Best stove for BOB
- Thread starter Tengu
- Start date
I recently got an Optimus Crux as part of a job lot on ebay which I'm pleased with. It's nice and compact and very powerful, ideal for a BOB.
Scoops
Scoops
Bug out bag, grab bag whatever you choose to call it. A bag to grab when leaving in a hurry.
Scoops
Esbit cube wrapped in tin foil.
Stand the pot on three pebbles and put the cube under it on the foil with the edges turned up for a windshield.
Simple, effective and almost weightless.
Stand the pot on three pebbles and put the cube under it on the foil with the edges turned up for a windshield.
Simple, effective and almost weightless.
It's pretty nifty, but a bit pricey new. MSR Pocket Rocket is worth a look too, plenty around.
Scoops
I have a multifuel stove I got off ebay in mine. It'll burn gas or any flammable liquid. It's very reliable (so far)
I also have a windshield and three steel tent pegs plus a pack of BBQ firelighter matches (a fibrous firelighter with match head chemicals on one end) a couple of them will boil a cup of water)
I also have a few other bits an pieces in mine for brewing up.
If it's important enough to have in your bag, have two.
I also have a windshield and three steel tent pegs plus a pack of BBQ firelighter matches (a fibrous firelighter with match head chemicals on one end) a couple of them will boil a cup of water)
I also have a few other bits an pieces in mine for brewing up.
If it's important enough to have in your bag, have two.
http://www.bushcraftuk.com/index.php/DIY/Quick-Cheap-Pocket-Stove-To-Make.html
If you intend a 72hour BoB this could be an option.
It's small and cheap and simple enough to have them all over the place so that you will always have one pocketed.
My first thought when I saw the article was BoB.
If you intend a 72hour BoB this could be an option.
It's small and cheap and simple enough to have them all over the place so that you will always have one pocketed.
My first thought when I saw the article was BoB.
SimonM
Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
I do a similar thing but with tea lights, slightly wittled down and a single layer of corrugated card wrapped around the outside and put back into the little case. Very smokey and sooty though but quick, easy and very cheap. a slightly more sophisticated and slightly cleaner burning version is to score 4 grooves up the sides make a cross of 2 longer bits of corrugated card ( long enough to wrap underneath the tealight and up the sides plus 5mm ) giving a tealight with essentially 5 wicks.
For a BoB stove the Swiss Army Volcano plus some tealight burners or hexi blocks and mini pop can alcohol stove ( to use fill mini alcohol stove, hold it level between finger and thumb, hold volcano stove horizontal, insert ministove into hole and turn volcano stove vertical, chuck a little extra meths into bottom of volcano stove which really helps prime and light at egde of gap ) will cover most bases including twigs and pine cones.
To make it even more flexible ( which I might do later today ) take one of the multifuel ebay stoves Rik_UK3 introduced us to http://www.bushcraftuk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=28765 and the top from a glass jar. Remove multi burner from stand ( one nut ) drill hole through middle of jar top, place burner ontop of lid with bolt end through hole and put the nut back on. The whoile assembly can be dropped down the center of the volcano stove. This should come close to Jetboil/ETA Express levels of speed and efficiancy though I'd be little worried about prolonged use as the Volcano is only aluminium.
What you can end up with is a simple stove combination that is truly multifuel, wood, meths, hexi, gas, petrol and (if memory serves) parrafin. What more could you want from a BoB stove
[Update] Well that took a whole 3 minutes, used the top from a jar of pickled eggs approx 73mm diameter, fits down the Volcano with only a little fiddling but any bigger might be a problem, made the hole with a braddle and srewdriver while the cordless drill was recharging
If I can find some gas I'll do a speed test outdoors later.
[Update 2] I abandoned doing the speed boil test, after only 30 seconds, with the gas burner metal ( presumably steel ) glowing red about an inch away from the aliminium of the Volcano stove I figured caution was in order, hardly being set up to deal with if the aluminium casing melted, as the water may have then spilt onto it too.
Depends on where you plan on bugging out to I guess; for some people where worst case would be the local leisure centre when their house gets flooded a gas stove would be good and clean so choose something like the crux or pocketrocket. For outdoors (head to the woods type thing) best IMO is to take esbit / hexamine. Foolproof, 100% reliable, light them with a lighter, matches or a firesteel (I'd take all 3), you can support a pot and make a windshield from all sorts of things. Perhaps combine that with a bushbuddy inside a SP900 pot with the 300 pot inside it and you've got an excellent woodburner too for longer term should you need it. If need be improvising is also quite easy then; liquid fuels can be burnt in a can full of sand, you could always punch holes into the side of your SP900 to suspend it billy-style over an open fire (did I just say that about a £30+ pot? )... most important part I think is not the stove but a pot and something to light a fire with. With those two you can always find something to burn
)... most important part I think is not the stove but a pot and something to light a fire with. With those two you can always find something to burn
After a root around/clean out of my camping cupboard, I found a small stove I made with my scout group a couple of years ago.
it's an old shoe polish tin with corrugated cardboard coiled up inside it, then filled up with wax.
more heat than a tealight version plus a handy lid.
plus it's waterproof.
Cheap too
I might do a boil test later.
it's an old shoe polish tin with corrugated cardboard coiled up inside it, then filled up with wax.
more heat than a tealight version plus a handy lid.
plus it's waterproof.
Cheap too
I might do a boil test later.
Whilst canoeing on the Tay last weekend we were brewing up on the bank and the Pocket Rocket owner boiled the kettle for the Trangia owner because we wanted to get back on the river and you could measure his boil time with a calendar.
Depends how cold and whether you insulate the gas canister from the ground etc.
Scoops
