How my Whisperlite stove lost weight!

[vipahman]

The problem began when I wanted a "lightweight" winter stove good till 0F. Experimenting with my Pepsi alcohol stove at 40F, it took me about twice the time to bring 16oz of water to a boil in comparison to my Whisperlite. So I knew that it would be pointless to try to boil water when outside temps were 0-10F even if I could get the alcohol stove to light with all the warming tricks I learnt.

So I dismantled my Whisperlite, removed the legs and used 3 titanium stakes thru the holes in the upper part to serve as legs and pot stand. Another side effect was that the circumference of the stove reduced making it possible to trim the windscreen. Voila! The Whisperlite went from 9.1 oz to 6.1 oz. The windscreen went from 1.7 oz to 1.1 oz. Total weight went from 10.8 to 7.2 oz. Not a bad weight for reliable heat at 0-10F.

Here are some photos. What do you think?

P.S. My 11 fluid oz MSR bottle weighs 4.9 oz with pump. Are there any lighter options?

[The Solemates]

wow thats a shiny new fuel bottle.

[vipahman]

wow thats a shiny new fuel bottle.
I used to carry the 22oz but downsized to the 11oz one to shave off 1.65oz.:clap It is brand new.

[scothiker]

I have a Whisperlite I just got - newbie! - and am figuring it out, etc., but was starting to think I'd opted for too heavy a stove. So your post is great - where'd you get the titanium stakes - are they tent stakes (forgive me, as I said, total newbie).

[TN_Hiker]

I have a Whisperlite I just got - newbie! - and am figuring it out, etc., but was starting to think I'd opted for too heavy a stove. So your post is great - where'd you get the titanium stakes - are they tent stakes (forgive me, as I said, total newbie).

Yes, they are tent stakes. You are only going to be able to find titanium stakes at a good outfitter -- not something Wally world would touch. With you being involved with the Scouts the Whisperlite will be a good stove. Man oh man do those Scouts like to have their 5 course meals.....lol

[vipahman]

I have a Whisperlite I just got - newbie! - and am figuring it out, etc., but was starting to think I'd opted for too heavy a stove. So your post is great - where'd you get the titanium stakes - are they tent stakes (forgive me, as I said, total newbie).
I got the 10-pack from GossamerGear.com.

[Ender]

Here are some photos. What do you think?

P.S. My 11 fluid oz MSR bottle weighs 4.9 oz with pump. Are there any lighter options?

Pretty slick...

[scothiker]

Yes, they are tent stakes. You are only going to be able to find titanium stakes at a good outfitter -- not something Wally world would touch. With you being involved with the Scouts the Whisperlite will be a good stove. Man oh man do those Scouts like to have their 5 course meals.....lol

Yes, I think the Whisperlite will do nicely, although the instructions are quite intimidating, implying it will explode upon any false move! Just covering their rears, I realize...

Thanks for the tips.

[scothiker]

I got the 10-pack from GossamerGear.com.

Thanks for tip. Also for not making fun of a newbie. :)

[Wolf - 23000]

I used to carry the 22oz but downsized to the 11oz one to shave off 1.65oz.:clap It is brand new.

vipahman,

Be carefully about trimming off extra fuel in the winter. I've already been snow in for three days. I could not hike because the winds were extremely strong over 60 M.P.H. blowing snow. I could not see two feet in front of me.

I need the fuel to melt snow as I waited out the storm.

Wolf

[Hikes in Rain]

Yes, I think the Whisperlite will do nicely, although the instructions are quite intimidating, implying it will explode upon any false move! Just covering their rears, I realize...

Didn't have an explosion with mine, but was seriously reminded of the dangers of fire when I decided to start my section hiking. My old Whisperlite had been sitting in the garage for several years. Dug it out of the box, filled the fuel bottle (the old shiny spun aluminum ones, that's how old this thing was) and fired it up. I was technically in the garage, with the door open, sitting between the cars out of the rather murderous Florida sun. Mistake number one. At least the stove was outside.

Didn't think about checking any of the rubber seals or O-rings. Nah, they'd never deteriorate, stored for years in a really HOT garage. Mistake number 2.

Burned fitfully, smoking and with a tiny, uneven flame. Just as I was bending over it to monkey around and "fix" it, the seal between the fuel bottle and the pressure pump gave way. A little arc of fuel jetted over to a direct hit on the flame. The whole mess became a little fireball, with the pressure still venting the fuel!

Heaven help me, my first reaction was to try to blow the flame out. I played tuba through grade and high school, and some during my first year of college, plus I've run almost daily for decades. I have lung capacity. I almost did it! If the bottle hadn't been so darned pressurized!

Next step: grab the denim bag I'd made to carry it. (No carry bag came with this stove) Well, that didn't work either, since the jet of fuel quickly started saturating the cloth, and then IT caught fire!

By that time, things were heating up, and I was beginning to wonder what the tensile strength of a pressurized aluminum bottle would be under intense heat would be. And how big a fireball that might make upon catastrophic failure. Remember, I'm still in the garage! (Note that my thoughts were perhaps not quite that coherant, although my wife inside reported not hearing any screaming)

Finally, it dawned on me that the stove was already beyond salvage (I could see the plastic parts were melting and perhaps burning on their own) and that I was messing with a real live bomb in the house. Thought to myself, "self, this is stupid!!" and kicked the thing as hard as I could. It made a lovely light even in the brillianly lit summer sky, trailing an arc of flame as it soared thirty feet up the drive.

Ran to the side yard, grabbed the hose, cranked on the water, and made it up to the slowly speading fire before the water hit the nozzle, and sprayed the flames away from the source. The metal parts sizzled loudly, making me wonder just how close things got.

