Partner Steel Stoves: 16" or 18"

[Michele Jackson]

I'm toying with the idea of buying a 4 burner Partner steel stove and am debating b/w the 16" vs 18". I plan to use it for an occasional raft trip (hopefully) and miscellaneous car camping trips. I know the 16" will fit into a rocket box, the 18 will not. For those of you that use these on raft trips, which size do you have and how do you carry it? Any other comments or input is welcome.

Thanks!
Michele

[robkanraft]

18=more cooking space. A Coleman oven fits perfectly on one half for baking while you pan cook the other. We use ours more for car camping and special events than it has spent time on raft trips. It's nicer than our kitchen range! We have a homemade stove stand, thinking about sucking up and buying the Partner one.

Partner will tell you they sell more 18 than 16's. No need to fit in heavy rocket boxes anyway. We just put it in a drybag on the Green.

To top off your stove set-up, look at the new 10 lb. Lite Cylinders. They are made of some kind of nylon with a clear window where you can see the propane level. They weigh less than steel cylinders have lots of places to secure to. They make 20 pounders also but unless you are supporting a lot of folks, 10 pounds will see you through several days.

[okieboater]

18 all the way

when you want to put multiple pots on your stove you will be glad you got the 18

dave

[Michele Jackson]

Dave, how do you carry an 18" on raft trips?

[okieboater]

I have the black fabric case and just strap the stove on where ever it fits on the raft depending on the load. Most rafters I know do the same, IE just strap it on the raft..

If I were to buy a case today it would be the one from Tuff River Stuff in Salida CO from River Rat Ray the owner.

I close the stove half sections over at night to keep rain out of the burners. Mine was left out during an all night rain and the burners filled with water, I turned on the gas full blast and it blew all the water out and has worked perfectly since.

Not sure what would happen during an extended total immersion as in a raft pin, you might email partner steel and ask them. My guess is you just blow out the water and get cooking.

Partner Steel stoves are very expensive, but they just do not wear out. The burners are replaceable if they ever go out, rest is pretty much aluminium plate.

[Mike B]

Michele,

I struggled with the same decision before dropping 300+ on a stove. Without much research / knowledge I decided to go with the 18" and have since learned it's probably the best option. As others have noted you will appreciate the little bit of extra room.

The partner stoves are pretty bombproof and probably only need to be in a dry box on high silt rivers such as the San Juan and Colorado (Grand Canyon). The dry bag idea would probably suffice on most trips and as Okieboater mentioned that strapping it to the raft is good enough for most situations.

The folding stoves are essentially two seperate stoves and carrying a complete repair kit with an extra burner should get you through most situations.

Having a small, even one burner backpack stove (on a different raft), is a great idea. This may provide a heat source option if your main stove is damaged / lost do to a raft pin or raft loss.

The stove, by the way, is worth every dollar.

[Michele Jackson]

Thanks for all of your input! We're now the proud owner of an 18" Partner Steel stove; arrived today. Now I just need a reason to use it....

[Steve S]

Now I just need a reason to use it...

How about putting on a cooking demonstration at Surf 'n Turf on Saturday, July 25th?

[robkanraft]

Congrats Michele! We love our stove, one piece of gear that's hard buy but easy to love. Take it out on the porch and make something, it's way too hot to be cooking inside any how. Don't forget to get a Coleman folding oven for the muffins!

[Richard]

The Buffalo gives you all the reason you need to use it.

[phoronid]

It took me a while to find one of these. I tried a few places and put an add in my newspaper for a used one to no avail. I got the 18" 4 burner one. There are a few optional add-ons. I found mine at http://www.topnotchcampstoves.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; in the outdoor camp stove-4 burner tab. They have the best prices I could find. I got mine with 2 options I ended up wanting that I didn't know were available.

Good luck! Testing mine out this weekend in Mackay, ID.


Izzy

[RIORESIDENT]

I like em a lot, became a dealer in fact. Partner steel that is.



I have several versions of almost everying the 07' catalog lists. everything is for sure avaliable in "custom". My personal fav piece is the backboard table. knock on wood, or something like that, i havn't used it for such a deal, but i take it with all the time.............party,cuttin wood, etc....

money well spent

SYOTR,
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