Water bottles for boiling

I used to have a spun aluminum bottle that I used for this very purpose. Can't find them now. Everything seems to have an internal coating that I don't trust in extreme heat. It did work well.

Kleen Kanteens can be used for that purpose – look online, they talk about it. You need a single walled one, no lining. (Which they make!)

Thanks Sarah!
perfect for FB cooking, solo in the backcountry!

Kleen Canteens are cool but too heavy. The 27 oz. capacity one weights 8 oz.! I wish someone made a titanium version. :(

Have you checked out the stainless steel canteens by Guyot Designs? They weight less than the Kleen products are are similar in shape to the standard nalgene.
http://www.guyotdesigns.com/stainlessbottles

lightest i can find is made by Earthlust – from a review:

"The Earthlust bottle is made of #304 food grade stainless steel. Since the steel walls are a little thinner than most stainless steel water bottles they are not as durable, but are very light. I highly recommend these water bottles for people that want a light stainless steel water bottle. The 13oz weighs only 3.6oz, the 20oz weighs 4.9oz and the 1-liter weighs 7.7oz."

http://safewaterbottlereview.com/reviews/earthlust-stainless-steel-water-bottle-review/

Thanks Jason and Ignacio for the imput on Kleen and Guyout designs. Was just going back and forth with another BPL reader on the weight on Kleen products.

Found a stainless steel water bottle at Target that is in the 5-6 oz range that will be testing this weekend, seems to be the same material used in the Kleen bottles and holds 24oz.

Cary, looks pretty close to what I picked up without any type of exterior graphics or coating. Like the fact that the plastic top is detachable so it can be taken off while bottle is heating water

I've done this with an older style Sigg Aluminum storage bottle (no inside coating). Bottle weighs 3.4 oz (with cap), holds about 22oz and being aluminum is a good heat conductor.

Bottle does triple duty–(1) water storage (2) vertical boiler and (3) hot water bottle w/o risk of failure. I've only heated/boiled water in the coals of a small fire—stove use would be tricky for this shape.

If you want a really light SS bottle, and don't mind some creative modifications, get one of the cheapish SS vacuum flasks and cut the tip of the neck away very carefully. The metal is very thin-walled. A Dremel or a fine grinder might be suitable, applied right at the top. Further mods may be needed for a rim.

Cheers

Kind of tied into the other thread running about using hot water to keep warm.

Although not a dual purpose item, a pair of Nunatek down slippers weigh 3.5oz, less than a lot of these bottles, and they won't cool off during the night, and there is no chance of them leaking water.

A Caldera Key weighs 6.7 oz for a complete cook system sans fuel, and a 1L Platy and a 2L Platy combined weigh 2.3 oz.

Total weight of everything is 12.5 oz. Now the challenge is to keep your water from freezing in the Platys.

Just some options to think about.

Roger:

Neat idea! One could also spray paint this modified bottle black (high-temp paint) and preheat your water/bottle in the sun (inside a clear plastic bag). Might save some fuel…

Lots of great input, thanks for all the feedback.
Top reason for this approach is shear simplicity.

Rational for cooking set up would be to pack a water bottle which is used throughout the day, doubles as a cook pot at night & only additional item would be a long handled spoon for eating out of freezer bags. Small cooking fire with hot coal bed would replace a stove. Fire starting supplies would also be required, but this is usually packed anyways.

Golite VO24 shown is packed with enough gear and food for 2 full days out in current southeast conditions (50/60 during the day, lower 40's at night)

Jim, I was wondering about your intended purpose for the bottle. As I read your last post (cooking in addition to boiling water), I would recommend one with a wide mouth, so that you don't have to do lose your temper trying to extract food bits from your soup…

I was looking for a similar product which offers the same versatility for my kit. Thus far, the Guyot Designs is the closest to what I had in mind, but I'd be certainly happy to see other options.

Cheers

Awesome old thread.

I’ve been looking for an alternative to my kleen kanteen for my ultralight cook kit.

Have tried Venom Energy drinks with a wire twine handle and at 2.3oz it is superbly light and can boil water like a deamon (2min/ 2 cups) since it sits down inside my wood wood burner. Indeed with boil times faster then any production stove it turns the “slow” wood stove myths, and the “inefficient” small bottom pot myths up side down. It’s not rocket science, it’s simply getting back to the basics.

