Fatsco tiny tot wood stove

[fjalt]

I was wondering if anyone could share their experience with the use of the tiny tot solid fuel stove. I really like the Navigator Sardine but its pretty pricey and was thinking of getting a Fatsco instead.

[Bill Perkins]

I' ll be interested in these replies too . I looked at the sardine seriously but decided the clearances required to structure and the heat shielding made the unit a bit too large for my small sailboat .

[Hughman]

they still make these?

[Paul Schlechter]

Yes, they are still made..http://www.fatscostoves.com/. Have what must be an original solid cast Tiny Tot on Tortuga. Haven't used it and probably won't, but it looks really neat!!

[Bob Cleek]

Haven't used one in thirty years, but they are great little stoves for a small boat. They are primarily designed for the ice fishermen's shacks. Remember "Dirty Old Men?" They aren't a "cooking stove" really, although I guess you could make a pot of coffee on them if you had the time. They do put out a nice dry heat, though.

[HR]

We have a Tiny Tot aboard Malolo and love it! Here's what it looked like when we bought the boat...

http://www.malolo.ca/images/forumimages/IMGP2728-1.jpg

The body was shot from burning it too hot. It was falling apart and was held together with a big hose clamp. The cast iron parts were mostly good, but rusty. I cleaned it up, repaired what I could and replaced the broken parts with new ones purchased from Fatsco. Here's what it looks like re-installed on board ...

http://www.malolo.ca/images/forumimages/IMGP2796-1.jpg

We typically get it started with small pieces of wood, then add charcoal briquets to keep the cabin nice and warm.

Howard

[Winsome]

I always liked the Fatsco Stoves - pretty cheap too.... Not to Hijack things away from Fatsco - but does anyone know the brand for this one? These seem to be standard equipment in the E&D Stonehorse 23:

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3355/3306287165_a677bfc2c1_o.jpg

[Jay Greer]

I do have a Fatsco Pet that I have used in several boats and also in one of my VW Vans. It is a good little heater. However, I would choose a different stove for cooking. My personal choice for cooking is the Force Ten line of stoves. Even so,
"Red Witch" has a Shipmate wood stove. The Fatsco is going into "Bright Star" for heating. Cooking will be done on the smallest Force10 range, with oven, that burns CNG.
Jay

[Bill Perkins]

HR; I assume the heat shield the stove came with is an after market fabrication . Do you fill the base with water ?Think it was brazed up out of stock pieces ,or welded ?

[Canoeyawl]

Years ago I was told that the little fatsco stoves were originally used as a heater in the old horse drawn ice and milk delivery trucks.
Who remembers the milkman? Or the iceman?
I had one in an old Divco milk truck back in the sixties that was converted to a "camper". The old William Garden Bullfrog had one also - a great little heater.

[Bob Cleek]

No, the heat shield on the back is a Fatsco option. I don't know who's making them now. Back in the days before the infernalnet, I had a friend who really wanted one and stopped by Benton Harbor, IIRC, to visit the "factory" and pick one up. It turned out they were made by an old guy in his garage as a sideline business. He didn't spend much of anything on advertising. It was all word of mouth. He'd order a batch of the cast parts from the local foundry and the rest was pretty much off the shelf sheet metal. He'd assemble them and ship them off as the orders came in.

From their ad, it looks like they only make the Tiny Tot and Pet these days. At one time, back in the seventies, they also made a line of cast iron stove "ends," grates, and legs designed to attach to a 55 gallon oil drum. IIRC, they may have also had the same in a 35 gallon drum size. You supplied your own oil drum. The drum would stand on its side on the cast iron legs. The grate went inside the drum and the cast iron ends capped the drum ends. There was a cast iron bolt on flue spud for the chimney. I never saw one in the flesh, but they looked pretty efficient and were, like the Tiny Tot and Pet, extremely reasonably priced. To my way of thinking, the few other cast iron small stoves around are way over the top price wise, but I guess they get the money for them.

[fjalt]

Sounds like a good stove and the price is right but does anyone know if it will shut down and keep a fire through the night. I don't want it to cook on, just for cold nights and I like the idea of solid fuel since you can find drift wood anywhere in the world.

[HR]

Bill, the heat shield around my stove is custom and was in place when I bought the boat. The base is a sheet metal disk with a strip of 1 1/2" (or so) wide sheet metal wrapped around and welded to it. The back is a piece of sheet metal wrapped around the base (about halfway - enough to protect the bulkhead and settee) and welded to it. The panel on the bulkhead is a piece of fireproof material about 1/4" thick with copper wrapped over the face and around the edges. It's held out from the bulkhead by 1" pieces of copper tubing.

fjalt, I don't think you'd be able to get it to run all night. If you put in enough wood/coal for that (and I'm not sure enough would fit inside), it would burn too hot when you filled it up. Because it has a stainless body, you have to be careful about keeping the temperature regulated.

Howard

[Concordia...41]

I won't be using it, but have the Tiny Tot, heat shield, and stove pipe that was on SARAH when we got her. It's that same flat heat shield as in HR's picture - a pretty copper piece over a nice flaking piece of asbestos :D

At any rate, the magazine Good Old Boat did a real nice piece on the Tiny Tots three, maybe four years ago. If you can find their archives, there will be a lot of good information as to their actual usage, dos, don'ts, etc. I remember some discussion in the article about using small pieces of wood vs. charcoal briquettes.

If you can't find it in Good Old Boat, let me know. I "probably" :rolleyes: have the article around here somewhere.

Cheers!

- M

[JimConlin]

I had a Tiny Tot on Magic. It had a stainless shield attached to the body of the stove. In Maine, we used it a lot. South of the Cape, never.

[Lance F. Gunderson]

The Edey & Duff stoves were made by Portland Foundry, now defunct. I used a Ratelco metal solid fuel stove on my Rhodes Ranger 28 and liked it a lot. They come up regularly on EBay at good prices. If you get one, be careful of getting it too hot; a few briquets go a long way. Lunenberg Foundry made some nice cast iron solid fuel stoves; I have their "Gift"model, which burns coal as well as wood. Sadly they are also now defunct. A Shipmate Skippy is another good solid fuel stove if you can find one.

[Canoeyawl]

Sounds like a good stove and the price is right but does anyone know if it will shut down and keep a fire through the night. .
No - it won't last the night, it won't last more than a few hours.
We used charcoal brickettes...just a couple or three at a time.

[Winsome]

Thanks Lance - I liked those Cole Ratelco stoves too....

[Jay Greer]

Fatsco is still in business. All parts, including the SS heat shield, as well as new stoves are available.
http://www.fatscostoves.com/
Jay

[James McMullen]

I've got a Tiny Tot in my new StoneHorse. I haven't burned more than a handful of sticks in her to try her out yet, but it seems to work pretty good, puts out noticeable heat right away and is just absolutely adorable! I plan on bringing a carbon monoxide detector along before I try letting her burn overnight though.