My Half Ounce Windscreen

AT Cook Set

I start my AT thru-hike attempt in about three weeks and am mostly ready. This means, though, I have 21 days to obsess and tweak. My latest change is to my cook kit where I decided to ditch the Toaks 750 ml Titanium Pot in favor of the 850 ml MSR Titan Kettle.

I made the switch to the Titan mainly because I wanted a more efficient setup that makes better use of my stove’s flame. This pot is much wider so it should do that. It also sits on the Pocket Rocket more securely than the Toaks pot did. The extra capacity will be nice for my one pot meals but not too big that it can’t double as my coffee cup. A bamboo spoon completes the set.

Good thing I hadn’t made a custom windscreen yet for the Toaks pot before getting the MSR Titan Kettle. My goal was to buy or create something that weighed very little, would not take up space, was inexpensive, and that would block wind and add efficiency. Ideally, I won’t have to buy those expensive little fuel canisters as often!

Now For The Windscreen

My somewhat less than elegant but simple solution was a titanium screen and 12-gauge copper wire. I used wire cutters, scissors, ruler, pliers and a sharpie to make it. Pretty simple.

Step 1. Order the titanium windscreen. I saw lots of options on Amazon but ended up with one by Toaks for alcohol stoves on REI for $11. I liked that it had holes already in it.

Step 2. Annoy the Lowes employee by interrupting his break and ask him to custom cut one foot of 12 gauge copper wire. Price was 80 cents plus tax. I didn’t realize the wire was three strands so I really received three feet. What a deal.

Step 3. Use wire strippers to remove the insulation from the wire and to cut it into 2 ⅜” sections. I only needed three hooks but will have many extras using all three strands.

Step 4. Use the pliers to bend the wire sections into hooks. I tried to make a loop on the opposite end of the hook so it could move but not fall off the stove’s supports.

Step 5. Use scissors to cut 1 1/4” off the top all the way around so it will nest vertically in my kettle, but you could also roll it up and nest it horizontally and not need to cut it. I liked the lower profile height though.

Step 6. Use scissors to trim the windscreen according to the photo. The cutout for the handles is about halfway between the two ends of the sheet. My logic here is the sheet will overlap itself some and the pot handle cutout needed to be after that.

Step 7. Round the corners. Titanium sheets can be sharp.

Pros

Weighs about a half ounce

Costs less than $12

Nests inside of the pot

Precut holes are perfect to hang the screen from the hooks

Copper hooks help center and hold the kettle in place

Cons

Copper hooks get very hot and cool slowly

Only tested on kitchen table

Final Thoughts

If I had it to do over again, I would make the cutout in the screen for the handle less wide and tall. And maybe titanium wire that would cool down faster could be used rather than copper for the hooks?

This setup works well for the Titan Kettle and Pocket Rocket Deluxe from MSR. I see no reason why it couldn’t be modified to work with most any stove and kettle combination.

There is now a newer model of the Titan Kettle which means the previous model I’m using can be had on clearance. Happy hunting.