Best stove fuel

[lowenna]

I have bought a new boat which I intend to sail from Britain to the Caribbean, living on board for a fair period. At the moment it has a Camping Gaz-fuelled stove and I have heard that this fuel is difficult to find outside Europe. What is the best stove fuel to use? What about the Origo methylated spirits/alcohol stoves?

 

[Alastairdent]

Hot air seems universally available, whenever boaties gather. Maybe that is the best fuel?

<ducks>

 

[trouville]

Ive been thinking about stoves as im getting a smaller boat and dont want camping gas which goes quite quickly and can be very expensive,and dosent heat as well as the large btls.
http://www.outdoormegastore.co.uk/acatalog/Outdoor_Megastore_Coleman_Camping_Stoves_49.html

Im going to buy a two burner petrol cooker its very economical has a hot flame easy to light and dosent turn pots black as parrafin dose.
The reason im going this route and giving up a grill is becouse my new boat built 1950! has a honda petrol outboard and anyway even now i a 5 gallon tank for the johnson i use on my tender and a 1gallon can reserve for the generator, so another gallons not going to make things worse, on the Folkboat i will have the 5 gallon tank and simply fill a 2 gallon reserve, which i will use for cooking as well

As for meths or alcohol it takes a year to boil a pint of water then you have to keep meths on board, which is just as explosive as petrol, and once lighting my tailors diesel heater i spilt some alcohol starting it, this caught fire and dripped down into the bilge which had a scum of diesel dirt (from the shower) and water did not put the flame out thankfully it went out, but alcohol is funny stuff not as safe as imagined and stoves for it cost a fortune!!!

 

[jerryat]

Hi, We also use a butane (Camping gaz) fuelled cooker and had no problems getting exchange bottles in the Caribbean, though it was more generally/easily available in the 'French' islands, e.g. Martinique. No probs in the Med. either. Can't remember whether we had to get gas in the Cape Verdes so can't advise.

We carry five cylinders so had plenty of time to get replacements before being reduced to raw meat!!

Cheers Jerry

 

[jeanne]

Do not go for alcohol/meths burners for long distance, it is often available only in pharmacies, thus at premium prices. The only place we found with a very cheap supply (for pre heating our paraffin burners) was in Brazil, where they run cars on cane spirit, which made it very economical... A friend of ours did get some fantastic stuff from a distillery in Grenada though!!!

 

[AGalloway]

The new North Korean gimballed stove which runs on Plutonium seems to be the answer to long term cooking needs aboard ship.

 

[charles_reed]

Ah! but the radiation burns

make it a very high actuarial benefit.

 

[charles_reed]

I think that, on balance, LPG (either propane or butane) has got to be the least disadvantaged fuel - providing one has conventional screw-valve bottles you can get it filled almost anywhere in the world. Camping Gaz is probably the most widely available around the world, but also the most expensive by a factor of x2 or x3.

Alternatives are diesel, but I've yet to find a diesel stove which is chef-friendly, or the good old-fashioned Coleman/Primus stove which works on petrol or good quality kerosene. The problems with all these is the palaver of lighting them and with petrol the fire-risk and kerosene the supply difficulties.

I've left the alchol stove to the last - I was once the proud owner of an Origo stove and quite quickly converted it to direct LPG operation.
Alcohol stoves are too feeble for effective cooking, unbelievably expensive to run and nauseating in a seaway.

 

[dickh]

If you are in Britain, use Calor Gas as it is much cheaper than Camping Gaz. You can get a convertor for the Calor Gas to the Camping Gaz when you are in Europe and the Caribbean. The Calor Gas CEntre sells them.

 

[trouville]

Charles thank heavens for your post!Once agian i have another boat,from time to time i find a small sail boat which is fun, i had and old wooden Dragon, and a plastic J24, for both i wanted a small cooker.

On both i first put a parafin cooker which with the pre heat and clogging problems blacked everything,I through that overboard, and replaced it with an origo alcohol stove which was very slow and indeed made me ill with the smell of the alcohol.

That too went overboard and i replaced it with a single burner gas and a French "cube" which i could refill in Italy from an Italian bottel and the topping lift.

I think it must be the winter syndrom,and a wish to be independent of a heavy metal bottel,but after reeding your post reality has prevailed !

Ill now order a two burner and grill compact gas cooker costing about £50 and buy a second cube which together ought to last a year

If you hadent made that post im sure i would have bought an origo and this time not one from a secondhand shop (as there arnt any) but new!!! And then i really would have regreted it later and in the Baltic its forbidden to through things overboard?