Backcountry Boiler

Also with the BCB if you do the freezer bag method you need no additional pot.

Or you can put a pot stand on the top of the backcountry boiler to fry or warm such as this:

Interesting. I wonder if this piece of gear would be good for melting snow in the backcountry where dead wood is available. I suppose it wouldn't be fun shoving the snow though the opening, given the small diameter. But other than that, would it work? Has anyone used the BCB for melting snow? Any insights or comments?

James!

NICE mod. How does it work? I’ve seen similar attachments for Kelly Kettles, but they’ve gotten mixed reviews. Can you actually fry with it or is it more of a low heat/simmering heat type of heat?

HJ
Adventures in Stoving

Interesting. I wonder if this piece of gear would be good for melting snow in the backcountry where dead wood is available. I suppose it wouldn’t be fun shoving the snow though the opening, given the small diameter. But other than that, would it work? Has anyone used the BCB for melting snow? Any insights or comments?

Haven’t tried it, but it looks like a royal pain in the a$$ for snow melting. Maybe occasional use, or maybe with James’ mod (if James’ mod gets good heat), but I don’t see this as a snow melter. I’d definitely go with a Bush Buddy for snow melting..

HJ
Adventures in Stoving

I'm also having some serious trouble figuring out how to order one of these. I really wanted to get one ordered for Christmas this year, but couldn't figure out where to get one.

I tried emailing Devin, but I never got a response. Any info on how to purchase one of these now would be appreciated.

Chris,

Anyone receiving a Backcountry Boiler now ordered it back around May. Devin is several hundred orders behind and stopped taking orders in June. I was one of the last to get an order in, and hoping mine arrives before spring.
My guess is a few will show up in Gear Swap before Devin is able to take any more orders.

Steve M

I saw one on Evilbay for $75, not sure how much they go for buying direct.
Duane

A brief primer on this product.

Devin has been designing the BCB for quite a while now. It's been in R&D phase and he was essentially doing market research and communicating with potential customers by sharing the R&D phase with the BPL community. It was a great project that many were eagerly anticipating when he got snaked by another company that made a cheap and heavy knockoff of his product and brought it to market first (granted the general design of this product has been around for ages).

Devin has persevered and kept working on his design and manufacturing abilities. This design is slicker and lighter than any on the market today. He eventually created a kickstarter.com page to raise the capital necessary for the initial first production run. His product got picked up by all sorts of big media (I seem to recall REI and Outside linking to his page) and basically the demand and support has been overwhelming.

So all of you trying to order one, you're a bit late to the party. Devin's been a victim of his own success but once he gets the supply chain sorted out he should open sales up again.

Also give him a break, I think he's in a graduate program at the same time!

FYI: I have no relation to Devin or BCB and this is a general outline from memory probably loaded with inaccuracies. I'm just a guy who understands a bit about product development and entrepreneurship and have the utmost respect for Devin of seeing this project through; to provide an amazing product for the community. Had I the money at the time I would have bought one even if it never made its way into my normal gear rotation just because I believe he's done something special.

I see on his website/home page, whatever, recent posts have been made. I'm sure many are very antsy, good description of too much pre-release info of a product. I also see that more money than was set as a goal was received for the start up. Seems it would be hard for him to keep his head in the books with all this going on. I'm not worried about being the next in line, I did sign up for updates, so mean time, I have all the guinea pigs to give reveiws. I was thinking this morning and I did not view the video as I have slow dialup service, that this may be a little of a pita to keep going and feeding all those small stick/twigs into the fire box area. If I get one, I would bring a straw to use to blow on embers to get new fuel to catch, just as I do at home for my woodstove to get the remnants of the previous fire going without starting all over. Sounds similar to the old days of cooking over a couple rocks and feeding twigs to the fire and flipping the pancakes, all coordinated.
Duane

"NICE mod. How does it work?"

That's one of my pics with the BCB 1.0 (it is NOT, however, 'my mod.' Someone else did it and I copied it to see how it would work). The wire bottom piece is from one of my Caldera Cone wood burning insert thingies (thingies is a technical term, of course…..).

I never tried melting snow with it, but with enough wood I think it would work well. I can easily make flames shoot out the top of the BCB when burning wood so heat isn't an issue. There's a lot of heat coming out the top of it even when burning normally. In fact, burn it right, and I'd think the heat would be near perfect – not too hot to scorch the pan but hot enough to melt the snow.

I tried just boiling water using it (with water in the BCB itself as well, of course, that's a must). If I remember correctly (I don't take notes or write things down, etc., so going strictly from memory), it took a few extra minutes from when the water began boiling in the BCB to get the water boiling on top.

