Gearing Up for SCARR, Part One (Post #459) 3/10/2014

I’ve been getting my kit together for S.C.A.R.R. the past few weeks. I am going to be putting up a few posts about new, new-old, and old kit for the trip.

Coleman Cooking Stove

colemanstoveI’ve been reading posts from Land Cruising Adventure. Karin-Marijke, Coen, and their Toyota Land Cruiser BJ45 have been overlanding since 2003. An amazing fete’ if you ask me. So amazing, Expedition Portal named them Overlander’s of the Year for 2013. I subscribe to Overland Journal and love to read and see the adventures. Their reviews of gear each issue and in their yearly Gear Issue are most of the reason I am a subscriber.

They have a great site and I highly encourage you to go over and visit. In a recent post they were featured in Overland Journal’s gear issue. Overland Journal asked Overlander’s what was their  “Most Valued” gear. Karin and Coen picked their Coleman Camp Stove.

After reading their post about their Coleman stove I had to go find the one my dad left to me. It had been in the attic of the Newcastle house since we moved back home from Guam in 1971. I think my dad used it once on a hunting trip with my Uncle Ben in the early 1970s, but I need to confirm that. I have my dad’s Coleman Lantern too. I know we used it a few times in the early 1970s when our power got knocked out from some blizzards and a thunderstorm or two. It’s safe to say it hasn’t been lit since 1975.

If you know anything about me I am about vintage. I love old gear. I love old FUNCTIONING gear even more. If I had my way I’d have an entire expedition setup from 1964. Vehicle, gear, clothes, the whole thing. I’ve even talked with my history buddies about how cool it would be to stage a duck hunting trip with period kit. I’m thinking pre-World War One. Clothes, guns, vehicle, the whole shooting match. I’m sure we could rent an old truck for the weekend. Having a 1915 Ford truck drive us out there would be the icing on the cake of that adventure.

Back to my newly rediscovered vintage camping gear. I have sorted out the model numbers and learned that they might even be kinda rare. They are definitely from the early 1960s. The stove is a model 425C produced between 1961 and 1964. The lantern is a Model 220E, described on one site as a “transitional model”. It is listed as produced between 1952 and 1963.

This gives me pause. This might be something special, do I keep in its current state with all the patina or clean it up and use it? I have learned a lot from American Pickers and the Antiques Roadshow. Rule One, patina is good.

After tossing this around I’ve decided to clean them up and use them. These only have value if I am willing to sell them. They are only “valuable” to a collector. To anyone other than a collector they are just “an old stove and lantern”. If I sold them I would just have to replace them. Which means looking through endless garage sales or shopping eBay for replacements.

So clean them up and use them it is. This requires me to get the rust off and repaint. Getting the rust off was not too hard. I stuck the smaller parts in my sand-blasting cabinet fired up the air compressor and blasted them. Mr. Fisher had a can of high temperature paint left over from a project he was working on and I used that to paint the bits that would be getting hot. It’s a lovely metallic silver too so it looks super cool.

I needed to paint the stove box and fuel tank on the stove. Here’s the problem with that, finding paint to repaint it. Apparently Coleman does not produce replacement paint. You cannot buy it. I’m sure if I had the paint code I could have my local shop whip me up some but what would the cost be? There is a lively debate on a few Coleman enthusiasts sites about matching the color. I think I have the colors sorted out from the discussion and I can get them at my local big box store.

Sandblasting is fun
Sandblasting is fun

I stopped by my friend JagGuy’s shop over the weekend and used his giant sandblasting cabinet. I put the lid in and blasted the rust and most of the paint off. I then did the cooking box. Same thing, blasted the paint and rust off.

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This is the result of a couple of hours of sandblasting. Mmmmm, bare metal.

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I picked up the paint closest to the original colors from what was available at my Lowe’s store.

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I cut out a stencil of my Okie Rover logo. I put it on the lid. What do you think?

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Here’s the box painted. I got some runs in the paint but I’m happy with it.

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This is the fuel tank all painted and ready for fuel.

I assembled the burner unit and when the paint dries on the rest, I’ll put it all back together and fire her up. I have a backup stove in my Coleman Denali. I bought it from Govliquidation.com when it was on sale for half price. I paid less than a 100$(US) for it. So if I can’t get the Coleman 425C running before the trip, I’m still covered.

UPDATE: Gearing Up for S.C.A.R.R., Part One UPDATE.

Thanks for reading and Happy Rovering.