AntiGravityGear BCS-2 (Tin Man) Stove

This stove boils water, and with a pot cozy, cooks rice or pasta for two. So small and light, with clean fuel, perfect for when you are carrying a stove.

I used this stove when I hiked the AT from Sherburne Pass, Vermont, to Monson, Maine, in two sections, with my then 11 (and 12) year old son, and bicycled from Ohio to Massachusetts with my wife, as well as other shorter ventures.

It is starting to show signs of aging—a few dents and ripples—but is still fully functional. I have taken care to carry it in a sort of protected way, inside one of those silicon bowls, and then in a pot. 

Using it means finding a small level spot, putting down a piece of foil on the ground, putting the stove on it, prepping the pot of water, filling the stove with alcohol, lighting it (I use a striker) putting the pot on the stove and putting a windscreen around. Two ounces of fuel will bring four cups of water to a boil and bring it back to a boil after you add rice or pasta.

When the stove burns out, you put the pot in a cozy, and there is enough heat to finish the cooking. The stove cools quickly, so you can pack it up almost right away. 

Sorry, no pictures!

Background

Backpacking and bicycle touring. This stove has been used in all weather—the worst would have been wind and rain on Mt. Washington. My other little stoves are a Coleman multifuel (the kind with the tank under the burner) which my wife and I used when we thru-hiked the AT, hiked a month of the CDT and a month of the PCT, and hiked the Long Trail with the kids, and a Soto Muka gasoline stove (the Coleman finally rusted out) which my teenage kids and I used when we hiked a few weeks in the Gaspie and thru-hiked the Colorado Trail.

I met Tin Man at the Pa Ruck in the winter of '04. After a demonstration of alcohol stoves I was impressed with the quickness with which it brought water to a boil and since I was the manager of the hostel that sat right on the AT he gave me a half price deal.

I've been using it for all my longer trips and have decided that it is now my only stove for all conditions. I would even, after all the new ones on the market and all the websites that show how to make one, still purchase one from Tin Man who sells it through anti gravity gear website. I have never had a problem with it.

I carry two. One with eight holes for fast water boil and one with four holes for simmering.

Use it all the time.