Garant Snow Shovel

I mentioned my snow shovel briefly on the last post but thought it might be worth looking at it again as I was back on the hill today and actually used the shovel as intended.

I had my gear packed last night, pretty much the same as I had on Saturday and set off for Trostan. There isn't a car park as such, just the entrance to a waymarked trail but there's plenty of space for parking assuming you can actually get the car in. The road was clear but the entrance was filled with snow, some packed down were other vehicles had been parked up probably on Saturday/Sunday. The only option was to reverse into the entrance at speed and force a track so I repeated this a few times gaining a few more feet with each attempt. As the entrance slopes slightly towards the road I took the snow shovel and cleared my tracks as best I could to the gravel base to help make things easier to get back out and to prevent the car gradually slipping down towards the road.





The shovel worked just fine even though I was digging into hard packed snow and gravel. The bucket shaped blade helped hold the snow and while there were a few scrapes on the edge it didn't feel as if it would break, snow that isn't packed due to a car driving up and down it should be no problem. As it started snowing shortly after I set off and had only just stopped before I returned I had to clear my tracks again and also used the shovel to clear the snow off the car.

As I mentioned I bought the snow shovel in B&Q earlier in the year, I can't remember how much I paid but it was significantly less that a branded snow shovel from an outdoors retailer. It's currently priced at £10.98 which has to be a good price.


Handle Collapsed.


Handle Extended

The shovel weighs 530g, extended it measures 755mm from the edge of the blade to the grip, with the shaft simply retracted which is how I carry it on my rucksack it measures 580mm and with the shaft pushed right down to the edge of the blade it measures 420mm (see pic in link above), of course you can just remove the shaft completely. The blade is 225mm wide at the edge, 310mm from edge to grip and is about 60mm deep at about the middle of the bucket.

Old Gear Out, New Gear In

When it comes to gear sometimes you have to try a few different options before you settle on something that suits your needs and that can result in too much kit laying about. I'd reached that point some time ago but now I'm pretty happy with what I'm currently using and there were only a few items that I wanted to get.

I've been very pleased with my Montane Flux but it's become a victim of it's own success as it's worn constantly and is definitely past it's best. I wanted to replace it but as it's a bit heavy compared to my down jackets and is still functional I decided that rather than buy a new one I'd go for the lighter Montane Prism 2.0. Maz had good things to say about it and as it's less insulated than the Flux I figured it might make a nice extra layer if I wasn't carrying a fleece and wouldn't be too warm to wear on the move. I've ordered one and hopefully I'll get it next week sometime.

The 2nd thing I wanted to get was an MSR Reactor, it's heavier than I'd ideally like but to be honest I've tried a variety of gas stoves and bought too many pots looking for the ideal set-up and the Reactor does seem the best option for me if I'm not using meths. I had a look on ebay and watched a few used ones but they seem to sell for between £60 and £70 plus postage. I happened to see that Field & Trek were selling the Reactor for £100, reduced from £139.99 including postage and when they were offering a further 10% discount over the Bank Holiday weekend I decided to buy one. It arrived a few days ago and although I haven't used it yet it weighs the same (within a few grams) of the one I tested. I still want to keep some of my smaller titanium pots/mugs as I can use them with my meths set-up but I may as well sell off the rest so there's some sorting out to do.



Another item that was on the shopping list was a Polar Buff, I always carry a standard Buff and sometimes use a peaked Buff but wanted a Polar Buff for colder weather. I think they're a bit overpriced at over £20 and as a result hadn't got around to buying one but while on the Field & Trek website I notice that they had them reduced from £22.99 to £12.00 so I added one to the order for the MSR. There isn't much to say about the Polar Buff, it's does everything a basic Buff does with the added benefit of having the Polarfleece added.






