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GSI 8" Bugaboo Frypan fits Trangia 27 cook set

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Hi folks,

Although I primarily use fire for cooking when I am south of treeline, I have converted to using a Trangia alcohol stove for the wet rainy days. No moving parts, no stove repair kits, totally dependable, etc. In any Canadian hardware store you can buy 99.9% pure methanol, sold as "Methyl Hydrate" in the paint section, which is good clean burning fuel. The Trangia has the simmer ring which I use to simmer my meals, and it lowers the temp for easy frying. My stove is composed of: the Trangia burner, Clikstand pot stand, and the Primus foil windscreen which is flexible enough to wrap around pots and expand to accommodate a fry pan. The Clickstand is a rock-solid base. My pots are all deep dish lid swing handled and bail handled. I use an 8 inch fry pan with fold out handle for my greasy fried breakfasts and for frying fish over open fires and on the Clickstand rig. I have bush-tested this system over 2 summer's trips now and am an alky convert.

BUT, I just became the proud new owner of the Trangia 27-7 UL/HA cook set (ultralight, hard anodized) - the solo camper's Mother Ship!

http://www.canadianoutdoorequipment.com/trangia-27-7-ul-ha-cookset.html

Trangia-27-7-UL-HA-Canadia.jpg


This certainly is not "ultralight", and it weighs twice as much as the Clickstand-based system listed above. Therefore I would likely not take the T-27-7 kit on a canoe trip. But I found the 27-7 kit irresistible as another Trangia family piece of gear to play with, and I am looking at it to be a truck camping cook kit, and an urban disaster/power failure/72 hour preparedness stove. As a bonus, my Evernew "Deep" (tall) Ti pots (1.4 and 1.9L) fit into the 27’s pot rests (note: Evernew no longer makes the 1.9L "deep", and their 1.9L wide will not fit the 27 system). But I hate the Trangia 27 and 25 "fry pan" lid!

The purpose of this post is to let everyone know that the GSI 8 inch Bugaboo fry pan does indeed fit the fry pan support tabs of the 27 cook set. But because its handle folds into the pan, it cannot serve as the kit's packing lid.
http://www.gsioutdoors.com/shop/cooking/pots-pans/bugaboo-8-frypan.html

60108_0_i.jpg


I was hoping my much lighter Primus Litech fry pan would fit it, but it does not, it fits too high over the wind screen and would let too much wind through. The LiTech (old snap up lock handle model) is my current user for summer and winter trips weighing in at 268 g on my scale. Its handle folds underneath so it could have worked as the kit's packing lid. The GSI 8 inch Bugaboo fry pan weighs in at 369g!

The Bugaboo pan has a curved base taper which fits the Trangia 27's pan base perfectly. I need all my pots and pans to work on an open fire and I do not use pot grippers on my gear, so the 27’s "fry pan" is not what I want to use, and it has only half the volume of the Bugaboo. I need a real multi-purpose frypan with a fixed folding handle for all the fire use and serious frying I do.

However for truck camping I can get by with pot grippers so the 27's pots and pan are useable for sure (millions all over the world get by on it and the larger 25 kit). I have 3 hours in so far testing the 27 at home on various pots and pan combos, boiling water and cooking food. When I get more experience with it, I may post a full review of the 27 with the mods I have come up with.

Canadian Outdoor Equipment where I bought it from, also sells a "pan stand" adapter for using non-Trangia small pots to be supported inside the windscreen over the burner, and I purchased it. It works very well. But it's extra weight at 65g on my scales. I think I can make a lighter tab extension mod with sheet metal tabs, so we'll see. https://www.canadianoutdoorequipment.com/trangia-pan-stand.html

For those not familiar with the Trangia 27 and the bigger 25, there are dozens of YouTube videos to check out. Although there are much lighter alky stove options, its fun to finally own the 27 "Mother ship" for their solo-2 person system.
 
I was so very close to ordering that very set a few weeks ago, I still may because I am much like you, a gear junky. The draw to the Trangia system for me is the way it "kits" together so neatly. I currently use a GSI cook set called the Pinnacle Backpacker http://www.gsioutdoors.com/shop/cooking/integrated-cooking-systems/pinnacle-backpacker.html with only 2 of the cups. Hard anodized aluminum is such nicer than teflon coating. I find the frying pan lacks the depth to cook up fried fish as with the Trangia pan but it does work. Again it is the way this set "kits" together that makes it my go to pot set.

