How to get all the things of a Trangia I like but just smaller and lighter

[Nigel Healy]

I'm a 30-year veteran Trangia user, and I've progressively replaced my camping gear with lighter backpack, tent, sleeping mat, sleeping bag. %he main piece of large heavy kit I still have is my Trangia, the smaller 27 size. I've watched others with alternative stoves and I think I know what I want and what I don't want, but I am totally confused from all the online options available. Help!

Here's what I like and I'd miss from a Trangia:

– two large nestled pots, about 1L in size. I make "real" food using whatever is at home, or from stores, mixing it with some more camping-type dried food. Any smaller and I just spill over the sides as I stir. I might be able to get down to 900ml type size but simply more risk of food being falling outside the pan

– stirring the food as I cook, I do stuff like porridge oats and stir as I bring it to the boil, so I like wide pans

– eat one thing as I cook another, again 2 pans

– keep one dish warm as I cook another, the trick of cooking one dish in the wider pot then place ontop of the narrower pot. Chicken curry and rice is a good example.

– I use the frying pan lid as a method to keep the food inside warm, keep insects and grass out and to have something to put a pot on which isn't grass.

– eating out of the pots, using them as bowls

– the pot grips, so I can hold a pot I've just cooked in as my bowl, and using 2 pots

– I like the stability of the total package, its very hard to knock over, the wide base is rigid

– the slowness of the cooking I prefer, harder to burn or boil over. I'm not in a hurry to cook. However, if I did have a faster cooking system I might use for lunchtime drinks or cooked lunches.

Here's what I don't need

– the frying pan lid for actually frying, I never actually fry anything, the sort of foods that fry I just don't want to eat. I'm only using the lid as a lid which goes on pots or on the ground.

– the weight

– the wrattling noise "here comes a Trangia"

So I've looked at a few alternatives, I either don't like or I'm not sure if its making a big positive difference

– I looked at the Jetboil Sol Ti. Its just one pot, its tall and narrow, and its Ti and its got an intense heat at the bottom, that's fine for boiling water but porridge would be burned to the bottom easily. I'd have to add another pot to the system, which pot is wider and drops the Jetboil inside?

– I inherently trust Alcohol stoves, there's nothing mechanical to fail if I fall.

– Caldera Cone system. This looks attractive, its lighter but how do I get 2 pots? I want basically 2 L pots or them slightly different size say 850ml inside a 1L. Which pots? The issue is the Caldera system relies on the outside diameter of the pot being the same so using nested pots won't work, unless I use some kind of pegs inside the cone to hold a smaller pot?

Any help pointing me in the right direction.

[Rand Lindsly]

>Caldera Cone system. This looks attractive, its lighter but how do I get 2 pots? I want basically 2 L pots or them slightly different size say 850ml inside a 1L. Which pots? The issue is the Caldera system relies on the outside diameter of the pot being the same so using nested pots won't work, unless I use some kind of pegs inside the cone to hold a smaller pot?

Actually, I seem to remember playing with this nested 2 pot Trangia in the past, and as I recall, the pots fit so tight, and the lip around the edge is so large, that I believe we can get one cone to work with both pots. Drop me an email directly and we'll hash through it!

Rand :-) (randATtraildesignsDOTcom)

[al b]

I posted an idea for a related 2 part cone trangia in the following thread:

http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/forums/thread_display.html?forum_thread_id=55989&skip_to_post=503039#503039

(Thread in Gear : Stove of the week: The Trangia 27)

[jacko vanderbijl]

My stove is the Evernew Ti Stove set (http://www.evernewamerica.com/ti_gear.htm) which has two drawbacks compared to Trangia – 1. you don't have a lid for burner to save unused fuel so you need to judge well and 2. the stove set is quite small so pots being stirred can be more unstable etc.
I don't consider the lack of simmer control an issue as I have pot cozies for all my pots (e.g.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WO92ndwx5UA).
The pot cozies can make a big difference in the noise factor as well.
For pots if you want to nest 2 pots like Trangia I would suggest just use the Trangia pots and grippers. I use one Evernew Ti pot and one single wall stainless steel mug (yes – with it's own cozy). I know SS is not ultralight but I picked it up for $1.00 at a Salvation Army store and it has a lid! As a single wall mug I can use it direct on the stove for a soup or a coffee. I wrap the stove kit in half a tea towel (dish cloth I think you call them in the US) and put it inside the pot and no rattles. The mug stores whatever fits inside – usually coffee and/or sugar. As the pot and the mug have handles I don't need grippers but the towel sometimes helps avoid burns when I boil direct in the mug.

