MSR Pocket Rocket & Coleman Max Micro Stove

 

Wenzel Klondike Overview

The Wenzel Klondike retails in the $140 range, offers plenty of space, and is our current family car camping tent.  We were able to set up our double height queen air mattress and a kids pack and play in the main tent room and still had plenty of room to put gear and maneuver around.  It weighs a little over 27 lbs. and measures 16′ X 11′ with 6′ 6″ max headroom.  The front room is a screened in room and will fit a few camping chairs and small table to get away from rain or mosquitoes.  There are a few other popular tents on the market in the same price range that have this two room set up but not all have floors in the screen room area.  All of the windows, including those in the screen room, have flaps that zip closed and when the rain fly is off both rooms have screen ceilings.

and with out the fly

Kelty Zenith 2 Overview

A couple short videos of my Kelty Zenith 2 tent I wrote about in my Budget Hiking and Camping Gear post.

 

Fozzils Kidz Solo Pack

I saw these Fozzil brand collapsible plates and bowels at REI and they looked like a good idea.  I wasn’t sure how they would hold up but a little research online showed people seem to be happy with them.  I was originally looking to buy the regular size set and not the “Kidz pack” however on another trip to REI this set was on clearance for $7 and some change so I picked it up.

The kids size is smaller but still adequate for camping needs, especially backpacking.  Included is a 1 plate, 1 bowel, 1 cup, and 1 spoon.  They come in this reusable sleeve where all the pieces store flat.

It just takes a couple of seconds per item to snap together and voila, you’re ready to eat.  The spoon that comes with the set seems pretty useless considering most people will have a real spoon or spork with them anyway.

The material feels heavy-duty enough to hold up for some time given you take reasonable care.  It’s a slightly textured surface but all residue wipes off easily which is good when running water might not be available.

DIY Alcohol Stoves

I decided to try my hand at making a few of the homemade alcohol burning camp stoves that I’ve read about.  The first one I made was made out of an Altoids Smalls can.  It was pretty straight forward to make.  Fill the can with perlite (found at a garden center) and cover with metal screen to hold all the perlite in.

This one fits into my Esbit stove and is a great replacement for the stinky Esbit cubes that come with it.  All you do is fill up the can with some denatured alcohol and light her up, its simple and works great.

I then tried to make a jetted style burner stove out of a regular size Altoids can.  The idea is the can will heat up and cause the alcohol to vaporize and shoot out of the holes that were drilled in the sides.  Unfortunately there is a design flaw somewhere and this one did not work well.

My third attempt was whats known as a “penny stove”.  This was a little more complicated to build but with ample online instructions and about 30 minuets of work it turned out great.

The construction is basically 2 soda can bottoms and 1 can top.  The top is used as a stand to get the stove off the ground to allow for proper heating of the stove which vaporizes the fuel.  One of the can bottoms is kept as is for the bottom of the stove.  The other can bottom has 4 holes drilled int the middle to allow fuel to drain into the inside and 12 holes drilled around the edges (6 on the top and 6 on the bottom).  The 2 can portions are pressed together.  To use you fill the cup portion with the 4 holes with fuel and let it drain into the middle.  Then you place a penny over the 4 holes to keep the fuel from draining (hence the name penny stove) and fill the cup portion with fuel again but allow some alcohol to spill over the side holes.  When you light the stove the alcohol on top burns and heats up the stove so the alcohol in the middle starts to vaporize and exit the side holes creating a burner.

here is a video testing the small Altoids stove and the penny stove.  I spilled a bit too much alcohol on them to prime them so the initial burn off is a little long but they both worked great.

 

a clip of the penny stove after a few minutes burning