Jno

I am making equipment choices for a tour of Canada. Even though it’ll mostly be on paved roads we expect to spend lots of time avoiding traffic, towns etc. My question for the forum is, how available is white gas (Coleman gas)? Will we need to hit cities likely to have camping stores or Canadian tires, or is it available in smaller stops in rural settings?

Steve B.

Get a stove that uses multi-fuel. You can use auto gas. Or get a standard iso-butane canister stove, the cannisters are available everywhere.

indyfabz

How long is this planned trip? How many people? What type of cooking do you plan to do?

bOsscO

White gas is generally available even in smaller towns. I do like Steve B. recommendation of a stove that can burn multiple fuel types, like the MSR Whisperlite International.

Brett A

I did my first tour (1 month, 1k miles SF to Grand Canyon) with a multi-fuel stove, an Optimus Nova. The problem I had with white gas was it actually wasn't all that available where I was, and when I did find it, it was always by the gallon. That takes a long time to use. Are you going to carry it? Leave it behind? That's why a lot of people burn gasoline in multi-fuel stoves. You can fill a bottle in your cage for around fifty cents and it can last a week.

All that said, a week into my next tour, I switched to a Jet Boil. The Optimus become unreliable. The pump plunger dried out and I couldn't get it re-hydrated and the needle/jet got clogged and has never been the same. Too fidgety, too much trouble. The Jet Boil isn't great either as it's hard to find fuel canisters in remote areas, they don't last long if you're actually cooking on it (not just boiling water), and they're expense ($5 a week in fuel instead of fifty cents a week).

Next tour I may just leave the kitchen stuff at home and eat food that doesn't need to be cooked.

This was all solo experience, BTW

Tourist in MSN

I suspect you would mostly look for Canadian Tire or Walmart.

This.
https://www.canadiantire.ca/en/pdp/c...-0760044p.html

You might occasionally find smaller ones:
https://www.canadiantire.ca/en/pdp/c...0093p.html#srp

Or:
https://www.walmart.ca/en/ip/coleman.../6000103124747

Some larger hardware stores may have it too. But I do not know the store brands in Canada well enough to comment on which.

I do not think a multi-fuel stove is needed. The multi-aspect usually means it can burn kerosene. A few multi-fuel stoves can also use the butane mix canisters, like these.
https://www.canadiantire.ca/en/pdp/w...2858p.html#srp

But a store that would sell those canisters would also sell coleman fuel.

For your small group, I do not recall, is it four? Coleman fuel, that means you most likely would be buying a gallon at a time. You probably would want four one-liter bottles so everybody can carry a bottle. If you are worried about not being able to buy it often enough, maybe carry a fifth or six liter bottle to make sure.

Djb, Happy Feet, Gauvins are going to know this better than me since I only visit Canada.

If you are on the road and start getting concerned that you might not be able to buy it, you can use auto fuel too. I avoid auto fuel, I do not like the additives in the air near the stove when I am cooking, but as an emergency I have bought a bit of auto fuel and added to my coleman fuel.

Happy Feet

I know nothing! (In the voice of Sgt. Schultz)

I only use canisters or cold camp so I have no clue about fuel availability.

I did see that Atmosphere has the MSR Wisperlite on for $129. It's supposed to be a dependable multifuel burner.

Worknomore

Consider an alcohol fueled stove. HEET (yellow bottle, methenol) in 12 oz bottles available at most gas stations for 2 to 3 $

kaos joe

Also in just about any store that carries hardware/paint. Shellac thinner is denatured ethanol and is available in smaller bottles.

IPassGas

We toured Montréal -> Gaspe --> Mirimichi (NB) in 2018 and around Nova Scotia in 2019. White gas was available in sporting stores and Canadian Tire. We carried a liter and when down to less than 1/4 found more without too much problem. With a cell it is relatively easily to locate sport/camping stores on route and call to ask what they have. It was available in quart/liter size. However, cars campers are moving away from white gas. Younger people we talked to at campgrounds had no knowledge of white gas/Coleman fuel. So over time may become more difficult.