As far as rucksacks are concerned I didn't do too badly with them, the 1st was a Gregory Z55, 1.4kg approx, then a Haglofs LIM 45 and finally a ULA Conduit (now known as the CDT)


ULA Conduit


Gregory Z55

The Gregory is spacious and carries up to about 14kg very well. I like the back system as it provides plenty of airflow around my back but the same back system means the main body of the pack is fairly curved and packing long straight items can be difficult, don't even think about trying to carry a CCF mat inside. The up-side is that it would make a good winter pack thanks to the volume, the back airflow and the ability to carry heavier loads.


Haglofs LIM 45

The other rucksack I bought and which I really like is the Haglofs LIM 45. At 1.1kg it's lighter tha the Gregory, it's very roomy for a 45l pack and there are lots of featurs I like such as the frame and roll-top. The only downside is that the hipbelt is a bit too soft to allow me to carry much over 10kg so it can't really do much more than my ULA Conduit. I need to sell one of them but as yet I haven't decided, from a performance point of view the Gregory wins but it's a fussy design and I'm not keen on some of the features, the Haglofs I like from a design point of view but it just doesn't have the performance of the Gregory with heavier loads. I'll need to have a play around with winter loads and see which one I decide to sell.

Finally I still want a lighter tent, don't get me wrong I love the Phreeranger but I can't get away from the fact that with the inner tent and the footprint (needed as the groundsheet isn't waterproof anymore) it's around 1750g. I 've tried a few different tents but couldn't find one that I was happy with. I'd already tried a TN Voyager (returned) a TN Laser (Sold) and a few others that I still had so I decided to sell them off to clear a bit of garage space and gather the funds for another shot at finding a suitable tent.

There's nothing currently available that I particularily like, I suppose the closest would be the MSR Hubba HP but I'd only be saving about 400g and the Hubba HP pitches inner 1st. I don't consider inner 1st to be a deal breaker but combined with the weight it put me off.

In the end I decided on something that might prove to be a suitable replacement, significantly lighter than the Phreeranger although it isn't a style that I'm particularily keen on. I should get it next week but will it be a keeper or yet another return?

PHD Minim Ultra

Although I have a couple of light sleeping bag options in the form of a Mountain Equipment Xero 250 at 640g and an Alpkit PD200 Piéd d Elephant at 480g I was still looking for a lighter option. The PD200 is the lightest option if I use an insulated jacket which I'd be carrying anyway but my lightest down jacket is a Mountain Equipment Xero at 390g while my lightest piece of down clothing is a PHD Ultra Down vest at 150g which I bought specifically for summer use. Unfortunately the down vest doesn't work well with the PD200 as there's no arm insulation. I tried to sell the down vest to help fund either a Mont-Bell UL Down Inner jacket or PHD Ultra Pullover but didn't manage to sell it. It was while looking for my own advertisement on the OM classified section that I came across a PDH Ultra Minim sleeping bag for sale.

I'd looked at the Ultra Minim but thought that the asking price of £189 was too much so had dismissed it but this one was for sale at £135 shipping included. The suggested weight is 345g and I felt that it would work fine with the down vest so I ended up buying it.



It was a standard length bag and has no shoulder baffle or zip which helps keep the weight to a minimum. It came with a small stuff sack and large mesh storage bag as originally supplied and is really compact and light although mine actually weighs 365g. Overall it's lighter at 514g when combined with the vest than the ME Xero 250 at 640g and the PD200/Xero jacket combination at 870g

The suggested temperature rating is +8°C and I tried it out for the 1st time with my Phreeranger Flysheet set up in the garden. I also used the Ti Goat Ptarmigan bivvy that I normally use with the single skin set-up and had the Ultra down vest in reserve. I choose to wear a full Sub Zero F1 baselayer and was initially fine but as the temperature dropped to +4°C outside my top side felt cold although I was otherwise fine lying on an 8mm CCF mat. I added the down vest and that resulted in sufficient insulation to allow me to get back to sleep.

Since then I've used it again with the Phreeranger set up as a 2 skin tent, with the same CCF mat but with only the Sub Zero F1 long sleeve top and was generally fine although again I addded the down vest.

