Sloop v. Sloop

I began building Murmeltier long before I planned on starting this blog. In February of 2008 I got really sick and was on the couch for week - terrible flu symptoms. It then that I decided I wasn't going to live in the cold for very much longer. I've had a love-hate relationship with MN for a long time and never intended on being back here for as long as I have. The only reason I did was to try and start over on the cheap. I wanted to be around family and friends and save money while I made a decent run at getting some stories published from the spare room in my parents' house. It didn't work out and along the way shifted from writing to business through my day job. So there I was, sick, 3 years later, living in an apartment in uptown, working on becoming a project manager, and I thought: "what the hell is going on here? I was only planning on being here for a short time. My mother has moved away and my dad is gone. I'm not saving any money and I'm still living in MN." I decided that I needed to escape from winter and the Midwest, but furthermore I needed to roam, be alone and self-reliant, and be somewhere warm - what better way to do that than from a sailboat? I've been dreaming (and preparing) ever since about the day I get to kick-off from the US and just putz around. Realizing that that day may be farther off in the future than I would like it to be, I set about building my own sailboat - the Murmeltier (marmot) - out of wooden stir sticks. The following posts will detail how that project has gone so far and will build up to the finishing touches I'll make to it in the coming month in preparation for launch this spring and a final race against the Uberstix sailboat I got for Christmas.

The Penny Stove - II

So I've discovered the secrets of the penny stove and there were several things I don't know about prior to my test on Tuesday.

First of all, I should have know the mechanics of the stove prior to lighting. That should go without saying for all projects but often can take some of the fun out of it. Anyway, the stove works using the can to direct the flow of heat and pressure of the fuel and its vapors. To that end, the penny acts as a valve. When it is sitting at normal state the penny creates enough tension so that the fuel doesn't drain into the cup allowing you to light it. Once lit, the flame heats up the aluminum burner, fuel cup, and liquid fuel. Due to the differences between the aluminum and copper (or zinc, I should say), the heated aluminum creates a space between the penny and the burner allowing the now-heated fuel to slip down into the cup. The fuel boils in the cup, vaporizes, and presses out the path of least resistance which is through the keys on the outer ring of the burner. As the vapor sprays out of the keys it comes in contact with the lit priming fuel and combusts.Knowing that, I now know what was going wrong beyond having the wrong materials. First was that I was filling up the fuel cup with and also the center of the burner, but what I should have been doing was leaving the penny in place to keep the fuel out of the cup and filling up the center to the point were the fuel spills over the lip and covers the jet holes. This does two things - heats the fuel cup better and retains some lit fuel on the edges of the stove to ignite the jets as they start spraying gas.

Having found out how the stove works and how to light it, I made sure to get some denatured alcohol (because pure grain alcohol is illegal in this state - figures) and I also wanted to find something out of which to build my pot stand. I found exactly what I'd been looking for at my trusty ACE hardware. Denatured alcohol is basically pure alcohol with additives that render it undrinkable but it's used as a solvent. I also found some metal skewers with rings at the end. I cut them into a tripod like the directions indicated. But before I did that I tried to make a cool cylindrical lattice of wire from the end of a cheap whisk. It didn't work out very well because I didn't bend them all the same way which made it difficult to line up in the end. It also was not sturdy enough to hold my pot so I smashed it with a hammer and tried again with much improved results. Take a look. All I really need now is a wind shield and I'm good to go. Can't wait to try this out for on the trail.

The Penny Stove

Here's something I stumbled upon, it's called a Penny Stove and it's made from beer cans. Who could pick a better project? So I decided to make one this evening. It requires three Heineken keg cans, three irrigation stakes, some Everclear, and a penny.

I didn't know this at the time - I knew I needed beer and irrigation stakes, but I couldn't find the stakes on my route home from work. The beer was easy to grab. Drinking it was easy and cutting up the cans was pretty awkward. I thought I'd use just the pocket knife because if I needed to build one in a pinch... In the end it turned out to be easier to cut a good line on the can with the knife. the scissors kind of got in the way. Drilling the holes probably too a little longer but it was easy enough to do. I did end up using a scissors, a leatherman, and a sharpie.

I didn't know the type of alcohol, because I didn't dig deep enough so I just thought I'd use rubbing alcohol. I couldn't find the alcohol, so I used brandy. Judging from all of the torched houses I've seen in movies that the damn thing would explode so I wore my science goggles as a precautionary measure. Thankfully no one was there to take my picture. Well, brandy isn't as explosively flammable as advertised. So I looked harder and found the rubbing alcohol. I tried using it with limited success. I did get it to light on fire, put it didn't sustain the flame.

Upon reading deeper, it seems that I wasn't priming it, filling it, or lighting it properly. There's a shocker. Also, I guess rubbing alcohol can cause a steam bubble to form and blow the penny right off. So I'm holding off for now until I know more about how this thing is supposed to work and it'll give me a chance to get some of the right kind of alcohol - I do have camping fuel but I think that might be too high octane for the beer-can penny-stove.