Trail Name – Water Monkey

If there’s one thing the Water Monkey loves its new gear to fiddle with. And it’s even better when the Bumble wants to join in on the fun!

Got a new cook pot from a hammock forums member by the name of Smokeeater908 who is in the process of creating a website in cooperation with http://www.outdoortrailgear.com.

Me being impatient I contacted him directly for a cook set to remedy my issue that I am having with my new pack (Zpacks Blast 26… No official review yet so dont ask). Seems my original cook kit is a bit wide and is difficult to get into the side pockets leaving me to place it inside the pack which I really dont want to do as real estate is a primary concern for me in the main compartment. Smokeeater908’s designed kit is taller and more slender which fits perfectly in the side pocket and doesn’t create much of a “friction” problem which concerned me as the pack is made of cuben fiber.

So anyway the Bumble and I had some fun testing this kit out going head to head against my original kit (Minibulldesigns Krazy Cook Kit). Some interesting observations:

Volume of case:

Volume of Food Container – The total volume of the 908 Cook Case is basically the same as the Krazy Cook Kit. In fact the main compartment is actually a wee bit bigger. Very Nice.

Weight:

A fully decked out 908 Cook Kit (inclusive of cozie, wind screen and spoon) is 6.4 oz which is exactly what the Krazy Cook Kit weighs with the same contents. So I’m par for the course here.

Can Structure:

The 908 Cook Kit is basically a cut down fosters can with a ring on the top of the can to provide structure support. The Krazy Cook Kit is basically a fosters pot reinforced with another foster’s pot inside creating a thick structure. Tinny at Minibulldesigns recently made a comment that he did that because if you didn’t the structure is not stable enough to handle when full of boiling water. Smokeeater908 disagrees and based on my initial tests it seems Smokeeater908’s design is just fine and the structure is indeed stable.

Pot Handeling:

The Krazy Cooking Kit has a fiberglass wick on the outside of the pot near the top which allows the user to handle the pot with boiling water. Having used this kit for 3 years I can honestly say although this stops your fingers/hands from being burnt by the pot it is still very hot and tough to handle on various occasions.  The 908 Cook Kit does not have a wick on the outside mainly due to the fact that the pot wont fit in the case with a wick wrapped around. Therefore, he recommends using a reflective insulation material to make a pot grabber out of. That’s what I did and it seems to work out much better as the heat wasn’t an issue on my fingers or hands.

Boil Time:

Based on the first tests in an 80*F weather with no breeze (perfect conditions) it seems that the Krazy Cook Pot boiled approx 2 cups of water in 10 min 40 seconds. The 908 Cook Pot took 12 mins which is a significant difference. My thought right now is that it is due to the lid on the 908 Cook Kit. It seems let more heat escape.

** NOTE ** If you see in the video on the KCK boil I dumped some water out. The water level was too high for the pot. Some may speculate that the boil time difference is due to less water in the KCK vs the 908 CK. I say nay nay. Really watch the video and see how much water is left in the water bottle and how much I dump out. Now watch how much is left in the water bottle when I fill up the 908 CK. The water used is really close to be the same and in my opinion comparable. I did my best to keep the water the same in the 908 Cook Pot and not skew the results.

In the end I’m choosing the 908 Cook Kit to take on my next 3 day adventure in November. I’m interested in seeing this bad boy in action full gangsta style!

 Testing Videos:

Stay Gangsta,

Water Monkey