custom Lite Trail cook Kit

[BlackHatGuy]

Wow. The schoolyard nastiness that rears its ugly head in these forums sometimes is really disheartening. I don’t think there’s any particular issue with disagreeing with Ian and how he’s chosen to voice his displeasure with Dan, but to do it with the childish and mean-spirited name calling is really unnecessary. Ian’s ‘whining’, as some of you call it, is a lot more adult than the last two responses, which truly don’t speak well of you in this particular circumstance.

[Nick Gatel]

I agree with Doug. I didn’t need a new stove kit, but this thread was enjoyable to watch it progress and result in a custom solution. The past few days of posts have been rather sad.

Also, since I might have missed it, Dan gave Jennifer her stove kit for free and refunded the money to me and Ken. Something he didn’t have to do and he didn’t publicize.

[Matthew / BPL]

In an attempt to get this conversation to move on I am going to repost my initial experience with the setup yesterday. I hope to hear some responses to this or perhaps their own first experience using it.

I tried a burn today. I got 19 minutes before flameout in very gusty wind. 1.5 cups of cold water boiled at about 8.5 minutes.

I’m surprised at the results. I’ve been using a Toaks 550 with handles and the Toaks windscreen with a BGET tray and Zelph’s potstand. When I got the new cone setup yesterday I realized there how minimally the cone comes up the side of the pot, probably less than 2cm. I didn’t think the minimal overlap would add much efficiency compared to  my typical setup. The boil time is slightly better than I’m used to seeing. The overall burn time is where I really saw an improvement, particularly on a windy day. I usually get more like 15-16 minutes before flameout. Again, today was very gusty.

Weight for pot, lid, cone in sleeve, stove, reflector, stove container, mini zippo and stuff sack is 113 grams on my scale.

Fit and finish is very nice.

[Bob Moulder]

Matthew, that kind of performance in very gusty conditions is impressive. Just to clarify, however, this was with Esbit and not alcohol, correct? Water was fairly cold?

I’m a 3-cup guy so the 550ml ain’t gonna cut it for me, but it does inspire me to check out the cones at TD for my current fave, the Open Country HA aluminum 3-cup pot.

[Jon Fong / Flat Cat Gear]

1.5 cups in 8.5 minutes seems pretty slow to me (even for Esbit).  It sounds like the airflow is choked off a bit.

My 2 cents.

[Ian]

This has already been touched on but the Coghlan tablets are a match made in heaven with kits like this.  There are a number of factors that play in to how much mileage you get from them that varies from system to system, but even with the not so efficient Lite Trail kit paired up with this 550ml mug, one .25oz sized Coghlan tablet is more than enough to heat up the water to rehydrate food or for a hot beverage.  The fact that they are a fraction of the cost is really nice too.

The .5oz Esbit tablets are definitely overkill.  Nothing wrong with using them and saving the leftovers for the next meal, but I’ve come to enjoy just lighting the Coghlans and letting them burn out.  I do keep Esbit on hand for dry baking and whatnot but I find that the residue from Esbit to be more of a sticky mess than Coghlans, which certainly leave soot but the mess is easier to manage.

I also don’t find them to be as smelly as Esbit.  I typically just throw them into a snack sized Ziplock bag and keep them in my mug with everything else.

 

[Matthew / BPL]

Bob, yes it was Esbit.

I will do a simultaneous burn using my old and new setup soon and see how they compare.

[DAN-Y]

Update on expected delivery of pots and caldera Cones from suppliers:

Toaks Pots delivery expected:
Scheduled Delivery Updated To:
Tuesday, 03/29/2016, By End of Day

TD Caldera Cones expected delivery:

Expected Delivery Day:  Thursday, March 24, 2016

 

[DAN-Y]

General info update:

[Ian]

 

[Ian]

So I’m throwing down the Flame War Fundraiser gauntlet.  Charlie went through surgery today and from what I hear, is recovering well, although has a long road ahead of him until he’s back to 100%.

For those who’ve been following and interacting with this thread, I challenge each and everyone of you to donate a dollar to Chuck for every thumbs up or down you clicked.

Edit: Going back a couple pages, looks like that would raise roughly $135 for Chuck which would go a long way to help offset the cost of medication and bury him in treats.

https://www.gofundme.com/r2t2hdac

[Matthew / BPL]

Well played, Ian.

