Thirty years ago I was given an old Pre-WWII Coleman Cabin Stove that had been living in a basement. It is a large 3-burner stove with a fuel tank that holds a gallon or more of liquid fuel. I was told that they could not get it to work and that somebody may have used leaded fuel in it, damaging the generator.
I purchased a propane converter, which is a valve with a treaded female end to recieve small propane bottles, and it has a tube that fits in place of the Coleman generator. The cost for the converter is between fifteen and twenty dollars. It can be found at many stores that sell camp stoves and camping supplies. Rather then use small propane bottles I use a three or five gallon tank. Either is good for more then a week of hunting camp, with fuel to spare. The large tanks are better then small bottles because it supplies a large volume of fuel to all three burners at a higher pressure.
This stove has lead to dinning success in many hunting camps over the years and large family campouts. The keys are burner space and volume of heat put out by the burners. This stove works great at higher altitudes. One on my favorite spots is around 8000-foot elevation.
My wife has supported my hunting and camping from the start. Almost forty years ago she gave me a Winchester brand, two burners, propane Campstove. On a regular bases I take it apart and clean it up. I should note that I carry a small propane bottle in the stove.
One of my fondest memories was when I took my elderly father out on a late season hunt. A that time Dad never got far from the comforts of the vehicle. We had 4-wheeled into a high elevation area and it had been a mixture of rain and snow all morning. Around noon there was a break in the weather. I broke with family tradition and pulled out the Winchester stove, a small coffee pot, and a pot to heat up can stew. I still recall the smile on Dad’s face as he sipped his coffee, and enjoyed the hot stew along with the can peaches, and sliced bread. If I recall correctly this was our last hunting trip.
Over the years I have broken that stove out many times on a hunt and lunch time to heat a meal for my hunting partners and myself. A good noon meal keeps us going into the evening. Many times we start the day with cold cereal so we need the mid day energy boost.
The old stove is not cooking as hot as it did in the past. I may have to find a new regulator for it. But parts maybe hard to come by.
I was recently given an old two burner Campstove my hunting partner picked up at a yard sale for five dollars. After I got it home, I almost tossed it. Rust had found a home on the exterior in a number of locations. But the major damage was in the fuel tank. Rust was inside the tank. The filler camp leaked, and even with the addition of oil to the pump valve the tank would not retain air pressure.
I took the burners apart, cleaned them and used air pressure to clean the manifold. I then attached a propane converter and a bottle of propane. Both eyes burned with a hot blue flame.
I used WD-40 to loosen the rust. And then attacked the problem with steel wool. Admittedly I could have done a better job, but I removed most of the rust. Next came a coat of spray on primer, followed by coats of Hunter Green paint. The net results are the stove looks okay and is very functional. The results are very low cost Campstove.
After talking to my hunting partner he is thinking about converting his older liquid fuel Coleman stoves to propane.
Every few years I hear about a wildfire that started from a Coleman lantern. I have seen them flame up a few times and I always use them in a cleared area. During the high school years I spent two summers fishing in Western Canada. A Coleman lantern and stove served us well.
But I had my close call with a Coleman stove. When I setup camp I pulled out my rake and cleaned more then ten feet around the cooking area. Later I had a large coffee pot making while I did chores close by. I went over and checked the coffee and nothing was happening. The flame was out. I turned off the fuel tank valve and checked inside the stove box. It appeared that the fuel had evaporated.
Clearly I must have been suffering brain damage. When I re-lighted the stove after a 10-minute delay flame came out of the manifold and the burner. At first it was a small amount. I turned off the fuel tank and removed the fuel tank and the coffee pot putting them out of the way. When the flames grew I grabbed a shovel and filled the stove with dirt. After knocking the flames down I had a mess to clean up. I am happy to say the fire did not escape.
Lesson Learn: When the flame went out the pressurized fuel tank continued to supply fuel. While it appeared the exterior fuel vaporized the manifold retained a fair amount of unburned fuel. I should have cleaned an area of forest fuels some distance from my cooking area and taken the stove to that location after putting out the flames. I could have open the valve for the second burner and tipped the stove over allowing any fuel in the manifold to run out and evaporate in a save location.
I must admit that after that event the clearance around my cooking area was expanded to 30-feet.
So if you come into my camp you will see the shovel near by along with an ABC fire extinguisher next to the cooking area.
