The AGG two-quart pot arrived and it’s a winner.

It’s hard-anodized in that attractive Calphalon grey, ultralight, and similar in construction to the Walmart grease pot, with some important improvements:

The lid is not anodized.

At $18 it can’t be beat. Anodizing is supposed to improve bend strength, a real advantage when aluminum is thin. It won’t be quite as easy to clean as non-stick, but for this pot that’s a non-issue, as boiled meals will be easy to clean out anyway. If you want to fry or roast things, that might leave some tough residue, but I think you’d need a heavier pot anyway.

I field-tested my solo cooking system in the back yard yesterday.

I made a non-field-worthy pot cozy out of Reflectix and masking tape, as a test. Rather than have the bottom free and put a cup-like cozy over the pot, I decided to make a cozy like a sack that the pot goes into. A panel of insulation is attached permanently to the pot lid and stays in place while cooking, possibly helping to improve efficiency even when the full cozy isn’t used. After boiling, mixing etc. I just put the open pot down into the cozy (since the grease pot has no handles it needs to be open so I can use my pot gripper) and then put the lid on the pot.

I decided to use a package of Trader Joe’s white cheddar mac & cheese as a test. It required eight minutes of cooking, a fairly tough test.

I used my grape-juice can stove and one ounce of alcohol. Conditions were calm but with occasional gusts, about 48 degrees F.

Three cups of water didn’t quite boil when the stove went out at ten minutes, so I put the pot in the cozy, and let the stove cool for fifteen seconds or so. Then I added another half ounce of alcohol and relit it, putting the stove back on.

In another minute or so I had a full boil. I added the macaroni, stirred and covered. The aluminum flashing potstand/windscreen weighs more than a foil windscreen, but it shows its value when you need to stir sticky macaroni over heat.

After about a minute I had a full boil again, so I started my timer and cooked the macaroni uncovered at boil for about one more minute, when the stove started to go out. That’s when I quickly stirred one last time and put it in the cozy.

At the eight minute mark the macaroni was nicely cooked. Drained, it easily melted the cheese mix and some garlic butter I added (cheating a bit, there.) Not a bad on 1.5 oz. fuel.

The cozy add about 1 ounce to the weight of the grease pot and I think it’s a winner. If you do any cooking (vs. boiling for freeze-dry) it will more than save its weight in fuel. Next step is to put together a robust version, probably with aluminum tape, and fasten the top insulation to the lid with silicone.

This might be the solution to the cookware problem:
Titanium Middle Cooker 1800 (SCS-030T)

At two quarts, it’s lighter than my stainless 1-qt pot and comes with a frypan and separate lid/plate.

I set the Cloudburst up in the garage and seam sealed it. The directions say to seal the stress point seams, and don’t mention the ridgeline, so I didn’t do that.

I used GE Silicone II sealant diluted with mineral spirits. A wooden-handled cotton Q-tip gave me great control, and I wiped all the seams with a paper towel afterward to smooth things out.

The Tarptent seems pretty roomy, not as bomb-proof as my 8+ pound Moss Stardome, but certainly adequately protective.

The SVEA seller responded to my email, he’s been busy with family business but to apologize is sending “something extra”. I’m looking forward to trying out the stove.

Currently looking into lighweight cooking gear for two. Most of the popular ultralight gear is sized for solo hikers, especially through-hikers with minimal cooking requirements. If I’m going to get Julie interested I’ll need to find something she can cook in, not just heat water for freeze dried stuff.

The Tarptent Cloudburst has arrived.

I ordered it on the 13th, today is the 29th – just over two weeks. I wasn’t expecting it for at least another week.

It is well made of very lightweight components. The construction is unconventional. Web straps with grommets for the poles at each end are attached only at the ends to the tent canopy, instead of being sewn to the floor. In the sewn-in floor version I got, I think some weight could be saved by attaching short pieces of webbing to the floor instead of having a full-width, free piece of webbing attached to the canopy. As it is, the setup is similar to a fly-only pitch of my old North Face Tadpole tent.

Two issues:

I originally ordered the tent with no floor and a tyvek groundsheet. After a vigorous discussion with my camping partner, I emailed and asked Henry to make the tent with a sewn-in floor rather than the groundsheet. Although he did add the sewn-in floor, he also shipped a groundsheet.

Also, the Tarptent site specifies that stakes are “titanium for strength.” This is mentioned in at least two places. The tent arrived with MSR Groundhog stakes instead – a high quality anodized aluminum stake, but hardly titanium. I’ll have to call Tarptent to see what the deal is.

I set the tent up in our office, much to Julie’s annoyance. I used blue masking tape to fasten the guylines to the carpet. Couldn’t get much tension, but it seems as if setup will be a breeze, and there will be ample room for two inside.

I’ll weight it on the postal scale later. It should be 38.5 ounces, more or less.

Last week I was at Walmart, something millions do every day but a special trip from anti-chain store San Francisco.

Among other things I bought the legendary Wal-Mart Grease Pot, an icon among lightweight hikers. Specs of my specimen, with the MSR titanium competitor for comparison (I don’t own the MSR):

Grease pot
Capacity: 1.25 quart
Weight with lid: 4.2 oz.
Price: $5

MSR Titan Kettle
Capacity: .9 quart
Weight with lid: 4.2 oz.
Price: $39.95

Of course, with the grease pot, you need to add something to pick it up. My SIGG pot gripper is 1.3 oz., though it could be lightened by drilling.

I tried it with the Boddington stove; a pint of water boils outdoors in just over 5 minutes – comparable to my small stainless pot (9.2 oz – more than twice the weight) and a bit slower than the Optimus kettle.

The grease pot is not a robust piece of gear. The aluminum is thin and would be easily dented. I wouldn’t take it on an expedition. But for general backpacking I think it’s a great bargain. It makes the MSR titanium kettle look like gold-plated trail jewelry for tenderfeet (n.b. I consider myself a tenderfoot, just one who doesn’t want to be taken in by marketing hype.)