Hurricane lamps - not all are born equal

dylanwinter

dylanwinter

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www.keepturningleft.co.uk
to widen the debate among us OLDie sufferers



there is this blogger

dock six chronicles

he is a crazy man

he bought two hurricane lamps and compared them

2012octblogpics+138.jpg


and compared their light output and ease of use

here is the report

http://docksixchronicles.blogspot.ca/2012/11/low-buck-lighting-review-old-school.html



Dylan

PS OLD

Oil lamp Disease

think about it - too many of our posters here suffere with being victims of OLD - they need help not mockery
 
nigelmercier said:
Enough already! :)

9b1fd40208361f32bae3aa1c92f89af0_zps3d7cf65e.jpg
Click to expand...

you must judge the value/interest of the discussion by the length of the threads Mr Mercer

any other areas of intense interest to us old style sailors you would like to close down?

I myself tend not to read long discussions about engines any more

I would hate for them to be stopped

these lamp lovers need to be allowed to indulge their passions

D
 
We used oil lamps on two long term cruises: We've had bulkhead mounted Perko lamps which were excellent, a large trawler lamp called an Ideal Brenner 20" which was superb and now hangs in the hall at home as an ornament, and various cheap Chinese hurricane lamps all of which worked fine as anchor lights and general deck lights.
All our lamps had the reservoirs stuffed with caulking cotton so that they didn't suffer from 'sloshing' in a seaway and the wicks were trimmed meticulously to follow the profile of the thing from which they emerge (Don't know the name for it). Never had a problem living with oil lamps - wonderfully atmospheric things on a boat.
 
We had a hurricane lamp once, although never on the boat, it suffered from the mouse disease. That is it piddled continuously from new. It was sent to the tip after about 3 uses. Paraffin is dreadful stuff as already mentioned in these threads.
 
You have just reminded me.
I had a hurricane lamp once, made in Birmingham, solidly made, very reliable.
It was ex British Rail.
Huge grey beast...3/4" wick it has.
Don't know where it is, must hunt for it...
Better still get SWMBO to look for it, she ferrets out everything.:eek:
 
Salty John said:
Never had a problem living with oil lamps - wonderfully atmospheric things on a boat.
Click to expand...

I fitted a couple of modern Fastnet Lamps when I got the boat. I had huge troubles with them at first, until I replaced the crappy wicks with which they were supplied. A Bloke on Ebay (Paraffinalia?) supplied some really nice, thick wick which transformed the performance. The lamps are pretty flimsy things, but at least they work now.
 
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I used to use a "hurricane" lantern as an anchor light.

One of the small ones.

Useless. It used to blow out in anything more than force 0.5 unless turned up to the point where it ran out of paraffin half way through the night.

To add even more interest to this fascinating thread here is a photo of it.

DSCF0859.jpg
 
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