The verdict? well it does what it's supposed to do but I think it would work better as a top bag as the 75g (I'm assuming total fill is 150g) of down on the base isn't doing much and would be better added to the top as that's been the only place I've felt cold. I think the baffles are closed along the side seam which prevents you from shifting the down to the top but as I sleep on my side I think I'll try to shake the down to one side next time to see if that makes a difference. In the end I don't really mind having to wear the down vest from time to time as I'd be carrying it anyway. Combined with the CCF mat and down vest the total weight of my sleeping system is 709g but that includes extra insulation to wear around camp in the evenings, of course it's strictly a summer option.



At the price I paid I'm happy with it but for me anyway it's too expensive at full price for what is really a pretty specialist piece of gear, that said I haven't seen anything lighter costing less.

Update

Thanks to Andy (see comments) mentioning that the Minim Ultra might have open ended baffles I e-mailed PHD who informed me that the baffles are open at one end to allow down to be shifted from bottom to top (or vice versa). Thats useful to know and I'll definately give it a try next time.

Goosefeet Down Socks

I had considered getting a pair of PHD down socks as I tend to suffer from cold feet but happened upon Goosefeet down socks thanks to a mention on Minimal Gear (see my Blog List)

Goosefeet are a cottage industry product from the USA but they ship abroad and accept Paypal. The socks use 800+ Fill Power down and while they recommend adding an extra 1/2 ounce to the XL size
they will also add it to any size of sock. In addition they also sell a water resistant outer over-boot made from Silnylon with a Dyneema X sole and incorporating a closed cell insole.

All the prices were in Dollars and the weights in ounces but after converting to Sterling/Grams they looked promising. Initially I was going to buy the Over-Socks as well but in the end decided to just get the Down Socks with an extra 1/2 oz of down as I needed a pair size Large (I wear size 43/44 so reasoned that I needed large as US sizes are smaller than UK sizes).



I eventually placed my order on 18th March and had a reply on the 19th informing me that they had been shipped and received the socks today. They cost £42.70 including shipping and weigh in at 75g including a stuff sack which weighs about 3g. That compares well with the PHD socks at 90g/£63.75 including postage.

The socks came loosely packed in a pre-pay stiff card box together with the stuff sack which to be honest looked like it would never be big enough. As it turned out the socks are easily stuffed into the stuff sack. The fit is perfect, not too loose and not too tight so the sizes given on the chart seem spot on. I tried them on briefly and they certainly feel warm and like anything made using good quality down seem to virtually inflate once removed from the stuff sack.

Obviously I can't make a direct comparison with other down socks but in the end it came down to simple economics. The service from Ben and Susan was first class as is the standard of workmanship, definitely well worth considering if you need a bit of extra insulation and want to support the cottage industry..

http://goosefeet.webs.com/

Golite Adrenaline 0°

Only recently I mentioned that everyone seemed to be getting ready to pack away the heavy winter gear in anticipation of spring and yet I find myself writing about the Golite Adrenaline 0° sleeping bag. It's a full winter bag with 880g of 800 Fill Power down so what has prompted me to write about it.

Well I looked at this bag on different occasions but for a variety of reason, not least the price I didn't buy it. It was originally selling at £325 but the last time I added it to a shortlist it was around £250 (currently £229) from Ultralight Outdoor Gear. Again I decided against it even though I felt it would be ideal for my needs. I'd read that it was a fairly narrow sleeping bag and while most considered that a disadvantage I felt that for me it would be a benefit, I also liked the idea of the center zip and the Pertex Endurance on the hood and foot would be a benefit if using a single skin tent.

I just happened to be checking out the Outdoors Magic forums and clicked on the Bargain Alert thread where someone had posted that The Outdoors Warehouse were having a sale with up to 50% off Golite gear including sleeping bags. I went to the website immediately and to my surprise the Golite Adrenaline was listed at £150. I thought about it for approximately 10 seconds and decided to order one knowing that I'd be unlikely to ever get a better opportunity.



The bag arrived within 2 days and I have to say it's very impressive, it's amazingly soft, lofts well and feels very thick and comfy. I tried it for size and yes it is quite narrow compared to my PHD Minim 500 but it wasn't at all uncomfortable even allowing for the fact that I was fully clothed.