And it also works as a water bottle.

However… the Venom energy drink bottle doesn’t hold enough water for my needs during the day.

Likewise the 27oz kleen kanteen, while awesome, indestructible and superb as a boiler weighs 8oz.

What I’m looking for is something bigger and/or lighter then the kleen kanteen. Say 1L/34oz or even 1.5L/48oz.

The wider the mouth the better.

There are some good mentions in this thread, but a lot of them are no longer available.

The closest thing I can find are the Sigg wide mouth aluminum bottles in 1.5L and 1L.

== Sigg wide mouth aluminum water bottles ==

1.5L
http://mysigg.com/store/sigg-large-alu-wide-mouth.html

1L
http://mysigg.com/store/bottles/wide-mouth-black-touch-swiss-cross.html

I suspect that they like most have some sort of coating on the inside, but I can find nothing on their care instructions that says “do not boil water in” or “do not place in fire”, nor any mention of an inner coating or liner: http://mysigg.com/about/care-instructions/

I’m thinking I may just have to try the 1L one. I figure worst case scenario I burn off all the internal coating. I don’t suspect it’ll corrode, but I wonder about any possible health concerns with long term use.

So… the rest of the cook kit.

== the cook kit ==

So, to understand the why of the pot you have to see the cook kit.

I think I have it paired down and dialed in pretty well.

# 2oz titanium wood stove

# .6oz platypus bowl / mug

# .6oz and now .3oz lightload towels

# 2.3oz Venom Energy drink pot / water bottle

*Venom bottle included wire twine handle and bottle cap

Plus a mini bic lighter, with a spare in my first aid kit ;)

Titanium stakes… also handy for grill top, staking down the stove for extra stability, and simply adjusting the diameter of the stove to dial efficiency and burn time.

An ounce or so of aluminum foil… always handy.

With this setup there is no need to carry fuel. No need to carry tinder since I have plenty of things in my kit I can use as tinder and fire starter… i.e. petrolium based oinments, ubiquitous plastic bags, twine / paracord, toilet paper, etc, etc, etc.

I do often collect bits of my favorite natural flameables toward the end of the day or if I think it’ll be raining when I make camp. I call this being a “wood gourmand”.

I love the smell of hickory in the evening. Indeed I love sampling all the different woods and it stimulates more thought and attention in identifying flora and fauna. Scent is a key to memory… nothing like the memories and smells of unique wood types on different trips and in different climates.

I also carry a 1.9oz knife that I custom made for splitting wood into kindling with an improvised baton…. so even in extremely wet conditions I’m covered. I don’t consider this a specific addition to my cook kit since it is my primary knife. I also cary a tiny high quality slotted sharpener that fits on my key chain in case I need to abuse my knife, i.e. by digging a sanitary hole.

I view fire indeed any cooking stove as non-essential… though i really really love it. I can take it and leave it a night here or there if no fires are allowed.

There is always something I can eat cold or hydrate cold for a night or two if fires are not allowed.

I also consider that I can can pick up HEET or other alcohol and improvise a top notch alcohol stove at pretty much any gas station or store along the way.

As for water purification fire is my primary means, but I also carry iodine tablets in an emergency.. but mostly I use the iodine as a means of sterilizing water bladders if I’ve had to use them for unpurified water.

As goes with firestarting, as goes with cooking, as goes with water purification… I go light, but I focus on multi-use gear and make sure i have several redundant approaches to accomplishing the goal.

I love fire because it’s fire.

I love that fire keeps the bugs at bay… that it throws a little flickering light… as a source of heat, and above all the smells and ambience in the evening.

I love setting my coffee back on the edge of the fire to keep it piping hot.

What’s more the scaleable diameter of my stove, a glorified fire ring of sorts, allows me to dial up or dial down how much fuel it consumes, how long it will burn unattended and the footprint it leaves is easily covered by moving and then moving back ground cover.

I can do a quick burn for cooking only… or I can open it up and use it as a heat reflector for a full on camfire… or I can simply use it as a windscreen for an improvised alcohol stove.

The key thing is that the footprint is minimal, and all together optional… and in an emergency it’s pretty much infallible.

