JkbWorld

Comparing two homemade alcohol stove designs: Unican (left) versus Supercat (right)

To save weight for my End of July Pacific Crest Trail attempt, I am going to take a homemade alcohol stove instead of a heavier and expensive commercial unit.  The ‘best’ two models I found were the Supercat, which is made from a cat food can, and the Unican, which is made from a single soda or beer can. On a side note, Heineken is not my favorite beer, I just had a lot of those cans handy from previous alcohol stove experimentation.  Also, please be aware that playing with fire and flammable liquids is dangerous, so don’t go blaming me if you burn your patio down or set yourself on fire.

Read on to see who wins the Supercat versus Unican challenge:

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It’s time for a Gear Review of my Wenger Dome Tent, which is affectionately known to us as the “Swiss Army Tent”.  It’s a 3 to 4 person dome tent made by Wenger.  My tent is a slightly older model of tent with a few design flaws, that I am happy to report are addressed in newer Wenger Tents.  However, the better features of the tent, which are also carried forward to the newer models

This tent is not really a backpacking tent. It is better suited to be packed, by car, to a campground, where it is set up at the base camp for an expedition from the campground to the day trip of your choice. It does pack up into a breadbox-sized space, which makes it easily portable among your other campsite equipment.

Wenger Dome Tent at Newberry

My favorite feature of the tent is the fast set-up time.  It takes less than 10 minutes to go from packed to pitched.  There are four thin hollow fiberglass poles that link together in metal slots using an elastic string that holds the poles together, eliminating missing links.  Next these four long poles slide through color-coded slots and match up with color-coded clips.    The rainfly also has two poles that clip to the front and back, with clips to the four corners.

The Wenger Dome tent also has optional windows on the two sides, which gives it a cabin tent feel.  One of my tent’s shortcomings is that the poles you pop in to the window slots are so tight, that you risk breaking the poles during normal setup.  Over the course of ownership, I’ve broken two poles.  I’m happy to report that Wenger has made it right both times and sent me new poles free of charge.  Most recently, we dealt with a broken window pole in the field using duct tape. The duct taped section of pole is not as rigid as the others, so that specific window pole goes in more easily than the unblemished one.  These two windows, plus the front and back doors of the tent, and lastly, the open roof, allows for very good ventilation, keeping the tent cool.

The open roof, even with the rainfly, while an asset in hotter weather, is a liability in the colder weather.  During our trip to Lost Lake in the Hood wilderness, we got rained on, snowed on, and blown on by frigid winds down from Mt. Hood.  The Wenger Dome Tent barely kept the wind, rain and snow out, forcing us to rely on our sleeping bags for warmth.

Wenger Dome Tent at Crater Lake

While it takes a lot to do so, the fiberglass poles splinter.  These really fine splinters are very difficult to pull out of fingers, resulting in annoying attempts to fine and extract them, which eats up perfectly good day-trip time.  The newer tents seem to have better poles that are a little more durable and less prone to splintering.  The tent designs are also better, eliminating the unnatural bending to get the windows set up.

Another handy feature of the tent are the “shoe slots” in the front of the tent.  These are compartments you can put your shoes through, or passages you can pass items into the tent without opening the main doors to let in mosquitoes.

My Swiss Army Tent has seen action on many trips, from the mountains and forests of New England, to the Oregon Cascades and Coast.  Dan and Brian should remember this tent from Mt. Monadnock and Black Rock.  More recently, over the past two seasons, the Wenger Dome Tent has seen action with me and Paula at Crater Lake, the Newberry Volcanic Monument, Lake Simtustus, Nehalem Bay, Silver Falls, Lost Lake and Paula’s parents’ back yard!

Wenger Tents like mine can be purchased at these online retailers below:

To prepare for the Smith Rock trip, Paula and I picked up a pair of Camelbak Better Bottles.  Last time we went to Smith Rock, we were just checking things out, and took a mini-hike, so we did not come prepared with water, among other things.  It was pretty hot that day, so we wanted to make sure that we had plenty of water when we did the full hike.  So, this time around, we wanted to make sure we had the right gear for the job.