The center zip works as well as expected (I had an army issue sleeping bag with a center zip so knew what to expect) and when fully zipped the hood is almost like that on a jacket and although there are draw-cords to tighten it further I doubt they'll be necessary.





The bag has a Trapezoidal box foot to allow plenty of room for your feet and the Pertex Endurance extends up to about mid calf height, from there up to just below chest level the down baffles run horizontally but change to vertical baffles over the chest. The hood, like the foot uses Pertex Endurance for water-resistance and breathability. The center zip has a baffles both inside and outside the zip and there's also a neck baffle.

It is as you'd expect quite bulky compared to my other bags, the heaviest of which is the PHD Minim 500 at 850g but then the Adrenaline has significantly more down. The stated weight was 1250g but mine weighs 1320g which isn't too far off the mark. It'll fit into a Sea to Summit 13L dry bag with room to spare although it does take some effort/time to expel all the air.

The only problem I can see is that I won't be able to try it properly for another 10 months or so as it's much too warm for temperatures above -5. I very much doubt if I'll get another bargain like that again but you never can tell, I just happened to be in the right place at the right time as they only had 2 in stock when I placed my order.



The technical specification of the bag is as follows;

6" baffles, differentially cut with 7" loft

Waterproof and Breathable Pertex Endurance at head and foot

Trapezoidal box foot

Baffled hood with drawcord

Insulated draft-tube in hood & zipper

50/50 distribution of insulation

Durable zippers with snag-proof draft tube stiffeners

Internal, insulated neck collar with elastic drawcord

880g of 800 fill power down

Rating, -18° (EN 13537 -12°)

The Adrenaline range has been updated for 2010 and are now named as Adrenaline 3 Season, Adrenaline 4 season etc rather than named/classed by temperature rating in °F. The equivalent bag is now known as the Adrenaline 4 Season with the same quantity/Fill Power of down (880g/800 FP) with a stated weight of 1350g now using Pertex Shield rather than Endurance and retails at around £300.

ULA Conduit

I've been using a Haglofs LIM 45 (1050g) for most of my recent overnight camps and while it's a reasonably good load carrier with a good capacity, more than it's 45L tag would suggest I wanted something lighter and smaller for overnight/summer backpacking. I had found ULA last year and they appealed to me at the time although back then I was looking for a 45-50L rucksack. When I started to look for something smaller /lighter I found myself drawn to the ULA Ohm and ULA Conduit. Hendrik over at Hiking in Finland had been using the Ohm and that was the one I had almost settled on. I liked the idea of the carbon/Delrin hoop to help transfer the weight to the hip belt and I also liked the top tension/load lifters. The more I though about it though I began to wonder if I really need the load Lifter/Carbon hoop given the weight I expected to carry (Around about 5kg Base Weight) also taking into account that one of the main reasons for getting a new rucksack was to reduce weight I eventually decided on the Conduit.

When I looked at the Ohm/Conduit last year they came as basic packs with the option to purchase a variety of add-ons such as Hip belt pockets, Hydration pocket etc, See Here , I would have gone for the hip belt pockets but by the time I ordered my pack all the accessories were included although the cost of the pack had gone up by about $10. I think it works out better this way as sometimes it's difficult to know what optional accessories you will use until you try them.



The rucksack arrived today, to be exact I picked it up today as there were fees to pay and on initial inspection everything looked good. The quality of workmanship is good as far as I can tell and the pack had all the extra accessories fitted. The shoulder straps have a sewn in D ring which is good as I prefer to carry my camera in a chest pouch, there is also a webbing daisy chain loop. The hip belt has short padded wings and the Q/D buckle is tightened by pulling the webbing forward through a ladeer-lock buckle attached to the hip-belt wings on at each side.

