Touring - Alcohol fuel availability along the southern CA coast

Hello

I'm planning a month-long tour this summer up the pacific coast, starting from Santa Barbara, CA and heading as far north as I can get. I'm considering getting or making an alcohol stove, as an alcohol stove would be less fragile than my Coleman white gas stove. Also, it may be easier to obtain small quantities of methanol than white gas. I have read that many use HEET brand gas-line deicer, which is simply methanol, as fuel. But that makes me wonder...would gas stations along the southern California coast, where it hardly ever gets below freezing, sell gas-line deicer? Is there another product that I could use? If anyone's toured this route with an alcohol stove, I'd appreciate your advice!

Thanks!

- get a multi-fuel stove... that way you can use anything... these types of stoves are quite helpful here in hurricane-prone areas... so i can use regular gas, white gas (marine), camping fuel, kerosene, alcohol, etc...

- why limit yourself?

Most any hardware or paint store will have "denatured alcohol", also Lowe's, Home Depot, Menards, etc. If you get into a truck stop or truck repair shop you can usually find "air brake system dryer" AKA methanol. Drug stores will always have denatured alcohol, ie rubbing alcohol which will work, but not as well. Marine stores will often have acohol stove fuel too.

"course in a pinch, there's 151 rum or Everclear :)

Hmmm ....can you use methanol in a multi-fuel stove????

I like the alcohol stoves like the Trangia, that you just pour in the alccohol and light. No pressure, no complicated parts, not much to go wrong.

You should be able to get denatured alcohol at any hardware or paint store. Alcohol stoves are very different from "conventional" camping stoves, so get one and make sure you're happy with it while you plan the trip. I've made a couple and bought one and haven't decided if I'll take it on the next bike tour.

I don't know if you are aware that the prevailing winds are strongly Northwest, which makes travelling the pacific coast southbound a much pleasanter proposition.

Sorry, no info here about your stove issue, although the fact that as a California resident I never heard of gas line de-icer might be an indication.

Good luck with your trip!
Anna

Even when I lived in Kansas I never saw gas-line deicer...

I don't know if you are aware that the prevailing winds are strongly Northwest, which makes travelling the pacific coast southbound a much pleasanter proposition.
Anna

This is GOOD advice!

Also, if you travel south to north, you're going to be biking on the inside shoulder. That means you'll be squeezed between a cliff and the traffic for parts of your trip, especially around Big Sur...not to mention more blind corners, narrower shoulder and slightly less of a view.

You can wave at all the other cyclists going the other way, though.
:)

PS--FWIW, you *should* be able to use unleaded in your Coleman with no ill effects. You can top off a Sigg bottle for 50 cents at any gas station.

Thanks for all of your replies. I hadn't though about the winds, etc.; my idea was that since I'm relatively familiar with southern CA but I've never been north of Point Reyes, I would start in familiar territory and work towards the "unknown" :) I guess I'll have to think that through a little more.

My coleman stove would probably work ok, but it's got a lot of critical parts that look like they'd easily break off, and it's fairly bulky. I've used it mostly for car camping where I don't have to pack it tightly; for backpacking trips I've used my friend's whisperlite. Maybe I should just get a Whisperlite international and be done with it. Gasoline and kerosene would certainly be available.

HEET is not just a fuel line de-icer; It removes water from the gas lines which is a problem virtually everywhere and is thus sold everywhere. I've bought it at Auto Parts stores in very rural Florida for my Trangia alcohol stove. Denatured Alcohol is also abundantly available at hardware stores.

Any 7-11 or Circle-K will have a small automotive department...
Look for HEET or other gas line antifreeze.

They are methanol.

Try this link for HEET products (http://www.goldeagle.com/heet/wheretobuy.asp) . If you have a choice between Isopropyl or Methonal, go methonal it burns cleaner.

You can get alcohol in ANY OSH in California and they're all over the place. You can also get it in most hardware stores. I suggest you get one or two "one pint" stainless bottles from many sports outlets.

DON'T build an alcohol stove. Buy one that's been properly designed.

http://art.simon.tripod.com/Stoves/

I used alcohol stoves quite a bit when I was sailing. You need to be careful with them because the flames are generally invisible and alcohol evaporates rapidly and can infuse everything around with with inflamable fumes. You put on your sweater and then go to light the stove and can explode into flames yourself. BE CAREFUL.

Isopropyl has a lot of water in it so the heating capacity is less than pure methanol. Ethynol would be better but you can't get it easily.