Camping Stove

[JackOfAllTrades]

Day trips the tabs are fine in a drilled Tuna can for a wind break. You can boil water with a full tab if you have a pot with a generous amount of bottom surface area. But they just don't cut it in really cold weather. It is nice to have a few on hand for emergency fire starter on the wet side. I've built a few alcohol stoves and will toss one in the day pack once in a while. They work, but the fine tuning is a PITA. The stove is light as heck, but I'd still take 6oz. of fuel with me. I've got a Pocket Rocket now for anything overnight that is so much more convenient. I love the JetBoil system, but the weight and size is a turn off.

The Snow Peak Hybrid Ti cookset with Ti spork (8oz.) gives you a polymer bowl, cook pot and a pan/plate that doubles as a lid to the pot. -Which retains more heat when boiling and reduces boil time by nearly 1/3. The pocket rocket (3oz.) fits inside the cookset. If I use a piece of foil, rocks, my pack or other 'something' as a wind break, making sure to use the pan as a lid every time I boil water, then the amount of fuel is reduced. A 4oz. canister lasts quite well.  I can leave the polymer bowl home and save a couple ounces.

I might have gotten a little off track huh...?  What I'm trying to point out is that the weight difference isn't everything, and if you put a lid on your boil pot and use a wind break, you'll likely have a better experience boiling water with any type of stove/fuel.

-Steve

[Miles]

I hear what you're saying...

I use the Snow Peak 700 cup/lid, spork, giga power stove (8.2 oz), along with the 100g jet power fuel canister (6.5 oz) and it's a grand total of 14.7 ounces.
I have yet to run out of fuel on a 4 day hunt making mountain house and coffee every day.  Sometimes I'll even use it to cook some Ramen Noodles mid-day if it's cold.  I like it because everything nests together and I can also toss in my packets of Starbucks Via/sugar (which helps keep everything from rattling around).

[AKBowman]

That may be my problem, I don't use a wind guard.  That might be enough to push it over the top.  Most of the time it is below, at or just above freezing so it probably wouldn't boil with the guard anyway.

Do you make your own Alcohol stove?  If so, how did you do it?  I have been kicking around the idea of making one but I don't know what I would be gaining other than having fun. 

We get full boils with ours, but always employ an aluminum foil wind guard.

In below freezing I switch to an alcohol stove.

The guard makes all the difference in the world. It's best to have one that covers 360 degrees and well up over the top of the canister into the pot.