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Time Traveler
12-10-2009, 21:25
I used a Jetboil on my AT thru hike and it was my absolute favorite piece of gear. Only had troubles finding fuel once I believe.
Well, I dont really hear much of hikers using these on the PCT or any canaster fuel type stoves for that matter. I tried making alcohol stoves and failed many times.

I was wondering if anyone uses Jetboils on the PCT or is it too hard to find fuel and carry that many canasters in between resupply stops. Also... I know this might start a huge debate... what is the best greatest most spectacular alcohol stove? Easy to light, maybe a built in wind screen, fuel efficient ect.

Man I would love to use my Jetboil, makes it so easy to cook dinner fast and efficiently.

TwoForty
12-10-2009, 21:46
You can do it with a jetboil if you are willing to stock up on canisters a few times. You can find them or even mail them if you have to. Getting alcohol is way easier. Not to mention the jetboil is heavier and more complicated.

I fiddled around making alcohol stoves, but none of them were ever as good as the whitebox stove. It's light, simple, easy to use, small, comes with a windscreen. $20 is a lot for an alcohol stove, but it was worth it for me. The performance is great. You can also burn HEET in a yellow bottle, which darn near any gas station has.

Practice at home with it though. Alcohol stoves are best when you cook meals a certain way. Also, taking one into the windy, dry desert without trying it at home is an easy way to start another trail fire.

TwoForty
12-10-2009, 21:48
Linky

http://www.whiteboxstoves.com/buy.html

(I have no affiliation with this company, I just like this stove a lot)

Red Beard
12-10-2009, 22:12
I'm not good with my hands either. Alcohol stoves like the Whitebox, Cobalt, and Packafeather are great. The best part is, they're so inexpensive you can buy them all and see which one you like best. :D

Jester2000
12-10-2009, 22:45
I used a Etowah stove for most of the PCT and loved it. I did also use a cannister stove for parts of the trail and never had problems finding fuel.

Guy
12-11-2009, 09:26
There's a thread on PCT-L going right now of people who hiked the PCT with their beloved Jetboils. If that's your thing, you can probably make it work.

I have a MSR Pocket Rocket (another canister stove) and it's great. It's got the same weakness as all canister stoves though, which is they really don't perform well in cold weather.

Jester2000
12-11-2009, 10:40
There's a thread on PCT-L going right now of people who hiked the PCT with their beloved Jetboils. If that's your thing, you can probably make it work.

I have a MSR Pocket Rocket (another canister stove) and it's great. It's got the same weakness as all canister stoves though, which is they really don't perform well in cold weather.

Canister in yer sleeping bag for breakfast, and in yer armpit for a while for dinner. Pocket Rocket will work just fine.

Guy
12-11-2009, 12:16
Canister in yer sleeping bag for breakfast, and in yer armpit for a while for dinner. Pocket Rocket will work just fine.

That's the way to make it work. The thing is, the colder it is out the worse it works. The canisters, since they're under pressure actually cool down even faster as they empty. It's why I only use them in fair weather. When it's sub-freezing but above 0F I prefer my alcohol stove. If I'm going to have to melt snow, I resort to the white gas stove, which is more efficient for that sort of thing.

It sounds to me like it's unlikely to come across truly bitter cold weather on the PCT (Is that just wishful thinking?). So I'm going with the alcohol stove.

skinewmexico
12-11-2009, 12:20
Brasslite makes a nice alcohol stove, just a lot heavier than the whitebox stoves. But I just don't see the advantage of the Jetboil over a regular canister stove and pot either.

Jester2000
12-11-2009, 13:08
That's the way to make it work. The thing is, the colder it is out the worse it works. The canisters, since they're under pressure actually cool down even faster as they empty. It's why I only use them in fair weather. When it's sub-freezing but above 0F I prefer my alcohol stove. If I'm going to have to melt snow, I resort to the white gas stove, which is more efficient for that sort of thing.

