Tell me About These Kerosene Burners

[pressuredrop]

stove is model no 983G
serial no 760200...
more pictures...

[tiobibi]

Originally Posted by justgeorge

if you use this stove do not leave it unatended, if it goes out unnoticed for as little as 5 minutes do not relight, liqiud kerosene will have colected and will flare up with lots of black soot taking hours of cleaning off the inside of your boat.(guess how I know) The best thing to do with this stove is give it the float test or give it away. We put in a wallas and are very happy with it.

Very Funny.

[tiobibi]

Originally Posted by Jimbo485

We have used both propane and kerosene on different boats. The disadvantages of kero are all listed above (flare-ups, requires pre-heating, blocked burners, etc).

The advantages are that
- 20 litres will go a long way (6 months for us)
- can be stored in a jerry jug with no special gas detectors and hoses going over the side
- kero is readily available in the 3rd world
- no need for special valves to pour kero from one container to your stove

Good point.

[hpeer]

Found an old Craig's list for a Shipmate 783 kero stove, no useful link.

Then I found this. Flickr: SaltFlyBoy's Photostream

Getting warmer, kinda looks like your unit.

But I see you are making progress at Wooden Boat.

Let me know how you make out.

[pressuredrop]

thanks peer... found every picture of a shipmate stove/oven i can online but none have burners like this...

looks most like a turm style gravity fed alcohol burner, per the woodenboat forum... so i will give that a try first....

[um saudade]

What you are looking at is not the standard Primus kerosene burner. I learned something new here for I thought the only burner shipmate used was the Primus 207b. They could easily be some oddball alcohol burner.

I would email a picture or two to Base Camp:

base-camp.co.uk

They are the only providers of part for kerosene burners that really have a good inventory and know the products. I would respect what they have to say.

I like my Shipmate(same stove) equipped with Primus 207 burners. You do have to tinker a little but I find it works well for me and I had no practical place to put a propane tank locker. I see too many boats with propane tanks tied on deck someplace but that’s another story.

Good Luck

[Cheechako]

I had a shipmate kerosene stove and cabin heater on my first cruising boat. It worked flawlessly as long as you remembered to pre heat for long enough. Far better than alcohol....far worse than propane! Not sure if those are the same burners or not.....

[Kettlewell]

I used to be a big kero fan until my wife said we had to switch to propane or she would leave me. One disadvantage is that it takes a deft touch to keep everything working in tip top shape and to use just the right amount of alcohol to preheat, etc. It is more of an art than a science and one is always fiddling cleaner burners, etc. But the biggest disadvantage is that no matter how meticulous you are you, your boat, all your clothes, and even the food you cook has a slight stench and taste of kerosene. When looking at boats with kero stoves I can almost always tell before I even go below. We had some friends who were experts at kero, world cruisers the whole lot, and we would shudder when they brought over beautiful baked goods from the oven because they always had that distinctive kero flavor.

[Butler]

A & H Enterprises, A & H Enterprises is the only North American service center for Optimus and Svea stoves.

Another source of parts here in the U.S. Have used these folks pretty extensively for re-builds in the past. Call if you don't see what you need.
What a great thread, always fun to find out about more stove stuff!

[roverhi]

We cooked on a Kero two burner shipmate stove for more than two years. Actually should say my wife cooked and produced some exquisite dishes, baked goods, and coffee in the morning. Liked the safety and availability of kerosene so much, bought a Taylor Kero stove for my new boat with a backup one burner gimballed kero stove. You have to burn either kero or mineral spirits in the Primus burners or they will clog up. Tried #1 diesel among other fuels and it ruined the burners. Switched to mineral spirits and never had another problem with the stove. We carried enough fuel in the 4 gallon pressure tank and two 5 gallon jerry jugs to more than last us a year. Kero/mineral spirits was available everywhere we went, if we'd needed it. Couldn't say that about propane.

Kero is not a light and forget fuel, you do have to preheat the burners but that only took a minute and with a squeeze bottle for the alcohol, was painless. We never had a problem with burner's flaming out or otherwise extinquishing themselves. Since they make a nice rushing sound when on, we always had auditory warning that they were functioning. Have a propane burner flame out and you could have a really interesting experience.

The biggest problem with kerosene these days is finding replacement burners. Primus is either no longer in business or no longer making them. There were burners available from Portugal, IIRC, that were reported to be better than the Primus burners but apparently they are also NLA. If there is no source of replacement burners, a kero stove is questionable. We didn't have any problems once we'd figured out the foilbles of fuel and running the burners wide open but we went through more than a couple of burners before we got smart. I've got my stash of extra burners so am in good shape. For someone just starting out, better make sure you can get burners. If burners are indeed NLA, I'd convert the stove to propane. The shipmate stove is a great stove and shouldn't be abandoned.

Having said all the above, those are not kerosene burners. Probably alcohol because of the surround to hold the alcohol for preheating.

[Butler]

Rover...glad to hear about your experience with availability because I'd heard the reverse, that kero/mineral spirits were harder to come by than propane in even out of the way places. I like Kero stoves and would be willing to spend the $75.00 ea for a pair of extra burners assuming my source at A&H still has access to them.
Then again there is the quote of Donald Street repeated by Mitchell Cameron, "I'd rather suffer the quick death by propane than the slow death by Kerosene".

I kinda hope our resident 7 seas sailor and high seas chef Ms. Pardey might dip her oar in if she's around.

[Butler]

oooppps! Sorry Mr. Mitchell! That would be Carleton Mitchell agreeing with Mr. Street (on this point anyway!)...

[marc2012]

There is supposed to be a large brass manifold on the top back of the stove.The piping looks like a butane stove.On the sw II there is a large kero. tank under the port quarter berth.marc

[pressuredrop]

and the verdict is........


































Gravity fed alcohol... simple, safe, bullet proof, everything works, im ecstatic

[shorebird]

We have a non-pressurized alcohol stove/oven and it is simplicity itself. No fumes, mess, pre-heat, venting, smell, pumping, ect. Ultra reliable, virtually no parts to wear out, fuel available virtually anywhere in the world, could burn vodka if need be, (a little for my stove, a little for me...)
Disadvantages: low temp, so slower cooking. fuel tends to evaporate when stove not in use. If I were heading for the coconuts, this would continue to be a safe and reliable stove and oven, but for now, we are content to cruise the local waters, and may switch to propane. Our cabin in the woods uses a propane stove, but uses kerosene for heat, until I get around to setting up that woodstove. It is of utmost importance to burn ONLY water-white kero, 1K grade, never more than 6 months old, or smell and soot will result.