[pct-l] Fuel canisters

Tue Mar 26 06:34:07 CDT 2013

Hey MendoRider,
                Yeah, stoves are stoves....  I am a ways away from the PCT. Maybe after the wife retires I will do it. ... Anyway, I figured out maybe a couple decades ago that ago that it doesn't really matter. A couple weeks and all stoves, esbit, wood, alcohol, kero, WG or canisters, work out within 5 oz of each other. So I went back to a reliable stove, low maintenance, and low volume. Since '71 or 72, I have been using the old SVEA for all longer distance trips. I gave away all my canister stoves (Jetboil, Coleman F1, SnowPeak ti) since they overlapped with alcohol and WG.
                On month long canoe trips, I avoid towns myself, stopping every couple weeks as necessary. I well understand about hitchhiking, it is nearly impossible with a boat. I just decide to walk, my pack, boat and gear usually weigh less than 45 pounds after a fresh resupply. Getting too old for that, so I broke down and got tag'a'long wheels for it two years ago. Still have to carry it, sometimes.
                Yeah, Nido is good stuff, it makes a rich cup of cocoa. It is hard to get around here, even the health food shops don't have it. I can order it on line but it doesn't keep very well. I have some in a ziplok in the freezer, now.  So, a couple packets of Swiss Miss, a tablespoon of instant coffee and a packet of oatmeal (different kinds) makes a pretty good breakfast. Like you say, usually two of those and two cups of cocoa, coffee plus nido makes up my breakfast...I believe this is around 900C, give or take.
                I have used peanut oil for trout. It does work well. But I usually carry dried butter instead. This is just butter heated in a fry pan till it stops bubbling but without browning it. A 8oz bottle goes a long ways, about all I get out of a pound. Olive oil is pretty good too. Both are handy because I can just squirt them in stuff, or, use them to cook things like fish or 'shrooms, as I go.
                Cooking time usually isn't. Always things to do around camp, even if it is avoiding rain drops. Generally pretty laid back, I guess. I usually don't start hiking till about an hour or two after sunrise. Food is often just warm when I get around to eating it...
                My thoughts only . . .
                                jdm
From: Edward Anderson [mailto:mendoridered at yahoo.com]
Sent: Tuesday, March 26, 2013 12:04 AM
To: Jim Marco; pct-l at backcountry.net
Subject: Re: [pct-l] Fuel canisters

Hi Jim,

I'm still using the same Jetboil stove that I cooked with during my four-season solo ride of the PCT.  Today, I purchased more 13 ounce (weight of canister including fuel) canisters at REI. I plan to use them during my ride of the Colorado Trail this summer. I use the Snow Peak brand rather than the Jetboil brand. They are exactly the same size and weight, and are less expensive at only $4.95 each. I have spent over six months, mostly living on the PCT - with a horse you can't hitch into towns as the hikers can.

As for fuel consumption, I can cook two meals a day for five or six days on one canister. I always also bring along one of the smaller (7.75 Oz.) canisters just in case I run out of fuel. I still have the original small canister that I bought when I bought the stove. That was in 2007. That smaller canister is still about half-full. I like that I can simmer with the shut-off valve. You get better time (fuel efficiency) if you don't cook at full throttle. I use a windscreen that I made out of the thick aluminum foil that is used by food caterers. How much fuel you actually use will depend on what you cook - what is the cooking time?  My breakfast and dinner meals always include a two cup cup of hot chocolate. I like the Swiss Miss "Hot Chocolate Sensation" with Nido powdered whole milk added. (Good calories - 2x 150 + the Nido = about 400). I make that in my old Cascade cup that I have used for decades. I also bring a titanium frying pan so I can sometimes fry trout. The weight of the trout that I catch and eat easily justifys carrying the minimal weight of frying pan. I have always used peanut oil for frying because it does not break down due to heat like some other oils - it can be strained and recycled. Restaurants on the Mendocino Coast, where I lived for 34 years, use peanut oil for frying seafood for that reason.

Have a great hike

MendoRider-Hiker

________________________________
From: Jim Marco <jdm27 at cornell.edu<mailto:jdm27 at cornell.edu>>
To: "Pct-L at backcountry.net<mailto:Pct-L at backcountry.net>" <Pct-L at backcountry.net<mailto:Pct-L at backcountry.net>>
Sent: Monday, March 25, 2013 6:09 PM
Subject: Re: [pct-l] Fuel canisters

Try ebay: http://compare.ebay.com/like/330894632606?var=lv<yp=AllFixedPriceItemTypes&var=sbar<http://compare.ebay.com/like/330894632606?var=lv%3cyp=AllFixedPriceItemTypes&var=sbar>

-----Original Message-----
From: pct-l-bounces at backcountry.net<mailto:pct-l-bounces at backcountry.net> [mailto:pct-l-bounces at backcountry.net<mailto:pct-l-bounces at backcountry.net>] On Behalf Of surferskir at aol.com<mailto:surferskir at aol.com>
Sent: Monday, March 25, 2013 3:42 PM
To: Pct-L at backcountry.net<mailto:Pct-L at backcountry.net>
Subject: [pct-l] Fuel canisters

I recently got rid of my Camping GAZ Bluet 470 backpacking stove.  It took off like an Apollo rocket, but it was heavier than my new "flyweight" stove @3.7 oz.
But I did like the big 16 oz. (454 gm ) iso-propane fuel canisters that were available from Camping GAZ.

My question now is:
Who makes 16 oz (454gm) iso-propane fuel canisters for the threaded stoves?
I can find the 8 oz canisters, but buying two of these in order to get 16 oz means carrying around a lot of extra steel.  Plus when one is empty and I am still out on the trail I am lugging around an empty steel canister of no use, while I am using the second to cook with.  (I sometimes stay out 10 days or more at a time, that is why I am looking for one big canister).  One 16 oz (454gm) canister is less dead weight steel than two 8oz (~227 gm) steel canisters.

Where can one buy or order 16 oz iso-propane fuel canisters for threaded stoves?

--Dennis--
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