MSR pocket rocket windscreen

[Dan Magdoff]

Hey all
Just about to purchase an MSR pocket rocket for a new lightweight stove. I know one of the problems for the stove is not having a windscreen. I am thinking ill just make an easy lightweight windscreen for it.

Any recommendations on how to make a good windscreen for it?

Thanks
Dan

[Anonymous]

I would not recommend using any type of windscreen with a canister stove, as you run the risk of exploding the iso-butane canister.

I actually saw someone do this about 4-5 years ago, against my advice. Luckily no injuries, but a textbook stop-drop-and roll was executed.

[Dan Magdoff]

I was told that as long as the screen wrap around the canister it should be just fine. To just have the screen cover where the flame comes out and makes contact with the pot. Is that not true?

[Bob Gross]

I've used the simplest windscreen on my Pocket Rocket a lot over the last ten years or so. One piece of heavy duty aluminum foil. If I am using a small cook pot, I use about 12"x16". If it is a larger cook pot, then the long dimension is increased to fit around the cook pot with a half-inch of air space all around. Since the aluminum foil does have a slight opening, there is never any dangerous heat that would rupture a canister.

If the flame contacts the foil, there is no great harm done. Foil is cheap.

–B.G.–

[Dan Magdoff]

Ive tried using heavy duty foil before, but I can never seem to get it to fit properly around the stove stop/ pot, and it always seems to slip or fall off. Any particular technique you use to get it to stay on better?

Thanks
Dan

[Bob Gross]

I'm not certain what you mean by "stay on" or "fall off."

I just form the foil into a cylinder 12 inches tall extending down to the ground, and it goes around the cook pot. I generally place a few rocks around the base so that it does not blow over in the wind. It does not really touch the cook pot or the burner or the canister. It just stands there.

For a winter trip, I do it the same, except that I place another piece of foil on the snow surface underneath.

–B.G.–

[Dan Magdoff]

Ok…I thought you had the foil start at the burner…makes much more sense if it is just standing on the ground. Thanks for the advice!

[Bob Gross]

You can do more complicated arrangements, but it won't gain much.

In the winter, I sometimes form the foil more to keep the heat going up at the cook pot, simply to keep it from being wasted onto the snow where it melts a hole for the canister to fall into.

Once in a while, I will loosely lay another piece of foil on top of the cook pot. Loosely, because all of the hot air has to pass the cook pot and then vent upward somehow.

I have two Pocket Rockets. I have heard others complain about this and that with it, but I have never had a lick of problem. I'm actually more of a white gasoline guy, and the hair is often missing from the back of my right hand to prove it.

–B.G.–

[Mark Fowler]

There is a plethora of information about the use of windscreens with cannister gas stoves on this site. The important thing is to prevent the cannister from overheating so you must not enclose the cannister.

My solution is to make a truncated cone out of heavy duty foil which is inverted and sits on the control valve spindle. It flares out to about an inch above the base of my cooking pot with a minimum 1/2 inch gap between the pot and the wind shield. I punched a series of 1/2 inch holes towards the top of the cone (just above the valve spindle) to ensure enough air supply to the burner. A paper clip holds the cone together. The cone is stored flat against the back of my pack. Total weight 20 grams or 0.7oz.

[Roger Caffin]

I have to say, the MSR Pocket Rocket is not a stove I would recommend to anyone, but to each his own.

As for windscreens: essential item for any walker imho. BUT: the windscreen should go only 3/4 of the way around, PLUS you should monitor how hot the canister gets. If you can touch it without 'ouch' it is safe.

Cheers

[First Last]

I've had a PocketRocket for about umpteen years, well OK 6 years and probably a couple of hundred trail days. Never used a windscreen. When its particularly windy I sit behind a boulder and block the wind from the other direction with my body.

Does this method work perfectly? No. Does it use a little extra fuel? Probably.

I cook a lot on the trail, three sometimes four times per day, as in breakfast, lunch, dinner and hot drinks. Consistently use no more than an ounce of fuel per day. It means that on all my weekend trips I can get by easily with just one of the smallest size cannisters.

For my weeklong adventures I take the larger size cannister, but even if I had a windscreen I probably wouldn't be able to get by on a small one.

So worrying about a windscreen for the very few trips where it would actually make a difference seems unnecessary to me.

[Michael Ray]

Here is one decent idea

> I have to say, the MSR Pocket Rocket is not a stove I would recommend to anyone

Produces too much CO emissions?

[Roger Caffin]

> Produces too much CO emissions?

My two major concerns are that it has a focused needle-like flame which can burn food too easily, and the pot supports are far too long and bendy.

Contrast this with something like a Snow Peak GST-100, which has short robust pot supports and which spreads the flame out sideways over quite a large area.

My 2c

Cheers

[Author]

Posts