The Kettle is coming !

Depending upon the diameter of the hole, it seems to me that you could easily modify a wine pouring spout, a liquor spout, or a spout for oil/vinegar to act as a pretty effective and accurate spout. Obviously the concern is its ability to withstand heat and boiling water, but I am sure that you could make something simple to work that won't add much if any weight.

FYI I tried a cork from a wine bottle and it works fine. Just cut the top off a little .
Ive been playing around getting a feel for how much fuel to use and trying different methods of loading the wood. Im really happy with it. Its so practical and easy to use. Not surprising since its an update of a tried and true design. I plan on going mainly with cold food using this for hot drinks. I really like how clean it is to use and store. I just give it a quick scrub inside with a tuft of grass or something and its good to go.
My general method so far.
-grab a dead branch or two and break into separate piles fine and coarse kindling and main fuel. main fuel is about pencil thick, fine is dead grass or real thin branches and or branch tips. Coarse is some where in between.
-lay down some fine kindling and put some main/coarse fuel on top.
-nest the boiler on top and push some more fine kindling into the top chimney opening, leaving the stopper in the hole to keep out debris.
– maybe add a little more coarse kindling on top of that -but make sure all the wood inside the chimney is loose and air can still circulate.
-remove the stopper, light a match on the bottom to catch the kindling that will in turn light the main feul.
-sit back and feed with left over main/coarse wood keeping a little flame shooting out the top.
-when it boils use left over water to douse wood/ash in pan and the ground the boiler was on, make sure ash/wood is like mud and cool to the touch.
-enjoy.
Im happy with how little wood is needed with this stove. This is real minimal impact.

I reckon that Devin will wizard up a brilliant, retrofit spout which we can buy as an aftermarket accessory.

Thereafter, numerous posts will appear from members that shaved a gnat's whisker off to lighten it even more! (o:

I've been lurking, learning and listening on this site for what I swear has been nearly a decade. Current base weight is 11.24lbs after having SUL at 4.89lbs and re-added much desired luxuries over a few years.

But so what. Pfff! I say! Few things (the eVent Packa, for instance) have brought me as much creepy/cultish excitement as what I experienced this week eagerly watching the USPS updates on the transit of my #130 Backcountry Boiler. And as of 5:35pm CST today, I am complete. At least until the next idea comes along in this forum. :)

Mind you, the BB represents much more than an ingeniously simple device for boiling water. It is the perfect example of desire, will, hard work, trial-and-error, supply/demand, etc. It's the iPod, the iPad, the Facebook and the microwave oven phenomena of UL backpacking. It, along with all the other great ideas great folks out there in our world devise,….it is America.

Ok, so that was cheesy, but you all get my point.

My father in law brought me a very similar device from New Zealand many years ago–the design was nearly identical, but I think it was steel rather than aluminum. Oh, I think it actually had a spout built into like like an old-fashioned coffee kettle. I rarely used it since it was so big and ended up tossing it…kinda wish I still had it now. Anyway, the Boiler looks like a fine-tuned modern version of the NZ kettle I once had… might have to think about getting one.

The stoppers are here and they are identical to the original for the BCB.

I tried not to look through this thread to make the waiting worse but I did. And I can't believe folks in Europe and Japan have received theirs before I did in Canada. Damn post office. I have 14 parcels waiting for me and not one was the Boiler. What a tease…ha

Stop posting photos! :)

I'm sitting here in Scotland still waiting and cursing shipping!

Mike seems it was faster for France.
Dont worry there will be one arriving in Scotland………….. in may 2012 if i am admited in 2012 TGO :)

j/k. good luck recieving it fast
it must be frustrating waiting.

Any of the Kettle owners have any video of the loading process and boiling videos to add to the "non scientific comparison for fun" thread?

Still nothing in Finland :/

Still no BCB in Finland :/ Damn you, Posti!

Got my kettle the other day, the first one to arrive i Norway? Great stuff!

I got my boiler today. After thorough washing first boilerful of water was thrown away steaming and after that the first boil… Hot coffee was delicious.

Stainless steel Kelly kettle (1,5 litres) vs Backcountry Boiler (0,5 litres)

The box containing the boiler (N 4) has just arrived (on a Sunday!)
The boiler is absolutely gorgeous. I am impressed.
Now I need to optimise it for the Southern hemisphere and then I will fire it up.

Franco

Don't get too excited just yet. You still need to receive the top piece with the spout and fire chimney that needs to be attached at the top of the kettle. For some reason it ships in a separate package.

I got a bit confused as to how the kettle operated until I received the top piece in the mail 2 weeks later.

Now I understand why my is only 7oz
Franco

I'm #168(or169?)! Got it as a surprise gift from my Dad two days before a 3 day trip in Oregon. It rained the entire time (yeah Oregon!), and so spent a lot of time under shelter in the morning and at night. I went with some backingpacking beginners that wanted to try to make a fire. That didn't go very well, as I only had a RAT Izula with me for splitting wood, but it made PLENTY of wood for the Boiler! I was a little nervous about using it in such wet conditions, but finding some fresh deadfall wasn't to bad. The efficiency of the boiler was awesome. Boiled 4 cups with just a small section of a 2" branch. I used my knife to baton the wood into quarters, which made getting the wet bark and moss off much easier. I made some feather sticks to be my kindling, and used a tiny piece of a PJ soaked cotton ball (which I keep inside short segments of straws with the ends melted) to get it going.

Only downside is the smell in the pack, but I didn't notice it passing on to anything else, though this was a short trip.

I had a gigastove with me, and it's much more convenient in the rain, but I had more people than I anticipated that I was boiling water for, so having the boiler with me was nice insurance. I had both stoves going at the same time!

#023 has landed. Testing shall commence promptly.

I have been doing some preliminary tests with alcohol.
So far I am at getting boil of 500ml in 6 min and a total burn of 7:30 min with 1 oz .
Of course I only want boil but if I reduce the alcohol to 3/4 oz it just misses the boil.
I might get my snuffer working on that.
This was with a Pepsi type burner.
The White Box almost got a boil in 6 min but run out of fuel and something like that with the 10-20 stove too.
Will do some more fiddling with it…

This is my "emergency alcohol" kit. I have 4oz of fuel in there, I think that I can get about 6 maybe 8 oz with
the larger version of that foil container, still to fit inside the BB down to the std stored size.
Franco
(note: no kids around me when hiking…)

Got the BCB out last weekend for its first burn, and did a HD video of it. The sweetness.

Devin,

I hope you don't mind me using your image to make this!

You all are so rock and roll. :)

I particularly like the alliteration, Callahan! I need to blow that up and put it on my wall. :)

Just found that inside the kettle was a good place to put some tinder / wood for next fire … but i read this thread completely to check and indeed Devin had already posted this :)

My second idea was to cut in about half ( heightwise ) the stopper, it would save about 8g, any reason not to do this ????

My last question is what about the durability ???, i really enjoy using this on day or week end trips, but would it be insane to have it as your only mean to heat water ( not the fact about using a wood stove, i have used a bushbuddy and a titanium nimblewill for a long time ) but thats my first wood stove in thin aluminium, even if the water inside is supposed to protect it .

Hi Fred – right on on the kindling. There would be nothing at all wrong with cutting the stopper in half, other than cosmetics, as long as it stays large enough so it doesn't fall in. :)

It should be solid on the durability front for normal use- I've used my 6 oz (considerably thinner) first prototype for almost 2 years now without a hitch. Local trips, checked luggage, the Sierras. Just use it according to the manual and it should be just fine!