Stove for AT

[Mr Liberty]

I'm looking at doing a 2016 SOBO on the AT (~early July through late Oct) and I'd like some advice on what I should use as a stove on the AT. It seems that alcohol stoves are the by far the lightest, so that's what I'd like to use. Correct me if I'm wrong, but it also seems that yellow HEET is the easiest alcohol fuel to find (being in gas stations and whatnot) other than isopropyl. I'm not opposed to making my own stove, but I want it to be very reliable. What are some stoves (or just diy designs) recommended that burn yellow HEET or isopropyl that would be appropriate for use on the AT?


I found this stove, which cleanly burns isopropyl alcohol, but it costs money (unlike diy stoves) so I've held off on it. Have any of you used it? Do you like it? I think if it works well and is reliable then it's the best choice as far as fuel availability goes, and weighs only 33g (1.16 oz)
(http://www.flatcatgear.com/shop/iso-25-stove/)

[BirdBrain]

The stove in this thread is a good place to start. There are better choices depending on your preferences. Keep it simple and functional to start. This stove is both.

http://www.whiteblaze.net/forum/show...his-DIY-design

[Turtle-2013]

Do the math and you MIGHT find that a titanium Jetboil is lighter ... remember to add in the pot, windscreen needed with an alcohol stove, and most important the fuel requirements. I just did 5 days, Springer to Dick's Creek Gap, and used 1.2 oz of fuel. Since I used to use an alcohol stove I can tell you that for the same amount of cooking I would have used 7-8 oz of fuel. When I did the math, I found that any trip longer than 3 days I came out lighter with my titanium Jetboil than I did with my superlight alcohol stove, with a titanium kettle, and enough fuel.

[Another Kevin]

Isopropyl is a very poor choice. No alcohol stove works really well on isopropyl, partly because of the water content. 87% iso is as high as it can be distilled. Drying it further gets into some oddball chemistry. 70% is the highest you're likely to find in a drugstore. Also, it's very difficult to get the fuel-air mixture right for isopropyl, and a cheap and lightweight stove will either burn with a sooty flame or overheat.

The stove you link to is 'designed for 91% but will burn 70%.' 91% is hard to find, except for Iso-HEET, which has additives you don't want to cook with.

Yellow HEET works well, as does denatured alcohol from a hardware or paint store. If you're talking about an A-T hike, a lot of establishments in A-T trail towns stock both. Many hostels and other establishments that cater to hikers will sell denatured alcohol by the ounce. Worst case, go in with another hiker or two and get a quart of the stuff. Or if they sell it only by the gallon, go in with a larger group. If you're in a town where it's available only by the gallon and are hiking in the bubble, you'll have no trouble finding a whole bunch of other hikers with the same problem.

If simplicity is what you're after, build a Supercat. Or buy a stove from Zelph, QiWiz or one of the other cottage makers.

By no means should you start messing around with pressurized burners, capillary burners, carbon wicks and the like. You'll wind up like me and the other mad stovers on the other discussion threads, all to save a few grams of alcohol per burn. We can all post 'Confessions of an Alcohol [Stove] Addict.'

[BirdBrain]

Do the math and you MIGHT find that a titanium Jetboil is lighter ... remember to add in the pot, windscreen needed with an alcohol stove, and most important the fuel requirements. I just did 5 days, Springer to Dick's Creek Gap, and used 1.2 oz of fuel. Since I used to use an alcohol stove I can tell you that for the same amount of cooking I would have used 7-8 oz of fuel. When I did the math, I found that any trip longer than 3 days I came out lighter with my titanium Jetboil than I did with my superlight alcohol stove, with a titanium kettle, and enough fuel.

Jetboil is a great choice. However, 8 oz of fuel would last me 9 days.

[jimyjam]

Stoves and cook systems I find to be a matter of choice. My personal choice is the caldera cone system...the keg system comes with the pot and everything you need.
http://www.traildesigns.com/cone-comparison


Life is full of ups and downs! Hike on!

[Mr Liberty]

The stove in this thread is a good place to start. There are better choices depending on your preferences. Keep it simple and functional to start. This stove is both.

http://www.whiteblaze.net/forum/show...his-DIY-design

Ok, I'll try making one tomorrow and see how it goes.

