Archive for April 2009

I tell you, I can't seem to stop. Yesterday marked the arrival of my latest stove. I decided to get a Brasslite II-D stove. I probably could've gotten by with the I-D and it's smaller size/fuel capacity but I decided to opt for a slightly larger stove and longer burn time if I decide to cook instead of simply boil water. It weighed in at 2.9 oz. It's very light and well-made.

I decided to grab a shot before I put the fire to her and this is what I got. I usually forget this step.



Once it got dark and it was easier to see the flame I did a couple of 1 oz burns. I was able to boil 2 cups in about 6.5 min (didn't keep accurate time on this test) and still had plenty of fuel left over. I'm going to try with 1/2 oz today and see how it does. Here are a few shots from the test.





So far I'm pretty happy. It's definitely lighter than the Trangia. However, I still like the Trangia's ability to store unused fuel. More tests to come. Hopefully I'll have a nice comparison chart ready before too long.

No, this isn't about a pot addiCtion, but rather an addition to my pot collection. I stopped by K-Mart on the way home and picked up a new toy. It's a very lightweight aluminum grease pot. When I say light, I mean super light. Without the grease strainer it's just 3.9 oz including the lid.

I just did a test boil of 2 cups of water with the LiteMax stove. I have to say I was a little disappointed. It was about 40 secs longer than with the Snow Peak pot. It took 4:09 to get to a rolling boil.

I have some more testing to do but if I can get the boil time down this will be a great way to shed some weight. Of course with the alcohol stoves the savings will be even more significant. I can't wait to test it some more.

Well, I fueled my stove addiction a little more today...no pun intended. I added to my vintage collection when I got a "new" Optimus 8R. It's quite a nifty little stove and I'm looking forward to putting it through some paces.

Here's what she looked like out of the box.


Add a little white gas to the priming cup to warm things up...


About 30 seconds later she's all primed and burning like a nice little stove...


Just add the pot and you're ready to boil.


My first 2 cups of water were boiled in 7:47.

Well, the good news is that the new suspension system held up well. I forgot to tie the running end of the straps off as a safety measure but I still didn't experience any slippage. I was a little nervous. I had to move around a lot trying to shimmy into the sleeping bag. However, they system did a great job and I'm very pleased.

What I'm not pleased with is the horrible job I did rigging my tarp. I felt much colder for some reason and when I awoke I discovered why. The tarp was sagging so much it was pretty much leaning on the hammock. The hammock was getting wet because of it and that was sapping my heat away. It wasn't enough to keep me awake but I was aware of it at various times during the night.

All in all not a bad night. If the temps are low again I'll sleep outside tonight as well to give it another shot.

After long last I finally took the time to start the switch to a ring buckle suspension system for the hammock. I still have the original lines connected to the Hennessy as I'm not quite ready to cut them, but that may not be far down the line.

I'm amazed at just how much quicker I can have the hammock up now. I'm tempted to add it to my tarp to speed that up too. Adjustment is a breeze as well. I don't have many pics since we were trying to get out the door for dinner but here's a closeup of the rings.



I picked up 300' of 1" polypro webbing from Ed Speer. I cut two 12' pieces and sewed 3.5" loops in one end of each. I put a biner through the loop and hook the free end through (I'll get pics of that tomorrow). The loose end goes through the rings as shown and that's it.

I'll be sleeping in it tonight to test it out. Hopefully I don't end up flat on my back on the ground. :-)

Ok, I guess stoves are my weakness. I keep having to fight the urge to get or make another one. Sometimes I win the fight, sometimes I don't. This time I didn't. I fought with myself for a week but couldn't resist REI's 20% member sale and now I have this.



It's the Snow Peak LiteMax. According to the specs it's the lightest canister stove at 1.9 oz. They lied. My scale reads 2 oz. :-) Unlike the Giga which comes in a hard plastic case, the LiteMax comes in a velour-type bag. With the bag the stove weighed in at 2.3 oz. This is a small difference from the Giga manual at 3 oz and an even greater difference with the Giga and case at 3.9 oz.

Here's a little side-by-side comparison for you. The Giga is shorter but bulkier. The LiteMax is tall and skinny.


I did a quick test boiling 2 cups of water since this is what I usually do on the trail. I was happy to see a rolling boil at 3:03:49. For comparison I fired up the JetBoil and did another 2 cups. The time came in at 2:41:48. That's only a time difference of 0:22:01. Not too shabby for the LiteMax.