People (and dogs) seem to like it!

I was almost holding my breath late last week as I drove home from the Post Office after shipping the last of the Boilers. I had invested a lot, both financially and psychologically, in the project and there were high expectations among those who had waited a long time for their very own Backcountry Boiler.

Thank God people like it – I’ve gotten a lot of kind emails and praise elsewhere from folks who have gotten their Boilers and really like both them and having been able to watch them be created. Just awesome.

And now that people have them, the Boilers have really taken on their own lives, animated by the fires that, very literally, now burn in their bellies. I’ve taken some time to compile some of the videos, tests, and other posts folks have made since getting their Boilers. They’re totally worth checking out:

Brian (#063): I had purposefully not posted images of the finished Boilers before they went out, hoping that the excitement could be spread out among the new owners as they opened their very own. So it was Brian, with this post that, as near as I can tell, hosted the first images of the finished Backcountry Boiler online.

Heber (#092): If you don’t have a Boiler, and want a really clear, articulate explanation of how it works, Heber provides it in this video. As one might suspect, he’s a professor. He later made a great post on how to use the Boiler with wet wood. The only note I should make is on the first video, and it’s to say that the second stopper merely plugs a hole made for anodizing. It’s not a safety feature, though I had played around with the idea.

Charles (#119): In another pair of videos, Charles starts by showing how much smaller the Boiler is than the most compact chimney kettle that preceded it. In that video, he fuels it with cardboard (an excellent way to dispose of the box it comes in), and in the second he uses twigs – a fuel you are hopefully more likely to happen upon on the trail. :)

Robert (#43 & #104): There were two questions I got a lot while the Boiler was in development: 1) can a pot support be added to heat water over the chimney? and 2) can you play a musical instrument while using the Boiler? Robert answers both with a resounding “Yes!” in his video. He made a handy pot support with galvanized wire mesh and serenades the listener with the resonant tones of a Mountain Ocarina. And I thought Ocarinas were just for casting spells in Zelda.

James (#039): Aside from a pot support, the other question that I was actually asked a lot when the Boiler was in development was whether an alcohol burner could be used with it. James had great luck with a Trangia, using very little fuel and getting a rather timely boil (this is also a great comprehensive review in general). Douglas (#037) had a faster, more spectacular, but less efficient Boil with another stove.

Forums: There’s also a thread on Backpacking Light where folks have commented on their new Boilers. “Knotty” over on Hammock Forums performed a series of tests with different alcohol burners. Since none of these stoves were designed to work with the Boiler, it’s not surprising that they’re a little inefficient. A Trangia seems like the best bet so far, but check back here on Monday for more on using alcohol with the Boiler. ;)

Twitter: I started a hashtag for the Boiler on Twitter – #BCBoiler – and it’s becoming a pretty handy way to keep track of it there. In particular, there have been some great pictures of the Boiler in use by, for instance, Ryan (@bigskyry) using an older prototype during a packrafting trip, and this close-up by Hideaki (@ULG).

Facebook: I have also started a Facebook page for the Boiler, but haven’t made much use of it so far. I plan to start doing more and if I get just a few more fans there, I can get a custom URL.

So that’s where I’ve found the Boiler online – let me know im the comments below if I’ve missed it anywhere. And again – check back here on Monday for… a development and a bit of a challenge. Thanks again for the kind words!