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  1. #1
    Member saupacker's Avatar
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    Cooking-fire under a tarp? You betcha!

    Forget all that nonsense about tarps melting away and dripping on you! Well, most of it anyway! The short version of it is that it does work, you just have to be a touch careful!

    Now, here's the story and the pics to prove it, too!

    For a long time now I wanted to find out about cooking fires under tarps. Oh, don't get me wrong, I've build plenty a regular bonfire under the good ole waxcotton tarp and cooked on a multitude of burners and stoves and whatnots under my hi speed Gucci tarp, but I was never thick in the head enough to combine "real fire" with UL hammocking. Until now, that is. The trick - I've found - is to combine stone-age technology with space-age gizzmos.

    OK, here's my setup: JRB SpinUL tarp, pullout and grizzbeaks attached, WB blackbird underneath, even the dog likes it, the whole nine yards !



    Now, when you look carefully, you'll see one bigger and one smaller hole on the very side of the pulled up tarp. In those two holes I built a "Dakota fire", a quite ingenious idea combining stealth and efficiency. You dig a hole about a foot deep and some 5" across, then another, smaller one next to it. You then dig from the bottom of the one hole to the bottom of the other and start your fire in the big hole. The air rushing in from the other hole makes this bigger hole a regular furnace burning everything you throw at it small and hot. Here you go (and yes, this is well under the tarp):



    And here's the view from the inside out



    And yes again, it does get a little warm under the tarp, but nowhere near "melting speed". And yes yet again, it does heat the whole little setup rather well, I actually had to go out for a short while, sweat started pouring in earnest.

    And now for the next exercise, cooking! Since it was time for a civilized coffee - no proper mountainman in his right mind would ever down a tea, Ray Mears notwithstanding - I played with my brand new heavy cover lid for my trusted crusader cup. This in itself is quite an invention, the built in strainer works great and you get no more ash in your java. Here's the company http://www.heavycoverinc.com/products.html.

    Well, I'm lollygagin' as Shug would say, so let's come back: The little Dakota style furnace works great, and in 5 minutes flat I had the entire cup filled with water and ground coffee boiling!



    And while it was a neat little inferno down there, the flames came - if that at all - maybe 5-6" above the upper end of the hole tops!



    "Coffee's ready, hon!"



    So, give it a try! It does look dangerous but it ain't, well not too dangerous anyhow! In any case it is a great method to cook under your tarp , stay warm and enjoy the comfort of a proper fire.

    Let me hear what your think!

    Best regards from northern Germany, Chris
    Last edited by saupacker; 08-27-2012 at 09:57. Reason: spelling

  2. #2
    Senior Member MAD777's Avatar
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    Thanks Saupacker. You just sent my ultralite titanium stove back to the stone age!
    Last edited by MAD777; 08-27-2012 at 20:46.
    Mike
    "Life is a Project!"

  3. #3
    Senior Member XSrcing's Avatar
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    Great. Something else I am going to *have* to try next time I'm out.

  4. #4
    Senior Member NCPatrick's Avatar
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    Wow, looks pretty neato-whiz-bang. What kind of shovel do you carry?


    "Civilization is the limitless multiplication of unnecessary necessities."
    - Mark Twain
    “I go to nature to be soothed and healed, and to have my senses put in order.”
    - John Burroughs

  5. #5
    Senior Member MAD777's Avatar
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    QiWiz here on the forum makes two sizes of "potty shovels" from titanium. The larger one, called "the big dig" is 7-1/8" long and weighs a scant 0.6 oz.

    I'm thinking this could be an appropriate tool.
    That, or bring your pet badger hiking
    Mike
    "Life is a Project!"

  6. #6

  7. #7
    Senior Member
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    Love the dog

    Love the dog, I have a Vizsla, too.

    As for the fire, there are some videos of silnylon burning on YouTube and they are not pretty. The stuff goes up like it is soaked in gasoline, so I would be very careful.

  8. #8
    Senior Member oldgringo's Avatar
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    I may never do this under a tarp, but you can bet I'm going to play with a Dakota fire.
    Dave

    "Loneliness is the poverty of self; solitude is the richness of self."~~~May Sarton

  9. #9
    Senior Member Les Rust's Avatar
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    One other caution for this set up. Here in our neck of the woods we have lots of humus and other layers of combustibles that could easily smolder with this kind of set up. In your photos it looks like a sandier soil which might work well. While this may well increase the safety for the tarp, in some soils it could increase the danger of catching the duff and such on fire on the ground or even under the ground surface. I like the idea, but would exercise extreme caution in its application.

  10. #10
    Senior Member NCPatrick's Avatar
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    Here's a link to the shovel I think. The other didn't work for me: http://www.aliexpress.com/product-gs...olesalers.html


    "Civilization is the limitless multiplication of unnecessary necessities."
    - Mark Twain
    “I go to nature to be soothed and healed, and to have my senses put in order.”
    - John Burroughs

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