Winter Liquid Fuel Stove Base

[dirtbag]

https://linkshwiaring.samsungcloud.com/gmDDyCIlodF6

Not sure if that link will work but just a quick shot of a winter stove base I made for melting snow and cooking with a liquid fuel stove. It is just a piece of foam poster board with silver foil tape on it. For under the stove I used a piece of welders carbon felt and then a piece of Hi heat flame proof reflective tape. Under the fuel can is 2 pieces of thin foam insulation tape and I used 2 thin pieces of shock cord to hold the bottle in place. It is heavy at about 7 ounces and I can probably trim it down another ounce or so, but that would still be rather heavy.. so it is by no means light weight, but for deep freeze winter camping when needing to cook and melt snow for water, it might work well. Now I need winter to roll in…

[Jon Fong / Flat Cat Gear]

Looks good to me.  Question: do you need to insulate the fuel bottle?  Just curious.

[Hopearotie]

Looks like all you need is some snow…I have about 6” in my backyard. Have you ever used this setup? I have the MSR whisperlite that works great. I’m lazy and don’t even use the wind screen most of the time. I just set it down on the metal baseplate. I’ve never had to conserve fuel either (I day trip or at most stay 2 nights). Really cool setup you have there dirtbag. I love liquid fuel stoves. I have a couple I really enjoy using. Plus it’s winter…weights goes out the window for me and I worry about being warm and comfortable. Most of my time outside is a couple mile snowshoe in and lots of time at camp. You know what’s they say…”comfort is king” and I’m all about that statement for winter trips.

[David Thomas]

I’ve long used a 5″x5″ or 6″ x 6″ piece of waxed cardboard from (free) grocery-store produce boxes.  It doubles as a cutting board and triples as an emergency fire starter.  If it gets nasty after multiple trips, burn it up your last night and cut a new piece.  I haven’t had a problem with it getting too warm, but if you were concerned or wanted more heat reflection, you can wrap it in aluminum foil.

[dirtbag]

No, i do not need the fuel bottle insulation.. I dont think so.  I have read that it could help and also makes it easier to handle.. though in reality, as for handling the bottle, I would most likely have gloves on and not be bare handed.

I agree about weight in winter..comfort is KING, lol. My winter gear is pretty much disled in and it is definitely not a bad weight fully loaded, so I have room to play and add for comfort if wanted/needed. I just made that base board so other then messing with it at work and at home, no I haven’t used it in snow yet. The stove set up, same.. I have not needed it yet in the right conditions. It is a bit overkill for most of my trips and I can usually get away with my MSR Windburner or Soto Windmaster. I am waiting for its time to be needed and hopefully this winter I coincide with a good wicked storm and will bring it.

Good idea with that wax cardboard!!

[nunatak]

This is great iteration of a much needed winter accessory, dirtbag!

Here’s one I’ve been using for many years now. It differs a little in that the priming cup from the Whisperlite is modified to allow it to remain attached to the plate. The stove itself screw onto this when at camp. Also the stove legs are not used, but instead I use an integrated pot holder/windscreen. Take a look!

Msr whisperlite/firefly snow setup

[dirtbag]

Wow. Thats pretty cool. I like that. And it works well for you.. I see tried and true..

[Bonzo]

Timely thread; I’m working on something for my Muka that is right along the same lines.  I’m thinking that rigid backer with a reflective surface to (hopefully) keep the heat at bay will work best; some aluminized Nomex may also be involved, because evidently the burner on that stove was built by Rocketdyne.

[edvin mellergård]

https://imgur.com/gallery/7XpH8r5

This is a similar base plate I made last winter for my Omnifuel from 4mm plywood. One addition I made was a space to place bottles when fill them with water. I always spill some water outside or the hot water inside the bottle melts the snow and then it fall over. This base plate stops that from happening.

For skitouring with a pulk this is a nice upgrade. I’ve seen some norwegians even bolting this to the bottom of a lid for a plastic crate. They use the crate as a table inside the tent and the lid as a very large base.

[Bonzo]

Nicely done, Edvin.  I like the attention to detail; it gives me some ideas of my own. 👍

[edvin mellergård]

Nicely done, Edvin.  I like the attention to detail; it gives me some ideas of my own. 👍

Thanks! One thing I want to change is to get rid of the bungee for the fuel bottle, maybe use velcro or something else instead to make it easier to flip the bottle to empty the hose from fuel. Or maybe 3d print some snaphook thing that folds flat so I can still store it in the bottom of my pulk.

[dirtbag]

Yes thats pretty neat also! Nice job there.

[Eric Blumensaadt]

Nice work guys. I needed one for my MSR Universal stove. I made mine from a light piece of plywood, coated 3 times with clear  exterior grade polyurethane spray and hardware store aluminum screen door hold down tabs. One rotates to permit stove attachment/removal.

My remote MSR canister is wrapped in light (1/8″ thick) closed cell floor underlayment and duct tape but I like the “repurposed” beverage can insulation sleeve.

[Roger Caffin]

Neat, but complex and heavy maybe.
You do not need to anchor or insulate the fuel canister. I never do.
All I use is a simple bit of 3 mm ply with a few holes at the edges. I can stake the stove down through those holes.

This is enough inside the tent, and outside in the sun as well.

(Windscreen removed for the photo.)

These days the bit of ply has got quite a bit smaller too: it is still enough.

(Once again, windscreen opened for the photo.)

Cheers

[Jan Rezac]

This is what I use. Double duty as a snow-digging tool. More info here.

[Eric Blumensaadt]

BTW, EXCELLENT topic! Only winter campers know of the need for this.

[Author]

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