It sounds to me like it's unlikely to come across truly bitter cold weather on the PCT (Is that just wishful thinking?). So I'm going with the alcohol stove.

If I'm going to have to melt snow, I get off the trail. Ha!

I doubt you'd see that kind of extreme cold on the PCT. Possible, but very unlikely in thru-hiker season. An alcohol stove will be fine.

Guy
12-11-2009, 13:29
If I'm going to have to melt snow, I get off the trail. Ha!


That's some strong evidence that you're a smarter man than me. :)

Meta
12-11-2009, 15:42
In the end, you can make whatever you want work. However I vote alcohol stove, as their simplicity makes them basically immune to failure and fuel is EVERYWHERE and often free as its the PCT standard. Getting canister fuel is possible too but you'll almost always have to pay and often lug around two canisters or more. It's just easier to use the alcohol stove, not to mention lighter.

As for a jetboil, I really think it's just easier to use a regular pocket rocket. The jetboil is beloved by some but I've seen many in action and I just don't get what all the fuss is about. I had a cooking race with my friend who has a jetboil and I think I boiled my dinner in like 4 minutes, he boiled his in something like a minute and 30 seconds... but honestly, it's a 2.5 minute difference. Who cares?!

Alcohol stoves forever! :)

Mags
12-11-2009, 16:21
More and more users are going with a canister stove on the PCT. Does not mean it is the best (or worse) choice, but it is an option.


This link may help:
http://www.pctatlas.com/fuel.htm

Be aware, some of the places advocated are long hitches. You may have to mail yourself canisters from a homebase of from another place on the trail if a 40 mile hitch is not something you want to do. :) (And I would NOT count on a hiker box having a fuel canister... They probably will..but maybe the won't)


Since canisters ares shipped ground, plan accordingly time wise!

Read this link:
http://www.gottawalk.com/shipping_fuel.htm

UPS will also allow shipping of fuel..from PCT-L:

Page 89, under isobutane:

http://www.ups.com/content/us/en/resources/ship/hazardous/download/new.html

Grab the "49 CFR" document and check it out. They do have to go
Ground.

garlic08
12-11-2009, 18:05
I hiked the PCT in '04, the first year Jetboils were on the market, I believe. I saw a couple of hikers using them, at least one went the whole way, and I never heard a bad word about them.

I heard it's a good idea to carry a copy of the shipping rules with you--some small POs are not familiar with them and may reject your package.

Canisters have never been my choice of fuel for many reasons, but no reason you can't make it work.

Miner
12-11-2009, 18:17
I hike part of the time with people who carried a Jetboil. They are fine if you don't mind the extra weight, but they are useful for cooking if you aren't just rehydrating meals. One guy used it to boil the trout that he caught as he hiked through the Sierras. You'd have to plan where to buy your fuel ahead of time, but it is certainly doable. There were often partially filled canisters in hiker boxes all along the way which would probably last a while with the efficient Jetboil. I know a guy hiking with almost no money who relied on these.

However, I still recommend an alcohol stove. If you can't make one, then you can buy them. Mini Bull Designs has a large selection of different types. I carried a Caldera Cone Alcohol stove the whole way that comes with a wind screeen as the pot support that was pretty efficient that I bought at AntiGravityGear.

However,

Spokes
12-11-2009, 18:19
I used a Etowah stove for most of the PCT and loved it. I did also use a cannister stove for parts of the trail and never had problems finding fuel.

Ditto! Forget the hype (and the pitchmen), get an Etowah.

TwoForty
12-11-2009, 23:04
Page 89, under isobutane:

http://www.ups.com/content/us/en/resources/ship/hazardous/download/new.html

Grab the "49 CFR" document and check it out. They do have to go
Ground.

The link won't download for me, but that is interesting. In 2007 they would only ship it if I was registered as a hazardous material shipper. That certification cost a few thousand. Hopefully they stopped doing that.

