Backcountry Stoves, what are your suggestions?

Marion David Poff

Marion David Poff

Joined
Oct 8, 1998
Messages
5,403
Good Day,

Any of you have any success with boiling water with a Sterno stove?

And, what backcounty stoves do you use?

What backcountry stove would you suggest?

Thank you,
Marion
 
For small size and light weight, take a look at alcohol stoves:
AntiGravity Gear pepsi can stove with windscreen at http://www.antigravitygear.com/products/stove.html
Brasslite stove at http://www.brasslite.com/
Trangia stove at http://www.trangia.se/

I have the Brasslite (Turbo IID) and Trangia (Swedish military surplus kit) and really like both models. Make sure you use a windscreen. Check http://wings.interfree.it/ for info on homemade stoves and http://www.backpackgeartest.org/reviews/Cook Gear/Stoves/ for reviews of stoves.

Jim
 
I've used an MSR WhisperLite for years and it has served me well.

Nice if you're going to odd places where special fuels may be hard to come by.
 
I love my Whisperlite for boiling.

For simmering: Coleman Multifuel. Fairly light for integral tank stove and great flame control. Separate wind screen (heavy aluminum foil) helps.

Alcohol for fueling: alcohol fuel additive for auto section of big box stores
 
I really love the MSR Pocket Rocket, it is mirco sized at 3.2 ozs and can bring water to a boil in 3 1/2 minutes.
 
I use the esbit stove with esbit fuel. I'm getting on to geezer status, so I keep it as simple, lite and compact as possible, plus an added incentive is that it's under 10 bucks with fuel.
 
Outside of the Trangia alcohol stoves, I've used a lot of them. By "backcountry", I'm assuming you mean here in the states...your location for use has a lot to do with selection. White gas is not as readily available in some countries, whereas Kerosene is. The IsoButane mixed cannisters can also be hard to come by, and don't work as well as some gas stoves at highter altitudes. I'm a big believer in the multifuel stoves, and my old MSR XGK has been a trooper. Another moderately priced white gas stove is my Svea 123...just a straight solid performer.

Similar to the MSR Pocket Rocket, I have Snow Peak's Giga Ti stove. For light weight packing on shorter trips, it's great. Extremely easy to get into operation. The only issue is making sure you have a decent wind screen as these stoves sit a little higher and a moderate breeze will steal a lot of heat.

I've currenty been using the Optimus Nova multi-fuel stove...great, rugged design and easy to use. For extended backcountry use, I'd be comfortable with the Svea, Nova or XGK...

Lots of great choices out there, and some good sites to give quality reviews such as REI and Outdoorreview

ROCK6
 
ohen cepel said:
I've used an MSR WhisperLite for years and it has served me well.

Nice if you're going to odd places where special fuels may be hard to come by.
Click to expand...

I'll second that, great stove.
 
I can second the whisperlite if going out of the states, but I love the pocket rocket myself. Used it extensively in the military. Great for making coffee out of my butt pack while on breaks or on watch.
 
All of the stoves mentioned are very good.
Let me add another. If you live near a Wal-Mart they have a Coleman Peak-1
canister stove on sale for <$20.00. It uses threaded canisters and the burner
simular to the Gaz style. (Large) not really light weight but not heavy either,
IMO 4-6oz.
I seem to collect stoves, about everthinig but the MSR brand. No reason for that, I just don't care for the separate fuel tank.
My stoves that get the most use are:
Seva 123. It Never Fails!
Primus canister (yellowstone).
And Coleman peak-1 canister. About on par with the yellowstone. They use the same fuel canister. Both just turn them on and lite.
The one most important item IMO is a good wind screen. This will cut fuel use by up to 1/2 for any stove!
<><
 
i have a MSR Dragonfly that i have used several times in the last year that I have owned it. It burns and sounds like a blow torch. It burns diseal, unleaded gas, white gas jet fuel, naptha and others. I have had no problems with it at all. I have even cooked in the kitchen with it.
 
I use the coleman exponent with the integral gas tank. It has served me very well on many a hiking and camping trip. My only complaint is that the fuel cannot be fully removed so it becomes an illegal item to takewhen travelling by air. I must look into a stove with a seperate fuel tank that can be removed and washed for those overseas trips.
 
This is a good thread. My main concern with refillable liquid or canister stoves is the extra space and weight of packing the fuel you will need. I like to carry a pocket rocket and if I am planning on a big meal get a good ol' fire going. I always keep a small light (folding) inexpensive solid fuel stove as a back up. I'd hate to have to boil water with it but it will at least soften noodles in a pinch.

How do you guys estimate the extra fuel needed for 3 to 5 day trips?
 
fuel consumption for white gas/gasoline stoves differ greatly, but this is what I've learned... warming up the stove burns up a lot of fuel. Cold weather wind, and/or high altitudes raises the amount of fuel needed for both warmup and cooking. Under rather perfect conditions, my Coleman Peak 1 will make about 8 or 9 cooking sessions on 11 ounces of fuel (small MSR fuel bottle)... Having some extra white gas or gasoline in the field is comforting as you can start fires or make a dirt stove with it, and if you run out of fuel, one can almost always find a gas station closeby.
 
I've used a few. To answer your questions:

1. Boiling water with Sterno-- I was finally able to boil water with this cool-burning fake napalm in a can. What I had to do was: put a lid on the pot, place the pot as close to the sterno as reasonably possible, and put a large windbreak cone/teepee of aluminum foil over the can and pot together. I left a small hole in the top for venting. This is the only way I've ever gotten Sterno to boil water.

2. What stoves do you use?--

Alcohol--I played with a brass Swedish alcohol stove. Heat control was a little iffy and the fuel was $10 (or so) a gallon. If you just want to boil water and don't have much money, this is the way to go. Ten bucks worth of alcohol and a 3 dollar stove will give you lots of affordable experience with cooking on a camping stove. I like this low-tech, super cheap option better than solid fuels, such as Esbit, hexamine, armysurplus stuff, & etc.
I don't think a non-adjustable alcohol stove will be good for simmering or frying pancakes, tho.

White Gas-- This is the good stuff. I started with a Coleman Mod 440 Dual Fuel Stove. I think of it as an updated WWII surplus stove. It has huge heat output, can also simmer, and RARELY catches fire :) It fries pancakes, simmers soup, and boils quarts of water very nicely. On the other hand, you need tools to take it apart if the generator clogs. And the MTBE that Calif. has in its gas reportedly clogs stove and lantern generators. I think this is true.

My current backpacking stove is a multifuel MSR Dragonfly with the skimpy 11oz. fuel bottle. This sucker burns about anything flammable (except alcohol). I was more than happy running WalMart brand "Coleman Fuel" thru it, and never had a clog in the 5 (or so) gallons I've run thru it. Kero was a diff. story. That stuff was full of teeny particulate and "cr@p" that clogged all my stove's eency filters inside of half a gallon. So either filter suspect fuels, or just feed from clean cans of WallyM gas.

The 11oz. fuel bottle lasted me for over 3 days with tons of cooking at high altitudes early this summer (10,000 ft, behind Mt. Whitney). If you don't use a windscreen, tho, your fuel consumption will rise dramatically.

However, the Dragonfly uses a roarer burner, so it tends to have a loud, objectionable roar when you are heating water. And the concentrated little fireball of heat it makes is poor for pancake frying. No prob. boiling or simmering water, tho.

Whoosh, more than you wanted to know, I'm sure.

For good (but slightly dated) info on all aspects of backpacking/mountaineering, I recommend "Freedom of the Hills" written by The Mountaineers. This is a standard reference on the subject.

Good luck, and

Cheers
 
Im with longbow, I love that stove and it works great, I built a wind shield from a roasting pan I cut up and folded the edges to keep from cutting me.
 
trangia is great for its simplicity if you're cooking for only one...foolproof, no parts to wear out, but only works on alcohol...i've used it from 5000 to 12,000 feet with no problems...

next, SVEA....it's been around for somewhere around 8 million year, takes a licking and keeps on ticking...simple, basic, puts out a hell of a flame...

i've had the msr dragonfly & the brunton nova -- both great stoves but too many parts, too much stuff to go wrong...i like simplicity, i like bombproof...trangia and svea do it for me...sold all my other stoves and these two do everything i need, reliably.
 
As a avid backpacker and bowhunter, I second the MSR Dragonfly. Awesome stove! Have used it in all types of weather, conditions and places with no complaints. Yes, it does roar, but the adjustability of the flame is amazing.
 
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