Soda Can Stove

I have recently been reading about lightweight back packing equipment. I carried a lot of community gear on my recent trek to Notch Lake. So I wanted to come up with some ideas to combat the weight of the necessities. E.G. tent, stove, cooking gear,and sleeping bad and pad. My current equipment weighs in as follows:
Tent: Kelty Gunnison 4 9 lbs.
Cook Set: SVEA123 with Sigg Tourist cookset. 1lb 8oz. (not included the weight of the fuel)
Sleeping Bag: Mountain Hardwear Ultralamina 2lb 2oz.
Sleeping Pad: Big Agnes Air Core 1lb. 5oz.
Total Weight: ~14lbs.

The lightest tent I found was thin air. Simply spread out your sleeping bad on some Tyvek and sleep under the stars. Thats all fine and dandy, if it doesn't rain. Also, there is nothing like a paper thin sheet of material to make you feel safe.

I found a couple of ideas for a tent and stove. Many people suggest using a tarp to make tent. I looked around and liked the idea of a pyramid tarp tent. The price isn't right, so I just need to find a pattern , the material, and convince my mom to sew it for me. It would lighten my pack weight by ~4-5lbs. There is no floor to this tent, but I can use my Tyvek ground cloth as the floor.

I also found this pretty cool video on how to make a tent using an 8x10 tarp.

I will have to try this in the backyard sometime. Looks pretty simple to make.

I found a good deal on a lightweight cook set, so I bought it. I found a web site that discusses the use of homemade backpacking stoves that are fueled by denatured alcohol. Many of the stoves weigh less then an ounce. This concept intrigued me. So I built a soda can stove. Before I left work, I dug through the trashes and found some empty some soda pop cans. I found the following DIY instructions and built me a stove.

It took me about 30 minutes to complete it. I salvaged several cans, so I think that I will try and build some of the other types of stoves. Here are some pics of my work and of the stove in action.

The GSI cookset and alcohol stove weigh in at less then a pound, not including fuel. The only problem is that the stove and cookset will only comfortably accommodate two people. So I will probably only use this combination of cookset and stove when I go off hiking by myself or with one of the kids.

So when all is said and done, I am probably better off cutting down on just the weight of the tent if I take the kids with me. I better hurry up and get sewing if I want to have a completed pyramid tarp tent before the summer hits.

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