I don't think my setup is quite what you seek but I suggest that mix and match what works for you may be the best way to go.
I do think the Caldera system looks one of the best ways to go for alcohol stoves and my son who hikes with me has bought a sheet of titanium to make his own but won't until he settles on what two pots he wants to carry and then will make a cone to fit both. But I just sort of "evolved" my setup and couldn't be happier with it.

[ben wood]

Rand has the answer for you. ( i was going to say "call Rand")

If you could get away with a cone, you could use your trangia burner that simmers, and your stacking pots but not have the heavy windscreen or fry pan lid.

best of both worlds…and a company that will really help you out!

[Stephen Barber]

Have you looked at the clikstand ti set-up for Triangia (also the lighter Evernew ti alcohol stove)? I use mine with an Evernew .9 L pot, which holds stand, windscreen and stove nicely. The lid on the pot is just a lid, but you're not frying anyway. I think it covers the rest of your "likes", although it would be no faster than your current set-up.

Adding an additional larger pot would be up to you.

[Nigel Healy]

so I *own* the Duossal pans which I like but those pans are not compatible with the cone due to a very shallow lip, so my only lightening-up options are:

– use my Duossal pans basically the likes of Clickstand, etc which are inferior to the cone (heavier, more wind-prone and more costly).

– Or I get new pans and the freedom of choice there. I inherently for "real cooking" do not like Ti as it burns too easily and why I like Duossal its a basically a Alu-HA very tough solution. Alu-HA are practically the same weight, only 20g heavier than Ti.

– Or use a "beer band" type heat-proof tight friction ring to make the Duossal pans capable of being propped up by the Cone, basically give the Duossal pan a lip.

[al b]

Nigel Healy said:
"so I *own* the Duossal pans which I like but those pans are not compatible with the cone due to a very shallow lip, so my only lightening-up options are…"

You could use a caldera cone with stakes for support (like the sidewinders).

Did you see my 2 part Caldera Cone UL trangia like variant idea:

http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/forums/thread_display.html?forum_thread_id=55989&skip_to_post=503039#503039

(Thread in Gear : Stove of the week: The Trangia 27)

[Bailey Gin]

This was a special-order cone from Trail Designs and how I got to use different size pots: http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/forums/thread_display.html?forum_thread_id=38016.

Call or e-mail Rand and I'm sure you two can work out something similar to meet your needs.

Bailey

[Nigel Healy]

yes stakes to support a Duossal pan is an option

[Stephen Barber]

Duossal pans, while very high quality, are anything but lightweight – seriously lightening your cooking system is going to be difficult if the Duossal pots are kept.

For my use, I find that ti pots are fine for boiling or simmering, but aluminum is necessary for sauteing or frying. So my pot is ti, and my pan (not often taken) is non-stick coated aluminum.

[Nigel Healy]

I have the weights. Duossal 27 outer pan no lid no handle is 130g. If you have both pans 134g+130g = 264g, add a handle is 24g (Ti) to 48g (Trangia 27 handle) = 312g for two 1L pots with Trangia handle. A basic Titanium pot with handle of 1L with handle is 116g. Add a non-stick coating and a Ti-nonstick 1L with handle+lid is 140g and if you used a simple foil lid for the Duossal you're basically getting a few grammes of each other. So I'd not see Dussosal as heavy "like for like" but accept heavy relative to your basic Ti pot.

If you're going for 2 pots the two Duossal are actually not much more weight at all than Ti+nonstick, having the nested pot with one gripper handle is a nice compact system.

I like the pot-gripper concept, I've never lost mine in 30yrs and I pick up a cold gripper, grip a hot pot and put the pot down, vs touching a handle which has spent last few minutes attached to a warming pot and above a flame. Having pots without attached handles is neater for stacking and I suspect less total weight too.

I'd say Duossal is comparable to Alu Hard anodized, so from Trail Designs their nearest equivalent to Duossal is say the Open Country 3 Cup Hard Anodized Pot 108g with lid no handle.

As Duossal is no longer commercially available, for anyone starting out there's the Alu+HA pans available. I'd guess the steel inside Duossal will outlast the HA coating by many many meals.

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