Vargo makes a titanium water bottle, which is way cool, but expensive, and only 750mL.

yeap, was just looking at those:

http://www.vargooutdoors.com/Titanium-Water-Bottle

4.6oz, holds .65 Liters, costs $70.

A bit low on capacity and high on price for my tastes.

Especially considering it still weighs 4.6 ounces.

I also discovered the following thread:

http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/forums/thread_display.html?forum_thread_id=2603#19405

I've already tried multiple "keg" style energy drink bottles. The size on them is pretty good, not as large as I'd like, but good.

Problem is the aluminum was just to light. Even with water in it I found myself melting right through the side. They're just not tough enough for setting right in the fire.

Another direction is to forget about the wide mouth and perhaps look at some aluminum fuel bottles. Still… the Sigg wide mouth looks like the best option thus far.

Plus… with a liter or even 1.5L with the sig bottles and a simple twine handle i can hang the bottle over a bigger fire and really do a huge amount of snow melt / water boiling.

I think I'd probably fashion a nice cozy for it out of reflectix or the more durable autoshade material that uses a closed cell foam instead of bubble wrap: http://www.bikepacking.net/reviews/sleeping-pads/car-sunshade-sleeping-pad/

These are pretty awesome sweet:

http://www.aluminumbottles.com/cgi-bin/webman/scan/se=screwcap/sf=category/se=prod/sf=rtype/ml=1/fi=elemental/sp=elemental::level3

and

http://www.aluminumbottles.com/cgi-bin/webman/scan/se=atk/sf=category/se=prod/sf=rtype/ml=1/fi=elemental/sp=elemental::level3

But the largest is only 21.7oz, 3 inch diameter.

Not quite big enough for my tastes, but still pretty awesome.

Some of their industrial ones are even cooler:

http://www.aluminumbottles.com/cgi-bin/webman/scan/se=indu/sf=rtype/ml=20/fi=elemental/sp=elemental::level2

I have to believe they probably have the perfect sized container for any pot or water bottle for any hiker. All one need do is cut it down or roll the edge or put on a handle that suits them.

If… of course they come in the proper weights and are food and flame safe. Don't see why they wouldn't be though.

An aluminum 16-oz beer bottle takes the prize for low cost and low weight.

–B.G.–

Bob,

I’ve still got mine. ;-)

I consumed the contents in an all out effort to avoid waste and pursue my MYOG uses for such a worthy piece of “feed stock”.

By no means am I attempting to qualify as an @$$?o1&.

I only had MYOG as my goal, honest! ;-) LOL

Party On,

Newton

Yeah… this gives me an idea… since used beer cans are ubiquitous why carry a pot at all. /sarcasm

The big advantage of the aluminum beer bottle over the aluminum beer can is that the bottle has a reclosable screw cap.

–B.G.–

Sure. I found the H2Go one liter stainless bottle that looks like a Nalgene plastic bottle and has a near identical lid, so you can pop it off for boiling. I have made essentials/survival kits with them, so you have the 10+ essentials, water container and boiler all in one package. They are about the same weight as a Nalgene at 6.7oz. Of course that is heavy in the UL world but there should be some discount for multiple use. I've wondered if a thinner version couldn't be made. I've assumed that the manufacturer wanted something tougher that UL folk would be willing to put up with. It may be because of available metal stock or the forming process would damage lighter gauge metal.

Anyway, sure, you can boil with one on a stove or in a campfire. Moving one that is full of hot water and fresh off the fire is the challenge.

Re: h2go SS wide mouth 40oz water bottle

Good size for a boiler and water holder, looks a little heavy though:

http://www.mylogoimprinted.com/products/6167-h2go-wide-40-oz-stainless-steel-water-bottle-white

To bad they don't make it in aluminum

my local grocer is promoting the mug/beer combo pack from Paulaner. the beer can appears to be about a liter, maybe 1/3 larger than the older Heini cans (NO longer made) and I was looking at it for a cookpot..
however, with a $4 mug and a $5 beer at best, the $15 price seems a bit off-centered. Unlike the quality of a Heineken, which will prompt a quick death by sink drain, this Oktoberfest-Martzen is worth drinking. so, win-win? I can imagine how many of these perfectly usable cans are being tossed in the trash as I speak…

anyone else seen this? they are likely in nearly every grocer.