Isopropyl is a very poor choice. No alcohol stove works really well on isopropyl, partly because of the water content. 87% iso is as high as it can be distilled. Drying it further gets into some oddball chemistry. 70% is the highest you're likely to find in a drugstore. Also, it's very difficult to get the fuel-air mixture right for isopropyl, and a cheap and lightweight stove will either burn with a sooty flame or overheat.

The stove you link to is 'designed for 91% but will burn 70%.' 91% is hard to find, except for Iso-HEET, which has additives you don't want to cook with.

Yellow HEET works well, as does denatured alcohol from a hardware or paint store. If you're talking about an A-T hike, a lot of establishments in A-T trail towns stock both. Many hostels and other establishments that cater to hikers will sell denatured alcohol by the ounce. Worst case, go in with another hiker or two and get a quart of the stuff. Or if they sell it only by the gallon, go in with a larger group. If you're in a town where it's available only by the gallon and are hiking in the bubble, you'll have no trouble finding a whole bunch of other hikers with the same problem.

If simplicity is what you're after, build a Supercat. Or buy a stove from Zelph, QiWiz or one of the other cottage makers.

By no means should you start messing around with pressurized burners, capillary burners, carbon wicks and the like. You'll wind up like me and the other mad stovers on the other discussion threads, all to save a few grams of alcohol per burn. We can all post 'Confessions of an Alcohol [Stove] Addict.'

I've never seen a drugstore/walmart that sold 70% and not 91%, but it might be different along the AT... I'll trust your judgement. But basically, you're saying that (as far as the AT goes) the best alcohol fuel is either yellow HEET or denatured?

I won't be hiking the bubble, I'm doing a SOBO; hopefully I'll be able to find fuel in reasonably small quantities (I have no qualms with getting a quart for myself, just means I wouldn't have to get fuel for a while ).

I'll look into the supercat, I've seen it mentioned several times but never took a look at it.

And haha, I think I caught a weaker version of the stovemaking virus, because I think it's quite a good time, too!

[Starchild]

Of fuel types on the AT, both alcohol and canisters are readily available. Quite a few hikers ended up carrying a yellow HEET bottle out of town, some carried 2 canisters with them. Part of the weight equation is how are you going to actually use it. Yes technically you may only need 8 oz, but what are you going to do with the extra 4? If you will carry it it is additional weight in your cookset.

FWIW What I really liked about the Jetboil is the smallest canister lasted so long that I didn't need to concern myself about fuel on many town resupply stops (1 small canister = over 10 liters of boiling water). That eliminated a step of searching for them.

[MuddyWaters]

I prefer alcohol because its quiet, and I know exactly how much fuel I have.
I dislike the roar of loud cannister stoves in the woods.
In a pinch its a good firestarter too, but so is a cannister stove.

It really comes down to preference. You dont need to lug a lot of weight to have a fuel efficient cannister setup. A windscreen and optimizing the heating rate (slow it down) will cut the fuel usage. For some reason people are in a huge hurry to boil water in the woods....baffles me. One or two or 5 minutes is inconsequential unless too many people are sharing the same stove.

[BirdBrain]

I prefer alcohol because its quiet, and I know exactly how much fuel I have.
I dislike the roar of loud cannister stoves in the woods.
In a pinch its a good firestarter too, but so is a cannister stove.

It really comes down to preference. You dont need to lug a lot of weight to have a fuel efficient cannister setup. A windscreen and optimizing the heating rate (slow it down) will cut the fuel usage. For some reason people are in a huge hurry to boil water in the woods....baffles me. One or two or 5 minutes is inconsequential unless too many people are sharing the same stove.

Agreed. I like the way you express the noise thing. To me the noise just seems unnatural. I like the simplicity of an alcohol stove. Carrying something with O-rings and threads makes me feel like I am lugging a machine. I guess that explains my aversion to electronics too. I agree with the time issue as well. How can saving 2 minutes on a boil time possibly matter.

Once I got by your ridiculously low pack weight, I can see how much I agree with you way of thinking. Now I am paying attention. I will not go as low as you. However, I will glean rather than doubt.

[bemental]

I prefer alcohol because its quiet, and I know exactly how much fuel I have.
I dislike the roar of loud cannister stoves in the woods.
In a pinch its a good firestarter too, but so is a cannister stove.

It really comes down to preference. You dont need to lug a lot of weight to have a fuel efficient cannister setup. A windscreen and optimizing the heating rate (slow it down) will cut the fuel usage. For some reason people are in a huge hurry to boil water in the woods....baffles me. One or two or 5 minutes is inconsequential unless too many people are sharing the same stove.

