Windscreen Question

[campbell]

I am doing my first section hike shortly and I have everything, probably too much, organized except for my windscreen. I am hiking by myself and plan to do nothing more than boil water in the morning for a cup of instant coffee and boil water in the evening for a Mountain House meal or something similar.

I have a Vargo alcohol/Esbit stove and plan to use primarily Esbit tabs with alcohol only as a back up fuel in case I can’t purchase Esbit tabs.

I am considering making a windscreen out of heavy duty folded aluminum foil or some light weight sheet metal. I found in my barn a small light roll of sheet metal that is 7” tall that I could cut to any length.

My questions are:
First, what are the average common dimensions for a windscreen for my stove application?
Second, if I go with the folded aluminum foil, will I need some prices of wire to stick in the ground to hold the aluminum foil up?
Third, I am favoring cutting a piece of the sheet metal 12 inches X 7 inches since it is very light, but I don’t know if I am even in the ball park with this idea?

All responses are appreciated and I thank you.

[Appalachian Tater]

http://zenstoves.net/Accessories.htm

http://www.freewebs.com/jasonklass/beltbuckle.htm

Those links have great information. Be careful, the whole do-it-yourself stove thing appears to be addictive.

[rswanson]

You're headed in the right direction with the sheet metal. I used aluminum flashing. Zen Stoves has just about all the info you need (http://zenstoves.net/Accessories.htm#BuildaWindScreen) on making windscreens. You can get crazy and buy titanium foil, etc. but in my opinion this is one area where the tendancy to overcomplicate can arise.

[rswanson]

Tater beat me to it!

[campbell]

Wow, I had no idea there was this much technical information available on windscreens. Fortunately for us beginning overnight hikers there are people like SGT Rock and other that freely share their wealth of knowledge.

Thanks again.