Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Backpack Hunting Ultra lite stoves

I've used a jetboil for 3 years now - nothing beats it.

Spot

Thats a big plus about alcohol. My giga is nice and quiet compared to the XGK I had. That thing sounded like a 747 taking off.

Shag:

I think you hit on the one single dissadvantage of the alchohol burners. That's the fact that they can be spilled and you would have burning alchohol all over everything and you wouldn't even be able to see the flames. But if you refrain from using it inside a tent or near any gear, then it's not that big a deal.

I've only once used a stove inside a tent and I burnt a hole in the floor. Now, if the weather is so bad that I don't want to cook outside, I'll setup the stove in the vestibule so that it exhausts outside but I'm sitting inside the door of the tent and out of the rain/cold/snow.

KC

The White Box stove is strong enough to stand on top of, although it'd probably bend badly if you stood on it's side.

I store alcohol in clear Pepsi bottles. They're light, and I can see the contents. I haven't had any leak yet, but even if it did, no harm done.

Shag, I really think you'd like the WB. It's a very simple yet very effective little stove, and much stronger than the normal DIY Pepsi can stoves. The newest models have a rolled edge which looks sleeker than the early ones like mine that used pop rivets.

Thought I would toss out some more info on the Trail Designs caldera stove
THe stove and cone are setup to work with your specific pot/cup. This makes for a very efficient quick boil time. My hunting partner fired up his white box using one of his MSR windscreens at the same time I fired up my caldera. My water was at boil at least 2 min prior. Not a huge deal but it does speak to how efficient the system is.
The whole thing-stove-caldera cone-fuel bottle comes in a food grade cup/bowl that threads shut and keeps everything safe in your pack.
May not be the smallest or lightest setup but works great for me. I carry freezer bag meals so I only need to boil water.
MIke

I've seen the Caldera system, and it looks efficient. I use a Litech tea kettle, and it's wide base does a fine job of scavenging the heat from the White Box. The wind screen that came with my White Box is adjustable, and can fit whatever size pot I'm boiling with.

There is the "Starlyte" stove. Which holds the alcohol in a wick. Low profile so it's not likely to tip over. But even if it did, the wick holds the fuel in place.
There are also one piece "improvements" on the White Box design. The White Box is formed by mounting the inverted top of a (typically Budweiser) aluminum bottle into the bottom section. These are heavy walled bottles, 5x thicker than a pop can. The "improved" version (Invented by Tinny or MiniBullDesigns) rolls the aluminum bottle walls down into the base - making it one piece instead of two. The White Box is well built, but there is still a seam at the top. There is an "improvement" on Tinnys "Bios 2.1"(which is what he calls it) called the "Cobalt" stove - which puts some wick material inside the rolled walls, and has a lighting "wick" made from braided copper (I think).
Improvements and changes are an ongoing thing.

Tiny kinda ripped off the White Box stove idea, then improved it with the rolled over seam. Tiny was nice enough to teach White Box how to create the same rolled seam, so the latest White Box stoves are now almost identical to Tiny's.

I like my Pocket rocket for overnight warm weather trips. Alcohol burners for longer dayhikes and wood stoves for harsh winter or longer trips as not packing fuel makes these stoves UL.

Anyone using their stoves for actual cooking some sort of meal rather than just heating water for coffee, tang, oatmeal and Mtn House?

Mine's pretty much used to heat water. I do a fair bit of cooking when I take the tipi/woodstove, any trip I'm willing to carry the heated shelter I usually don't eat a lot of freeze dried.

Yea..

Is that bait in the first pic with the bottle?


Just joshing ya Woods!

Are those overnight trips or longer with a *few* fuel bottles?
I upgraded a year ago from a Peak1 white gas stove to a pocket rocket and Ti kettle. Just water so far.

Hand casting for pan fish is a great way to add a tasty treat when in the woods.





I do pack an extra 4 oz canister when going out for more than a weekend however never needed to crack into it. Also like the Trailstove for both cooking and a makeshift small scout fire that burns very little wood.

