Coke can stove test
I decided to do the classic 2 cup of water boil time test with that backpacking stove I made out of two coke cans. Using my swiss tool I bent a coat hanger into a little ultralight stand. Of course, if you really wanted to save weight you could just dig a small hole or use sticks or rocks to hold your pot over the stove. I'm pretty happy with the stove as it performed coming to a boil in rougly 4 minutes. :) The can of fuel was about $5 at the local Home Depot, it burns clean and fairly hot. I recorded a small 1 minute video as well after the stove had been on for about 3 minutes. The coat hanger worked fairly well, if I was going to keep it for actual use I'd sand off the paint on it, but I suspect I'll just use rocks or sticks in the field.
This particular design has paper towel folded over inside the walls acting as a wick. I also use larger weep holes in the base and it seems to do well. The amount of fuel required to boil 2 cups of water is exactly 2 tablespoons, not bad. To carry the fuel you can just get one of those little containers from the travel isle at the local drug store.
Part way into the video you'll see me stick my hand in there, showing the time at about 3min after starting the fire. All in all it averaged to almost exactly 4 minutes. I should also note that I'm probably only about 100ft above sea level.
Labels: backpacking, DIY, gear, outdoor
PermaLink / Posted by: Tony
Navigation tools
My very first GPS was one of the very early civilian models from Garmin, it had an external antenna that you could adjust. I got the "military" style model and unfortunately it was pretty much a piece of junk. The antenna was not very tough and while simply trying to rotate it the thing popped off. When attempting to put it back, some of the connecting points snapped. Thankfully, I was able to return it and purchased a Magellen unit. I liked the Magellans in that they were self contained, waterproof and had a very simple interface.
Of course this was back in the days when a GPS really only gave you data. Direction, speed, latitude, longitude and sea level elevation. On top of that, it was $300. I used that thing in combination with USGS topo maps for many years, it came with me on Jeeping adventures and backpacking trips into the unknown. Unfortunately it finally gave up the ghost a few months ago after providing me with over 10 years of service. Time for a new one and while I was at it, I figured I might as well go full bore and see what kinds of topo software was out there.
After a bit of research I settled on the Magellan eXplorist e210 United States version. Without going into detail on the specs, you can google those, the device comes preloaded with a US map containing major roads, parks, airports and waterways. For more detailed maps you can upload them into the unit via special software.
Now personally I don't really care too much about a detail map on a tiny little GPS screen. The zoomed out major roadways is fine for my purposes, any real detail requires a real map. Not to mention the fact that if your GPS dies for one reason or another, you better have a real map and compass handy or you might not be making it back to camp. Another nice feature is a dual level backlight that allows you to choose a dim or bright setting, very nice. Considering the fact that the backlight on these things can be a real power hog.
Here's the dim setting, note that I'm not tracking any satellites yet as I just turned the GPS on and I'm inside an office building with it pointing away from the windows. However, if you'll notice in the next picture, it started the tracking process anyway and locked a satellite. From everything I'd read and now experienced, this GPS handles satellite aquisition and lock extremely well. I don't yet have a handlebar mount, so to tracklog I just fire it up and toss it in my bag and it works just fine.
Another one of the nice features with this device is being able to set something called a track log, which more or less just records a ton of waypoints automatically as you move along. The nice thing about this is that you can wander off wherever the hell you want, then basically just tell it to do a return trip and it will guide you back the way you came.
The other nice thing about that is that not only can you use it to record locations with a route to get there as well as how to get back to say... camp with virtual breadcrumbs, but you can import this data into good topo software, like the TOPO! maps software from National Geographic. Now that is super cool, with that little feature when you return from a trip you can download the data off your GPS into your PC and see where you went on your map. Of course one of the primary reasons for getting the GPS is that you can also plot charts on your map and upload them to your GPS as a route that you can follow.
Combined with the very awesome National Geographic TOPO! map software, this little guy will be seeing a lot of use.
Now that I can print my own 100k and 7.5' topo maps I can feel free to abuse them and mark all over them and with the routes I create on it uploaded to my GPS, I can feel confident that not only will it lead me where I want to go, it will get me back home as well.
Labels: backpacking, gear, jeep, outdoor, travel, xt225
PermaLink / Posted by: Tony
Ultralight backpacking stove
So I'd seen plans for years about little backpacking stoves you can make requiring merely a couple of coke cans a swiss army knife and a few minutes of time, but I'd never really gotten around to making one. I had been using nesbit tablets, which function, but I'm really not a big fan of them. Anyway, someone had posted a video on metacafe showing his own modified and simplified design and I figured I might as well give making one of these a shot.
Now, he simply states that you need to prime it first, then he is shown holding a lighter under it for a few seconds before lighting the jets. Of course, anyone that knows how primed stoves work realize that is total BS because you really need a priming pan, which defeated the whole point of his "modified" stove as it was supposed to be a completely simplified version of the different styles out there.
Anyway, I don't like the priming pan idea, it's just one more thing to carry around and lose. I'd prefer for the entire unit to be self contained. A great website, zenstoves.net goes into detail on the design and theory behind many different styles of these little stoves. Personally, I prefer the open top style, though slightly less efficient it lights instantly and the jets come on when ready.
I am somewhat happy with the performance I'm getting, though I do want to change the design a little and make the top hole smaller, I don't think it needs to be quite so large. Anyway, here's a shot of the flame you get for 5 minutes from a couple tablespoons worth of denatured alcohol.
Labels: backpacking, DIY, gear, outdoor
PermaLink / Posted by: Tony
I decided to do the classic 2 cup of water boil time test with that backpacking stove I made out of two coke cans. Using my swiss tool I bent a coat hanger into a little ultralight stand. Of course, if you really wanted to save weight you could just dig a small hole or use sticks or rocks to hold your pot over the stove. I'm pretty happy with the stove as it performed coming to a boil in rougly 4 minutes. :) The can of fuel was about $5 at the local Home Depot, it burns clean and fairly hot. I recorded a small 1 minute video as well after the stove had been on for about 3 minutes. The coat hanger worked fairly well, if I was going to keep it for actual use I'd sand off the paint on it, but I suspect I'll just use rocks or sticks in the field.