I don't cook on the fire, it is a skill I have not attempted to master yet as I have found, until the trip I came back from yesterday, that the naphtha stoves are fast and easy to use. After using my Optimus http://www.optimusstoves.com/seen/o...onnect/optimus-outdoor-kocher/optimus-nova-1/ stove for 9 years flawlessly it suffered a failure on day 2 of 10. The plastic fuel pick up tube that goes inside the fuel bottle broke right and the top. I used a small tube of seam seal I had with me to "silicone" the tube back on and it held but the stove gave me nothing but problems the rest of the trip. I brought along the Trangia and small bottle of alcohol to tinker with thankfully to get me through that night it broke....before dinner with two fresh walleye waiting to be cooked.

A few questions regarding the frypan. How do you find the teflon coating hold up over the fire?? Does the HA stand up on the fire as well? Maybe the real question is what is the best material in your opinion for cooking over a fire? Titanium? Aluminum? Stainless? HA Aluminum?

As far as the click stand goes, it was awesome. I know it designed to be used with gas burners as well as the Trangia sets, but the gas burners are astronomically expensive. The one Trangia sells is the Optimus stove without the legs and a ring that allows it to sit in the opening. I am thinking of simply modifying the stove I have and getting a machine shop to mill up a adapter ring for me.

For meal time I usually boil 1L of water, 500ml for my meal and 500ml for a tea or coffee. Sometimes less and sometimes I have the stove going for a long time as in boiling pasta or frying fish. I am not sure the Trangia is the right option for this sort of cooking.
 
A few questions regarding the frypan. How do you find the teflon coating hold up over the fire?? Does the HA stand up on the fire as well? Maybe the real question is what is the best material in your opinion for cooking over a fire? Titanium? Aluminum? Stainless? HA Aluminum?
.............................
For meal time I usually boil 1L of water, 500ml for my meal and 500ml for a tea or coffee. Sometimes less and sometimes I have the stove going for a long time as in boiling pasta or frying fish. I am not sure the Trangia is the right option for this sort of cooking.

Hi Red! I am indeed a gear head!

Re the frypan in fire: Its not a problem that I have noticed. Gas stoves and alcohol stoves are "fire" too! :) I have been using various forms of non-stick coating fry pans over wood fires for decades. In the bad old days it was some sort of cheapo teflon coating, which also peeled up at home on the kitchen stove. But once the hard anodizing, Silverstone, and Titanium type non-stick coatings arrived on the scene for both home and camping pans, its been no worries. As long as you have some food in the pan to dissipate the heat and don't burn the metal with an empty dry pan, its no worries. They gradually wear out from cooking and cleaning just like on my home kitchen stove, but these new pans last for years so you get your money's worth. Just make sure that no metal utensils ever touch the pan (only use plastic or wood utensils), and its fine. I use a thin cotton bag for my packing frypan, so its does not get scratched inside the pack with other stuff packed against it, and it keeps the soot from messing the pack.

On my Clickstand + Trangia rig, I typically boil 500-600 ml for my rehydrated dinner in one pot, then refuel a bit and boil about 1 liter of water in my clean pot for one or two hot coffees after dinner, and that leaves about 500 ml for hot wash water and add some cold water to it.
 
Hoop, have you looked at the billy pots from Thailand? Zebra or Seagull brands. Zebra seems to be the more predominant brand but Seagull are sold at Canadian Outdoor Equipment. Varying sized pots that all come with a dish the sits in the top to be used as a fry pan or eating dish or can be used to bake. After my stove failure I need to really figure out the cooking on fire thing. The 12cm pot will fit the Trangia set.

https://www.canadianoutdoorequipment.com/billy-tins.html

One of the more interesting items I cam across was the Zebra Lunch Kit. Have a look at this..

http://www.fireboxstove.com/zebra-lunch-box
 
Hoop, have you looked at the billy pots from Thailand? Zebra or Seagull brands. Zebra seems to be the more predominant brand but Seagull are sold at Canadian Outdoor Equipment. Varying sized pots that all come with a dish the sits in the top to be used as a fry pan or eating dish or can be used to bake. After my stove failure I need to really figure out the cooking on fire thing. The 12cm pot will fit the Trangia set.

