A few months ago it was interesting to hear from the people who had taken a chance on the first batch of Backcountry Boilers. There was chatter on the blogs and Twitter as exciting packages turned up on doorsteps, and the internet came alive with excitement as videos, photos and articles appeared praising this lovely piece of product design.
The Backcountry Boiler had arrived and was an instant hit. Designed by Devin Montgomery over in the USA, the Boiler is a small solid fuel water boiler or kettle, purpose designed for lightweight backpacking. Some of the best of those initial posts were made by Brian Radtke, Heber Farnsworth and Phil Turner. It was exciting to read Devin’s updates covering the whereabouts and adventures of several of the 100 (individually numbered) first generation boilers. In addition, Hendrik Morkel hosted a great interview with Devin over on his Hiking in Finland blog which explained a lot of the backstory.
A few weeks ago, Devin announced that he was going to be using Kickstarter to fund the next batch of (improved) Boilers and again the word was quickly spread by blogs, Twitter and the forums on Backpackinglight.com. I was interested to hear the news and after a day or so of deliberation decided to give it a go, putting my name down for one of the 100 limited edition Boiler Primes. These feature a hard anodised finish for added durability and a combined stuffsack and heatproof sleeve made of a softshell material. The take up for the Boiler was pretty incredible with the original target fund of $20,000 soon met and exceeded. Following this achievement Devin made a few changes to the lineup to cater for the interest and there is now another option if you are looking for something more than just the excellent standard Boiler.
In just a couple of days time the window of opportunity will close and there will be another while to wait if you are after your own Backcountry Boiler. Supporting this kind of small, independent, innovative manufacturer is a key part of my increased enjoyment in being a member of the online outdoor community and I think if you can spare the initial outlay, the end product will more than reward you for investing now. I'm looking forward to trying out my Boiler in Scotland, especially with the added possibility of using an alcohol burner. This would negate the difficulties often encountered finding suitable solid fuel (dry wood, twigs etc) higher up in the Scottish mountains.
If you are interested in joining the 500+ backers of this project then take a look at the above video and then check out the Boiler's Kickstarter page which contains all the information you need. You can also get the latest happenings with the Boiler by searching for the tag #BCBoiler on Twitter.