Nice stoves Greenled and thanks for pics! The one on the right sure is a flame monster.
My most recent build is the Super Cat Stove. This is another super simple stove, consisting of 1x 85g aluminium cat food can and two rows of strategically placed holes around the sides. Out of the 3 stoves built so far this is the easiest. Unlike the other stoves this one doesn't require a pot stand, the billy sits directly on top of the can.
All the alcohol stoves I've made are very vulnerable to wind so a windshield is vital for efficient operation. I used a foil oven tray cut to size around the billy leaving a 5-7 mm gap, and cutting out a slot for the billy handles and an air port down low on the leeward side.
The Super Cat Stove achieved a rolling boil on 500ml of 15degC water in a Snowpeak 900 ti billy at 4:45 min then continued to maintain a boil for an additional 2:45 min on 2 tablespoons of Meths.
Testing the Super Cat Stove outside on a typically windy Wellington evening with the windshield in place I was able to cook a packet of 2 min (ramen) noodles and a packet soup no problems.
The Super Cat Stove is my current favourite (smaller, lighter, simpler, faster than the Cat Stove).
Field Test:
I tested the Super Cat stove over a summertime weekend hike up a bush clad river valley.
Cooking on the alcohol stove consisted of 1 dinner and 1 breakfast and a couple of boilups for a cuppa.
Boiling a generous cup of water took about 3 minutes. One thing I noticed about the stove was how quiet it was when running. Dinner was chicken curry. 1 1/2c water was brought to the boil and 3/4c rice added and allowed to boil for another 2 1/2min when the meths ran out. Then I wrapped the rice billy up in my fleece and allowed the rice to absorb the rest of the water. Meanwhile a can of chop chop chicken, some veges, curry paste and coconut cream were mixed and heated up in a second billy. Again brought to the boil for a couple of minutes then allowed to rest. After about 20 min, both billies were reheated and consumed. Lovely!
In the morning I used the stove again just to heat water up for the morning hot chocolate.
From what I've read on the web from almost exclusively American long distance hikers most of their cooking (if they cook, some live on sports energy bars for every meal of the day) they use the alcohol stove to boil water and pour it into a large ziploc bag with some dehydrated food and allow it to sit, so my "simple" meal seems quite complex for the stove's intended purpose.
Some operational notes: It is really important to find flat ground to cook on. The stove is quite narrow and the billy seemed somewhat unbalanced unless level.
You are forever measuring out 2 tablespoons of meths into the stove. Just make sure the stove is cool first before adding more fuel to it.
A windshield is an absolute essential with these types of stoves (or for any other type has well).
Fuel usage: 1 and a bit cups of water boil in 3 min using 2/3 a film cannister (20ml meths)
2 cups of water boil in five minutes using 30ml meths (1 film cannister) and continue boiling for 2:30 min afterwards.
Chicken curry mixture used 2 cannisters (60ml)
Total fuel use for an easy summer weekend hikewas 170ml. A 1 litre bottle of meths would last 6 days or a week if you rationed the cuppas somewhat.
The energy density of meths is lower, only 2/3's IIRC than that of white spirit or gas so alcohol stoves have the weight advantage (aside from performance and cost comparisons) for trips of about 4-5 days or less, otherwise a light gas stove would be better.
Super Cat Stove:
Link:
http://jwbasecamp.com/Articles/SuperCat/index.html
