How to make a closed cell foam pot cozy
Pot cozies help save backpacking fuel, are light, and allow you to place a hot pot on your legs. Keep reading to learn how to make your own closed cell foam pot cozy.
This article shows you the best way to make a closed cell foam pot cozy. Just kidding. There is no best way. A quick internet search will reveal several different ways to make pot cozies (here’s one for example). Here you will learn how we made ours. Hope it is useful and inspires you to make your own!
Why You Should Want a closed cell foam Pot Cozy
The main reason is to help cook your food and save on backpacking fuel. Additionally they allow you to set a hot pot on your legs and not get burned. The best reason though is that they make you feel like you are being more efficient (for me anyways).
Supplies to make a closed cell foam pot cozy
1. Closed cell foam sleeping pad or whatever you have laying around
2. Knife
3. Super glue
4. Duct tape
5. Your pot
1. Trace the bottom of your Pot
The first step is to create the bottom circular portion of the cozy. Using a knife or a pen trace the bottom of your pot.
When tracing the bottom make sure you are not at a weird angle. Try to be pointing straight down. You want this to be snug but not too small. Remember you can always make it smaller, so if unsure make it bigger and then cut it back.
2. Cut bottom circle out
Using scissors or a knife, cut the circle out. Test if you made it the correct size by placing your pot on it. Does it sit on the circle without hanging over or having too much closed cell foam extending out?
Make adjustments as needed.
3. Cut the piece that will Be the wall
Use the circular bottom to figure out how long to cut the piece for the wall. You can do this by using the circle as a guide and tracing it along the closed cell foam pad. Make this a little longer than the circumference of the circle. Remember you can always make it shorter but you can’t make it longer!
Use your pot to determine the height of the wall.
4. Assemble
This is the fun part. Time to construct the pot cozy! The bottom circle will sit inside the wall. Place some super glue on the outer edge of the circle and then wrap the wall around this. Use super glue on the seam of the wall.
We found that with our closed cell foam the super glue wasn’t strong enough to hold it. But this wasn’t anything a little duct tape couldn’t fix.
Depending on the material you are using, you may want to add some duct tape to avoid the bottom circle falling out or the wall springing open.
5. Cut a hole for the handle
If your pot has handles, may want to cut a hole them. This will depend on the type of material and if your pot has handles or not. Our closed cell foam is stiff and including the handles of our pot would mean making it a lot larger. This would result in more open space in the cozy and is not ideal.
If you want to cut out a space for the pot handles, do this opposite of the wall seam. You want the wall seam to have as much surface area as possible. We carved out space for the handles to sit and so the pot + cozy would fit in it’s bag.
If your pot doesn’t have handles, just skip this step!
6. Poke a hole in the bottom
It can be helpful to have a hole in the bottom to make getting the pot in and out of the cozy easier. This way the air can escape, making for a smooth entry and exit.
Pro tip: use duct tape if you need to make a quick repair. On one of our trips the bottom kept falling out. We just duct taped it! Worked like a charm.
Conclusion: How to make a closed cell foam pot cozy
We never go on a trip without the cozy and have used it for the last 5 years. It is excellent at it’s job!
This article describes how you can make your own closed cell foam pot cozy. Now you have a great cozy to help cook your food and be more efficient. Let us know how you constructed yours and how it is working out for you!