A buddy using my Trailstove on the AT.



Trailstove is not all that big as I can store gear inside.



I can use a burner if weather is bad and I just don�t want to mess with the fire.



Very little trace of anything as a boot kick will take care of the ash. Not that ash is bad being a natural part of the environment.



Makeshift campfire to bend the rules in no campfire areas. Got about 50 miles of that foolishness along the CT AT.

[img]http://i113.photobucket.com/albums/n220/Daytraderwon/100_8405.jpg[/img]

[img]http://i113.photobucket.com/albums/n220/Daytraderwon/100_8402.jpg[/img]

There are lighter stoves but the free fuel thing more than makes up for that.

The "Four Dogs Stove Company" http://www.fourdog.com/ makes what they call the "Bushcooker" stove and cook kit (not listed on their website but in their catalog. It's made of titanium and weighs 6.8 ounces, the size is 4-3/4" diameter x 5-3/4" tall. It is made to burn any bio-mass as well as solid fuel tabs. The kit includes a hard anocized aluminum 36 ounce pot, 20 ounce bowl, and a lid that fits both along with a mesh transport bag for the whole mess.

Weights for the whole mess are:

Stove ------ 6.8 oz.
Pot -------- 5.6 oz.
Bowl ------- 4.4 oz.
Lid -------- 1.8 oz.
Mesh bag --- 0.4 oz.

Total = 19 oz.

Phil

ironbender:

I make some things that are not freeze-dried with my camp stove. They include the following:

Burritos: Mexicali Rose dehydrated Refried Beans, Minute Rice boil-in-bag and tortillas.

Ham & Cheese & Macaroni: Velveeta Shells & Cheese, with a foil bag of ham.

Bisquits & Gravey: Country Time Gravy Mix with sausage and some bread rolls.

Pancakes: Bisquik Shake & Pour Pancakes, with some freeze-dried syrup and/or restaurant jelly packets.

Casseroles: Lypton Casserole Mixes, with a foil bag of chicken.

Beef Stew: Dinty Moore Beef Stew in a boil-in-bag pouch.

I have also fried fresh trout and tenderloin steaks in 1/8" water.

I have a little toaster which sits on top of the stove for toasting English muffins and/or bread.

These ingredients do not require refrigeration and there are no cans. Some are heavier than freeze-dried and I admit that most of my backpack entres are freeze-dried, but on long trips, I like to take one or more of these just to break the monotony.

KC

Ive got a Jet Boil PCS.Maybe a little hefty but it works well for me. Never time a boil but seems pretty fast at 95 to 10000 ft ele. Boiled water for 2 for 5.5 days on 2.5 cans of fuel[4oz per].

WoodsWalker:

Please educate me. A Lonnnng time ago, I did all my camp cooking over an open fire and had the techniques pretty well figured out. Eventually I got tired of dirty black pots, collecting fire wood, environmental impact of campfires in high use areas, etc. So I have used camp stoves since the late 1970s.

So here's my question. If you're going to cook using wood for fuel, why bother taking a stove at all?

KC

I ain't Woods but I'll take a stab.


less wood to build a fire, concentrates the heat source to the bottom of your pot, keeps you from having to rig rocks or a hanger for your pot, makes a hotter fire faster, thus using less wood as the holes in the bottom create an air furnace action.

it's official fire for sure, just improved is all, the trade off you got to haul it around and it adds some weight to your pack.

if I was gonna hike long haul and didn't want a Kifaru or Ti dog type stove I'd opt for it. worth the weight imo for the convenience it allows

I can't speak for WoodsWalker, but I'd answer your question as follows:

Dirty black pots, collecting fire wood & environmental impact are roughly the same with or without the stove, so that's a wash.

Why bother with the stove? It does minimize the 'impact', lets you use very small sticks and focus the heat much better than an open flame. It is essentially it's own wind screen. Light weight, and with the model he shows you can easily stow things inside the (admittedly bulky) chamber. Not to mention that there is something primal and fun about wood fires that modern stoves just don't have.