[pct-l] carrying and shipping alcohol

[bharve at dslextreme.com (Bruce Harvey)]

I'm certainly interested to read what others are using for carrying alcohol,
and for shipping it.

Carrying:
What I'm using to carry alcohol in the pack is working fine, but am
interested in other's approaches.  I'm using a semi-flexible plastic bottle
(not Nalgene) from REI.  My estimate (not measurement) of its volume is 4~5
Oz.  That has been enough for eight firings of duration sufficient to cook
very thin angel hair pasta al dente.  I bought two bottles, to get both a
solid cap and a flip top dispenser cap.  One bottle and both caps are
carried in the pack.  The dispenser cap is used to fuel stove, the solid cap
when hiking.  I don't trust the flip top to be leak proof, even with an
added O-ring gasket.  The solid cap and bottle have been leak-proof.  On one
hike, bottle was opened at 6400', closed with approx 3/4ths of the volume
being airspace, and taken to 9000' while purposely inverted; no leakage was
detected.

Nalgene bottles are reputed to never leak, and look like they shouldn't leak
due to difference of inside and outside pressure.  However, decanting from
their open tops would likely entail considerable spillage, unless the
bottles were filled to no more than approx 1/3rd full.  Metal bottles for
liquid fuel could be used, and decanting might work OK using the pump.
Decanting from the open top of a metal fuel bottle would be the same as with
Nalgene bottles (if not worse, due to the interior threads and rounded lip
at the opening).

As to size of container, determine for yourself how much volume of alcohol
you'll need for your firing times and number of firings.  You may as well go
with bottle (or bottles) with the volume you need for each particular hike
or hike segment, plus whatever margin you decide on.  To determine your
needs, fire up at home and cook several of the meals & quantities you plan
for the trail, and factor in the increase of time to boil at higher
elevations.

Shipping
For shipping alcohol, I'm tentatively planning to ship denatured ethyl
alcohol in regular plastic 16 Oz. alcohol bottles of the sort found in
pharmacies and grocery stores.  One of these could also be carried in pack;
they withstand eleveation change without leaking even when near empty.  My
plan for shipping is wrap them in paper towels or cloths, rubber band the
absorbent material, and then enclose each wad in a plastic zip lock bag.  I
believe that *may* satisfy USPS requirements and EPA regs, but I'm still
reading those.  If interested, be forewarned that there is a lot to read.
You could start at the link below.
http://search.usps.com/search_entry.jsp?Enhance=0&QueryText=hazardous&search.x=31&search.y=11

Anyone out there who is knowledgeable please add to the discourse!  Help out
the rest of us.



----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Judith Rush" <crush@ptd.net>
To: <pct-l@mailman.backcountry.net>
Sent: Wednesday, February 11, 2004 10:32 PM
Subject: [pct-l] Alcohol stove


My son and I decided to go with alcohol stoves this year. What size and type
container is used for the alcohol ??

                                           Carl
_______________________________________________
pct-l mailing list
pct-l@mailman.backcountry.net
unsubscribe or change options:
http://mailman.hack.net/mailman/listinfo/pct-l