I've refactored most of the internal algorithms of block_ptr<> and now it is much more robust. The following example works pretty well: https://github.com/philippeb8/block_ptr/blob/master/example/block_ptr_test1.... The next step is to support Boost.Containers: https://github.com/philippeb8/block_ptr/blob/master/example/block_ptr_test2.... But after debugging the code it looks like the allocator is not used to instantiate the nodes and I do not see how it is used by looking at the code: template <class T, class VoidPointer> struct list_node : public list_hook<VoidPointer>::type { private: //list_node(); public: typedef T value_type; typedef typename list_hook<VoidPointer>::type hook_type; T m_data; T &get_data() { return this->m_data; } const T &get_data() const { return this->m_data; } }; Am I missing something? Thanks a lot for your help, -Phil