Windscreen For An MSR Pocket Rocket

[Googan]

Should I buy/build a windscreen for my MSR? I plan on using it for an AT thru hike attempt.

[Different Socks]

Yes. They not only protect the flame but also channel the heat up the sides of your pot, providing a faster cook time and using less fuel.

[ekeverette]

Yes I have one for mine. Went to foodlion got a turkey roasting pan. About 4 or 5 bucks, cut out bottom of it to fit accordingly. Works great.

[Maui Rhino]

For safety, do not enclose the canister in the windscreen. Overheating it can be very dangerous. There are some other threads which discuss how others have made hanging windscreens suspended from the pot supports..... They are worth reading.

[HooKooDooKu]

For safety, do not enclose the canister in the windscreen. Overheating it can be very dangerous. There are some other threads which discuss how others have made hanging windscreens suspended from the pot supports..... They are worth reading.
Ditto...

Any windscreen you create has to make sure the heat from the flame doesn't heat the cannister. Otherwise you risk an explosion. That's part of the reason a wind-screen for the Pocket Rocket isn't commercially available.

If cannister efficiency is going to be a big enough issue that you feel a wind screen is needed, I would suggest that you look at some alternatives.

1. JetBoil or MSR Windburner
These have built in heat-exchangers that double as wind screens while keeping the canister exposed.

2. Remote canister stove
This would include the MSR Wisperlite Universal, MSR Windpro II
These use a hose to connect the stove to the canister. That way the stove can be enclosed in a windscreen while the canister is outside the windscreen.
(I'm not sure if the MSR Windpro II is still available. IF not and you're interested in this type of stove, I've got an MSR Windpro original I'd sell pretty cheap. The original didn't have the stand to hold the canister upside down. I likely used my twice before moving to lighter stoves like the Pocket Rocket. I'm mostly a weekend hiker camper where efficiency isn't a high priority... and when I do manage a thru hike where I'll need the efficiency, I plan to use my JetBoil SOL).

[Googan]

For safety, do not enclose the canister in the windscreen. Overheating it can be very dangerous. There are some other threads which discuss how others have made hanging windscreens suspended from the pot supports..... They are worth reading.
I was reading the same thing. I was contemplating a windscreen that doesn't enclose the stove entirely

[peakbagger]

MSR did offer a hanging version of the pocket rocket with windscreen. I and others have posted photos of various homemade wind screens in the past. They all use the wings of the pot stand to support the shield. Practically the bottom of the screen needs to be slightly above the fuel valve so that you can still adjust it. The top of my screen line up with the height of my pot so that I can collapse it and stow it in the pot.

[nsherry61]

Optimus is marketing what looks like a very elegant canister windscreen (http://www.optimusstoves.com/usen/optimus-products/products/katadynshopconnect/optimus-accessories/optimus-clip-on-windschutz/). I don't know how the height of it will work out for a pocket rocket, but it might be pretty good. I just like the simplicity and universality of it's attachment.

As for overheating canisters, in cold weather, it's really nice to get some of that burner heat onto the canister to keep the stove performing when it otherwise cools down and performs very poorly. Yes, it has the potential of being dangerous if one doesn't keep an eye (or a hand in this case) on it. You can also put a disc of foil under the burner as a heat reflector to protect the canister if otherwise your windscreen somehow deflects enough heat to the canister to be a concern.

[Mags]

http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/00041#.VfuRK9NViko

[Maui Rhino]

You'll find photos of my aluminium flashing windscreen at http://s410.photobucket.com/user/MauiRhino/library/Pocket%20Rocket%20Windscreen

I bent some bicycle spokes into a hook which is attached permanently to my pot supports (hooked them thru and bent the hook shut). The spoke nipples are the nuts which hold my windscreen in place. I also have a heat shield for the canister. It is a disc, with a center hole and three slots around the perimeter. I unscrew the burner from the valve, slip it through the center hole, and let the heat shield rest on the lower portion of the pot support arms (the three slots) when reassembled. A notch in the bottom of the windscreen allows me to adjust the valve. It is a little fiddly to set up but is very efficient in use.

One of these days, I'm going to make a lighter version using Christmas ornament hooks and foil from a roasting pan...

[Charlocity2]

How about securing a foil windscreen with a magnet around the bottom of the pot, like a skirt, so that it offers some wind coverage for the burner?

