Nansen choofer clone Help wanted

Discussion about making bushwalking-related equipment.

Nansen choofer clone Help wanted

Postby Moondog55 » Sat 02 Jun, 2018 4:34 pm

I've made choofer boxes before but they were from plywood and very heavy and clunky or simply old cooking oil drums cut down short
For my proposed trip to Alaska I am thinking of something similar to the Nansen choofer/cooker
http://www.spiritofmawson.com/objects/n ... ntarctica/

But made from something smaller and perhaps thin stainless steel such as a small stock pot as LW and extra-large aluminium billies are now a tad more difficult to find
I know there are excellent modern clones available but I don't think I will have the funds needed for custom made CF stuff.
Only for a 2-Up trip so I'm happy to use my existing pots, either the MSR or the TOAKS and most likely a combination
One thought I've had is to modify a Bundt pan with side handles to use as a snow-melter
https://www.kitchenwarehouse.com.au/Bak ... y=11225402
or an Angel cake tin but these are usually 2 piece and I find it difficult to solder aluminium and silicon may not take the prolonged heat
https://www.kitchenwarehouse.com.au/Mon ... zQQAvD_BwE
A single piece Angel cake tin might work well

The idea behind the Nansen cooker is total shelter from the wind and to capture as much heat from your fuel as possible, any excess cooker weight being easily made up with the weight of fuel saved and melting snow takes a lot of fuel
Other ideas that have crossed my mind are thin aluminium sheets folding on short piano hinges like an old fashioned collapsible meat safe.
The MSR XKG_EX would be sitting on a ply and aluminium base which would probably be insulated with CCF or similar or it would sit on top of a purpose made sledding box which would protect the stove during the day and give added height for cooking
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Re: Nansen choofer clone Help wanted

Postby Tony » Sun 03 Jun, 2018 5:14 pm

Hi Moondog,

I looked at making a Nansen cooker a few years ago, the outer snow melting pot turned out to be very difficult to make and I gave up and made a cold temperature stove base on a Trangia and a modified Kovea gas stove, I used some lightweight ally pots. here is a link to a thread where I posted a couple of pics. http://bushwalk.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=14355

Tony
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Re: Nansen choofer clone Help wanted

Postby Moondog55 » Sun 03 Jun, 2018 5:34 pm

Thanx Tony
Yes it isn't an easy pot system to DIY it seems but so much more efficient than the biscuit tin choofer boxes ANARE used to use.
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Re: Nansen choofer clone Help wanted

Postby Franco » Sat 16 Jun, 2018 10:15 am

How about something like this ?
360FURNOLRGPOTS.jpg
360FURNOLRGPOTS.jpg (44.24 KiB) Viewed 24933 times

The 1.7 L pot already does nest inside the 2.8 l one , so you would need to partially cut the bottom of the larger one and maybe add some holes at the top of the same .
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Re: Nansen choofer clone Help wanted

Postby Moondog55 » Sat 16 Jun, 2018 10:35 am

Yes but bigger
I actually have that same set in the ALDI version. I have some new big pots coming to try out this white season, one of which is the big FireMaple 4 litre pot with the tapered shape like the old SIGG cooking pots. The problem I see is that Aluminium has such a low melting point and the bottom part of the skirt will be exposed to some of the flame. Not a problem for aluminium as a cooking vessel as the water inside keeps it cool but there is no coolant for the skirt material. This is why I really think that the skirt needs to be Titanium or Stainless steel and the Ti is so much lighter and stiffer than SS.
All of which will still need to be enclosed and covered in a full windscreen unless we are always cooking inside the tents but we haven't planned to also take a dedicated group shelter for cooking.
Adding in 3 kilos for a cooking shelter may make sense tho
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Re: Nansen choofer clone Help wanted

Postby Franco » Sat 16 Jun, 2018 11:06 am

Good point about aluminium and melting when not in contact with water.
Maybe the older versions were a lot thicker or the outside temp kept them from softening anyway.
Mind you, there is a chance that at minus 20/30/40 c the air temperature will keep the outside pot from melting if the flame is not directly on it.
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Re: Nansen choofer clone Help wanted

Postby Moondog55 » Sun 17 Jun, 2018 4:39 pm

At those temperatures I think that the stove etc would all be encased in an outer shell.
I've seen pix of ANARE teams [ 1960s / 1970s ] using a big choofer box that looked very much like an old kero tin with the front cut out and hinged. Snow for melting looked to be in a separate pot sitting over the top. I have seen pix of other contraptions to do similar jobs.
I have no experience in any fully enclosed cooking boxes but with an XGK there is no problem with overheating the fuel container etc:
My American mate has no better suggestion so far but there are some big skirted pots out now, bigger and heavier than needed for 4 persons tho.
This pot was suggested to me over at BPL, 7 litres isn't really too big but it weighs almost 2 kilos
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Re: Nansen choofer clone Help wanted

Postby Moondog55 » Sat 18 Aug, 2018 2:01 pm

Here's a link to a home made choofer box very similar to the old ANARE ones and the plywood one I made ages ago, bigger than the one I made by a mile tho
http://www.mountainbike-expedition-team ... /food.html
My new extra wide pots from Fire-Maple/ GSI do work very well as snow melters due to the width but need a very stable stove under them. While turning them into skirted pots would be ideal I think just making a box with shelves will be simpler
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