When I'm going somewhere where I need my stove to function on pretty much any fuel apart from really dirty fuels and weigh as little as possible, I reach for my Primus OmniliteTi. It'll burn gaseous and liquid fuel with the exception of alcohol. Not a problem as alcohol can be burnt in any tin etc. You can also refill gas cans with it by using a butane lighter refill can in the fuel hose at a pinch. There are very few places in the world where you can't get at least one of these fuels.
I take a full spares kit and a spare pump/fuel line. There is nothing that these will not fix. I'd err away from the Nova, the nut can snap off at the bottom as it's weakened by the shaker jet design.
Now this is actually the most useful suggestion so far. The Omnilite is very expensive, but it does appear to be the answer to my all my issues. It is tempting to sell my Dragonfly, put the money towards the Omnilite, and then I can burn everything bar single malt whisky...
My preferred method is to pay someone to cook for me, chapatis/goat/fish/rice cooked by a Somalian/Rastafarian/Tibetan using wood fire/hexi/paraffin stove, you name it I've eaten it.
I've also gone days at a time without food or just eaten nuts and biscuits.
Choice of stove and fuel is number 102 of a list of 120 on my checklist, it sounds like you are still on question 5 or 6?
I head to the wilderness to get away, also being of the female persuasion I fear that my survival time alone in somalia may be somewhat shorter than yours...
I am however very curious, what are the other 119 items on the checklist?
Absolutely no idea, i don't do public transport.
Your best bet is to do a search, if you go the decathlon.fr site it will give you a list of stores and their locations.
And that, in one sentence gives rise to question how relevant your suggestions may be. If you are limited to public transport or on foot, it changes the options. Driving to the nearest decathlon to pick up a gas cart is considerably easier, than having to change trains, break the journey, get a bus to out of town, pick up the cart, get the bus back into town, get back on the train...
Oh, and living in Canterbury, my nearest decathlon is in... France...
Oh, and if you are in a vehicle anyway, would you not choose to burn the fuel that your vehicle uses? solving any fuel supply issues?
A Jetboil with it's stand fitted under the gas canister will be more stable than your whisperlite.
Centre of gravity is not really relevant in this case as you're boiling water so the pot is in a fixed location.
Centre of gravity is fundamental to the stability of a stove. Higher centre of gravity requires a wider base for the same stability. It's simple physics and cannot be avoided.
You could also fill your rucksack with bricks and sand, i don't really see how that's relative though.
There are light and there are heavy stoves, you showed some concern that a remote gas stove will be heavy, my intention was to show that is not always the case.
It is Teepee's suggestion of the Omnilite TI stove that is the most useful of the whole thread actually.
A mate in the UK insists on using a wood burner, to me it's an absolute nightmare.
First off he is always scouting around looking for suitably sized wood, then when we stop he's forever faffing to get it lit, then it takes an absolute age to cook or boil anything, he can't control the heat even when it gets going and then we have to wait while the bloody thing cools down.
Got to the point where i refuse to walk with him as it takes 45mins for him to have a cup of tea.
Some of the many other reasons that I discount biomass as an option even when there are twigs available. Yes a fire is nice, but if you are trying to do 20-30km a day, then 45 mins to make a cuppa is a pain. I tend not to drink tea during the day when hiking, I will have a hot drink with breakfast, and hot drink with dinner, but I do avoid the one with lunch.
He loves it though and thinks my gas burner is "unromantic and cold"
So if you add in personal preferences everything else goes out the window.
Well yes. Personal preference is a good way to trump any conversation. If you get someone suitably stubborn you will never change their mind
If you don't like gas burners that's your choice and i see no point trying to change your mind, in my experiences though some of your goals point towards gas being a good option.
I agree with all your points, I just contest the availability and with direct experience of being unable to find a suitable gas cart when out on trips, I discounted it.
Carrying a Omnilite Ti and starting the trip (when I am in the UK) with a gas cart, but carrying the empty bottle/pump, seems the ideal solution.