In the future, as a backup, we plan to carry a canister stove without fuel. Some canister stoves are small and ~ 2 oz. We prefer cooking with white gas, our stove will also use kerosene. If we can't find liquid fuel when needed, will buy canister fuel and use until white gas is found.

skookum

Shellac thinner is rather expensive to use as stove fuel. Methanol is readily available and cheaper but it less energy dense so has a lower heating value.

staehpj1

White gas has not been as available as I'd like in sizes I'd like where I have toured so a multifuel stove that can burn gasoline in a pinch is one answer. I'd like to buy white gas by the pint on tour and it typically is in gallon jugs (sometimes quarts, but even a quart is a lot for me travelling alone). I own an MSR International and it is a nice stove. I generally use it for backpacking and plan to use it canoe camping with white gas, but might use it for some tours and would probably use gasoline at times.

I have had problems finding canisters at times in some places. Folks claim they are everywhere, but we went a very long way on the Trans America asking in every store we stopped in without finding any and we asked at a lot of places after leaving Pueblo and until giving up at Pippa Passes KY. There was an outfitter in Carbondale IL that reportedly had them but they were closed when we passed through. That was 2007 though so maybe that is no longer the case. People claimed that every Walmart had them at that time too though so I have my doubts.

Denatured alcohol is one fuel that I have never had a problem finding. I typically buy the little yellow bottles of Heet gas line anti freeze from any gas station, mini mart, walmart, or auto parts store. There is also denatured alcohol in any paint or hardware store. This has been my go to touring stove fuel on most of my tours and I have burned it in a pop can stove. It is the lightest combination I have found if you do not need to carry more than a few days of fuel. If you need to carry many days of fuel the weight advantage shifts to stove that burn fuels with a higher energy density. The pop can stove is banned is some places due to the lack of a shut off valve when there are fire bans and is slower than my whisperlite.

tcs

The prepping hobby and thoughtful natural disaster preparedness combined with the coalescing around just one small stove canister design seems (non-scientific assessment alert!) to have improved the availability of Lindal valve canisters. Plus, small adapters for stove-to-butane cylinders and -propane canisters are available. (Hmm. The thought of resorting to a 1 lb. propane canister while cycletouring is equal parts humorous and painful.)

Heet also deals with water in fuel lines and is sold year-round throughout the southern US as well.

staehpj1

I had not thought of that as a reason why the'd be more available, but I believe it may be true.

I figured they might be a little less available in the south, but indeed I can find the here in Tallahassee and didn't have trouble finding them when riding the Southern Tier.

Oh and any of the pressurized liquid fuel stoves that I have used have a bit of a drill to firing them up. Not big deal, but after not using them for a year or more I find it prudent to practice the procedure a few times at home before heading out on a trip. That seems to be true of my SVEA 123 and my Whisperlite even if I have used them hundreds of times. Canister stoves and pop can stoves are simple enough as to not require that IME.

ricrunner

I carry 2 cookers, an iso-butane one and a a solid fuel block cooker. I use the solid fuel, mainly in extreme cold, but have never had an issue, with the butane in the temps in winter That I cam[p in.. The solid fuel one helps warm up the tent as well when it is cold.

Tourist in MSN

Since almost all gasoline sold in USA now has up to 10 percent ethanol added to it, I have not added any de-icing alcohol to my fuel tank for over a decade.

I have been surprised that Heet continues to be sold as much as it is, I am curious what types of fuel are people needing to add Heet to?

