Friday 25 March 2011

Field test: mKettle (mini wood burning kettle)

Most of us are familiar with chimney or fire kettles such as the Kelly Kettle that work on the principle of a double walled chimney to heat up a chamber of surrounding water. However, these kettles tended to be quite bulky and heavy and less than ideal for lightweight backpacking.


Recently a couple of lightweight versions of this old design have come on to the market, the more readily available 'mKettle' and the 'Backcountry Boiler' which is available through advanced ordering via http://www.theboilerwerks.com/about/ . These new wood burning kettles are of a very similar design with the Backcountry Boiler coming in lighter at around 230g in weight and the mKettle at around 370g. When using, fill the firebase with combustible materials (e.g twigs, small sticks, dry grass, pine cones) and then place the kettle on top of the firebase. The mKettle can boil approximately a pint of water (500ml) in around 5 to 8 minutes depending on conditions and the source and dryness of the kindling. The mKettle is very robust and light enough for backpacking and is ideal for making hot drinks and rehydrating backpacking meals, it kind of looks like a wood burning 'jetboil'. It also comes with its own stuffsack and a stopper to contain carried water. When stored in the stuffsack the firebase fits inverted into the kettle allowing you to store your firelighting material. Here are the specs:

Composition: aluminium
Weight: 370g (13 oz)
Capacity: 530 ml (18 oz) About 1 Pint
Dimensions: 17cm (7”) Tall by 10cm (4”) Diameter
Pack: Fitted Rip Stop Nylon Carry Bag with D-Rings



1 comment:

JimmyV said...

This, along with kershaw leek is important for backpackers.