So after my failed attempt at a pepsi can stove. I read up on other stoves, and the cat food stove really caught my eye by it's simplicity and price.


I made a cheap windscreen out of foil which worked great, but I had no paper clips and was forced to use duct tape.



I boiled 2 cups of water, and it was boiling within 6 minutes. I only used about 0.7 ounces of denatured alcohol, and at 10 minutes the stove was bone dry.



So it's a REAL simple MYOG stove, and I plan to use the GSI kettle as seen in my photos for my upcoming PCT thru-hike attempt. The kettle is nice and easy to pour with a very wide base that has a nice balance of heat.


And after a nice test on my stove, a nice cup of tea.

Edited by AliasDave on 01/06/2010 18:09:13 MST.

Dude you can't go wrong with these stoves. I made a few of them the other night. Just need to test them out. Sure beats my canister stove for weight!!

The cat can stove is a perfectly valid option for a lightweight alky setup. I used it on every trip last spring and summer and never had any issues with it, there really isn't anything to the design for there to be any issues, simplicity at its' best. My buddy used it on his attempted PCT thru last year and loved it. If all your doing is boiling water then the Cat Can stove is fool proof. A big bonus of the cat can stove is you can just bend it back to shape if you sit on it or it gets squished in your pack. I found placing a small piece of foil under the stove and priming with a small amount of alcohol sped the process along some. Drawback to the design however is you probably need to use more alcohol for a full boil than say a Caldera Cone setup. You might look into that as well.

That GSI kettle is interesting. You might check out the MSR Titan Kettle, it has pretty much all the same features for over an ounce of saved weight, plus I think cleaning a traditional cylindrical shaped pot will fair you better along your PCT thru than trying to scrub food out of the GSI's tapered design. Just my two cents.

I made the beer can style and it works well for me. Yours would not be compatible with my heineken keg pot because it sends heat out the sides and would miss most of the bottom of the keg. I need to think about switching to a setup like yours, you dont need a pot stand with yours. by the way, if you make your foil screen a little longer, you can just pull the sides together and fold them over to hold the screen snug. Looks good, I think I'll whip one up.

I used one of these for my AT thru last summer. Its pretty much a no-brainer. I made a windscreen out of some aluminum sheeting I got at the hardware store instead of the foil. It fit right inside my pot and since it was a bit more sturdy it didn't move around in windy situations. Never made sense to me to have a windscreen that would blow away in the wind.

Dave,
That looks great!
I have been pondering on whether or not to buy a kettle and your pictures settled the issue for me! I'm tired of goofing with hot pots since I only boil water on a catfood can anyway. Holding the kettle and pouring from a spout looks like the way to go!
Good job & Thanks!

Adan, look into Zelph's "Fancee Feast" stove.. Perfect size for a heineken keg can pot.. no pot stand needed, ~25g.

You can buy one or make one yourself. One of the most efficient designs out there, can boil 2cups on like 1/2oz of fuel.

Edited by jdempsey on 02/05/2010 12:40:38 MST.

great stoves.

It's simple and easy.

Andrew Skurka shows you how in this YouTube video.

Greg, that's a good, and super simple stove, but not the same as what I'm talking about..

The "Fancee Feast" or however Zelph spells it, is a "ring of fire" type stove, that uses fiberglass wick, not a side-jet stove like Skurka's..

Not that it matters, they're both solid designs.