The 1st thing was to remove the extras which were 2 x Hand loops, 4 x Shock-cord/Cord-lock Bottle Holders, 1 x Internal Foam back pad, 1 x small mesh zipped pouch, 1 x Hydration Pouch and 1 x Hip belt pocket (I kept the one on the R/H side and in the end decided to use the mesh zipped pouch)



The next thing to check was if my CCF Full Length Mat would fit inside rolled into a wide cylinder, again no problems, the mat fitted in easily and was lower than the top of the main body of the pack while still leaving plenty of space inside. There are 2 wide elastic straps sew diagonally at the top of the back panel to hold a folded mat in place but I didn't try them.



I was impatient to see if my proposed summer kit would pack in easily so I gathered up my kit and and set about packing. In the 13L orange Sea 2 Summit drybag is my Mountain Equipment Xero 250 sleeping bag, a pair of Mont-Bell UL Down Inner Pants and a PHD Ultra Down Vest. I wouldn't expect to be using the Mont-Bell pants in summer but would normally have my spare baselayer and socks in the drybag instead. With the down gear packed and compressed I was able to place the drybag horizontally at the bottom.



The remainder of the gear shown was packed thus,

1 x Ration Pack placed flat on the sleeping bag
1 x Single Skin Tent placed upright on top of the dry sack against the back panel
1 x Ration Pack placed upright in front of the tent
1 x Pole Set stored vertically between the layers of the CCF mat
1 x Toilet Trowel etc placed between layers of CCF mat
1 x Cooking Gear placed Horizontally on top of Ration Pack/Tent
Wet Gear packed loosely in front of/around cook set
Windshirt/Gloves etc placed on top of wet gear
Wash kit, and other soft items placed between ration pack and front of pack
1st Aid/Spares, Tent Light, Head Torch, Penknife stored on Mesh pocket attached to inside of pack.



Side Pockets held 1 x 750ml Pet Bottle on one side and Bladder on the other side and I hadn't used the hip belt pocket or large mesh back pocket but in addition to the gear listed above I'd have a few other items such as GPS, Compass, maps etc.







With everything packed the top was easily rolled down and compressed using the top compression strap. It looked as if the pack could easily hold more so I placed my Montane Flux belay jacket at the top of the pack, the result can be seen in the photo below.



The pack seems comfortable enough but until I actually try it on a hike I won't really be able to comment. There are 2 areas that I'm a bit concerned about, the hip-belt attachment point is one. As the hip-belt is sewn in at the extreme edge of the back panel it's difficult to pull it in snug all the way around the waist, theres a gap between the hip-belt and my back (kidney area) that I can't close down but it may turn out to be a non issue.



The other thing is the hip belt pocket attachment method, it's very clever but IMO overly complicated. The front lower corner of the pocket attaches to the yellow tape loop using an open-able oblong D ring, at the rear lower corner the pocket attaches by a captive cord-lock on the pocket to a short length of Yellow shock cord with a knotted end attached to the pack, to attach the pocket you need to untie the knot and thread the shock-cord through the cord-lock before re-tying the knot. The final attachment point is a standard oblong D ring, the shoulder strap webbing needs to be un-threaded from the buckle on the shoulder pad and threaded through the ring/loop on the pocket before being re-threaded through the shoulder pad buckle.



It's all a bit contrived to be honest but of course once you have it fitted you can let it stay on. The biggest problem however is that the pocket tends to flop around as it's really only held securely at the front and rear bottom corners, the top rear corner simply slides up and down the shoulder strap webbing and has a tendency to pull up when you try to open the zip. I have to say that I didn't have anything in the pocket when I tried it so it may be less of a problem that I imagine. That said I feel there's room for improvement on this, if it turns out to be a problem I may simply sew the pocket to the hip-belt, sew a short length of 50mm (2") velcro to the hip-belt/pocket to keep it in place or remove it completely.

I ordered my pack Small/Medium with a Medium Hip belt and it seems fine although there isn't much adjustment left on the waist belt. I'm about 180cm (5' 10") approx and 30" waist. To be honest I haven't weighed it yet as I was more interested in seeing how my gear fitted.

It took a long time making up my mind which pack to get but subject to using it for real I'm very pleased with it.

