Yep, gonna be months and months of planning, testing and trying recipes and kit.
Will also be using pot cosy's to increase efficiency.
Julia
Fuel for long distance trips
- Thread starter Quixoticgeek
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Yep, gonna be months and months of planning, testing and trying recipes and kit.
Will also be using pot cosy's to increase efficiency.
Julia
As stated in my first paragraph of the first post in this thread:
"Now given the peculiarities of the locale (not going into specifics), I can't rely on biomass for stove fuel."
And in post 18:
"I'm expecting to go days on end without seeing a tree on some trips."
Julia
I would never, ever, trust a pressurised liquid fuel stove on a long trip. I particualrly will never buy an MSR again - those plastic pumps are rubbish in my experience. I would go civi Trangia. It will weigh more, but it will work. A pressurised white gas stove may end up being more efficient, but also more likely to fail in such a way as to be useless.
I will take resilience over weight saving.
I will take resilience over weight saving.
Thing is though, it's not just wood that burns, iimmc. If the weather's dry, cowpats, rabbit droppings, etc., they all burn.
Indeed cowpat fuel (prairie coals in the days when the pioneers were heading out west) fuels much of the cooking in some areas of the world.
On t'other hand, spending your day picking up deer and sheep purls isn't a lot of fun I wouldn't think
cheers,
M
Indeed cowpat fuel (prairie coals in the days when the pioneers were heading out west) fuels much of the cooking in some areas of the world.
On t'other hand, spending your day picking up deer and sheep purls isn't a lot of fun I wouldn't think
cheers,
M
Heather stems are great, dry herbivore poo of all kinds works pretty well. Even dry grass can be burned if you twist it up tightly into knots.
I'm intrigued where Julia is going now, it sounds interesting.
Interesting. How big a bundle of heather stems would be needed to make a cuppa?
It's all very much at the planning stage, so don't want to say too much until I've at least narrowed the list down more.
But I can say my next trip is going to be back out into the Kentish desert, only I have a water filter this time.
Julia
Interestingly, I just took my MSR Whisperlite internationale out into the garden, connected it up to a fuel bottle that has been sat in the shed for at least 5 years. Lit first time, no problems.
You do however make a very valid point. Failure mode is a concern.
Thing is though, it's not just wood that burns, iimmc. If the weather's dry, cowpats, rabbit droppings, etc., they all burn.
Indeed cowpat fuel (prairie coals in the days when the pioneers were heading out west) fuels much of the cooking in some areas of the world.
On t'other hand, spending your day picking up deer and sheep purls isn't a lot of fun I wouldn't think
I can't say spending part of my trip collecting poo is high up my wish list. But I do recognise that there is more than just twigs to go in the little stoves.
Julia
The second time that piece of s*** pump on my MSR Dragonfly failed during a trip leaving me stoveless I vowed not to trust one again. Each to their own of course.
Surprisingly little if you can use it efficiently. We have a Kelly kettle that will boil a litre of water in a few minutes on a double handful of heather stems. You need the old woody ones, not the feathery tops, but there is often dead stuff around. Gorse is great kindling if you're in a moorland environment.
Out of interest, how did the dragonfly stove fail? I have one, but I broke the pump on it (I dropped it on a fire by mistake... long story...).
Julia
Just pumping the bottle. The internals failed in some fashion and the stove would no longer hold pressure. Both pumps were under a year old. Absolute piece of **** that stove was. I could order replacements - but thats a fat lot of help in the middle of nowhere.
There are 2 things that I carry as spares for my Optimus Nova, one is the pump leather and the other is the plastic feed tube that attaches to the bottle lid because that has a habit of springing out and disappearing into the undergrowth if you remove the lid. Other than that it's been totally reliable. I do understand the argument that a meths burner has no moving parts and is therefore pretty much unable to go wrong though. There are lots of pros and cons and an awful lot of "it depends" in making the choice.
Did you have the spares kit with you to be able to try and fix it?
Yep. It looked like such a simple question in the beginning. But it's getting more and more complex the further I go.
There is a strong temptation to say "I understand the whisperlite" and take that, even if it is heavy. Better the devil you know...
Julia
I did Julia - no joy - if you google it, its renowned for failing.
If you have a stove you trust, take it. I have everything from WWII brass stoves to fandabby gas ones. The two that never fail are basic gas stoves (pocket rocket) and Trangias (plus hexy for simple reheat). So thats what I use
If you have a stove you trust, take it. I have everything from WWII brass stoves to fandabby gas ones. The two that never fail are basic gas stoves (pocket rocket) and Trangias (plus hexy for simple reheat). So thats what I use
Actually, it is. Here's one (albeit a b it expensive) www.amazon.com/Primus-P-734121-P-Fuel-Bottle/dp/B00A4AEOZS
And here are the same bottles a bit cheaper (about half) www.thetooltube.com/Accessories.html
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Perhaps try looking at it another way, what are the implications if your stove goes wrong? Minor inconvenience? Major disaster? Could you survive on a camp fire for a day or two? Are you likely to be able to get spares for a stove if it goes wrong? Another thing to consider is water, are you intending to purify it by boiling or are you planning other means of ensuring safe drinking water?
The reason I know about the feed tube going sproing! and disappearing is that it happened when I was on a trip and the stove is non-functional without it. It was a nuisance but it wasn't a disaster because I got hold of some meths at a tiny store and made a meths burner from an old drink can that I found so I could still have my morning tea and I wasn't entirely dependent on cooking for my food.
The reason I know about the feed tube going sproing! and disappearing is that it happened when I was on a trip and the stove is non-functional without it. It was a nuisance but it wasn't a disaster because I got hold of some meths at a tiny store and made a meths burner from an old drink can that I found so I could still have my morning tea and I wasn't entirely dependent on cooking for my food.
If it will burn kerosene, it will burn diesel. If it will burn petrol, it'll burn avgas.
There are notices up in our local petrol stations stating quite clearly that there are minimum volumes and specifying just which containers are considered 'suitable'.
It's all very well turning up with a fuel bottle, but unless the girl at the desk is prepared to click the button that allows the pump to work, you won't get any fuel.
It's not always easy.
cheers,
Toddy
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