Mags
12-12-2009, 12:29
The link won't download for me, but that is interesting. In 2007 they would only ship it if I was registered as a hazardous material shipper. That certification cost a few thousand. Hopefully they stopped doing that.

Apparently it worked for a user on PCT-L. Don't know from first hand experience, though...

Chance09
12-12-2009, 17:56
i love my jetboil but i hate cleaning that deep pot when noodles or rice has burnt and stuck to the bottom.

Time Traveler
12-13-2009, 13:50
I think I have decided to switch to a light weight alcohol stove instead. I should really be cutting down on weight so I can afford to bring my collapsable hula hoop and fishing rod. :rolleyes:

I've been looking into the Brasslite Turbo, it looks pretty sturdy.
Also looking at Whitebox stoves. Any thoughts on either of the two?

Not Sunshine
12-13-2009, 14:37
Linky

http://www.whiteboxstoves.com/buy.html

(I have no affiliation with this company, I just like this stove a lot)


I also have no affiliation with the company below, but I am really happy with my stove.:o

https://www.end2endtrailsupply.com/Alcohol_Stoves.html

taildragger
12-13-2009, 14:54
I've been happy out west with my alcohol stove, the thing that I like the most is the availability of HEET.

That being said, I cannot do fancy things with it, unless I made an apeture for the flame (kinda like the trangia stoves), but I wouldn't mess with one of those.

Get yourself some tuna in a can, put it on a salad, eat it, clean the can, then take a hole punch and put some holes in it. Voila, you have a cat can stove that cost $0.99 and you got a meal out of it.

sbhikes
12-13-2009, 22:08
Ditto! Forget the hype (and the pitchmen), get an Etowah.

I used an etowah stove for the first 1500 miles. (I bought it at Neels Gap on a day hike!) It worked great, but somehow it rusted.

I made a replacement by finding a little tin almost the same size as the inner tin and poking holes around the rim with a nail. Worked great, but a homemade stove made from an aluminum can and a paper hole punch was lighter, so I used that for my last 18,000 miles.

I find now that my alcohol stove doesn't work so well when it is cold and I feel a bit envious of people with canister stoves as I waste the ninth match trying to relight my stove that went out. Fortunately, it was never that cold on the PCT for me.

MintakaCat
12-13-2009, 22:23
I bought an Etowah and this is what happened after the second time I used it. Sent it back to Etowah a month ago, still no replacement.:(

http://whiteblaze.net/forum/vbg/files/1/9/3/7/7/etowah_stove.jpg

thorny
12-14-2009, 12:27
I used an alcahol stove on my A.T. hike.
I only had trouble lighting it one morning. it was 15 degrees, everything was frozen. I gave up trying to light it.

Chance09
12-14-2009, 12:32
check out the packafeather XL it has a ring around the outside that control the amount of oxygen the stove gets and you can actually simmer things. It also helps you conserve fuel by not having to have your stove at full blast every time you use it.

FiremanFrank50
12-14-2009, 12:33
I just picked up at White Box Stove. My first impression was... "is that it?" Don't be fooled because it is surprisingly lightweight. It has a super even flame pattern and it's boil rate is faster than any akly stove I've seen. An ounce of fuel seems to burn forever and probably will boil 4 cups of water. This is the best $20 I have spent on gear in a long time. JMHO!! You can't go wrong with the White Box Stove.

Fireman Frank

white_russian
12-14-2009, 13:28
I used an etowah stove for the first 1500 miles. (I bought it at Neels Gap on a day hike!) It worked great, but somehow it rusted.
I had one rust up on me as well. I don't think they do much or anything in the way of coating them to prevent it.

Jester2000
12-14-2009, 18:03
I bought an Etowah and this is what happened after the second time I used it. Sent it back to Etowah a month ago, still no replacement.:(

http://whiteblaze.net/forum/vbg/files/1/9/3/7/7/etowah_stove.jpg

Good lord. How heavy is your food?!?

Have you tried calling Paul and asking him what's up with your replacement?