I believe 'White Kerosene' is also known as deoderized kerosene. Its available in most paint stores in 1-gal and 1-qt cans; painters use it for cleaning painting equipment when using oil-based paints. Check the stores in your area to see if you can find it (either big box places like Home Depot/Lowes or smaller paint specialty stores). Its not as oily or smelly as regular kerosene. Use fire paste to warm your stove if using kerosene - much easier than trying to use an alcohol.

After using a variety of fuels while traveling the third world countries back in the 1980 & 1990s, I stay away from kerosene and try to use either gasoline or white gas - easier to light, not as smelly/dirty, and it'll evaporate readily if spilled.

Another option. Even though you've bought the Coleman stove, how about a small butane/isobutane canister stove for shorter trips, or summer trips? MSR Pocket Rocket or equivalent. I use one and prefer it for its simplicity on shorter trips. I try to plan meals of cold foods with a hot drink to keep things simple, and the canister stoves work great for this. Simpley attach the burner to the canister, turn the valve, and light. Soup/cocoa/coffe ready in 5 minutes. And easy to dismantle, too. Canisters are availabel almost everywhere, too.

I have an old Optimus 00 that I've had for 30 years and just love. It's a big old brass thing, made in Sweden and it burns kerosene. I never had any issues finding fuel or getting it lit in the morning once I learned the technique, using white jelly paste to light it up - it made for a nice morning ritual to get the coffee going. Far more enjoyable than the newer stoves, but it is quite heavy and you occasionally had to clean the burner orifice with a wire tool - took 2 secs. I still use it when car or motorcycle camping just for fun.

I think you're on the right track as far as the lower flammability of kerosene (vs. white gas) and the higher energy it contains. Just find a gallon locally and split it up. Carry two fuel bottles and you should have enough for 10-14 days if you don't waste it.. If you have to restock enroute most hardware or paint supply stores should have it.

Do you think sterno would work instead of the paste? I read somewhere of someone doing that and it seems that sterno would be cheaper and more readily available.

Thanks a lot for the encouragement :D
I was starting to think everyone considers kerosene to be a bad idea :eek:

I really like my MSR Pocket Rocket, but I have definitely not found the canisters to be anywhere near as widely available as I would like. On the TA in 2007 we didn't find canisters for well over 2000 miles from Pueblo eastward. Up until Pueblo we always found them when we needed them but the middle of the country was slim pickings. I know that we passed at least one place that had them (in Carbondale IL) but it was a Sunday morning and they were closed.

Even in California depending on where you go cartridge availability might be an issue. In 2010 we left San Diego with no cartridges and the first place we saw any was 19 days later in Yosemite. I was surprised that we didn't find them more often since we were often in close proximity to the Pacific Crest Trail and glad I took the pop can stove as a spare. Undoubtedly we could have found them in San Diego, but we were focused on getting out of the airport and out of town.

I have started taking a Pepsi can stove and the Pocket Rocket. Since the Pepsi can stove weighs less than an ounce including pot stand and uses the same wind screen and pot, it is easy to take as a backup. Yellow bottle Heet has been very easy to find on all my tours and if that would fail we could resort to buying alcohol at a hardware store. I would consider leaving the Pocket Rocket home and relying exclusively on the Pepsi can stove, but the Pocket Rocket is only about 3 ounces so the weight penalty for having both isn't too bad.

Bottom line... if using a cartridge stove either carry a backup or plan ahead not assuming frequent cartridge availability.

Seems to me that if you have to carry and depend on two fuels you`re negating the benefits of better efficiency and complicating things. `Course I could be wrong about that.

It's not that kerosene is a bad idea, it's just that kerosene isn't as available as you might think. Gas stations used to carry it but they also used to check the oil and radiator. They just don't carry kerosene much anymore because there's no demand for it. You might be able to find it in a hardware store but, more likely than not, it will be in 1, or even 5:eek:, gallon sizes.

White gas, Coleman Fuel, naphtha, etc. are more readily available and, like I mentioned in an earlier post, are available in 1 qt sizes at WalMart.

I'll agree that using gasoline is probably not a wise idea. It's too flammable and it's too hard to dispense into a MSR sized fuel bottle. Talk about taking a drink from a fire hose:eek::rolleyes: I'd have to be pretty desperate before I'd use gasoline. And there are just too many places to get food that ready to eat to be that desperate on tour.