I think you've already answered your own question. Go for a multi/liquid fuel stove.
Yes, the meths stove is finding itself not in the packing list.
You are asking for an answer but not fully posing a question. Holding back information with regard to the destination is about as much use to a meaningful answer as using a chocolate clothes line prop on a hot sunny day.
Every option given has been negated and put aside. In the circumstances, I fully agree that a multi fuel stove would be the best option. Good luck on your travels.
Actually the original question I asked was answered in post number 5 of the thread. The 89 posts have largely been around people answering a different question to the one I actually asked in the first place.
We're not talking about every item in a pack, we're talking about one item. Moreover, my response was to your comment about whether the weight concerned really was such a big deal. I was merely pointing out that I seem to be able to carry a fairly heavy pocket knife without noticing.
And I was refuting it by pointing out that when you are carrying that bag of items every step for 300km, then the weight becomes a lot more crucial than you may originally think. I've done heavy weight trips, I've backpacked across europe with 45kg backpacks. Sod that. I am aiming for a base pack weight of under 10kg, ideally 8kg. Every single item in the bag has to justify it's place. No "oh I'll bring this just in case" or "it may be nice to do y one night".
Perhaps your answer lies in a spreadsheet. Thought this was interesting...
http://www.freedieting.com/tools/calories_burned.htm
Quite a lot of variation due to terrain and pace. I dare say the fuel/food efficiencies could be calculated for a range of foods and stoves/fuels, and then a bunch of modifiers applied to project requirements for a given period over whatever terrain at whatever pace.
It's quite alarming when you think about some of the numbers...
Having said that, you're opposed to gas and hexi, don't think you'll be able to replenish meths (and maybe aren't too impressed with the meths stoves anyway), so it seems to me that you're looking at petrol/paraffin and similar fuels. If that's the case then you either pick the lightest petrol stove, the lightest paraffin stove, or the lightest multi-fuel stove. With that, you then deal with how much fuel to carry and how to replenish it if you don't carry enough for the whole trip. The lightest stove that burns the fuel(s) you want to use will be the lightest stove, and that will be that. You then plan your trip in detail, crunch the numbers, and decide if it's hypothetically feasible. If it isn't, then you either reconsider the fuels you discounted, modify your replenishment plans, or get the engineer's hat on and invent a lighter stove.
There are some meths stoves that I am really impressed by, namely the Evernew DX stove. Really nicely designed, efficient and can do biomass if it's available. And for the last 6 months of my planning, it was the stove of choice in my pack. It was only when I started to look at resupply options that I started to realise that it may not be the ideal result of the simultaneous equation. Hence my original question regarding the relevant energy densities of the two fuels, and how much I would have to carry for the choice to be different.
The Omnilite TI changes the equations slightly, and gives me a new answer to the question I originally asked.
Fair one about only having the smaller jet for burning petrol; I take it you didn't have a bigger jet for dirty fuel use?
This thread seems to have become a real deal on the forum! Before I rewind to your original query, and as others have mentioned, are you looking for the perfect set up for long distance trips or a set up based on individual trips in researched environments with a real preference for a lightweight setup?
I had the full stove with me, I just wasn't aware that I could try diesel using the kerosene configuration.
Ultimately, I can't afford to have a whole stable of stoves and pick a different one for each trip. So in many respects the perfect lightweight stove for long distance trips.
There is always the option of cold meals and hard tack with cold fluids to wash it down!
To quote Susanne Williams - "Say no to unnecessary suffering"
if you're not doing it solo then take your dragonfly or whisperlight and the spares kit, you've already paid for these.....then give someone else a hexy burner with a few packs of blocks distributed between you and yer pretty much covered for anything.
fuel will be no problem and if all else fails you have the near on un-killable hexy block to fall back on
nailing down the trip duration, including time spent in the cuds between re-supply, plus climate and season would help to
failing all that. you could always simply flag down a passing rasta or somalian to do you a brew lol
Nope, I am purely looking at solo trips here. Noone I know is stupid enough to come with me
Julia
