Out with Shellite in with Gas

[commando]

After the seal leaked from the shellite bottle just thought i would give gas a try after seeing how fast it was
so its out with the old and in with the new, there is some disadvantage with gas being able to source
extra fuel if required as a choofer can run on petrol which is fairly ubiquitous if needed.

[johnrs]

But maaaate, I mean Commando
If your Sigg bottle O rings are as old the stove it's not surprising they leaked!
Looks like a really beautiful old stove, is it a Primus and made in Sweden?
Best wishes
John

[oldpiscator]

I have the same Primus. Got ripped off $0.50 at a garage sale a few years ago. Still works great but doesn't get used much these days.

[commando]

John ashamedly yes and yes your on the money it never stopped working so i just kept using it.

One fail... in the snow at Mt St Gwinnear, it wouldn't start too cold on the snow, solved that by
glueing some bakelite to the base for insulation after that all good. It got too hot in Pelion hut
one day and caught fire at the filler which is a spring to release pressure, had trouble putting out
the projectile spray of fire.

[Tortoise]

It got too hot in Pelion hut one day and caught fire at the filler which is a spring to release pressure, had trouble putting out the projectile spray of fire.

I was never keen on those projectiles of fire. Watched one set fire to the table and someone's clothes at Federation Hut, to the chorus of "drop and roll, drop and roll."

[Dalmeny Mark]

Commando, I also had the Optimus 8r stove like yours kept on working for over 30 yrs. Always worked from Jagungal in winter, Blue mountains in all seasons, from Sydney to Adelaide on pushbike etc. Man, i loved that stove and it's associated choffa noise. Left it in a garage at Barham 10 years ago during a move. Replaced it a Optimus crux, efficient but not as soulful. Seeing your picture takes me back to then. Yes , also seen stoves of death with other peoples but never mine.

[commando]

JohnRS bought a new gasket for the bottle lol 90 cents, maybe just maybe...never mind.

Dalmeny Mark its a love affair very few can understand with 30 years reliable service.

I got cold before entering one of the huts on the Overland trail and with almost useless fingers
and so was convinced after having trouble functioning to start the choofer easily and that gas may
be a better option faster option.

[rucksack]

If I am not mistaken Commando's first photo in his post is of an Optimus 99, not an 8R. The Optimus 99 (and 199) are able to operate in the same way as an Optimus 8 & 8R (and a 123 & 123R for that matter) but both the Optimus 8 and 8R feature hinged (and heavier) steel cases whilst the 99 and 199 both have lighter all-aluminium cases in which the lids are not attached to the bases so that they can be separated and the lid used as a squarish one person cooking pot. (When not in use, the lids are held to the base by a strap.) The separated base and lid of the all-aluminium 99 are obvious in Commando's first photo. I have the exact same stove (along with a 123 and 123R) so I am familiar with it. I have a soft spot for these stoves and have undertaken some very long winter trips in Tasmania with a 123R, arguably the longest continually produced bushwalking stove around. The 123 was initially released back in 1955 and has more or less been in continuous production since with an update to the 123R in the early 1970s. Today, the 123R is produced in Taiwan, but the early 1970s-era Optimus 99 is no longer in production. Optimus continues to make stoves but its ownership has changed over the years.

rucksack

[oldpiscator]

Rucksack is correct in his identity of the Optimus. I got my Optimus 99 out of store in the garage the other day (hadn't used it for 10 years). Put some methos in the preheater and shellite in the tank and fired her up. Worked like a new one. Not only do you use the lid as a cooking pot but you also get an aluminium wind break which all fits inside the closed stove.

[Son of a Beach]

I got my Optimus 99 out of store in the garage the other day (hadn't used it for 10 years). Put some methos in the preheater...

Optimus Prime.

[commando]

Well spotted guys its an Optimus-99 label barely visible but readable purchased 1977.

Its a comforting feeling out in the wilderness being in the cold and knowing that the stove
will always work, so you can get those necessary calories into the body for a rinse repeat the next day.

Two German guys in one of the huts on the Overland asked me, "where did i get the stove from" World War 2!
hahahaha
There are certain pleasure after a days walk sitting down and watching the choofer cook up and do its work
and that's one of them, so relaxing.

[Dalmeny Mark]

I bow to the stove gods. Yes mine had hinged lid, therefore not a 99 model. Still a damn fine (if heavier) stove. Having said that, that current range of gas stoves are efficient, but as I said not as pleasant to the ears, but much lighter.

[crollsurf]

That stove in that condition is collectable. Was a time I'd PM you about buying it. Still, there would be people interested

Sent from my SM-G965F using Tapatalk

[commando]

Thanks Crollsurf it has too many memories to sell it off, still works fine and as as reliable as a cricket bat,
as i said earlier i just got caught out cold one day and had trouble starting as i was semi hypothermic.

[commando]

After a bit of searching i found one and the stove gets another chance.

[slparker]

It got too hot in Pelion hut one day and caught fire at the filler which is a spring to release pressure, had trouble putting out the projectile spray of fire.

I was never keen on those projectiles of fire. Watched one set fire to the table and someone's clothes at Federation Hut, to the chorus of "drop and roll, drop and roll."

See that’s the reason I walk out of any hut with a shellite stove in it. Not even experienced users can be relied upon to safely operate them.