I grew up in Minnesota, we had a few bottles of Heet sitting next to our jumper cables in the trunk, so I am well familiar with its purpose. But that was before ethanol was added to gasoline.

fishboat

While true, I'd venture to say a large portion of the population wouldn't know ethanol from maple syrup. You're assuming people understand the relationship of ethanol and water in a non-polar medium...and how adding methanol (chemically similar to ethanol) is redundant. (though some may argue 10% ethanol-gas is already saturated with water and adding anhydrous methanol is indeed a plus). In the end, if people are willing to buy it, whomever sells HEET are more than happy to sell it. The mystery additive aisle in automotive sections of stores is well stocked.

Rid-x for septic systems comes to mind, as well as the food supplement aisle in grocery stores.

djb

this is a photo from France, I took my Trangia and sometimes the smallest container of 90% alcohol I could find was this size, probably 1.5 or 2 litres. Kinda heavy to schlepp around but as someone else mentioned, if you had to buy a large bottle of camp fuel, whatever the type, splitting it up between the group would be nice..

bikemig 

I'm a big fan of Trangia stoves as well. They're bombproof.

homelessjoe

all coleman stoves and lanterns run perfectly well on regular gasoline....thats what they were designed for........thats what they use in the back country and isolated areas all over the world.........white gas is similar to regular gas just a bit more refined .....when you use regular gasoline in your colemans you must clean it more often........it cruds up a bit....I have used their lanterns and stoves for years and years...... but now I am totally sold on alcohol stoves......smaller cleaner lighter easier neater cheaper.........just better.........but in Canada I dont think there is a single place where you cant scrape up some twigs and have a fire unless youre in the middle of a lake

Happy Feet

Almost all National and Provincial Parks will have fire bans during the summer forest fire season. I would say a stove is needed if you want to cook in those areas during a tour.
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There are lots of threads here about wood (and other) stoves. Type twig stove into the site search engine for a lot of funny reading. The big brother/denatured alcohol tangent was quite amusing

Tourist in MSN

I do not know how you plan to get to and from your starting and ending points, but if you are new to liquid fuel stoves, I am sure that you are aware that you can't take the fuel on an airplane. But if your stove or any other stove parts like fuel bottles smell like fuel, they might be confiscated which you probably did not know.

I went through the hassle of cleaning out my fuel bottles for an international trip in 2016, decided that after that I will always bring stoves that use the butane mix type cansisters that I buy localy.

When I came home from my Maritimes trip (summer 2019), the Canadian airport security staff saw my butane mix camp stove on the X ray, asked me to pull it out of my pack, which I did. The security agent said if she could smell anything she had to confiscate it. She smelled it, did not smell any fuel, and handed it back to me to pack. Butane cannister stoves do not smell of fuel, that is why I only use those now when I fly somewhere.

If you fly to the west coast and stay at a motel there, you could probably ship your stove to the motel in advance. And ship it home at the end of your trip from the east coast. That way the stove does not go through airport security screening.

More info here:
https://www.msrgear.com/blog/flying-...camping-stove/

The last time I did carry a liquid fuel stove on a plane, it was an Optimus Nova. It was in my carry on, but the fuel bottles were in my checked luggage. They saw it on the X ray, took the stove out to inspect it. that stove has pot supports that on an X ray apparantly look like a saw blade, the agent felt the pot supports and said that it was not sharp enough to be a weapon and that was it for the inspection, I did not lose the stove.

The stove with the saw blade pot supports in the photo below, I am heating water for a cup of tea. Ortlieb wind screen.

homelessjoe

I have a home made stick stove that Ive used a lot but now after Ive read all the new west coast camp rules from the US Forestry dept....the no list is extensive......the only stoves that you can use are pressurized stoves and they really dont want you lighting them ......and I guess I cant blame them after all the fire devastation in California.........I dont think they are liking campers with fire any more

tcs

When the US goes carbon-free in 14 more years...




Tell 'em you saw it first here on BikeForums!

tcs

That varies from place to place. Nearly all the developed parks here in Parts Unknown have prohibitions on gathering combustibles. I can well imagine hoards of hunter/gatherers would quickly denude the natural setting.