[Ian]

Now to add something helpful…

http://gossamergear.com/warm-sack-ultralight-pot-cozy.html

One accessory worth considering for this kit is the Gossamer Gear Warm Sack / Pot Cozy which is described as follows:

An ultralight pot cozy and stuff sack in one neat little package. The Gossamer Gear Warm Sack will fit most sub one liter cooking pots, including but not limited to Heineken and Fosters beer can rigs, many Evernew pots and a host of others.

The bottom half of the Warm Sack is insulated so that you may keep the contents warmer longer and hold it at the same time. We suggest rolling it halfway down if your pot has high handles.

I bought one shortly after they were released, so other than there’s a cuben fiber version available now, I’m unsure if the dimensions have changed.  The one I own for my Lite Trail kit is pretty narrow and wouldn’t accomodate an Evernew 600ml for example, but the Toaks 550ml with handles fits in it perfectly.  Since I primarily use solid fuel tablets, I prefer to use this instead of clothing to insulate my food as it’s rehydrating.

[DAN-Y]

update:

 

Ian B. (sent) paid Mar 19, 2016 13:00:28 PDT  , cancelled, reimbursed.

 

Matthew H (sent)(no response as of 3/24/16)

 

Kurt Suttell (sent)(paid Mar 18, 2016 09:35:55 PDT) label printed (shipped 3/18)(delivered March 23, 2016 , 11:44 am)

 

Chad B (sent)(paid Mar 18, 2016 07:38:44 PDT) label printed (shipped 3/18)( (delivered March 21, 2016 , 11:42 am ) (delivered March 21, 2016 , 11:42 am

 

matthew king (sent)(paid Mar 18, 2016 08:00:05 PDT) label printed (shipped 3/18 ) (delivered March 21, 2016 , 1:45 pm )

 

Nick Gatel will get one for Jennifer M.  (label printed) (shipped 3/18) (delivered March 21, 2016 , 2:33 pm)

 

A D…@ardavis324 (sent)(paid Mar 18, 2016 07:20:17 PDT) label printed (shipped 3/18)(delivered March 24, 2016 , 1:59 pm)

M Compton (sent) (paid Mar 18, 2016 06:38:00 PDT) Label printed (shipped 3/18)( Delivered March 21, 2016 , 1:41 pm

 

Frederick Maxfield (sent)(paid Mar 18, 2016 15:44:00 PDT)(label printed) shipped 3/19 ((March 22, 2016 , 8:14 am available for pick up at post office)

 

William Chilton (sent)(send Invoice include International shipping)

 

R.L. (sent)(wants 550w/handles)

 

Richie S (sent)(paid)label printed (shipped 3/19)( delivered March 22, 2016 , 11:17 am)

 

D S……@smoke (sent)(PAID Mar 19, 2016 05:19:08 PDT)

 

Tony Campana (sent)(paid Mar 18, 2016 06:48:59 PDT)

 

Dylan Atkinson (sent)(paid Mar 18, 2016 06:58:08 PDT)

[Matthew / BPL]

Ian, this review says the cuben one is identical.

 

 

[Russell Lawson]

good work jason, I can see you’re the deputy sort that would leaves a stealthy, brimming lesson of dust rocks in ian’s pocket.  Dan is more of a champ than anyone can sense, don’t get dainty over not recieving his magical wares.

[KRS]

Ian, Does the Gossamer Gear warm sack fit a naked Zip-loc screw top container (2 cup size)? The Kit I got from Dan is great but doesn’t fit in a Zip-loc screw top container because the ring is so low on the pot. Dan is sending me a new pot that the ring is 1/2″ higher to test. I’m hoping that it fits the in the Zip-loc container better. I also use only solid fuel and a different stoves that sit lower, so the pot can sit lower in the cone. I hoping for a little more efficiency too with the pot lower. I will let you know how it goes.

[Ian]

Matthew,

From looking at his pictures, my guess is that the dimensions haven’t changed for either material since I purchased mine.

Russell,

Bravo sir.

Kurt,

Not sure but I’ll check later this weekend when I can pick one up from Winco.  I’m becoming disenchanted with plastic peanut butter jars and have considered going that route anyways.  I’ll post pictures of it with the Toaks 550ml in it.  It’s a fairly tight fit so I suspect the screw top container won’t fit.  We’ll see.

[KRS]

My normal 550ml pot fits without the lid in a Zip-loc screw top with the lid screw on. It’s a tight fit but works well. Dans new kit with the ring on the pot doesn’t fit in the zip-loc container because the ring hits the sides of the container not allowing it to be pushed down all the way. Im hoping the ring being raised helps. Shipping showed it comes tomorrow so I will know shortly.

