Kelly Kettle

I was wondering if any one has anything good or bad to say about the Kelly Kettle. I was thinking about getting one for myself

I have one. I never use it. Was a neat toy. If I am in a spot (or have the time) to make a fire, I use the same pot as for my stove. For some reason though I don't sell it.

The main reason im looking into getting one is if im ever in a situation where I dont have any fuel. You never know when you might run out of fuel or lose it. I have noticed that theres a few people out there that have found other peoples lost fuel bottles at campsites. Also I do like the fact that you can boil water and cook some thing at the same time. I am new to backpacking and im just trying to find out what would work best for me.

If I were to run out of fuel, I would just build an open fire (assuming conditions were appropriate) and continue cooking with my cookset. I would not carry a separate appliance just as insurance against running out of fuel. I'll bet a lot of those fuel bottles to which you refer were abandoned, rather than lost.

I should have stated earlier that im not thinking about carrying it as insurance. Im trying to decide between the Kelly Kettle and one of the Jetboil systems. I know there is alot of people out there talking about the jetboils which i have seen alot of good reviews. I just dont see alot on the Kelly Kettle. I know a guy that has one and he loves it but thats just one person.

I have a Kelly Kettle in my collection of camp stoves. It is an interesting concept but not really a backpacking stove.

1. It's heavy.
2. It gets hot. That is, to pick it up and pour out some hot water is something you won't do with bare hands. There is no good way that I can see to grab it.
3. If you attempt to pour while the fire is still going you risk pouring embers or at least messing up your fire.

If your concern/desire is to have multiple fuel options, something along the lines of a Caldera Cone or the new Esbit stoves might better meet your needs. You can also do something homemade that is similar with a small pot stand and windscreen.

Thanks for the info, never would have considered the stove/container being hot until it was in use. I picked up a Caldera Cone with Inferno insert when a guy sold me his tiny .550 TiGoat pot, he threw the cone, insert parts except the ti stakes pretty cheap. Awesome deal if I ever decide to go back to woodfires.
Duane

Thanks for the other options. The one thing i never that about was the hot embers if the fire has not burned down far enough.

Since one is using such tiny twigs, and feeding them into the chimney it is easy to regulate and stop as the water is getting close. Also, if it does "boil over", then the water runs down into the pan extinguishing most of the fire. I never had an issue with hot embers.

Lifting the kettle off the base is tricky, but once you learn how to use the handle and the cork chain, it is easy to do without needing heat resistant gloves.

In my first post I said I don't use it anymore except to play. It is too bulky, to heavy for backpacking. If I want to use wood as fuel I either build a fire or use my "little dandy" wood stove.

If you are deciding between a KK and a jet boil, I would go with the jetboil. If you wanted to be able to "cook" over the KK, then get a different canister stove like a primus micron and a pot set like an Evernew. In fact, I would recommend the primus/evernew setup over the jetboil anyway.

I watched the video because I'd never heard of the Kelly Kettle. I think the largest stove would be cool for car camping or backcountry camping with pack animals, the other two don't offer enough advantage to make it into my pack, but it's close...

For backpacking I sometimes make a tiny fire for cooking and use the same pot I use with my Supercat stove. In fact, on my last trip I forgot to pack my fuel, so I had to use sticks for fuel. I've been considering it for awhile, but now I'm feeling even more like I should just convert to using sticks and ditch the alcohol fuel altogether.

I've looked at a lot of wood stoves for backpacking, including some that claim to be gasifiers, but the Kelly stove design is pretty impressive in both it's simplicity and it's functionality. I think it can be optimized for backpacking purposes, but the basic design is rock solid.

I like the fire pan base, grill, and chimney/pot stand the Kelly Kettle has. The chimney should focus the heat on the pot better to boil water faster and the fire pan makes it easier to leave less trace.

I might have to play with that a bit.

I have used the predecessor of the Kelly Kettle, the NZ made Thermette.
We used that for picnics.(hot water for coffee/tea and washing up)
Not for backpacking but could work for basecamping.
Now I have the backpacking friendly Boilerworks Boiler, mine is 10 oz.
http://www.theboilerwerks.com/about/
I used the Caldera Cone most times ,occasionally canister stoves (in winter) but the BB could work for me if staying in an area with plenty of wood and of course where it is legal to burn wood.