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NEWS: 20 2000 NOV 2001 Two changes to the site. I have changed the hit counter on the bar at the left to a new counter up top. I did this because the new one doesn't use a java script. My old counter only tracked unique hits so leaving it on every page was OK, but the new one tracks every hit, so I moved it to the home page. The other change was moving the ad. I hated the old pop-up. SGT Rock! NEWS: 19 1330 NOV 2001 Another Stove update. Today I sat around and built another stove measuring all the parts and making notes for the instructions. Since I still don't have a digital camera yet, I've done some diagrams in Paint. Check out the instructions. SGT Rock! NEWS: 19 0800 NOV 2001 Another Stove update. Last night I spent some time trying out an idea for a heat exchanger I got from the web board of Thru-Hiker.com. I got it from the same Jeff that sent me the Fiberglass felt fabric for my new pot cozy. Anyway, my pot isn't very contusive to a heat exchanger because it is curved, but I managed to make one and give it a try. I even used it to melt a bowl full of ice into cooking temperature water with only 1 ounce alcohol. I've posted the results on the Turbo V8 page. SGT Rock! NEWS: 18 1430 NOV 2001 Another update today - Stove stuff! I've added instructions, tests, and conclusions for my new stove I've dubbed the Turbo V8. If you look to the left on the site index you will see a slight re-arrangement for some pages and the new Turbo V8 page listed. I ran the full tests on this because I didn't want to switch stoves on just a hunch that it worked better. My conclusions are that it is lighter, smaller, cooks longer, and gets just as hot as my Cat stove. Check it out. After conferring with AYCE I made some slight modifications to the stove to increase pot stability, but I think this stove is a winner. SGT Rock! NEWS: 18 1000 NOV 2001 I finished a couple of projects yesterday. The first two involved replacing my foam pot cozy and polypro cup cozy with a new material that is basically a fiberglass felt insulation. Initial tests shows it performs as well in most applications if not better than my original equipment. I would post the information on where to get it but the board I was going to get it from (Thru-Hiker.com) lost some of its archives. I'll contact Jeff who gave me the scraps to play with to get the source info to post. I also would post pictures, but I killed my digital camera. Maybe Santa will hook me up with a new one. MY other project started as a test of Acetone as an alternative to alcohol for stove fuel. After a great deal of warnings from others, and a little research I decided that it was not worth trying. But it did lead me to trying to make AYCE's V8 stove. I was not happy at all with the performance because (1) priming increased fuel consumption; (2) pot height above the burner was too close for efficiency; (3) If priming wasn't done properly the pot could put out the flames; (4) it wasn't as efficient as other alcohol stoves. To solve these problems I made a V8 can stove without priming cup, made 24 holes the diameter of a ballpoint pen top, added some fiberglass insulation between the walls, and made a hardware cloth pot stand that fits on the inside of V8 stove. Now I have a 1/2 ounce can stove with the performance of a Cat stove! With a properly made windscreen the whole thing weighs 1 ounce. I wouldn't recommend my design for larger pots, but for smaller (1L or less) it is great. Since my camera is on the fritz, I'll try to make some diagrams and post them. I found some Micro fleece on clearance at Wal-Mart Friday, so my wife has volunteered to try some sewing projects using micro fleece. SGT Rock! NEWS: 16 1130 NOV 2001 I've got a day off today because I re-enlisted, my new ETS Date is 31 August 2009 although I can still retire after August 20, 2005. Doing laundry, getting ready to sew some projects, catching up on some incoming and outgoing mail, etc. On my lists of things to do is sew a new pot and cup cozy from this fiberglass insulation felt that should have a lot better insulation capacity than my current stuff and some flame resistance; and try out a theory for using fingernail polish remover as an alternative stove fuel. It has more BTUs per ounce than alcohol, a lower boiling and flash point, and is as easy to find as alcohol in stores. Hopefully it works. I've also found a new forum that seems to try to make up for the loss of Thru-Hikers and Trailplace called AT Basecamp, looks very promising. Go over there and start contributing, hopefully this new site will get a good base of support and get as good as the old Trailplace. SGT Rock! NEWS: 15 1900 NOV 2001 I returned from an action packed training exercise this week and I'm eager to get on some sewing projects. Hopefully I get a couple done and get some pages up soon. I had hoped to test a Reflectex pad in my hammock, but this exercise turned out to be one of those that tries to keep you awake for as long as possible on little sleep. So I went for about a week on about 2 hours sleep a day - and no chance to hang my hammock! I also see that Trailplace and Thru-hikers websites by Wingfoot are gone for good. I know I will miss them and hope that someday Wingfoot will change his mind and bring them back. I'll miss my daily AT thru-hiker fix. SGT Rock! NEWS: 03 1400 NOV 2001 Getting ready to leave again tomorrow for a bout a week and a half. I added a link on my food page and fixed some links on my links page. For some reason I haven't been able to access Trailplace or Thru-Hikers websites. It looks like the server is up but the sites are down. SGT Rock! NEWS: 01 2000 NOV 2001 Just back in from a week and a half in the field and trying the fleece/sunscreen pad in a Hennessy hammock and can't say that it worked well. I had a better experience with a fleece liner inside a bag and a foam/Mylar sunscreen. Sunday I go out again for about a week and a half again and hopefully will get a chance to try a Reflectix pad inside a hammock. SGT Rock!
All dates are done in military day/time group. Example: 20 1945 OCT 2000 This means 20 (20th day) 1945 (7:45 PM) OCT (October) 2000 (year 2000). Hope this clears up any confusion. |
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