I tripped across this site while trying to fix my beloved "Hipolito". Hard to believe there's such an avid Kerosene lantern community. My wife and I just re-bought the boat we sailed 30,000 miles in our youth, and are restoring it for our retirement (another, but long, story). While having our first dinner aboard in the cold San Francisco summer, we lamented the loss of our light and heat giving Hipolito 250CP, bought in Portugal 38 years ago and our sailing companion for the following 4 years. But... It was still packed away, and I pulled it out and began the restoration. Actually, nothing too bad, just in need of polish and pips, for the most part. Along the way, I came across "St. Paul Mercantile" and its very helpful owner, John. I bought one of his "Butterfly" lanterns - and after some discussion about spares, he sent me not one but two lanterns. It's quite nice, and burns beautifully, but we love our Hipolito (and it's brass, unlike the steel Butterfly, so more seaworthy). Restoring the Hipolito, I came across a "Pip" suggestion on an Aussie site - using Viton O-rings. Better yet, I found that McMaster sells Viton O-ring material by the foot. I bought 3' each of 3.5, 4, and 4.5mm material - enough for nearly 1000 pips! Incidentally, the interim owners of our boat (Phoenix, an Ohlson 41) had the audacity to pull the Kerosene stove and replace it with Propane. I've now purchased an old used Kerosene stove ("Galley Maid"), but I no longer have spare burners, orifices, packing, etc. I've found a British source of (Indian?) Primus knockoffs but they charge a lot, considering the source. These stoves use regulating silent burners. Anybody know a good source of either quality knockoff parts, or genuine old stock? It's nice to be here, and meet you all.
Welcome, Steve - it's good to have you here with us. Surely 3' of each of three sizes of material (hopefully a good grade of Viton) to make pips was a bit excessive! We don't do stoves here and you'll do better to ask over at our sister site, Classic Camp Stoves. There's a link at the top of the page - top line, just under the heading...
