This past weekend I went backpacking with the Troop. Our patrol had 11 boys and 2 adults. The Boy Scout method is the meals we cook we cook together. We were using a 2 gallon pot to cook for 13.The boys brought a pocket rocket type stove. They were our younger boys and were going to attempt to balance the pot on top of the tiny stove. Of course I stopped them before they got started. We happened to have enough large rocks that we were able to build a pot support from the rocks then put the stove underneath. We don't always have a ready supply of large rocks and I was wondering if anyone had a solution. A metal ring with legs would work but after searching REI and Campmors websites I didn't see anything like that. Google helped me find some homemade versions. Has anybody come up with a great solution for this?

The kind of small backpacking stove that fits on top of the canister isn't going to work for a great big pot--it's top-heavy enough with a small pot. I've been considering a remote canister stove for such occasions, even though I will never have more than 4 or 5 with me. It's frustrating to have the stove and pot tip over just as the water starts to boil! (Of course this never happens while the water is cold!)

The one I'm looking at is the MSR Windpro II which allows use of the canister upside down in cold weather (supposedly works down to 0*F), better for shoulder-season use. It supposedly supports pots up to 10 inches in diameter. Is that big enough?

Just off the top of my head: If you are doing troop cooking with troop pots, shouldn't you have a troop stove that fits the big pot?

Why not break them into cooking groups? When I led a troop, we had the boys camp in 4-boy groups: each group had 2 two-person tents, a water filter, a first aid kit, and a stove and two-pot cook set (I want to say the stove was a Pocket Rocket, but it may have been a Superfly, because of the sturdier supports and slightly lower profile.)

They had to hike, and camp, as a "crew," figuring out how to split up the gear and how to stay together at a comfortable pace for everyone, since each depended on the others.

I also found that meals and cleanup didn't eat up as much time, since you had multiple operations going at once. It also gave more boys a chance to cook. The entire troop cooked the same menu, but did it in smaller groups.

The leaders followed the same protocol. We usually had 2 to 4 leaders, so we operated the same as any of our crews. (Leadership by example, and all that.)

I don't know if this would work for you, but it did for us.

The troop stoves are old, bulky, use liquid white gas that is difficult to use and we have issues with the fuel leaking. We will probably be switching to the smaller backpacking type stoves soon though. The MSR Windpro II looks like a viable option. I like the fact that it is not so high off of the ground as well.

They want us to cook as groups and splitting up is probably not an option at this point.

Find three stout sticks about three feet long, tie them together at the top, hang the pot over the stove from the tripod using a cord and a wire bail on the pot. No rocks needed and exceptionally stable. It is also windscreen compatible. Works with a wood fire too. The idea dates to about 1000 BCE.

That was my first instict this past weekend however the wire bail was missing so I had nothing to hang it with.

Who are "they"?

"They" used to try to tell me to do stuff, too. Since "they" very rarely actually went out into the field with us, I never really paid much attention, and the boys seemed to turn out OK.

Thumbs up to this... If they decide to come along they can carry the big heavy pot!

Backpackinglight has just started an article series on using large pots with lightweight backpacking stoves. Unfortunately, you have to be a BPL member (i.e., pay $$) to access the article. (Someone gifted me with a life membership; otherwise I wouldn't be there either.) To properly credit the source, it's here: "Lightweight Stove Systems for Group Cooking Part 1: Basic Framework for Selecting A Cooking Pot and Predicting Fuel Needs," by Ryan Jordan. BackpackingLight.com (ISSN 1537-0364).
http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/...ml#.UozzzKVBVFw

They used a 4 quart (1 gallon) pot, and, in 2 of the trials, the MSR WIndpro II stove I described above. (The third stove was a MSR Reactor system, which can't be used with more than a 2-quart pot, and the fourth was one developed by a BPL staff member and not on the market.) Interestingly, with the MSR Windpro II, the boil time was significantly improved and the efficiency very slightly improved when using the canister upside down (the cold weather liquid feed configuration).

Since the article looks at a 3-person party size, I'm not too sure it would be much help for a 12 person group. The results will be published in a week or two (depending on how many parts into which the article is divided). I'll report back if they come up with anything significant that would affect your group.

I suspect those leaky liquid fuel stoves can be repaired, especially if they are MSR stoves which I believe have a more or less permanent warranty (you'll have to pay for parts). However, that won't help the weight issue!

I'd be inclined to divide your group by 3 or 4, since no backpacking stove was designed for quantity cookery! If there are no older, more experienced Scouts to supervise each cooking group, then at least have as many stoves and pots as there are adults. How long did it take to boil that 2 gallons of water? And were 8 quarts sufficient for 13 people?

Our Troop leadership require us to cook in large groups. I agree that cooking in smaller groups make sense. However I think they feel that there may be some boys that wouldn't get there meal cooked and end up doing without and some that would eat like kings. They want it to be a group project, all for one one for all.

The 2 gallons was plenty for all of us. Had I been paying more attention I would have had them empty half of it out to start with as they were boiling noodles then adding peas and carrots, chicken, and chicken broth so even after sumping a gallon it still filled the pot.

One of the boys brought a stove he said it said "Solo" on it, but not sure which one it was. He had it on full for over a half an hour, it warmed the water. I broke out my colemanmax F1 and had the 2 gallons to a rolling boil in about 15 minutes.

I appreciate all the info!!

We've used all three methods:

Three rocks (the best)

Three sticks making a tripod

A rope hanging between two trees. (Just don't add a lot to the pot while it's hanging there!

I was thinking of maybe a metal ring just slightly smaller than the size of the pot with 3 legs that would support the pot 8 to 10 inches off of the ground. Possibly with small spikes to prevent the legs from slipping.