if you forget the fuel and lighter!)
It's almost ideal for a small camp cruising boat/dinghy cruising (or small car/motorbike camp trip) The packed diameter of ...... fits into small lockers, tote boxes, (car boot/paniers), day packs etc easily. The only weakness is the burning fuel cups alcohol is a potential spill and fire hazard, alcohol flame is almost invisible in daylight as well.
The Trangia burner cup is always filled first, when its cool. The burner has a sealed screw cap lid so it can store its remaining fuel for travel. I usually fill it 60% to 100% full (upto the flange shoulder, not burner top) which gives 30 -45 minutes burn time. This is easily long enough to boil the billy and/or reheat a meal.
I replaced the old burner with a new one about 10 years ago. (Thankfully new burners fit very old stoves exactly) The old one was dinged up badly and the cap o-ring had melted long ago so leaked fuel. I had inadvertently used the o-ring storage lid to extinguish the flame, a total no-no as the o-ring was destroyed. The leak tainted the kettle which made tea taste bad. Avoid this by simply snuffing out the burner with the flame control lid. Then allow stove to cool down for 5 minutes before the o-ring lid can seal it. see step 9 of these Trangia operating instructions and this short Trangia video video notes - he removes strap first and uses safety refill bottle. When repacking stove clean it first, always put cooled burner in a plastic bag (stops corrosion and brass tainting in kettle) and don't forget to pack the pot handle and strap.
The stove can stay together strap-less but is far better with one. So 30 years too late i finally bought a Trangia strap at Anaconda. While here the saleswoman showed me the other Trangia products. Found out my stove was a 27 model, the medium sized one. There is also a larger 25 model for 3-4 people (The numbering is a bit confusing - smaller numbers are larger stoves!) "Trangia mini" is a one-man very compact/light hike stove. A "Trangia triangle" folds down even smaller. Here is the modern Trangia stove range of products.
One limitation of a basic Trangia onboard is it should be used only in flat calm waters. eg at anchor. A possibility remains they it could tip-over if the boat heels over or rocks in a big wake, or if a crew kicks it over by accident. The position where my one is used would cope with a tipped burner and fire. Its contained in a self draining cockpit, 2 litre water bottles can put it out within seconds and nothing inside the cabin would be affected. That's the theory, have never put it to practice thankfully. A backup 1 kg dry powder fire extinguisher is in the cabin within easy reach.
However, at least one dinghy cruiser has built a gimbaled box to keep it level. Another has built a fire-proof stove box around it. These are worthwhile safety additions for the DIY type person. Modern Trangias have twist interlocking windsheild halves, so if the base is secured into a galley box it has almost zero chance of tipping over.
My boat is used for day sails with calm overnight anchorages. So at anchor each morning, my Coleman Thermos flask is filled with boiling water. So hot cuppa tea or coffee can be had while sailing along (and no danger of tipping a burning stove over)
I prefer the alcohol burner (gas and multifuel options also available) simple, but slow and steady. Very reliable, always starts with one match. Fuel is well priced and readily available in all hardware stores here. The fuel is clean to handle, (also used as a cleaning agent) if spilled it soon evaporates without any oily residues. The burner never blows out in use, thanks to the windshields (cockpit is a big windshield too) , if it ever did blow out in a gale the fuel just sits there in the cup, (some stoves will keep running fuel out if blown out, a fire danger) relighting can be immediate.
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Fuel bottles. 1L and 0.5L. Refuel the cool burner each morning before daily use. They are sealed after each refuelling. Always let stove cool down 5-10mins before refuelling.
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Stove alcohol is called methylated spirits here, its 95% ethanol, the remainder is water with bittering agent and purple colouring to identify it.
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| Starboard berth bench space (2 hatchboards) |
The cooks bench is inside the cabin, hatch-boards on a bunk top. It's a comfortable height for it within easy reach when sitting on port bunk. Set up when cooking at anchor.
