Lightest 10 day stove

14 days, but. Have you read this?

http://thru-hiker.com/articles/stoveweight_vs_time_14days.php

Caldera Keg-F Cone, Pot, Lid, Snuffer – 3 ounces
10 fluid ounces of 100% Ethanol – 8 ounces
10 fluid ounce Fuel Bottle – 0.5 ounces
Total: 11.5 ounces

As the water reaches a boil, you must snuff and recover excess fuel immediately in order to assure 10 fluid ounces will get the job done.

Edited: Replaced aspirating fuel bottle with a basic 10 fluid ounce PET water bottle.
Recover fuel by dumping it into the snuffer, and then pouring it into the fuel bottle.

My Caldera Keg F system weighs 7.3 Oz.with a mini bic in it. Unlike Greg, I'm not into snuff :), so I allocate 20 Ml. a boil 2 times a day with about 10% extra per resupply. My bottle is a 20 Oz Mt Dew bottle @ .9 Oz. So for a 10 day trip that would be about 440 Ml and a total system weight of 23.1 ounces with fuel. Not the lightest, I'm sure, but I'm pleased as punch about it.

Cheers

What about other wood burners like the Backcountry Boiler and the Bush Buddy? Qi Wiz (member here) also has a folding wood burning stove. It's not really folding, but it can be disassembled and stored flat.

I'd go canister. More margin for error.

My Trail Designs Caldera Cone titanium Sidewinder with the "Gram Cracker" ESBIT tab holder & light aluminum base sheet is very light at 1.6 oz. (46 gm.). It's made to fit my 3 cup aluminum pot W/lid.

One ESBIT tab weighs 1/2 oz. I usually use only one tab per meal with this VERY efficient stove. I'm amazed that it is so much more efficient than my best efforts at making a good ESBIT stove with a tight windscreen.

The woodburning setup with the Inferno woodburning insert and ti base sheet is 3.0 oz. But you only need to carry cotton/petroleum jelly tinder balls because your fuel is found wood twigs. W/ "No open fires" regs the ESBIT setup is acceptable everywhere I have asked. (i.e. US Forest Service & BLM)

BTW> After 4 days even canister fuel is lighter than the necessary amount of alcohol,even with a Caldera Cone.

Does anyone have any comments on this article?
http://lightweightoutdoors.com/?p=2193

I will have to get out the scale to provide accurate weights but for a complete stove/cookset my Trail Designs semi custom ti caldera GVP set up is very light, very simple and reasonably durable.

2 ounce canister stove
Large fuel canister with 8 ounces of fuel weighs 12 ounces
Total 14 ounces

No mess, no fuss, and plenty of fuel for extras such as hot soup lunch or evening coco.

"BTW> After 4 days even canister fuel is lighter than the necessary amount of alcohol,even with a Caldera Cone."

A small canister weighs 7 ounces. My Snow Peak GigaPower weighs 3.1 ounces, without the case. That's 10.1 ounces. Leaving 1.1 ounces for a 3 cup pot.

What are you using and what does it weigh?

A stripped jetboil sol ti (burner and pot) plus 100g jetboil all-season fuel canister weighs 413g, and as the canisters actually contain a bit more fuel than advertised (199g full vs. 89g empty), the setup should easily be enough for 10 days, assuming average fuel consumption of 5g per .5L of water boiled. Add a 7g CF lid (I think ruta locura makes one that would fit), stock cozy plus a ti windscreen (another 30-32g) and the more efficient setup should get you 12 days.

Considering the convenience of the canister system, the sol ti is not a bad way to go if you are packing in an area where you have to carry your fuel. But looking at the solutions others have posted, it's not the absolute lightest (I expected that, but it was a fun exercise nonetheless).

"A small canister weighs 7 ounces. My Snow Peak GigaPower weighs 3.1 ounces, without the case. That's 10.1 ounces. Leaving 1.1 ounces for a 3 cup pot."

Small canister = 7 oz
Evernew 25 oz pot, foil lid = 3.1 oz
Primus Micron Ti = 2.4 oz
Total = 12.5 oz

The Micron gets excellent fuel economy, too. It's one of the best out there in this regard.

Edited to add pot.

Tom,
Do you use a pot?
How about a windscreen?

What is the weight of what it takes to boil those 2 cups of water?

g.

"Primus Micron Ti = 2.4 oz"

That's a new one, I haven't heard about that

The Monatauk gnat weighs 1.6 ounces

But, generic steel stoves, like MSR Pocket Rocket, weigh 3 ounces.

If all you're doing is saving 0.6 or 1.4 ounces it hardly matters

I shift back and forth on this stove decision for each trip.