https://www.canadianoutdoorequipment.com/billy-tins.html

One of the more interesting items I cam across was the Zebra Lunch Kit. Have a look at this..

http://www.fireboxstove.com/zebra-lunch-box

Hi Red, thanks for that heads up on the 12 cm Zebra/Seagull pot fitting the T-27 system. I have looked at the Zebra/Seagull series and they are good solid pots, and there are hundreds of YouTube videos showing them being used. I was hoping my pot sets at home would fit the T-27, and some do and some don't, but I have not tried all of them yet. Some have a tight fit (e.g. my Evernew Ti 1.9L deep pot, no longer made), and I was concerned I might damage or melt the windscreen, although I would guess they designed the pot hangers to provide enough space for the hot gasses?, ...but then again they designed them for their tapered pot/bowl shape, and my pots at home have straight sides, which pushes the flame and heat out to the edges of the pot, then up the entire side of the wind screen. The Trangia bowl shaped pots keep the heat a tad further away until the top of the windscreen, and there is still a fair amount of vent space. With my T-27 set brand new I am hesitant to test how hot I can get the windscreen! :) I wonder if there are any YT videos showing the fit of the Zebra/Seagul in the T-27 and 25? Already I am thinking of obtaining the T-25, since I seem to have a growing Trangia addiction, and the T-27 was smaller than I imagined. For truck camping the 25 might be a more gluttonous size for luxury, and it may fit more of my existing pot sets with lids. I am thinking of fabricating aluminum lids for the T-27's pots, since I don't like the pan lid than comes with it for a pot lid. The website says the Tundra lid only fits the T-25's pots.
 
I was looking at the Seagull/Zebra series more for cooking over a fire. Thinking a 14 and 12 or a 14 and 10 so they nest. Do you eat more when truck camping? LOL. The thing with that Zebra Lunch Box is the frying pan, exceptional design as far as I am concerned.

Have you seen the video of the guy baking with the Zebra on it's side over a twig stove?

On a related note, the people at Katadyn were exceptionally helpful in solving my Optimus stove problem. When you buy quality gear the manufacturers always seem to stand behind them.
 
Hi Red,

Yes I have seen the baking videos with the flat pan inserted in a sideways Zebra pot that makes an oven. Brilliant idea! The Folding Firebox company has also made steel clips for the handles to replace the plastic ones, and these steel clips can lock the lid with the handle extended, so that adds to the oven function.
http://www.fireboxstove.com/camping-gear/zebra-pot-clips

I am concerned about direct heat on a dry steel surface. I think that if one places a dry steel pot into a fire or over a flame, that one might expect some temper change in the metal, and possibly some warping. But I have not tried it on these pots. The Zebra/Seagulls are inexpensive so it might be no big deal to replace them if the metal gets burned and warped. Maybe the baking requires only a light heat and the metal will be fine?

I am converted to Ti pots for the fire, because I am getting too old and enjoy the light weight! I installed my own bail handles. I will never get rid of my old Olicamp SS pot set with the locking bails and deep dish lids, and the 2 quart in that series that I use the most is not made anymore (1 and 3 quart are). But for bush trips I now like my Ti, and am cutting weight of my overall kit where I can. I find though that I like the larger pots for hauling water. Especially in the Arctic where there can be large boulder fields on the river between camp and water, the water haul can be a long way, so it pays me to carry larger pots, and enjoy lots of hot water for washing dishes, clothing, etc. Larger pots can also boil water faster using stoves with their broader bases, so they can use fuel more efficiently than a narrow base pot. On a long trip, stove fuel efficiency quickly adds up to weight savings.

For a solo frypan I like the 8 inch pan size for lots of fish, and for baking a 4-5 day bannock loaf. The Zebra lunchbox is only listed as a 5.5 inch diameter, which is certainly do-able for solo, but fish would have to be chopped up more, pancakes would need to be smaller, etc. But with that lid you can hold more heat inside and could fry-bake fish and pancakes, so who knows, it might work really well. I am guessing that Zebra lunchbox will fit inside the T-27's pot supports, so it might be a good T-27 + fire useable pot/pan.
 
All good points. I too am angling hard for lighter weight but where did you get Ti pots with bails?

