Gear: MSR XGK Stove Base
Here’s an alternative to the MSR Trillium stove base. It doesn’t cost twenty five bucks, is a better insulator and holds the fuel bottle of an XGK to make it more stable.
This is really simple to make. Get a scrap of 1/4″ plywood from Home Depot and cut it to shape. You need something large enough to give the stove stability with a pan on top of it and wide enough to hold the two loops of shock cord for the fuel bottle. The one shown here could be smaller, it’s really designed for basecamp use. Paint the wood with heat resistant stove or muffler paint and then add two loops of shock cord to hold the fuel bottle snugly in place.
The only downside of this setup is that it doesn’t fold up like the Trillium does so it’s pretty bulky. You can however build it so that it’s no wider than the back of your pack which means it still packs pretty well.
WARNING: Even with an MSR heat reflector under the stove base the wood will still get hot and may scorch. Objects under the wood may also get pretty warm. I had a Thermarest sleeping pad that got hot enough to delaminate.
Useful links:
Alpine Climbing » Blog Archive » Review: MSR XGK EX:
[…] only real negative I can think of is that my stove base for the original XGK doesn’t fit the new stove. This doesn’t impact the stove in normal […]
6 March 2008, 9:48 pm