All the plastic parts were melted into one fused lump. Two days before my sceduled departure, and no stove. You know, MSR insisted that their lifetime warrenty covered even mindlessly moronic acts like this, and shipped me a new Shaker stove for shipping charges only?

[vipahman]

Be carefully about trimming off extra fuel in the winter. I've already been snow in for three days. I could not hike because the winds were extremely strong over 60 M.P.H. blowing snow. I could not see two feet in front of me.

I need the fuel to melt snow as I waited out the storm.

Right on Wolf! The 11 oz is for basic AT winter hiking and that too for upto 3 days at the most. Unfortunatley, most of my hiking fits into that category but for the 1-week once a year. I wouldn't be without my 22 oz bottle if we got that kinda weather.

[vipahman]

Yes, I think the Whisperlite will do nicely, although the instructions are quite intimidating, implying it will explode upon any false move! Just covering their rears, I realize...
...
All the plastic parts were melted into one fused lump....
What plastic parts? My Whisperlite (now 8 years old) has no plastic. And sometimes the flame can be intimidating especially while starting up but as soon as you understand how it works, it becomes as safe as common sense will permit.

[Hikes in Rain]

What plastic parts? My Whisperlite (now 8 years old) has no plastic. And sometimes the flame can be intimidating especially while starting up but as soon as you understand how it works, it becomes as safe as common sense will permit.

The pump that fits into the fuel bottle is plastic. That's what melted into a little lump. Don't get me wrong, it's a fine stove, both the new one and its deceased redecessor have served me well.

[ZEKE #2]

My 6 year old grandaughter loves to tell the story about me and my whisperlite. I left the valve open a bit too long when lighting it and fuel leaked onto the picnic table. We had one hell of a bonfire for a few minutes. She is sure to tell anyone that we did it safetly, cause I warned her to stand back while I started the stove. I'll be practicing my lighting methods before I start my 08' thru hike.:)

[TN_Hiker]

Hikes in Rain: loved that story -- I bet it was a funny sight to see.

[Hikes in Rain]

Took a couple of days to fully appreciate it, but it truly must have been! I'd been thinking of a new stove, but hadn't really planned on that level of effort! Thanks, appreciate it.

[DLFrost]

So I dismantled my Whisperlite, removed the legs and used 3 titanium stakes thru the holes in the upper part to serve as legs and pot stand.
Interesting mod, I'll have to try this. I have a tiny half-size aluminum fuel bottle, so my overnight/weekender weight should be even less...

The only thing I can think to be a problem here is driving those stakes into frozen ground.

(Note to experimenters: You remove the bottom preheat cup and then just slide the legs off. That way you can put em back on later if you want.)

Doug Frost

[vipahman]

Interesting mod, I'll have to try this. I have a tiny half-size aluminum fuel bottle, so my overnight/weekender weight should be even less...

The only thing I can think to be a problem here is driving those stakes into frozen ground.

(Note to experimenters: You remove the bottom preheat cup and then just slide the legs off. That way you can put em back on later if you want.)

Doug Frost
Can you post a photo or link about the aluminum fuel bottle?

Also the stakes are pretty thin, so driving them into frozen ground is not a problem. I used my setup in the blizzard by Fingerboard shelter (NY section 11) very successfully. Temps were somewhere in the teens. The negative part about using stakes is that you can't setup on rocks.

[OhCanada]

Same seal failure with mine this summer. Gasket where the stove connects to the pump. Leaked fuel on the table but I noticed it when the stove failed to light the first time. I wish MSR would stop selling their spare parts kit as such an outragious price.

After that failure I fixed the stove but also bought the Pocket Rocket for less moving parts and no pumping.

Umm...that mod looks like a forest fire waiting to happen.

[vipahman]

Umm...that mod looks like a forest fire waiting to happen.
I thought of that too but the difference between the staked and legged version is only about 1/2" inch. So the first and most important thing to do is to clear up a 6" radius under the stove and always use the windscreen after lighting the pre-cup. I do that even with the legged version.

I also tried different things to maintain the height/safety. Two ideas that worked quite well were :-

1. Putting a stone underneath the pre-cup.
2. Staking at an angle instead of straight down allows raising the stove upto 1" but it takes a little time getting it all level.

Any stove is as safe as it's user. And to reiterate, clearing up the 6" radius and using the windscreen is the safest way to go.

[lost & found]

First, You will never be able to cook on a picnic table using the stakes.

Second, You have to be extremely careful with your pot so that it doesn't tip over. Last summer I had to help a fellow that parboiled his leg when his (too large for his stove) pot tipped over and covered his leg with boiling water. Fortunately, we were in SNP and were able to get rangers to help get him out. You need to have a very stable platform for the pot or you are asking for trouble.:confused: It's a good idea, but . . . BE CAREFUL!

[vipahman]

First, You will never be able to cook on a picnic table using the stakes.
It's an ultralight option. If you want to cook on a picnic table, don't amputate your stove. :bse


Second, You have to be extremely careful with your pot so that it doesn't tip over. Last summer I had to help a fellow that parboiled his leg when his (too large for his stove) pot tipped over and covered his leg with boiling water. Fortunately, we were in SNP and were able to get rangers to help get him out. You need to have a very stable platform for the pot or you are asking for trouble.:confused: It's a good idea, but . . . BE CAREFUL!
If staked in correctly, it's actually more stable than stock. :clap

[icemanat95]

The worry I would have over this is that it would offer absolutely no stability if setting up on snow, ice, or other difficult surfaces common to winter backpacking.

I typically find myself adding mass to account for this, adding a stove board to set my stove on and to reflect heat back up at the pot rather than spending it melting down what's under the stove and quite possibly destabilizing my dinner.