Non-electric Lightning

[vonslatt]

Hi Everyone,

Question: is anyone using mantle lamps in their bus? Mantle lamps would include Aladdin kerosene lamps, Coleman type pressure lamps, or gas lamps. I am wondering how the mantles hold up to the vibration of driving.

On the same subject, I've just launched a website dedicated to my kerosene lamp projects:

http://kerosene-lamp.com

I am particularly proud of the "Mae West" table lamp I just finished.

Cheers!

Jake.

[busone]

A few years ago I decided to mow the lawn after dark when it was cooler. Problem was our yard was dark. I used my coleman lantern and tied it to the front of the mower with bungee cords. After a few minuets the mantel failed. I am sure your bus is not nearly as rough as a lawn mower though.

[vonslatt]

I'm thinking about something like this:

http://lehmans.com/shopping/product/...displayID=1781



for over the dinette.

[soused moose]

In our last bus ‘Home’ …we used kerosene lamps a lot for our primary lighting.
I picked up a bunch of used brass marine gimbaled mounted lamps from a guy who was re-fitting his sailboat.
I really liked them for their restful lighting effects.

Here’s a pic of the new ones we bought for Latcho Drom ….which we’ll use in our trailer.
http://www.mobilehomestead.com/latcho/l ... s/oil1.JPG

I picked them up online from this site.
http://www.oillampman.com/


Vonslatt…
For many years RV manufacturers put LP gas lamps in all their rigs …they don’t anymore because people tend to be lazy and just want to flick a switch these days.
But even so…
Millie & I put them in our van conversions ….and they work mostly fine.
Eventually after using them for some time, the mantles do tend to develop holes and fall apart from vehicle vibration.
We always carried a couple of replacement mantles.
Here’s a page with some RV styled LP Lamps …they’re not at all pretty looking ,like the Lehmans model …but their the ones RV companies used to use…

http://www.pplmotorhomes.com/parts/lp-g ... lights.htm

Michael & Millie

[Eric von Kleist]

I used a Coleman propane lamp for lighting when I lived on a little 22 foot sailboat for a couple of years. It works fine, but it does have one drawback in the winter: any form of hydrocarbon fuel is going to give off water vapor roughly equivalent in amount to the fuel that is burned. If you don't have good ventilation (which you should, anyway, if you are burning things in an enclosed space) AND you don't have good insulation (which I had none of in a fiberglass daysailer), you will be likely to get some condensation problems in cold, or even cool, weather.

Shoot, just respiring in my quarterberth where I slept directly beneath the bottom of the cockpit seat, I would wake up with much water on the fiberglass directly above me, and, when it was very, very cold, frost.