Hi Red. I installed wire bail handles myself. Here is a link to part 1 and part 2 that I posted on MyCCR. This is one of my Evernew pots (the small 1.4L deep pot that is still sold online), and on an aluminum Primus LiTech pot, which nests into the Evernew 1.4 deep. I have also installed a bail the same way on my 1.9L Evernew deep Ti pot, which sadly seems no longer available. The 1.4 nested perfectly inside the 1.9 and these two Ti pots are my canoe tripping rig. I use the LiTech for winter mostly with the other two. Note that I did find the ceramic non-stick coating on the Evernew Ti pots to be marginal. You have to use plastic or wood utensils, and food sometimes still sticks. The LiTech's anodized whatevcer coating is super non-stick. But if I could get the Evernews in just plain Ti without the ns coating, I would, and switch back to steel utensils.

Part 1 is mostly measurment stuff that I could have skipped for detail, but I wanted perfect symmetry (and I did not rally know what i was doing! :) ):
http://www.myccr.com/phpbbforum/viewtopic.php?f=20&t=38215&p=355566&hilit=bail#p355566

Part 2 is the main stuff which shows the drilling and riveting. Note that with pop rivets you do create a hole that leaks. But since its near the top, its fine for me, since I keep the liquid level below the holes. The best rivet would be a solid aircraft rivet , but I would have to buy an aircraft rivet tool and rivets and pay for shipping, so I went with the tools I had, and its been fine. I never boil water or cook food near the top of a pot anyway since it always slops and boils over, so I always have extra pot capacity.

http://www.myccr.com/phpbbforum/viewtopic.php?f=20&t=38216&p=355568&hilit=bail#p355568
 
Update: Indoors in controlled no-wind conditions, I tried frying 2 eggs (not scrambled) in the Bugaboo fry pan on the Trangia 27. The pan essentially is the same height off the flame as the Trangia T-27’s pan.

Result: Poor to very poor frying. I already knew the pan is “too” high off the burner for good frying, but I was hoping the flame would spread. It does not spread, and instead forms a cone and makes a hot spot in the middle of the pan. The Bugaboo is a solid aluminum bottom and will conduct the heat well, but the burner’s flame was too concentrated. I got the frying job done, but it was overdone to almost burned in the middle.

With the burner full bore, it got the pan plenty hot enough, and then too hot so the oil was spitting (no worries), and then I put the simmer ring on (which is normal procedure). It was then not hot enough unless the ring was fully open. But even then it was again a centralized hot spot in the middle of the pan.

Conclusion: The Trangia-27 rig is not for frying whole food pieces like fried eggs, fish fillets, pancakes, and things where the edges are always well away from the center. I have seen many videos of stir frying where the chopped up ingredients can be moved around from center to edge and visa versa in liquid or oil, and I am sure it works very well that way.

With my Clikstand and Trangia burner (and Primus foil windscreen which is well big enough to wrap a fry pan), I have fried fish, egg omelettes, and pancakes very successfully. The fry pan is much closer to the flame (the 1 inch “sweet spot” height that Hiram Cook has demonstrated through stove his Trangia and other alcohol stove tests). Using the Clikstand the flame spreads nicely on the pan bottom. Then when applying the simmer ring after the pan reaches optimum heat, I have fried the above listed foods well with the simmer ring. Even though the small flame from the simmer ring is centered on the pan, its so close that I guess the heat still is spreading better.

On the T-27, I had to run the simmer ring fully open to get enough heat to simmer, and this test was indoors (no wind). But with my Clikstand out in the bush (wind) I have been able to use a small crescent opening in the simmer ring, so I am using less fuel with the Clickstand rig, and getting better frying. Outdoors in the cold and blowing wind, I would have no confidence in the T-27 for good frying of solid foods like fish fillets, despite the fact that I have seen this done on YT videos in the T-27’s fry pan, but this chap used a huge amount of cooking oil to flood the fillet, so of course the deep oil would cook it throughout. I do not carry that much oil to cook with on long trips, nor do I cook like that, and if I did there is the used oil disposal problems in the bush (bear attractant, because obviously I don’t have my fire going to burn it if I am cooking on the alcohol stove - I am an open fire cooking guy when its not raining).

So although this was only one fry test with the T-27, I have concluded its not a fry’er for whole food items (stir fry its probably OK, but I did not test that).

For truck camping using Trangia’s, I may have to bring the Clikstand rig for frying, and use the T-27 for boiling/heating water and simmering foods in a pot, which is OK.
 
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