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I just ordered on of these online and I'm ditching my old coleman with propane. I'm going to throw caution to the wind and not bother with any fuel based system, I noticed in another thread that some people are using these and I was wondering how they perform. I'm getting cold feet and I may pick up an msr lite for backup but I'd like to free myself of the burden and cost of fuel altogether. Any experience that can be shared would be appreciated, seems like based on reviews from owners once you get one you don't look back.
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they are said to work well and are probably illegal if there is a fire ban.
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kayamedic wrote:
they are said to work well and are probably illegal if there is a fire ban.
They are indeed illegal during a fire ban. I ordered a Trekker model this winter and just tried it out for the first time yesterday. I had no problems getting the fire lit and including lighting the fire it took about 2 minutes to boil .6 litres of water. I also bought the hobo stove attachment and I can't wait to use them! This summer I will be bringing my Vital Stove as well as the kettle.
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I use the Trekker exclusively, but I've kept my Trangia in case of a fire ban.
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I actually thinking about a trip to Killarney later in the summer and stumbled across one of your youtube trip logs that's where I got the idea. Once I saw it I knew I needed one.
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I use the Trekker exclusively, but I've kept my Trangia in case of a fire ban.
I assume the Kelly kettle is the only stove you bring on the majority of your trips? Have you ever had a problem getting it started? That's the only thing I'm skeptical about with using nothing but stick stoves.
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I just got an M Kettle, like a mini kelly kettle, and I spent an evening last week experimenting with alcohol stoves as backup.
If you are looking for a back-up in case tinder is wet, I've had good success with a fire felt. Basically a strip of black carbon felt (plumbers heat shield) about three inches wide and a foot long. fold in half lengthwise. Staple at intervals to create pouches in the felt. Put it in your firebowl, spiral fashion, pouches up, add alcohol, ( a bit more than you'd use in a Trangia, say 40 ml or so) and light. It is much lighter than a Trangia stove and so it makes good back up to wood.
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@token: When I first started using a twig stove, I was still bringing my fuel stove as a backup because, like you mention, I was nervous about that being my only cooking source. After a few trips of lugging my fuel stove (and the fuel) around and never using it, I stopped bringing it. It's almost always fairly easy to find dry(ish) twigs, but I'll pick up birch bark while travelling (especially if bad weather is coming) to make life easier.
I haven't yet failed to get the twig stove burning but if (when) it happens it just means I'll be munching on gorp instead of something hot. Seems a fair trade to drop the fuel bottle and stove from my pack weight.
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I picked up a Trekker from another forum member earlier this year and finally got the chance to take it down to the ravine and test it out. I must admit I was pretty happy with the performance. Literally a handful of twigs and a couple minutes for boiling water. Half a liter is a little on the low side, but for a soloist it's fine.
I am also slightly nervous about ditching the fuel based-system and going full twig. I might toss the pocket rocket and a 227g fuel can in the pack for the first few trips, as insurance. I'm sure it's just a comfort/confidence thing and like Bob mentioned, worse case scenario, you're not eating a hot meal when you want it.
My only concern with this thing is the size. It seems to be fairly large. Mind you, it's about the size of two stacked 450g fuel canisters, so it's a fair trade off, but I don't always bring that much fuel - so some trips it'll be worth its weight, others not so much.
I also bought a firebox stove but I think it's overkill as I could have just bought the adapter from amazon to make the kettle base a twig stove as well (which is something I'm pretty sure I'm going to do.. why bring two items that serve essentially the same purpose?)
Let's go ice out - I've got some twigs to burn and coffee to drink!
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Peek, your right about the size, just came in and its a little bigger/heavier that I expected especially with the base. I think if I was to do it again I'd go with the Middle size, also picked up a pocket rocket for insurance. I'm still excited about giving it a try though seems sturdy enough to last a lifetime. Maby I'll just loose a few pounds to compensate!
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Btw, shameless pimp here. If any of you are interested in a Kelly Kettle Trekker, I'd be willing to part with mine. It was great when we were just two but with a growing family, I find that I don't use it as much.
Open to all offers. I'm in the Niagara area but I am willing to ship.
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The Kelly Kettle (KK) is bulky but it's so efficient! I love my KK Scout! I had to talk my husband into getting it. He wasn't sold on it because of the size/bulk. But now I can't get him to leave it alone. We do bring our whisperlite and a small amount of fuel just incase, but the KK is solely what we use for cooking and boiling water for dishes.
We went for a 9-day canoe trip in Killarney and the fall and didn't use our WhisperLite once. It was all KK.
I wrote a review of it on my website
Last edited by Waboose Adventures (4/14/2016 11:01 am)
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