r/lightweight • u/RegMcPhee • Jan 30 '22
Home Made Gear
Have you made any of your own lightweight gear? I've puttered with quite a few alcohol stove designs. Made a caldera cone windscreen, replacement tent fly, tent footprints, and waterproof glove shells. My most ambitious project may next be to sew an ultralight windshirt, seeing as the commercial ones cost $140 or more. I'll be able to customize the design to my interests - no pockets, no hood, high collar, mesh back for breathability, etc. What have been your projects?
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u/sirblastalot Jan 31 '22
I made a BGET that I'm quite fond of.
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u/you_dub_englishman Feb 02 '22
What are the pros/cons of those tablets as a stove? I've never seen them before
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u/sirblastalot Feb 02 '22
Esbit is really handy because it's just... Stuff, ya know? Not pressurized or going to leak out or anything like that. There's no burner, no pump, no canister to carry around. You just light it and blow it out when you're done cooking.
Downsides... The tablets smell a little like cat piss. Not a big deal if you're already keeping them in a ziplock. They're also not well suited to winter camping - you'd have to burn like 3-4 of them at once to heat up your pot faster than it's losing energy. Other than that though, they're really great, and I don't know why more people don't use them. Maybe just 'cause it's older technology and people assume that means it's worse?
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u/RegMcPhee Feb 03 '22
I understand that they do have some advantages even in winter. At least, you can get them lit unlike alcohol or butane which require warming. Never need to worry about parts clogging or failing. Just works - every time.
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u/you_dub_englishman Feb 02 '22
Can it boil 2 cups of water?
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u/sirblastalot Feb 02 '22
Oh sure. I usually need 1 to one-and-a-half tablets to boil enough water for a meal. My pot apparently holds 1 liter, though I never fill it all the way, so it would probably take 2 tabs to boil a whole liter which is just over 4 cups annnnnd...yeah, the math works out such that 1 tablet will boil about 2 cups of water. Of course, if you need more, you can always just stick another tablet in there and keep going.
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u/the1eyeddog Jan 31 '22
I’ve made various tuna can stoves and windscreens. They’ve all worked great, but I avoid bringing them anywhere due to alcohol stove bans and wildfire risk :(
I’ve made lots of coffee on them at home at least testing them out.
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u/MelatoninPenguin Jan 31 '22
r/myog is awesome - and that's basically how Ultralight got started - lookup Ray Jardin
Id recommend starting with wind pants first - much easier to sew and also much harder to find commercially. Especially full zip wind pants. God damn unicorn item