10 ounce Grand Trunk Nano camp stool, $16 @ REI outlet
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i have a little princess that loves it so now it's multi-use!
happy holidays guys!
for the record, i actually do like how it cups your butt and will use it when cooking or by the fire. you can lighten it even more by removing the shock cord. packs down small enough to fit into most side pockets.
Never wanting to disappoint my BPL brethren and curious to know how I could shave weight on this stool, I took the damn thing apart…which was very easy actually. Just pull out one of the beveled metal plugs at the legs and it's self explanatory from there.
Here are the weights of the components:
Legs: 8.5oz
Internal Bungee and Metal Plugs: 1.0z
Fabric Seat/Understorage Net/Velcro strap: 1.6oz
It became immediately clear to me that the bungee cord was overbuilt. So was the fabric seat material. There wasn't much I could do with the legs.
So i got to work! Swapped out the bungee and restitched a new fabric seat out of 210D ripstop (same stuff used in the Alite Monarch, so should support a good amount of weight). I ditched the understorage net, but kept the velcro strap (i think it weighed .1oz)
Here is revamped one next to an original. No breathtaking weight savings, but modded version weighs 9.7oz compared to the original 11oz.
If I had access to a drill press I could have gotten rid of the metal plugs altogether and just tied the bungees to holes made into the legs themselves, probably shaving another .8oz or so. If I had real guts, I'd redo the other one in cuben fiber :D
I couldn't just let Konrad win outright, without some sort of wimpy attempt at improving the Nano stool on my part. I have nothing at all in my arsenal that can possibly compete with that photo of Adam's lovely princess, however.
But here's an option–remove the end caps and insert 4 long Easton stakes into the ends of the legs. The stakes stop at the pins that connect the two leg pieces. It adds 1.75" to the height of the stool, it remains quite stable, it's completely reversible, but it adds 2.1 oz. to the stool weight. That is, unless you actually use the stakes for your shelter (then you pretend that they don't add any weight at all). My stock stool weighs 10.2 oz. with the mesh underbag removed, and 12.3 oz. with the Easton stakes (maybe a bit lighter if I removed the Triptease cords).
You still win, K-man, 'cause you can sew stuff–nice work! Geeks 'R Us!
edit–spelling
Actually, Jennifer, I too am a health care professional–a public health dentist with extensive training in forensics. A couple years ago, I spotted this scat in my back yard, and of course I had to identify it (that's what forensic people do):
Note the ruler–that's what we do when taking photos of the "crime scene," to establish scale. After a few hours of internet searching, I decided that it was the calling card of a garbage-fed black bear (no berries or animal fur mixed in), and I sent the photo to the state wildlife office. A couple days later the head biologist concurred with my findings. So I now consider myself an amateur forensic scatologist of sorts, which might mean that I actually AM a stool geek.
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