(click image to visit Altrec catalog page... approx $110)
I've had about a half-dozen camping stoves during my 2 decades of nomadness... ranging from the venerable Svea to a scary ultralight model that burst into flames and self-destructed one day in Santa Cruz. They all got things hot, at various rates, and some packed down smaller than others. But none of them, until the Dragonfly, could hold a decent simmer; this thing is smoothly adjustable from barely warm to blast furnace!
I worried about the stove's robustness at first glance, since it seems a bit leggy and gangly. But those bails flip out into a solid detent position that supports any pot of reasonable scale, and the pump assembly is effective and easy to use (I bought a complete rebuild kit for it as well, along with rather scary-looking instructions, but haven't needed any maintenance yet).
This is a reliable little stove, and it packs down small and light. While you're off at the Altrec site, you should also pick up a fuel bottle or two. This burns white gas, regular unleaded, kerosene, and supposedly other things as well... the Dragonfly is known as a great choice for international trekking. It comes with an aluminum wind shield and heat reflector as well as a handy drawstring bag and a basic spares kit.
By the way, I don't recommend those tempting butane stoves for kayak camping: they are more convenient, but leave you with cartridge acquisition and disposal problems. Stick with multifuel.
(Weight: 14 oz with no fuel; it boils a quart of water at sea level in 3.5 minutes)
(click image to buy from Altrec... approx $140)
A decent water filter is very much in the camping necessities department (assuming you're out long enough that carrying an adequate supply of drinking water is not practical). This is not a desalinator... that requires reverse osmosis and is over a kilobuck... but it will convert seriously scary standing water into something you can feel safe guzzling down. It has a ceramic and carbon filter cartridge (replaceable), and will remove the pesky giardia and cryptosporidium bacteria that you, um, really don't want in your gut.
I have only used two other filter models, so I can't compare across the full spectrum, but I've so far found this to be robust, easy to clean (included filter scrubber), and much eaiser to pump than the older ones. They say this is due to an AirSpring innovation that evens out your pumping energy to keep things moving on the backstroke; it does seem to have a smoother and more consistent flow than those I have used in the past. And there is a complete rebuild kit available, if you ever need to do serious pump surgery.
The bottom of the WaterWorks EX is thread-compatible with the common Nalgene drinking bottles and hydration bags, so slurping water out of a puddle is pretty much a one-step process. I might add that here on Camano Island, where I have some wetlands and a thin year-round creek on my property, it's nice to know that in the event of some community-wide emergency I already have all I need to keep us provided with safe drinking water.
(Weight: 19.3 ounces)