I was thinking of using it instead of preheating paste....I don't see how carrying a small can of sterno would be much different from carrying an expensive tube of pre-heating paste. The lower cost of sterno outweighs the smaller size of a tube of pre-heating paste...for me.

I won't give WalMart my business...so even though they are everywhere, it doesn't help me..:rolleyes:
I would have to find a different source even if I did use Coleman Fuel...

Anything that can heat up the generator tube should work fine for the preheating. The paste is just a little more convenient to dispense from the tube, but I don't see any reason why Sterno wouldn't work as well.

Unfortunately, on tour, beggars can't be choosers. I don't shop at Walmart on any kind of regular basis. However, once you get out into Helmart land, you'll find that there really isn't anywhere else to go. Helmarts are like giant ant hills. Everything around them is stripped bare...grocery, hardware, sporting goods, clothing, shoes, etc...leaving you either to try and make due with what you can find at convenience stores or you have to pass through the gates of Helmart. You don't have much choice.

Case in point is the route along the western border of Iowa following the Lewis and Clark. There's a Helmart at Sioux City, Council Bluffs and Kansas City. That's a distance of 280 miles. Between Sioux City and Council Bluffs, you'll find nothing...it's a Sonoran food desert. Between Council Bluffs and KC, you'll find less than nothing. It's a Saharan food desert. 30 or 40 years ago, there would have been 100 small towns and 200 small grocery stores. Today all you'll find is boarded up windows. People will stupidly drive 200 miles round trip to save $0.04 on a bottle of fabric softener than shop a the local stores. I know because my parents were some of those stupid people.

Even within larger towns like Sioux City and Council Bluffs, you are hard pressed to find alternatives.

Wow, thats pretty terrible! I didn't realize the extent to which Walmart has destroyed local businesses...:cry:
ok, I'll see what happens....I hope I won't have to go there...
Maybe carry a little extra fuel, IDK...I've never done a tour before.

I'll take some short ones first, and see what I can and cannot do...:innocent:

Thanks so much!!

IW, my point was that it`s an extra consumeable to carry and search for, whether it`s a can or a tube. But as noted, there isn`t really any perfect fuel. BTW, I never considered using kerosene, (didn`t even realize that it was one of the possibilities for multi fuesl stoves), and didn`t realize it was so much more efficient, so I learned that much from this thread. The bottom line is that the fuel(s) you decide to carry will really make very little difference in whether or not you`re happy, comfy, and well fed on a tour. Go ahead and research, look at the situation, then make your best guess and go for it- it`ll work out.

This stove seems similar to the old SVEA123. Nice stove!

?I thought we used to preheat our SVEA with a few drops of gas. Just meant carrying along a plastic pippette, or burping the jet. But not carrying different fuel types.

I would personally carry something like [url=http://www.rei.com/product/709000]

http://i.imgur.com/qnPQp.png

Along with a couple of these fuel canisters.

http://i.imgur.com/ofPLr.png

That way you could use pretty much any fuel available and that gear is designed to be super light (20 ounces for stove, pump, and canister).

Actually after reviewing the stove you posted it appears I misunderstood your entire post and that aside from versatility and quality, the setup I suggested has no benefits over your stove.

My preference (which I've previously stated on similar threads - sorry for the repetition) is a stove that will burn unleaded gas, because it's so easy to find a gas station, and less easy to find a store that sells Coleman fuel by the quart (or MSR) (a gallon of Coleman fuel would be ridiculous), or butane cannisters.

I bought a Coleman 442 stove in 1992, which I believe is the predecessor to the one shown. I still have it and it still works fine, after umpteen uses. It always smelled a little bit, sometimes sputtered a little, and didn't simmer as well as butane, but it always worked and it was great to be able to top off my tank at any gas station.

I recently bought an MSR Whisperlite International with a gift certificate. It also burns unleaded. I think it's a little lighter. It's dirtier afterwards, and the wind screen is a hassle. It burns, smokes, and sputters similar to the old Coleman. It's fine.

Neither of the stoves is perfect, but they both work fine and are reliable. I still haven't decided which I like best. I'm going to take the Whisperlite on a couple more tours before I decide.

I think white gas burns cleaner than unleaded, so I look for it (by the quart) and buy it when I can (and when I need some fuel).

I'd prefer to take my butane stove if they sold cannisters at every gas station, but they don't. So I'm happy with what I have.