Camping/Backpacking Stoves?

[lukasz]

Does your alloy bottle have an inner coating?

Any reason not to try this with steel?

Amazon.com: Eco-Friendly Wide Mouth 25 oz Stainless Steel Water Bottle - BPA Free, Brushed Metal: Sports & Outdoors

[Dmoeny]

I used a brasslite alcohol stove for a group backpacking trip in the Tetons last year. I liked it- quiet and simple. But it did take twice as long as everyone else's jet engine canister stove. That site also has construction information if you feel like trying to make one, but I'm not sure it'd be worth the effort, unless you just like doing such things.

Brasslite Ultralight Alcohol Backpacking and Camping Stove

dave

[false_aesthetic]

Does your alloy bottle have an inner coating?
Any reason not to try this with steel?

No coating inside. If it did I imagine the first few uses would result in some nasty fumes.

Someone who knows more than I do might be able to chime in but I'd guess that steel will take longer to heat up and cool down. Since the alcohol needs to get up to boiling for the flames to pop out the jets, you're probably wasting some fuel.

[WestcoastPete]

I'm surprised no one has mentioned the BushBuddy/SoloStove, or other wood burning stoves. I've had mine for a couple of trips now and am at the stage of being able to rely on it on its own. I was a bit unsure at first, so bought Zelph companion burner for it, which also works well. I love that it's lightweight, and you don't need to carry any fuel. You do have to be pretty confident in lighting it up though...

Before this, I always used a Brunton remote canister stove, much like the Kovea Spider. These stoves are great for true cooking on. Unlike direct mount canister stoves, remote stoves handle a wind shield better and more safely, they're not so wobbly with a big pot, and they can be used with the cannister inverted, which can be handy in the cold.

[sonnybiker]

I really like my msr pocket rocket stove. Light, simple, fast, etc.
I've used a single 8oz canister (8oz fuel weight) for 21 days once on a long backpacking trip in the summer. Boiling small amounts (2 cups/night) of water for dinners, a few breakfasts and one lunch. Using extremely judicious fuel conservation methods- only bring the stove up to 2/3 power or so when boiling (more efficient), bring meal to a boil, turn off stove, let cooking happen slowly with residual heat rather than boil/simmer.
The usual caveats apply- somewhat tippy, not good in wind, not great below 35f or so.

If you're cooking for more than 2, going out in the winter (making camp in the snow, melting snow to get water, etc.) get a multifuel stove like a msr whisperlite internationale or similar. White gas has a LOT of energy in it- great for larger meals, cold weather, etc.

I don't really like the alcohol stoves- too feeble, potentially dangerous, unstable, etc.

[jclay]

I only car camp for a few days at a time, generally at the beach but I still favor small and simple with few parts to fail (including from age and lots of non-use).

I gave away my MSR Whisperlight. Never had any problems but plastic pump, O-ring and hose seemed a bit fiddly, more to go wrong, leak, break. Replaced it with a Svea 123, simpler, fewer things to fail, like it a lot. Later, was given a Trangia alcohol stove, simpler still. Doesn't generate as much energy but enough for me and can be shuttered to a low flame for a nice simmer. Fuel is easiest to find in my experience. The soda can versions I've seen don't have the shutter for flame adjustment.

You can find info on the fuel/energy budgets for each, which might be of interest if a hard core LD through hiker, but that's not relevant to me.

An additional data point, even if past the sell-by-date of this thread: Having used the Trangia a bit I find that I have no use for the Svea, never mind a more complex white gas stove. I still prefer hammers to rocks and matches to flint but for me the Trangia is perfect. Plenty of heat, easy to light, nothing to break short of crushing it, cheap fuel available anywhere I've ever been, simmer-able, and a near infinite variety of stands and accessories for various conditions and preferences. If I could turn the clock back to the time I purchased my first backpacking stove I'd detour around all the pressurized white gas stuff, get a Trangia cookset and still be using the same equipment until I turn to dust. I assume there are some extreme conditions that require it, but in the main I wonder why the pressurized stuff even exists; an addiction to gadgetry perhaps.

[WMdeR]

Bonus on the Trangia: the pressure is low enough that it does not become a bomb. A SVEA's tank will eventually rupture given enough heat cycles (many), and it is a very bad day in the woods when it does. I have seen it twice, both on very heavily used machines.

The whisperlite design is safer. I use a netbook these days if I am impatient, and a Trangia otherwise.

Best,

Will
William M deRosset
Fort Collins CO

[WMdeR]

... I use a netbook these days if I am impatient, and a Trangia otherwise.

Best,

Will
William M deRosset
Fort Collins CO

Yep, autocorrect. That would be "Jetboil" not netbook....

Cheers,
WMdeR

[lumpy]

I've only had a Svea rupture that way when the stem got hit and bent. It was indeed very scary. But I wouldn't want to use an alcohol or unpressurized stove to feed multiple people or if it was well below freezing and/or breezy.

[deano]

I took a dozen high schoolers backpacking this summer. Someone had a fancy new jetboil. It was finicky and then we managed to break it. The MSR Pocket Rocket strand running throughout this thread is the one to follow. Rocksteady, light, and I have fuel canisters still left from college 10 years ago that I have taken out on a recent overnight - it sips fuel but lights up like a solid rocket booster. I love it. A DIY windscreen/pot-steadier will go a long way tho.