cooking in I-tent/Firstlight

[dbconlin]

I am wondering how one would cook in one of these alpine bivy tents. The most obvious choices are: 1. hanging stove, 2. use the optional vestibule. However, I have an XGK stove, which does not seem conducive to converting to hanging mode and I would like to avoid the expense/weight of the vestibule. Any suggestions for how to cook/melt water during a STORM? Thanks.

[Alex]

The answer is 1) a hanging stove

 

do not use XGK. you've just spent bank to get the lightest tent known to man, yet you haul an XGK and white gas? I got a Markill Stormy hanging stove, or in a pinch just use the pocket rocket with a canister on the tent floor. If you are careful (and vent) you will have no problems.

[forrest_m]

the i-tent + XGK combo is very common in alaska and other expedition contexts. how this works is you use a small stove board that you put on top of an ensolite pad. near the door. when lighting the stove, hold the pot lid over it so that the flames are contained, or if it's not windy, light the stove outside and only move it in once you have a blue flame. the non-cook will be more comfortable if they sit where he/she can stich their head into the sidewall vent. it will get warm enough in the tent to dry socks and gloves. be very, very careful.

 

actually, don't do this. you could burn your tent down or die of CO poisoning. i'd definately never do this and you shouldn't either.

[Alasdair]

The answer is 1) a hanging stove

 

do not use XGK. you've just spent bank to get the lightest tent known to man, yet you haul an XGK and white gas? I got a Markill Stormy hanging stove, or in a pinch just use the pocket rocket with a canister on the tent floor. If you are careful (and vent) you will have no problems.

All is good and great, until it gets cold and you have to melt a lot of snow at which point what forrest said is correct. I have heard that MSR once made a hanging set up for the XGK but for some reason it did not make it to the market.

[kurthicks]

I use my MSR dragonfly on the Trillium baseplate and swaged a wire hanging system to that. Clip it to the apex of the tent. bungee the fuel bottle to the underside of the baseplate. I bet it would work with one of the new XGKs with the flexible fuel lines.

[dbconlin]

I have the old one with the rigid fuel line...but I guess I can cook on the floor as suggested above.

[TREETOAD]

I have an MSR Superfly with the titanium hanging kit option, but I had to phone the factory to get it. I find that it uses quite a bit of fuel to melt snow in very cold conditions compared to the whisperlite. Does anyone have an idea as to which type is better to take on a three or four day long trip?

[dbconlin]

Any suggestions as to what the "small stove board" is/how I can buy/make one, etc.?

[forrest_m]

i made mine by with some of that 1/2" plastic eggcrate they make for those fluorescent office ceiling lights, cut into a circle that fits into my pot. i cut a smaller circle out of a piece of metal roof flashing and attached it to the plastic with wire to act as a heat reflector. finally, i put 3 sheet metal screws most of the way into the flashing so that the base of the xgk fits snugly, holding it into place. it's very light and diffuses heat well enough to use directly on the snow w/o melting. i'll try to post a photo tomorrow.

[dbconlin]

a photo would be great...and thanks for the info!

[forrest_m]

ok, here it is:

from the top. note the extra piece of wire attached to one of the screws to wrap around the stove when you put it in place

 

 

from the bottom. plastic grid held to metal plate by drilling tiny holes and wiring them together. you can see a bit of deformation in the plastic after ~40-50 days of use

 

with the stove assembled. base of stove slides under screw heads, loose wire wraps 2x around stove to hold it in place:

[dbconlin]

Cool, thanks. That definitly clears things up.