chinita
Well-Known Member
Looking for a pressure parafin lantern which will also throw out a bit of heat. Narrowed search to these two. Any comments from experienced users please!
Many thanks as usual.
Many thanks as usual.
Tilley or Vapalux?
- Thread starter chinita
- Start date
Mirelle
N/A
Er, none of the above, have an Optimus, but the point I want to bang on about is the extraordinary fragility of mantles once they are "burned in".
Hiscock talks of hanging a Tilley on the boom at night in the Trades and I cannot imagine how he managed this - handling a lighted pressure paraffin lamp aboard any normal boat involves the near certainty of banging the thing on something and....there goes anther mantle!
Hiscock talks of hanging a Tilley on the boom at night in the Trades and I cannot imagine how he managed this - handling a lighted pressure paraffin lamp aboard any normal boat involves the near certainty of banging the thing on something and....there goes anther mantle!
ValleyForge
Well-Known Member
Have a tilley of dubious vintage, used for donkeys years camping etc. but never on a (small) boat - too fragile. Bags of light, tons of heat. Bit smelly in a confined space though. (in fact down right lethal ?). Echo Mirelle on mantles, though new ones are readily available. Bit dangerous with the meths starter, heat etc. but thats up to you. Excellent bug attractor / exterminator. A gas one in my mind is probably easier.
andrewbodenham
Well-Known Member
I have used both lanterns on halfdecker camping and yachting trips on the Broads. The Tilley is a good basic lantern, with spares readily available - every old fashioned hardware store or fishing tackle shop will have a box of assorted bits. The older Tilley lamps tend to be better made, with brass pumps instead of aluminium for example.
Vapalux lanterns are in a different league in terms of quality - much more substantial construction and more precisely engineered details. I have found my Vapalux lanterns to be more reliable, easier to use, and to my eyes better looking than Tilleys. I've hung both sorts from the boom on a lanyard to illuminate the well - a snap shackle on the lanyard makes hanging easier.
The best lantern I ever used was an old German Petromax. It had a self-atomising blowtorch for preheating the burner, and a pressure gauge on the tank. It had a crusty green paint finish, so I tried to strip it back to the metal. That paint defied strippers, caustic soda, brake fluid, abrasion and blowtorch - it was engineered to last! Starting up ot sounded like a jet aircraft, and light output was blinding. A bit too fierce for a camping companion.
Vapalux and Tilleys come up pretty regularly on ebay.
Vapalux lanterns are in a different league in terms of quality - much more substantial construction and more precisely engineered details. I have found my Vapalux lanterns to be more reliable, easier to use, and to my eyes better looking than Tilleys. I've hung both sorts from the boom on a lanyard to illuminate the well - a snap shackle on the lanyard makes hanging easier.
The best lantern I ever used was an old German Petromax. It had a self-atomising blowtorch for preheating the burner, and a pressure gauge on the tank. It had a crusty green paint finish, so I tried to strip it back to the metal. That paint defied strippers, caustic soda, brake fluid, abrasion and blowtorch - it was engineered to last! Starting up ot sounded like a jet aircraft, and light output was blinding. A bit too fierce for a camping companion.
Vapalux and Tilleys come up pretty regularly on ebay.
trouville
N/A
I never broke a mantel useing either my tilly or optimist, The optimists mantel is normaly broken when pouring in the meths,so i bought a squeezy bottle with a filler tube thats bent 60 degree at the end, with that i can fill the resevior without moveing the glass.
My tilly was by far the most reliable dosent look as good as the optimist,I will give tilly a good report but a spare glass costs a fortune and then another fortune for shipping.As do all the spares
Compare all prices first(my tilly mantel only broke after 18 years when i smashed the glass!!
The vapourlux dose look very much the same as the tilly?But then the british army wouldent use an irish lantern,would it?
My tilly was by far the most reliable dosent look as good as the optimist,I will give tilly a good report but a spare glass costs a fortune and then another fortune for shipping.As do all the spares
Compare all prices first(my tilly mantel only broke after 18 years when i smashed the glass!!
The vapourlux dose look very much the same as the tilly?But then the british army wouldent use an irish lantern,would it?
chinita
Well-Known Member
Thanks to everyone. I shall take some time to think about it as there is no hurry.
For Trouville; Tilley manufactured in Belfast (which is not Eire - yet) before moving back to the mainland. The Ministry of Defence procures much equipment from Belfast including aeroplanes and the missiles which shoot them down!
For Trouville; Tilley manufactured in Belfast (which is not Eire - yet) before moving back to the mainland. The Ministry of Defence procures much equipment from Belfast including aeroplanes and the missiles which shoot them down!
trouville
N/A
Id like to add.I bought my Optamist becouse it looked good!And had an inteligent way to heat and light it.
Lighting the optamist was never any problem even under sail when i hung it and dident ovefill the trough though its really a land lamp!
My reliable tilly from N.Irland was just that!I never imagined the asbestos clamp to be more than a badly thoughtout lighting idea,Over the years aboard a boat its proved to be ideal providing the lamps hung in the cabin to light it at sea
(or just taken below and held in normal seas untill ist going) The tilly has proved to be a first class reliable lamp and ive now thrown my Optimist over board.
The optimist was saved by a boat which had tied up alongside, then came aboard to offer me an exchange!!I now have a 10kg graple anchor(in steel not cast)and a cast iorn bar-bar-Q!!
Lighting the optamist was never any problem even under sail when i hung it and dident ovefill the trough though its really a land lamp!
My reliable tilly from N.Irland was just that!I never imagined the asbestos clamp to be more than a badly thoughtout lighting idea,Over the years aboard a boat its proved to be ideal providing the lamps hung in the cabin to light it at sea
(or just taken below and held in normal seas untill ist going) The tilly has proved to be a first class reliable lamp and ive now thrown my Optimist over board.
The optimist was saved by a boat which had tied up alongside, then came aboard to offer me an exchange!!I now have a 10kg graple anchor(in steel not cast)and a cast iorn bar-bar-Q!!
CaptainBob
Well-Known Member
Vapalux all the way. I got this one on ebay for £28
http://www.yacht-forum.co.uk/viewtopic.php?t=15
Got it after buying a new Tilley and having to get replacement pump and vapouriser sent - both of which were faulty - gave up in the end. Supposedly the Tilley used to be fantastic.
http://www.yacht-forum.co.uk/viewtopic.php?t=15
Got it after buying a new Tilley and having to get replacement pump and vapouriser sent - both of which were faulty - gave up in the end. Supposedly the Tilley used to be fantastic.