It has been a while since my last post, but a lot has gone on in the past week or so.
Forest: To begin with, and as you can see from the above video, I had to get out of the house. So on a whim, I gathered my gear, threw it in the truck, and headed out to Dolly Sods Wilderness. It was a blustery trip getting down there, but after a cold night under the camper shell, I spent a day snowshoeing up a frozen creek and following deer tracks until I ultimately stumbled upon the young buck who made them. The trek had no destination, but it certainly had purpose – lung busting hills and cold fresh air.
Factory: I got an email from the shop and they’ve started full-scale production of the Boilers. The progress bar on the right has been adjusted accordingly, and I’m headed there later today to catch some video of the process. I should be able to post it here tomorrow.
Florida: A couple weeks ago, I got an email from one of the guys over at Hammock Forums. The group over there is having their first large Florida “hang” (what hammockers call their group outings) this weekend, and he and a couple of the other guys were hoping to bring their Boilers along with them. While that wasn’t going to be possible, I did have one Boiler – the production sample – that was sitting unused on my desk.
Primarily for liability reasons, I’ve been reluctant to permanently send these out without an etched-on warning about removing the stopper before use. It would really suck if something I made hurt someone. But given that it was a large group that had given me a lot of support, with a finite pending event, and that they promised to return it to me immediately following the hang, I released the production sample into the wild. They intend to shoot some video and I’ll repost that here when it’s available.
Priority for shipping the production Boilers will be based on the order in which I received reservations and then pre-orders. But if you have ordered one and have a fixed event coming up, let me know, and I’ll see what I can do. I know that a Backpacking Light group is meeting in SoCal in late February and I really hope that production Boilers are shipping by that point. They’ll look a lot better than the sample.
[ 10 comments… read them below or add one ]
Hey now, I already emailed you a few weeks back about having the boiler make its hammock forums debut at the forums’ Colorado winter hang, which happened last weekend, and it was a no-go. I feel like the east coasters stole our thunder!
(just kidding)
Thanks for the update! I’m in no big hurry for mine to get here, though when it comes it’s going to be awesome and will be put to use immediately! keep up the good work!
James – Gosh, I’m sorry! I didn’t realize there were two separate events. I know I didn’t have this one on hand when you asked before, but I thought I was belatedly fulfilling that request. No thunder-stealing was intended, I swear. :)
Mike – Thanks!
Devin,
For the record, there have already been two organized group hangs already this month (Minnesota and Colorado). Two more are scheduled this week (Virginia and Florida). And finally New Jersey at the end of the month. Those guys/gals are everywhere!!! Who’s the lucky bum in Florida that gets to take the sample? Me=envious. Looking forward to seeing the production Boiler on my doorstep in the not too distant future!
The hammockers are everywhere! Let me correct myself – it sounds like this is the first Florida hang. :) I sent it to Mark, one of the organizers.
Remember, this is just a catch and release deal, of an unfinished sample. The finished version that you can actually KEEP is coming! :)
Speaking of eastern hangs, on Feb. 11 wearing hanging at Roan High Knob 6286 feet. Last year on this same weekend there was 4 feet of snow..anticipiated coldest temps range from 0 to -13F but of course could be warmer or colder. All hangers are invited. We plan on meeting in the city of Roan Mountain around noon (lunch at Bob’s Dairyland) and pooling up to the Carver’s Gap trailhead.
Very close to the hang site (lots of perfect trees for hammocking) is the highest shelter on the Appalachian Trail, and a short walk are the rhododendron gardens and the former site of the Cloudland Motel (where John Muir once slept).
Of course this is not a hang for the meek or ill prepared. Who knows, a ‘Monty’ (as I call the Backcountry Boiler) may make an east TN debut!
Devin,
Thanks for the demo. There’s something mesmerizing about a good boil especially in the great outdoors with a cool boiler. Looking forward to getting mine.
Hey MedicineMan – cool, I got your email, too and I’ll get back to you on this there. All other things being equal, I’m happy to keep the sample rolling until I can get the production version out to everyone.
Randy – thanks! I think there are a lot of practical benefits to the Boiler, but you see what really inspired my passion. It’s just COOL!
Great video man! And it’s good to get out…
Thanks, Chad! It had been far too long.
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