I did a little forum searching and couldn't find a discussion devoted to stoves and fuel (except for the penny stoves). Can anyone link me to a thread? Or perhaps discuss it here.
How easy is it to buy fuel along the way (AT thru-hiking NoBo)? What kind of stove and fuel would people recommend?
I hope I'm not lighting the fuse on a contentious argument, but I suspect everyone has their own preferences ;-).
/Dan
Dan, I just did a search for "stoves" got several pages with several forums each. for a more detailed list/answer, try putting in what stove you want, like "wisperlight" or whatever.
A brief answer to your question: White gas & alcohol generally avalable at (almost) any hiker service place (trailside stores, hostels, motels, etc.) The more exotic you get from that the harder it may be to refuel.
I havn't used any of the canister stoves, but my 2 Gasoline & 3 or 4 alcohol stoves probably get about 7 - 8 days (easily) per 16 or so Ounces. My current alcohol stove uses 0.66 Oz per dinner, & about 0.33 for breakfast, so I get by with 1 Oz per day.
Hope this helps.
Doctari.
that's surprising that you didn't find anything... but you're right... it's been discussed. keep looking. i am mostly a weekend hiker, with a couple long trips to my credit, as well as a couple military deployments... not exactly 'thruhiker' stuff, but close enough to section hiking... here's my take:
sgt rock did a good comparison/study of fuels (alcohol, white gas, and propane) and stoves at hikinghq.net. basically, he was looking at the need to heat 2 cups of water per day to cook a hot meal with. he compared the weights of three stoves and their fuel over time. if you resupply more often than every 14 days, the alcohol stove is lighter over time (takes that long for its less efficient fuel to overcome the initially lighter stove weight.) most thru hikers seem to resupply about once every 4-6 days or so.
from a convenience stand point (pushed in part by our 'immediate gratification' society), a butane/propane stove is hard to beat. turn knob, press igniter, you have heat, just like at home... alcohol takes longer. gas needs to be set up, then pumped, then it's as convenient as propane. i'm usually not in a hurry, so the 15 minutes it takes to make supper is fine with me... i set up my stove, put dinner on, set up camp, and dinner's done when i am... works for me.
from a reliability standpoint, you can't beat the simplicity of an alcohol stove... there are no moving parts, and nothing to clog. yes, they may be a little flimsy. but mine rides safely inside my titan kettle. propane/butane are supposedly reliable, but i have no experience with them. white gas stoves can clog, o-rings can dry out, pump seals can deteriorate, etc...
from a cost standpoint, an alcohol stove is almost free. the others cost a lot, relatively speaking.
from a weight perspective, the alcohol stove is a no brainer. my ion is a tenth of an ounce. fuel bottle (12 oz, of which i need 1/2 oz per day for one hot meal) weighs 6/10th of an ounce. my MSR Simmerlite weighs 10 oz, and the smaller of the two fuel bottles (11 oz capacity) weighs several times the plastic alcohol bottle's weight (3oz? i forget). with the containers of butane/propane, you have a waste disposal problem. but if they ever figure out how to make an empty fuel container weigh less than 2 oz, it will beat the alcohol stove. (see sgt rock's study.)
finally, i get a great deal of satisfaction out of using items i've made myself. stoves included... i like cooking on a stove i made, and i like how quiet it is compared to the simmerlite or propane stove. some people don't care, so it wouldn't matter to them. also, there are cold weather issues with alcohol and butane/propane... you can read up on those on your own. the average AT thruhiker, short of a few weeks in the beginning of a NOBO hike, will be unaffected by those issues. if i were hiking in a really cold place that required me to melt snow to drink, i'd use a white gas stove without hesitation. AT/3-season hiking, i prefer an alcohol stove. oh, fuel availability... supposedly not a problem for white gas/alcohol. you can even burn HEET (gas additive) in an alkie stove. it's found in just about any gas station/convenience store/kmart/walmart. if you're using a dual-fuel gas stove, you can find unleaded gas just about anywhere too (and it will burn in a white gas/non- duel-fuel stove in a pinch... it just will clog a lot faster.)
so, there's my 3 cents... hope it helps.