 i made one out of bubble rap and silver foil tape and tested it with 500mil of boiling water. it was not a very scientific test. the results were not very impressive.after half an hour the water was only a couple of degrees warmer than the first test wthout a cozy. am i using the wrong materials?would foam(bulkier though) be better than bubble wrap? i used bubble wrap as thats what it looks like on bobs website. go on then and tell me its not bubble wrap
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Hi Ray, No, it's not bubble wrap. I bought the stuff off Bob and made one. You can boil water, put it in the cosy and still scald yourself half an hour later! Sure someone will be along shortly to tell us what the stuff really is - but think it's some kind of industrial insulation or something you put behing radiators. Probably available from builder's merchants in larger quantities or a builder mate might be able to get a sheet for you. Be interested to know myself.
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 Alright mate, hows things. Did you put the silver foil tape on both sides of the bubble wrap, so that the silver surface reflects the heat back into the pot? Also, was it the type of tape you lag pipes and that sort of thing with? 
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 Thermawrap. Available from B&Q and other places. 7.5 metre roll at 600mm wide. Price varies from about £18-£36 a roll. Makes a good winter sleep mat as well as cosies. 
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Yea, that'll work. Get the loft stuff though, we use that and it is better than the normal thermawrap. The equivilant of 275mm of glass fibre insulation or 55mm of poly. Not sure on weight, but it feels quite light.
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Hold on that one - I might have some kicking around, I'll have a look today and send you some. 
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hello rocky, thgings are good here. i put tape on both sides of the bubble wrap.its top quality tape which is used to reflect electrical signals. yeas i saw that in b and q mike.bit pricy me thinks.gonna try the foam sleep mat covered in silver foil.
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if you have some then bring to the wales meet next month.cheers
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Another good tip which I got from someone on here is not to use your stove on full - you waste the least heat using it at less than full power.
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My full length Thermawrap sleep mat weighs 212g. I use it with a self-inflating mat on cold ground.
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hello rocky, thgings are good here. i put tape on both sides of the bubble wrap.its top quality tape which is used to reflect electrical signals. yeas i saw that in b and q mike.bit pricy me thinks.gonna try the foam sleep mat covered in silver foil.
 ... and where did you get this expensive specialist tape from may I ask???
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as i was leaving work i noticed that it had been thrown in the tip so i thought waste not want not! does not look any different to other foil tape tbh.
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 Backpackinglight.co.uk sell some stuff that's very effective in my experience. I wouldn't go backpacking without a pot cozy now.
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 > Price varies from about £18-£36 a roll. They were knocking it out half price a few weeks ago. When I finally walked over to the out-of-town 'retail park' they moved to a few years ago, the offer had ended. (I no longer cycle anywhere that I'd have to leave my bike locked up; too many bikes stolen by the local scum.) Bah. And they wanted £2.50 for 500ml of meths. Double bah. An alternative to bubble wrap is expanded polythene (yes, -thene, not styrene). Because this uses lots of smaller bubbles, it's a better insulator than simple bubble wrap, where heat transfer can occur due to convection within the bubble. It's certainly worth a try.
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I had some spare radiator insulation left over and it works really well lining an A4 bubblewrap envelope. It's thick silver foil with polystyrene backing. I got it from B&Q for about a fiver for a roll, ie a lot of pot cozies.
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 Am I missing the point of a backpackers 'cosy' thingumyjig then a little bit fellas? We all seem here to be talking of 'keeping a thing warm - food or liquid - off the stove, after it is cooked; I thought that was the job of a Thermos flask! Isn't the whole point of a 'cosy' to finish the final moments of cooking ones trail food by using up latent residual heat by reflection to the pot? Thus we then save ourselves burning more precious fuel on longer distance hikes, where fuel may be at a premium due to scarcity?  I thought that was essentially really the point, and nothing else.
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 I think the point is to take the pan off the heat and let it continue cooking all snug in an insulated environment, while you perhaps start yourself a brew. When the brew is done, you check out your cosied pan and it may well have completed cooking. Also, it won't go cold when taken off the heat. I understand this way of working is particularly successful with dehydrated food which may require a bit more cooking to get it completely rehydrated.
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Exactly Martin. Boil your water, pour it on your dry or dehydrated food and let it stew for a while. Or it just keeps your boiled water hot for that second cuppa half an hour after you first boiled the kettle. It can be like a flask, but a lot lighter.
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> Am I missing the point of a backpackers 'cosy' thingumyjig then a little bit fellas? No, but if your cozy doesn't keep things cozy, then it's not much use as a cozy, is it..?
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 the cosy lets things "simmer" e.g. rice is very succesful in a cosy because you only need to bring it up to the boil on the stove, stick it in the cosy, have a cuppa soup and warm up what you're having with the rice. also handy for keeping your food warm whilst you eat it on a cold day. a cosy, of course, is of no use whatsoever for the impatient.
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