I don't think you could start with snow in the BCB though, I think you'd need to have water in there. If I remember correctly, you can rupture the BCB if you're burning wood in the bottom without water in the canister part. I wouldn't think the snow would melt quickly enough in the BCB to avoid damage, but, as with most things in my life, I could be completely wrong!

I would say that if you're trying to melt a lot of snow, you'd need to keep an eye on the water in the BCB itself and possibly replenish as you're melting in a pot on top (and perhaps stuff snow in there to replenish?).

Lots of conjecture, little facts, just like I like it…… ;-)

And Jim, whenever I finally get my 2.0 (I've already sold the 1.0), I'm happy to let you borrow it so you can do the testing you've talked about wanting to do earlier in this thread. Just shoot me a PM.

Some thoughts on melting snow with the BCB
As it is I would not attempt to do it for a similar reason why I don't do it with my 550ml mug.
To melt snow at some sort of speed you need a 1l pot or better still a 1.3 to 2L to have enough room to pile snow inside.
How are you going to feed snow inside that hole ? Besides starting with a bit of water once you cram enough snow to fill it you end up with 200ml or less of water.
Think of repeating that 5 times to get 1 Liter ….
With the pot on top of it it would be a bit tricky to keep the balance but maybe doable.
Still because there is a lot of handling with snow melting (and because we become clumsier/more accident prone in the cold) I would not suggest that either .
However you could build a platform that holds the BCB in place and that may work.
Just putting pegs will not because it would melt through.
Franco

Yep, I definitely know I am late. I didn't really even notice it and read up on in until later in the summer, long after Devin had stopped taking orders. I'm not too terribly worried about when I get one, but definitely think the product is worth purchasing.

In the meantime, I can't wait to hear about the experiences everyone has with it. It seems like it will be a solid piece of gear. If anyone decides for some odd reason it isn't for them, shoot me a PM.

Does anyone know what the benefits are of anodizing the BCB or any cook-pot, for that matter? Stronger? Easier to clean? Better heat transfer? Appearance? Mike

I knew I was late too. Burn bans on my last two trips pushed a BCB purchase to the back of the line. I'd still like to have one. If I don't Ebay or gear swap one, I guess I'll just have to wait for another run.

The one on eBay is over $100 now, I'll be patient and pick one up if at all, at a better price. If you gotta have it, you'll have to pay dearly for something that may only sell for under $80.
Duane

"BCB: Good for melting snow?"
Could be if it had a full lid (with a hole through which the chimney can protrude)….

Any such boiler with such a full lid (allowing easy snow entry) could be called the SCB:
"Snow Country Boiler". :) For said lid part: imagine taking a saw to the uppermost part of a standard BCB, but leaving chimney as is, so that chimney goes through the centre of lid.

NB I suggested (to Devin (Montgomery)) a possible method of making a one piece boiler section with a full lid as above ; the current boiler is 2 parts with a rolled seam at lower end.
The one-piece idea would unfortunately probably require a new type of lathe :( .

Does anyone know what the benefits are of anodizing the BCB or any cook-pot, for that matter?

Anodizing puts a thicker layer of aluminum oxide on the outer surface of a piece. This oxide layer is tougher, has a higher melting point and because it is porous, can hold dyes or corrosion inhibitors. The oxide is less reactive than the bare metal. But the metal never stays bare because it will oxide naturally in minutes/hours.

Pros: less material is worn away when you scrub with a scotchbrite pad or sand. You probably end up with less aluminum in your diet.

Cons: Extra expense for an extra manufacturing step.

Pro or Con: Radiant heat transfer changes. Dark objects absorb and radiant infrared radition more efficiently than light objects. So I'd prefer a pot to have a dark bottom that sees the flame and hot burner parts while having bright sides to minimize losses to the environment.

Pro or Con: Apearance. Anodized looks higher tech, I guess.

More background: Try polishing an aluminum cookie sheet with a Scotch-brite pad. You will notice it gets brighter because you are now looking at bare, unreacted aluminum (used in some telescope mirrors). And there will be a black residue in the rinse water. That is the aluminum oxide you scrubbed off.

Even more background: Beer cans and aluminum foil are so pernicious in a campfire circle because the outer layers of oxide flake away (the oxide is very brittle) and new layers of oxide form new brittle layers. That's why it is so hard to pick up those burned scraps – they keep breaking. I once watched an aluminum tent peg someone had put in the camp fire. It held together for a long time until someone bumped it. Then it broke open and molten aluminum poured out. I realized the oxide on the outside (which has a MUCH higher melting point) was containing the liquid aluminum on the inside.