Carrying water is a pain in the butt.  I wanted to find a water solution that used carabiners, so I could simply clip the water to my belt or day backpack and have my hands free to use the camera, climb or read a map–just not carry the water.  Our first stop was at Sportsman’s Warehouse, where we found the Camelbak Better Bottle. We also ended up at REI where we also found these bottles, but we had already purchased them.  We did end up purchasing some smaller carabiner-based water bottle holders, so you could take a store-bought bottle and clip them onto a rubber loop, so we decided to test those alongside the Camelbak Better Bottle.

It has a nice nose with a hole to put a large carabiner through.  It also has a long straw that hits the bottom of the bottle for drinking.  The bottle’s mouth is very wide, allowing me to first fill the bottle with ice and then fill the remaining space with water, allowing me to keep the water cold longer.  The bottle’s plastic is apparently BPA free, which is also good.  The Camelbak Better Bottle is also really sturdy and durable, as it did not break despite being dropped on the Big Obsidian Flow, and banged around on Smith Rock.

The Camelbak’s competitor, the lame carabiner water bottle clip with generic store-bought water, failed to meet my expectations, breaking almost immediately on Crater Lake.  I’m glad “do not use for climbing” was etched on, because it barely clipped on to my belt for 10 minutes before the movable metal piece snapped.  Fortunately, I was able to dump the generic store-bought water into the Camelbak bottle and proceed with my hike.

The Camelbak Better Bottle is available from the online retailers below:

Today’s Gear Review is about the Exofficio ExO Dri Men’s Tee Shirt.  Paula bought this shirt for me from REI, although it is also available directly from Exofficio and probably other places, too.

She bought th ExO Dri shirt because I was looking for a shirt that I could wear on a trip to work on a hardware and software implementation at the Motosport Distribution Center in Southaven, Mississippi.  During previous implementations in the middle of the summer, with the 100+ Mississippi heat and 90+% humidity, I found myself drenched in sweat, so I asked Paula to find me a shirt that I could comfortably wear in the middle of the desert to fight off the heat but also had wicking action to combat the humidity.

On my most recent trip, I put the Exofficio ExO Dri to the test.  The heat was in the upper  90′s outside, with high humidity, but the ExO Dri let the breeze through and let the moisture evaporate easily, keeping me relatively comfortable.  Inside the distribution center, however, there was increased humidity and heat.  Working atop the scissor lift, I got extremely hot and sweaty despite the shirt, but, to my surprise, upon returning to the ground level and outside, the shirt dried out very quickly, making me very comfortable.

However, you are probably not reading this to find out whether or not it works in a Distribution Center environment.    Well, you’re in luck!  The Exofficio ExO Dri shirt went on my latest trip out to Eastern Oregon and took to the trails at East Lake and the Lava Cast Forest.  The temperature was warm, but was not extremely humid.  The ExO Dri kept me cool and dry as advertised.  The shirt is also extremely lightweight yet durable.  Unlike other shirts with wicking action, the ExO Dri does not have any mesh, making it very comforatable to wear even on days where the temperature is under control.

ExOfficio states on their website: “The ExO Dri Short-Sleeve Tee will keep you comfortable and odor-free in any environment. Gear up with this innovative Dri-Release fabric that dries quickly, resists odors, protects from the sun’s harmful rays and pairs perfectly with every active adventure. ExOfficio clothing field-tested and approved by the African Wildlife Foundation.”

The ExO Dri’s fabric does dry quickly and odor resistant, but it only keeps you as odor free as your deodorant or anti-perspirant does.  As a result, one should not rely on the ExO Dri alone to keep you odor-free.

One other item that I’d like to point out for all the male readers out there.  Paula reports that this shirt really makes me look skinny and look good.  If you’re like me, and need all the help you can get, how can you pass up the ExO Dri.  It’s a stylish, yet comfortable way to keep cool.

The Exofficio ExO Dri Short Sleeve Tee Shirt is available from the retailers below: