[pct-l] petrolem fuel availability for multi-fuel stove

[Dan Africk]

Unlike most thru-hikers, I will be bringing an old school style, multi-fuel
liquid fuel stove(Optimus nova+ to be specific). This stove runs on
everthing from gasoline to kerosene to diesel, but I've only ever used white
gas, aka coleman fuel aka "chemically pure gasoline". White gas is the
cleanest and probably best fuel to use, but I realize that will be very hard
to find on the trail. Kerosene is probably the second best fuel(and is
highly recommended by the manufacturer, in part because it has more energy
per weight of fuel), but I imagine it would smell stronger than white gas. I
imagine I'll probably have to burn auto gasoline at some point, but the
problem with that is that auto gas contains dangerous additives that
probably aren't good to have around food, and the manufacturer even uses the
phrase "contaminate the stove", which is kinda scary.

My questions are:
1- how often if at all will white gas aka coleman fuel be available?
2 - how often might kerosene be available?
3 - does anyone on this list have experience thru-hiking with this kind of
stove?
4 - Has anyone ever used auto gasoline in their camping stove, and what did
you think?
5 - Are there gas stations at most resupply spots, or should I put a siphon
in my bounce bucket, so that I can by gas from anyone with a car if I have
to?

6 - At this point I'm pretty sure that there is no legal way to mail white
gas. Hypothetically, if someone where to mail white gas, separately from
other resupply items, how likely do you think that would be to cause
problems? If someone knew for sure that it was being shipped by ground, then
a liter of gasoline, well packaged, would be no more dangerous than the 20
gallons or so in the gas tank of the delivery truck. Please don't answer
this question if you're just going to scold me about not following the
rules, I just want the practical implications of doing this. Hypothetically
of course.

Any info would be appreciated, especially from those with personal
experience. The stove is pretty efficient, and some of my meals only require
a few minutes of cooking or just boiling water, so I could easily carry 2 or
3 weeks worth of fuel without it getting ridiculous. Thanks in advance for
your help.


-- 
www.hikefor.com/haiti-2010-Dan

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