Supercat Homemade Stove

Two suggestions,

It burns better/hotter with a pot on top.

I'm pretty sure the Supercat page doesn't emphasise the need to let the alcohol come up to heat fully (prime) before putting the pot on. This will take 45-60 sec, and is ready when you can see the alcohol boiling and bubbling in the stove. If you put the pot on before this, it will extinguish. (At least it did for me)

Edit: Thanks for the heads up. You're right Denis, a minute in NYC would take at least three quarters of an hour here.

Thanks Rob, Ill pull out the pot this afternoon and see how well it works, im thinking an ounce of fuel will give me about 8 minutes of burn time including prime, plenty to boil 2 cups of water?

I've been using a homemade supercat for a few years now, and I never prime it or even wait for it come to a boil. I just light it and put my pot on top, and I've never had it extinguish or any other problems.

As for burn time, I get about 6 minutes out of 1 ounce of fuel–usually enough to bring 2 cups of water to a good boil.

I've also been using a supercat for a few years. I generally light mine with my trusty Boy Scout Hot Spark Fire Starter (I've had this one for about ten years and use it frequently – the spark is a great matchless way to light the fumes, it is a little harder to use in subfreezing weather). Once the stove is lit, I put the fire starter down and pick up my cook pot. By that time the stove is hot enough to put the pot on. BTW, the hot spark fits perfectly inside the stove and even leaves enough room for a small box of backup matches.

Hi Rod

> the need to let the alcohol come up to heat fully (prime) before putting the pot on. This will take 45-60 min

Ahhh… Would you like to re-read that bit maybe?

Cheers

Roger,
That's probably a "New York Minute". It's a Yankee thing.

Hey Guys
So I fired it up tonight, using about 1 1/4 oz of fuel, let it burn for about 30 seconds and then put my smaller msr titan pot on it, with a cut open red bull can as my wind protection, about 40 degrees here. Took about 6 minutes for bubbles, 8 minutes for a rolling boil, the fuel lasted me about 14 minutes, I was able to get the pot up to bubbles a second time on the same fuel, new cool tap water. I was very impressed with the way it performed. I used Heet instead of an alternative alcohol because it was easier to get my hands on 2 nights ago.
I decided to use the titan ti pot in the future because I can pack everything I need other than my fuel in the pot and it comes out to
MSR Titan – 4.2oz
Red Bull Wind Screen – 0.1oz
REI Ti Folding Spork – 0.4oz
Supercat Mod Stove with Snuffer – 1.0oz
1oz Nalgene Measure – 0.2oz
Box of 32 Matches – 0.3oz
Total – 5.2oz
Thanks to everyones posts for the help.
Any other tricks/tips please let me know
I have pics but for some reason the insert image at cursor isnt working for me.
Regards

Kelham – you don't really need a measuring device because after one or two uses, you'll know how full to fill the stove. There are lighter pots, too. My antigravitygear 3 C pot (without lid) weighs 2.8 oz. My supercat weighs .1 oz. Yours weighs a whole ounce, with the snuffer? You could probably ditch the snuffer if you're consistently boiling a set volume of water for the same reason you don't need the measurng cup – you'll learn how much fuel to pour into the stove. Just a few ideas to lighten your cooking setup. Alcohol stoves are great.

Kathleen, my super cat is a little heavier because I have a 5oz can base, 3oz can supercat and 5oz can snuffer with .2oz wooden handle. I like my titan pot so i probably wont change that but I will dump the measuring cup and look into lightening the supercat , thanks for the comments
regards