[peakbagger]

See my prior post about keeping the shield above the fuel valve. I wouldn't risk any shield that is down to the fuel cannister

[Charlocity2]

See my prior post about keeping the shield above the fuel valve. I wouldn't risk any shield that is down to the fuel cannister
Understood. I meant a skirt extending down just far enough to offer some wind coverage for the burner, without going down to the canister.

[Viper2016]

I've used a foil burner liner for one of the small burners. Form fit the liner around a small canister. To assemble, put the pocket rocket through the bottom hole from the top. You'll need to tilt the liner to get the fuel control under the liner. Thread the stove to the canister, then on the pot supports. It won't always sit level but it will stay above the fuel control and therefore the canister. A problem is that the foil will burn if the flames touch it. Not violently, but it will turn the foil to ash. However even if the top edge is burned to ash it will only increase the gap between burner and pot, efficiency is decreased, I don't know how much, but I've used the burned windscreen for several trips, seems only the top gets burned.

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[GolfHiker]

Good thread. As I read all points +\- for a ws w/your MSR PR, I'm thinking it just might not really be necessary for a summer hike with normal, warm temps. Is that a reasonable assumption, or is a ws really helpful, if used correctly. Thanks.

[Christoph]

I have an MSR rocket as well. That thing worked great and was extremely reliable for me on the trail. I would recommend a homemade type of windscreen though as a few times I had to place some of my clothes and food bags around to block the wind from blowing it out. Good thread and it made me realize that I need to come up with something for my upcoming section and next thru attempt.

[nsherry61]

Good thread. As I read all points +\- for a ws w/your MSR PR, I'm thinking it just might not really be necessary for a summer hike with normal, warm temps. Is that a reasonable assumption, or is a ws really helpful, if used correctly. . .
I would argue TAKE A WINDSCREEN!

Sure, you can do without it. Many people do. Heck, you can hike the AT stoveless if you want. But, what a pain in the backside to always have to figure out ways to stack stuff up to shield your stove every time there is a little breeze in the area you are trying to cook in. I find that I rarely am cooking in truly windless conditions. It doesn't take much wind to drastically reduce the functionality of the open burner on any of the canister stoves. A wind screen is super light weight, highly effective, perfectly safe in even moderately cautious hands, and absolutely necessary to use you stove in stormy weather when you probably want it working the most, (yes, storms happen in the summer too). It also can save a significant amount of fuel. I would argue that if the stove is worth taking at all, it's worth having a windscreen for it.

[rafe]

MSR windscreen, on a Pocket Rocket. It hangs from three short lengths (about 10" ea.) of coat-hanger wire.

[mark schofield]

http://www.amazon.com/Snow-Peak-GP-008-Gigapower-Windscreen/dp/B000BSB8G6/ref=sr_1_cc_1?s=aps&ie=UTF8&qid=1458589319&sr=1-1-catcorr&keywords=windscreen+snow+peak+stove

this works well with my sno peak. Easy to make one out of a pot lid for a different stove.

[swisscross]

http://www.amazon.com/Snow-Peak-GP-008-Gigapower-Windscreen/dp/B000BSB8G6/ref=sr_1_cc_1?s=aps&ie=UTF8&qid=1458589319&sr=1-1-catcorr&keywords=windscreen+snow+peak+stove

this works well with my sno peak. Easy to make one out of a pot lid for a different stove.

I made one for my Giga-power ti using a snow peak titanium bowl. S
tole the idea off WB. Works good and only weighs 1/2 an ounce.

http://www.whiteblaze.net/forum/vbg/showimage.php?i=42600

Not my pics but mine looks just like it.

[MikekiM]

I am now using the slightly sized BRS stove and made a windscreen that keeps the valve body exposed while providing protection under the pot.. Super light and nest in my 600 and 650 pots.

http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20161224/fb60ab89c4a9affada6d043186c32790.jpg

http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20161224/fc56930e078c446965fcd73b226db7b7.jpg

http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20161224/673d1674dca7b61754eaa296c2b82c22.jpg

Can't claim the idea as my own...but also can't recall where I first saw it. Made one for my SP Ti stove as well.


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[egilbe]

I use my caldera cone for my windscreen with my BRS-3000. It falls just below the top of the canister so the canister stays cool enough, but the heat from the stove is contained along the bottom and sides of the pot. I use just about an ounce of fuel a day boiling water for two people for breakfast and supper.