Agreed. I like the way you express the noise thing. To me the noise just seems unnatural. I like the simplicity of an alcohol stove. Carrying something with O-rings and threads makes me feel like I am lugging a machine. I guess that explains my aversion to electronics too. I agree with the time issue as well. How can saving 2 minutes on a boil time possibly matter.

Once I got by your ridiculously low pack weight, I can see how much I agree with you way of thinking. Now I am paying attention. I will not go as low as you. However, I will glean rather than doubt.

Wish I would have met you guys sooner.

Just got out of the military and I carried a Jetboil there out of conveniences sake, same reason I use it on the trail.

It agree about the noise, the machine-like nature, the timing and speed. But you still can't beat the Jetboil's convenience factor (you sure can beat it's weight though).

[fastfoxengineering]

I agree with BirdBrain and MW.

My favorite stove now is my ti-tri... alcohol and wood. i'll never go back to a canister unless fire restrictions call for it

[Mr Liberty]

Ok, good to know about the fuel availability as far as the AT goes.

I'd still like to stick with alcohol, however, because I'd like to be able to use this stove on other trips (not on the AT). I still think I like the flat cat gear Multi-Fuel 2.5 stove best, because I can use isopropyl if I have to with it (it also accepts HEET and pretty much any other fuel you can think of). Does anyone have any experience with it (or previous versions)?

[Don H]

When I section hike I carry a Zen Chimney alcohol stove. http://zenstoves.net/Stoves.htm

When I thrued I started off with the alcohol stove but switched to a MSR Pocket Rocket canister stove. It just seemed faster and easier to set up and use.

With both stoves I used a Snowpeak 600 ml Ti cup as a pot.

[Billiard Yeti]

I love my fancy feast stove. It weighs just under an ounce. Boils 2 cups in 6 - 8 minutes. Lights easy with no priming. Has a built in pot stand. All you need is a wind screen and maybe a vapor barrier (but you need them for all alcohol stoves). And you can get a simmer ring for it too...

[Walkintom]

Another thing you may want to consider to improve your overall efficiency: a pot with a heatsink built onto it.

Optimus has some nice options that aren't too hard on the pocketbook. The Terra Weekend HE weighs 9.7 oz and is enough for my needs. I use it with a canister stove but I see no reason why you couldn't use it with an alcohol stove. Costs about $30, reg price.

[BirdBrain]

I love my fancy feast stove. It weighs just under an ounce. Boils 2 cups in 6 - 8 minutes. Lights easy with no priming. Has a built in pot stand. All you need is a wind screen and maybe a vapor barrier (but you need them for all alcohol stoves). And you can get a simmer ring for it too...

I assume by vapor barrier you mean shielding from the ground. If so, not all stoves require one. Mine runs fine on an ice block or in a pool of water. I don't carry any shielding for the bottom of my stove. If you meant something else, please forgive my ignorant assumption.

[zelph]

I'm looking at doing a 2016 SOBO on the AT (~early July through late Oct) and I'd like some advice on what I should use as a stove on the AT. It seems that alcohol stoves are the by far the lightest, so that's what I'd like to use. Correct me if I'm wrong, but it also seems that yellow HEET is the easiest alcohol fuel to find (being in gas stations and whatnot) other than isopropyl. I'm not opposed to making my own stove, but I want it to be very reliable. What are some stoves (or just diy designs) recommended that burn yellow HEET or isopropyl that would be appropriate for use on the AT?

The Fancee Feest is an easy build DIY stove with integrated pot support. Countless number of folks have made them using the cat food can and an aluminum beer bottle. You already have the fiberglass wick. The stove originated here at WB.


http://whiteblaze.net/forum/showthre...ncyfeast-Stove


The Fancee Feest has become Shugs's GOTO stove.

[walkingdead]

Enjoyed watching your video on the Fancee Feast... you' ve got an interesting sense of humor!

[Dogwood]

"It seems that alcohol stoves are by far the lightest, so that's what I'd like to use" Depends! Your assumption CAN BE incorrect. It depends on things like how often you are out for or how often you plan on resupplying with fuel, availability of fuel(IMO the AT overall has an ABUNDANCE of availability of fuel sources for both types of stoves), how, how often, and what you cook, what times of yr temp wise you'll be cooking, the rest of your cook set, etc. A stove in itself is only part of the cooking equation! It's not so cut and dried especially when you start prioritizing the gram weenie game.