[Stoves] Fish Smoker

[acparker at xmission.com]

Title: Fish Smoker
Design: Rocket
Country: -Nigeria
Application: Dryer
Food: Food Processing
Body:
I am looking for some help in adapting Dr. Winiarski's wood-fired food
dehydrator for fish smoking.

My name is Andrew Parker.  I live near Salt Lake City, Utah.  I am an
online volunteer with the United Nations' Online Volunteering Service
working with Nabuur.com.  I am currently assigned as Project Facilitator
for a fisheries development project with the community of Efut Inwang,
on the Bakassi peninsula, now part of Cameroon.  (Many of the residents
have relocated to fishing camps and villages across the river in
Akpabuyo LGA, Nigeria so technically we have morphed into a refugee
project.)
<http://www.nabuur.com/modules/villages_issues/index.php?villageid=145>

We determined that a good place to begin was to introduce an improved
fish smoker.  After much research we settled on the Chorkor smoker as
the best design.  Now that we are nearly finished with our demonstration
project, it has become obvious that the Chorkor design is not economical
to build in the coastal mangrove physiography of the Bakassi region.
There have been similar complications in introducing the Chorkor to the
coastal mangrove fishing villages in South East Cameroon (I stumbled
onto that report too late).

The first thing that came to mind when I was researching an improved
smoker was Dr. Winiarski's wood-fired food dehydrator, but I dismissed
the possibility as too costly.  With a budget now exceeding $7,000 for a
smoking hut and ovens (yes, I thought that perhaps they were building it
out of marble and gold leaf, but I suspect it is probably more that we
are getting the rich foreigner price - all westerners are rich, right? -
and the transport cost is a killer), I am compelled to revisit the
option of a Rocket fired smoker.

One of the other attractions of the wood-fired food dehydrator design is
that it could probably be built to be lightweight and portable by boat
or cart.  This may make the design more attractive to the fish mongers
as they could move from landing beach to landing beach based on seasonal
availability and then park it in a secure location when not in use. 
(Vandalism is reported to have been a problem with government built
ovens in the past, when they were actually built, to the extent that
there are no more government built ovens in the area.)

So, is there anyone among you who would be interested in helping me with
this?  For you adventurous types, if you want to do field work, the Oban
Hills (Nigeria) - Korup Forest (Cameroon) World Heritage Site is just a
few miles upriver (the Akwayafe) from Bakassi.


Thanks,

Andrew Parker
acparker at xmission.com