custom Lite Trail cook Kit

[DAN-Y]

ALL SOLD OUT    ALL SOLD OUT    ALL SOLD OUT

[Gary Pikovsky]

Wow… Congrats Dan – that has to be by far the fastest sell out of any product on BPL.

[DAN-Y]

Gary, that was a fun 17 min. I had 3 windows open on my computer watching the progress to make sure sales did not exceed product available.

[Matthew / BPL]

I’m amazed how smooth the rolled ridge is in these pots. It looks like it was manyfactured in the factory. :)

[DAN-Y]

Thanks Matthew, tis a labor of love ;)

****A quick note to those that ordered the kit with handles. Trail Designs forgot to include the sleeves that the cone is stored in. I made some makeshift sleeves and included them. I will send the TD sleeves out when they arrive. TD is busy this time of year ;)

The kit is compact in my little hands :-)

[Matthew / BPL]

I’d be curious to see how you roll the ridge. I’d also understand if you didn’t want to show us because it’s a proprietary trade secret. :)

[DAN-Y]

At some point this summer I will show the world how I apply the ridgeline.

Keep an eye open what others are doing as well. Trail Designs is hot on my heels to discover my methods. They started out putting ridgelines on foster pots, remember the silicone bands that used to be used for the cone support…. and now they put a ridgeline on Kmart Grease Pots that are low towards the bottom of the pot so the cone can fit inside the pot…. where did that idea come from;)  Copycats are alive and well. :-)

Minibulldesign is hot on my heels, he puts ridgelines on Imusa Mugs.

I’m just a little guy pecking away at designing and assembling  stoves that work well. I do all this by myself. Just trying to make a buck. Thank you to all that have supported me by purchasing the kits :-)

 

[Matthew / BPL]

Ok maybe you shouldn’t show us how you roll the ridges then. :)

[Ian]

I presumed you were using a bead roller but perhaps that isn’t the case.  It’s mesmerizing to watch skilled machinists work so it’ll be interesting to see how you approach this.

[Thomas Willard]

Last week I emailed Dan about a 750ml pot with a ridgeline, He hooked me up and I received the pot a few days ago.  I have since done about 12 boils using 4g and 12g Esbit tablets.  By using Dan’s set-up, I am consistently getting 4g of Esbit to get my water to a simmer, which is enough to rehydrate food and make coffee.  This is a game changer as I can carry less weight in Esbit now.  A week from today I will be starting my AT thru hike and can’t wait to use this cook system.

The pot that Dan sent me didn’t have graduations in it but the ridgeline is at the 3/4 cup (6oz) mark which is nice for measuring.  My total kit weight top to bottom (spoon, pack towel, hot lips, etc) weighs in at 6.5oz for a Esbit/alcohol set-up.

[Matthew / BPL]

Whoa. Did you get the pot without the handle? The Toaks site says it is 2.8 ounces with lid (only .2 ounces more than the 550). Can you verify the weight?

[William Chilton]

The 550 with lid is 2.2 ounces, so a difference of .6 ounces. However, I think the 750 is a good option for Dan’s ridge. With a cone designed to store vertically, rather than sidewinder style, it should be possible to place the ridge so that the majority of the pot sits inside the cone.

[DAN-Y]

I’ve designed a straight wall pot support/windscreen that works really well. In another thread I gave the results of some testing using the Toaks 750 similar to the one I sent Thomas. The straight wall almost disappears inside the pot. Same efficiency as a cone design, maybe better. The straight wall works great with the 550 and fits inside the pot almost unseen against the walls. The closure locks solid. The one photo shows the comparison of space taken up inside the pot. The straight wall support is on the right.

DIY Titanium windscreen/pot  support.

2.5 cups water per test (3 tests) start temps were at approx. 55 degrees

Denatured alcohol in the Starlyte XL (slow) with carbon felt heat shield.
1.16gr(0.56oz) used for 2.5 cups
2.19gr(0.67oz) used for 2.5 cups
3.17gr(0.59oz) used for 2.5 cups

My fourth test consisted of 2 cups water because I thought I would not have sufficient fuel remaining.

4.  15gr(0.52oz) used for 2 cups

I suspect I had enough fuel remaing to boil another 2 cups.

The StarlyteXL holds 4 ounces of fuel The burner weighs 26gr(0.917oz)

 

My Toaks 750 was the one I used during the development of the device used to apply the ridgline to the Ti pots. The photo of the pot shows the test rings. Doubt they had any positive effect on the efficiency(turbulance). The pot sits 1″ down into the pot support, very stable. From the bottom of the pot support to the bottom of the pot is 2″.

1″ from bottom of pot to top of burner.