 

[Chad B]

“I also use only solid fuel and a different stoves that sit lower, so the pot can sit lower in the cone. I hoping for a little more efficiency too with the pot lower. I will let you know how it goes.”

I agree with Kurt about placement of the ridgeline.  I only use esbit so I would prefer the pot sit lower in the cone, right now I feel it’s a bit too far from the burner.

[Aaron D]

 

Recieved my kit yesterday. Did a few quick tests to try to get 2 cups to boil (In reality I bought this to just boil 1.5c). I used cool tap water with a couple ice cubes. Performed tests on breezy porch. I think its about 65 degrees F air temp.

Test 1: 14grams alcohol. Did not reach a boil.

Test 2: Two 4g Esbits stacked next to each other, did not reach boil.

Test 3: Topped off Starlyte and weighed before and after. 18 grams of alcohol brought 2 cups to a boil in 12 minutes.

The whole alcohol kit, with rota locura lid, alcohol bottle, mini bic, and cuben sack is 3.95oz on my scale.

[DAN-Y]

I’ll wait to proceed until it is agreed upon at what placement the ridgeline should be. I’ll hold off until next week Wednesday. That will be plenty of time to decide. The current placement was recommended by Trail Designs. Their Gramcracker might work well in this kit also for those that might prefer that esbit burner.

A note to all that received their kit:  Inside the fuel bottle is a small, lightweight “Swiss” brand knife. At time of filling orders I noticed the silicone band was not staying tight to the walls of the pot so I sent the knife along as a substitute item. The pot grabber will not be included in the next batch.

These orders will be sent out next week:

D S…… (sent)(PAID Mar 19, 2016 05:19:08 PDT)

Tony Campana (sent)(paid Mar 18, 2016 06:48:59 PDT)

Dylan Atkinson (sent)(paid Mar 18, 2016 06:58:08 PDT)

[Chad B]

Hey Dan, I tried the standard Gram Cracker and found it to be too tall.  The main issue I had when using it was I had a lot of flame coming out the top row of holes.

When I have some time I plan to play around and make a couple different height burners but I really feel an easier solution would be to move the ridgeline higher on the pot.  Although, that is for esbit mode, I have no idea how the StarLyte will behave being that much closer to the pot.

I’m certainly no stove expert but another thing I was thinking is that by dropping the pot deeper into the cone, which would put the pot past the top row of air holes, could that cause the airflow to get choked off more?  This cone lacks the bottom “intake” opening which most other Caldera Cones have, and I think that is going to affect the airflow quite a bit.  Example of “intake” below:

But if moving the ridgeline higher does work, I believe there would be an increase in efficiency simply due to the fact more of the pot is contained in the cone which equals more of the water contained in the cone.

Just a couple thoughts.

 

[Jon Fong / Flat Cat Gear]

May Dan can comment on this:

Test 3: Topped off Starlyte and weighed before and after. 18 grams of alcohol brought 2 cups to a boil in 12 minutes.

18 grams is almost 23 ml which seems high to boil 2 cups with the Starlyte.  Just an observation.

[DAN-Y]

A benchmark for a stove(pot support and burner) is to have 2 cups of water, 70 degree starting temp. and air temp to be approx. 70 degrees. Using aluminum pot with 2.5 cup capacity(5″dia.) and 1/2 ounce of denatured alcohol to boil those 2 cups of water.  Those specs are what Sgt. Rock and I used when creating stoves at whiteblaze.net back around 1996.

Titanium pots, cone design and use of “HEET” in yellow bottle has changed the results.

My brief tests(2) with the 550 kit were to check for complete combustion(my nose knows——–“the more you burn, the more you learn”:-)(yon). I think I will wait a longer time before doing another batch of kits. I have to rely on testing performed by those that have purchased the kits. I do not have the time right now to perform extensive tests with esbit and alcohol.

 

These 3 orders have paid and are due to ship as soon as pots arrive. Where do you want the ridgeline to be?

D S…… (sent)(PAID Mar 19, 2016 05:19:08 PDT)

Tony Campana (sent)(paid Mar 18, 2016 06:48:59 PDT)

Dylan Atkinson (sent)(paid Mar 18, 2016 06:58:08 PDT)

 

P.S.————-Do Not Overfill the Modified StarLyte burner—–bad things can happen  :-)  1oz. Max

 

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