The total cost including shipping was $162.45 (£110.00 approx) in addition I had to pay £24.25 in fees (£16.25 VAT, £8.00 Clearance Fee)

Edit to Add

I finally managed to weigh the Conduit and the accessories, the weights are as follows;

Pack - 488g (Stripped)
Hipbelt Pockets - 30g each
Handloops - 11g each
Bottle Holder Elastics - 11g each side (2 x Elastics per side)
Mesh Zipped Pouch - 28g
Hydration Bladder Pocket - 36g
Supplied Foam Back Pad - 25g

I intend to use it with one hipbelt pocket and the zipped mesh pouch which brings the total weight to 546g.

Summer Kit List

It'll soon be time to start packing the heavy winter gear away and time to again concentrate on lighter summer gear. There are a few months to go yet but we don't generally have the extremes of temperature in Northern Ireland that others in the UK and further afield have. I was experimenting last week by using my summer sleeping bag, a Mountain Equipment Xero 250, and wearing additional insulation. I used my Phreeranger as a single skin, protected the sleeping bag with my Titanium Goat Ptarmigan bivvy bag and for additional insulation wore my recently purchased MontBell UL Down pants and PHD Ultra Down Vest. The temperature dropped to as low as -7 deg C (average about -4) and apart from my arms I was fine. I was wearing only a Trekmates Bamboo baselayer but used a Multimat Adventure Superlight 25 full length self inflate mat with a 3mm full length closed cell pad.

My kit list presently is as follows, weight is in grams.

Accessories - Emergency - Nokia 2630 - 66
Accessories - Emergency - 1st Aid Kit (Summer) - 48
Accessories - Emergency - Spares & Repair (Summer) - 46
Accessories - Eye Wear Case - Bloc Pouch - 7
Accessories - Eye Wear Glasses - Bloc 502 Sunglasses - 23
Accessories - Eye Wear Misc - Croakie Glasses Retainer - 10
Accessories - Navigation - Garmin Geko 301 c/w Lithium - 86
Accessories - Navigation - Map, Memory Map Print Off x 10 Sheets - 50
Accessories - Navigation - Silva Field 7 - 29
Accessories - Tools - Wenger Classic inc Lanyard - 24

Total Accessories 389

Spare Clothing - Base Layer L/J - Sub Zero Factor 1 L/J - 118
Spare Clothing - Base Layer Top - Sub Zero Factor 1 Top, L/S Crew - 127
Spare Clothing - Socks - Wool Short - 50

Total Spare Clothing 295

Clothing - Fleece Gloves - Mountain Warehouse Windproof Fleece - 61
Clothing - Head Wear - Technicals Bush Hat - 100
Clothing - Head Wear - Buff - 38
Clothing - Insulation - PHD Ultra Down Vest - 150
Clothing - Windshirt - Montane Featherlite Jetstream - 84
Clothing - W'proof Gloves - Marmot Shell - 95
Clothing - W'proof Jkt - Marmot Essence Precip - 183
Clothing - W'proof Trs - Trespass Trestex Packaway - 150

Total Clothing 861

Cooking - Cookset - EK Spirit, Heinie Set, CCF Case, Complete - 157
Cooking - Stove Wood - EK 750 SUL - 79

Total Cooking 236

Hydration - Filtration - Source Convertube - 109
Hydration - Filtration - Aquaguard Eliminator - 90
Hydration - Water Bags - Source 2.0L Waterbag, Plain Cap - 35
Hydration - Water Bottle - PET 750ml River Rock - 30

Total Hydration 264

Hygiene - Hygiene - Trowel Snow Stake, Wet Wipes, Hand Gel - 170
Hygiene - Hygiene - Wash Kit, Tesco Microfibre Towel - 135
Hygiene - Hygiene - Insect Repellant, Jungle Formula 100ml - 75
Hygiene - Hygiene - Insect Repellant, Head Net - 29
Total Hygiene 409

Lighting - Headtorch - Petzl E-Lite c/w Whistle - 28
Lighting - Tent Lighting - Silverpoint Mini Lantern Modified - 21