Incoming air is directed to sides of burner, keeping it cooled while in use.

Pot support is same diameter of pot, very stable. Pot is only 2″ from ground.

Under calm conditions in my garage, the flame of the burner remains under the pot, none going out the top holes. The heat shield is what makes this set-up work so well.  The 1″ of titanium in contact with the entire circumference of the pot bottom also is what is making this work so well. The pot acting like a huge heat sink while the stove is in operation.

 

[Thomas Willard]

Matthew King-

I just weighed the 750ml Toaks without handles with the ridgeline.  It weighs in at 3.3 ounces.

[Donna C]

All this read about this cook set got my interest renewed to alcohol stoves and purchased one of Zelph’s wonderful Starlyte stoves. If anything, he has a great little stove that can burn for a very long time.  I brought 2 cups of water to a boil with 1 oz of alky and that sucker was still going strong.  My new set up is the Caldera Sidewinder 900 ( Evernew) which works well….but I have a Toaks 550 with handles…..would it be possible to have it rimmed and coned? (that sounds like having my hair done..cut and color).

Donna

[DAN-Y]

Donna, I’ll be glad to modify your Toaks 550. Contact me via my website home page and I’ll give you my location to send it to. Thanks for the positive comment about the Starlyte :-)

http://www.woodgaz-stove.com/

[Gary Pikovsky]

Being one of the lucky 6 people who juse got the recent 550 ML Kit with handles, I thought it’d be worthwhile to post a few thoughts. The kit works extremely well! I modified it a bit by adding cup marks on the support and the alcohol bottle and added the new 0.24oz Suluk Miksa pot lifter and an SUL cozy. All comes in at 5.5oz.

For those that care, the Miksa  can easily left two cups of water.  For that matter, it can lift 10 cups of water if I wanted to. Nice little thing.  I liked it so much that I’m going to order a separate cup from Dan without handles.  Having no handles will improve with the cozy heat retention and may reduce a little bit of weight. Haven’t done the boil tests yet, but thinking those will be quite good. Good job, Dan!

Dan – any chance to order the grooved 550ml cup with no handles as a separate thing? Thanks!

[Steve Chan]

 

Its funny, people are trying to shave even more off their pots, when I’d actually be interested in the Toaks 650ml “light” pot that gives an extra 100ml of capacity for .2oz!

[Nathan H]

I’ll second the light 650 pot. I’ve been contemplating whether to up my pot size a bit and rid myself of the ti-wing. If you make a 650 version then I’ll take one.

 

 

[DAN-Y]

Steve and Nathan……..I’ll put you in for 650 “light” pots with handles. I’m going to deal in pots with handles only. the handles can be discarded if not wanted.

[Emmanuel Romo]

I emailed Dan, I just want to let it be known publicly that I am vouching for one of the light 650  pots he has ordered. (Out of 4)

[Russell Lawson]

This is an amazing, essential part of my daily cooking routines, among busy work days, Z has out done himself.  I use 15ml to make oatmeal, coffee and tea at night.  Never timed a boil but before I can turn around it is cooked.  Super fast and simple setup, makes for quick prep, reducing an hour of the day to “cooking” down to a total of 10 to 15 minutes. 1.6oz with custom metal work by Z

 

Because I cook and eat on the go everyday I have invested heavily into backpacking style of cooking, and can say that it was well worth the price to pair the caldera 550 with vargo bot.  The vargo rests perfectly snug on the top of the cone with no tipping.  lids are compatable, vargo lid even snug seals into the 550.  essenial because birds, mice and squirrels are all over whatever I put down.Z hit it out of the park, can’t thank him enough, plus did you know he used to be a farmer? badass

 

 

[Donna C]

So Dan is kindly going to modify my Toaks 550 with handles AND I asked him to modify my little 400ml sidewinder set up. I use that for the occasional 24 hr overnighters.  The modified Starlyte stove needs only 1/4 oz of alcohol to bring the cup of water to a boil. I only use a cup of water for short trips. I just refill if I need more for an evening hot drink or cup of soup. It’s also a great little set up for just a day hike and enjoying the forest as I sit for a bit and heat up water for tea. Thanks, Dan!!

[Gary Pikovsky]

Just got the Toaks 550 kite with the modified Starlyte. I don’t know if I’m doing something wrong, but my boiling time is definitely not good – over 18 minutes! 66F outside, not too windy. That’s more than three times as long as my original Trail Designs setup. I gotta be doing something wrong. Please help!

Pic of setup attached. 

[Donna C]

Has anyone tried using ESBIT on this 550 set up yet?

Gary….I don’t know what you could do differently. Maybe the re-modified burner is too re-modified!

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