Total Lighting 49

Load Carrying - Rucksack - ULA Conduit - 528
Storage - Dry Bag - Sea to Summit Ultra-Sil 8L - 33
Storage - Dry Bag - Sea to Summit Ultra-Sil 2L - 22

Total Load Carrying/Storage 583

Shelter - Bivvy Bag - Titanium Goat Ptarmigan Bivvy - 193
Shelter - S/Skin Tent - Phreeranger Fly c/w Pegs, S/Sack & Footprint - 1210

Total Shelter 1403

Sleeping - Sleeping Bag - Mountain Equipment Xero 250 - 640
Sleeping - Sleeping Mat - Millets Foam, 2-3S Full Length - 195

Total Sleeping System 835

Total 5324





There are some obvious and desirable areas where I could reduce weight and I have a few ideas with regard to my sleeping system/Spare Insulating layer. The biggest weight saving would come through changing my shelter but as yet I haven't seen anything that really stands out although I've once again been looking at some of the different options from basic tarps to tarp tents and of course full double skin tents. In the meantime I'll have to stick with what I have although I'm running out of ideas to save weight.

MYOG. Not Quite Sub 150g

I ordered 3mm closed cell foam from Needle Sports to make protective covers/cosies for my sub 200g cooking set-up. The foam arrived yesterday and I started to make the cosies last night.



I had tested different types of adhesive to see what worked best on closed cell foam and found that 'Evo-Stik Impact' was perfect. I measured and marked out the required pieces and set about glueing them. I used a strip of masking tape on the inside of the seam to hold the pieces in position this allowed me to keep the edges aligned but open. I simply put a line of adhesive down the edges, closed them briefly to spread the adhesive to both sides then let the seams stay open for 10 minutes or so before closing the join. As it's an impact adhesive you only get one chance at making the join, as the tape was already in place it was quite easy. I used 8mm closed cell foam for the circular bases but couldn't really allpy the adhesive to both the inside of the cylinder and the edge of the base so I only applied adhesive to the inside of the cylinder, this worked fine but took longer to fully set.









I decided to make the outer cosy 2 piece so cut it in half and added another base. The cosy for the 330ml mug needed to be foldable so once it was glued together I simply cut a cross in the base, this allows me to fold and roll it to store it inside the mug.







I had overlooked one thing when considering the inner cosy, the one I intended to place the pot in once I removed it from the stove. The heat of the pot would melt the closed cell foam so I had to line the inside with aluminium tape which added a bit of weight although it still weighed a little less than the one made from alu bubble wrap.

The complete set of cosies ended up weighing 32g against 53g for the bubble wrap set.



I added a 2mm dyneema cord to the pot to allow me to lift it off the burner by piercing 2 small holes in the rim of the pot but they're slightly too close to the top as the knots prevented the original lid from sealing properly, in addition the small part of the lid that opens fell off leaving too big a vent hole so had to make a new lid by forming a piece of aluminium flashing using jam jar lid and a piece of steel pipe. I drilled a few vents and punched a hole to add a piece of 2mm dyneema as a handle, it's a bit rough but it'll be fine.

The entire set didn't quite make it under 150g so I made a new permanent match using a 1g TN ti tent peg and drilled the handle of my spoon. It wasn't quite enough though, the set weighs in at 149g but adding the stuff sack takes it up to 157g, although not strictly nescessary the stuff sack makes it easier to store.

It isn't without compromise, for example the windshield is shorter than I'd ideally like and as such requires me to use the 5g ti skewer but overall it's pretty light yet still provides me with everything I need. I tried it outside today and using both inner and outer cosies kept the water hot for quite a while. The benefit of having the outer cosy in 2 parts is that each half serves as a bowl/support/insulator for a meal in a ziplock bag. It'll be easy to add more protection/insulation if needed by simply making an additional sleeve to fit over the outer cosy or alternatively by making the outer cosy from 8mm closed cell foam.

I'm going to use this set-up next time out and see how it performs.