Wood is OK, but I operate in too many places where wood fires are prohibited or else they are impractical due to lack of good wood.

A white gas (Coleman fuel) stove is obviously the heavy choice, but it is really handy if you have snow to melt or if you have lots of mouths to feed. Fuel cost is lower. The flame is clean. I have a Simmerlite.

A butane blend canister stove such as a Gnat is good for 1-3 eaters, and the burner part weighs only 1.65 oz. The flame is clean. I wish there were some way of beating the empty weight of a canister.

An alcohol stove is good for a solo hiker. The flame is clean, but kind of slow. I'm generally concerned about alcohol spillage, so my alcohol storage bottles are beefier than what many hikers use. I generally split my alcohol between two bottles, just in case of spillage. I always have to think about whether to use my high-efficiency stove plus a pot stand, or whether to use my low-efficiency stove with no pot stand required. It's a weight thing.

An Esbit stove is good for a solo hiker. The flame appears clean, but I get some soot on the cook pot and some residue on the burner platform (Ti wing stove is 0.5 oz). Spillage is never an issue, and it is simple to tell how much fuel is remaining. There is seldom much excess heat, so it is necessary to use a windscreen (mine weighs 0.2 oz).

–B.G.–

"If all you're doing is saving 0.6 or 1.4 ounces it hardly matters"

Heresy!

On BPL, every gram counts for something.

–B.G.–

Greg – I have the old Primus Micron, i.e. the one made of stainless steel, 3.5 oz. Otherwise, it is the same stove.

One an 8 day trip last year at elevations averaging 10,500' plus, 2 of us used slightly less than a 4 oz canister to heat, not boil, 48 oz of water/day for 7 full days plus one breakfast. That works out to about 5 grams of fuel/16 oz, if my math is correct. We used an Evernew 25 oz titanium pot without a windscreen, but made sure to heat our water in very protected places for near optimal conditions. Two other critical factors are prewarming the morning water by taking it to bed at night and not heating it to full boil, which is completely unnecessary, IMO, for most uses and incurs the energy penalty of latent heat of evaporation. We used our water only for drinks and somewhere in the neighborhood of 160 degrees was more than sufficient. This tracks with my previous experience, but is the only concrete example I can recall from my rapidly deteriorating memory bank. ;) I have found the Micron to be a great stove, and don't worry about its CO production because I don't cook in a tent. I have included a link to Will Rietveld's excellent review of the Micron for more typical fuel usage, as well as other characteristics of the stove.

Edited CO2 to CO.

http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/primus_micron_canister_stove_review.html

"If all you're doing is saving 0.6 or 1.4 ounces it hardly matters"

To you.

Then there is the question of fuel economy.

"We used our water only for drinks and somewhere in the neighborhood of 160 degrees was more than sufficient."

Tom, supposedly the kill temperature for Giardia cysts is about 175 F, so that is a good temperature to shoot for.

–B.G.–

"Tom, supposedly the kill temperature for Giardia cysts is about 175 F, so that is a good temperature to shoot for."

I don't much worry about it where I hike, Bob, and when there is any doubt I just zap the little buggers with my trusty Steripen. So far, so good. ;)

"If all you're doing is saving 0.6 or 1.4 ounces it hardly matters

To you."

Hypothetically, if I put an extra 0.6 or 1.4 ounces in your pack you wouldn't notice the difference.

If you saved 0.6/1.4 ounces here, and 0.6/1.4 ounces there, eventually it could make a difference.

"Then there is the question of fuel economy"

That could make more of a difference.

After a little poking around and collecting numbers from various posts –

JetBoil Sol Ti Companion Cup, Hacked – 5.3 ounces
Monatauk Gnat Burner – 1.7 ounces
Small Canister – 7 ounces

Total: 14 ounces

For Pot, Stove, and Fuel.

If I wanted a canister, this would be the combination. If you didn't care about windscreens, efficiency, or stability you could easily get by with a basic Ti pot and save a few more ounces.

So, I can see where a canister could come out ahead.

For a half liter per boil? 2 cups?? Hmmm… I typically eat a big breakfast and supper. I boil a liter at each. And do a about 15 minutes worth of simmering, besides. Yes, I am solo mostly, sometimes the wife tags along and I need more.

Breakfast is generally 2 cups of coffee and two oatmeals. The first is in a cup (boils in about 1 minute) and then I put 3 cups on to boil as I drink it watching the sun rise. I am usually up at first light whatever time it is.

Paddling all day or hiking is just cold snacks, usually 5min/hour or so.

Supper is a cup of cocoa and one of soup, stew, fresh fish, rice sides, pot pie, or similar.

Presleep is often another cup of cocoa or similar, often heated over an open fire sometimes heated over a stove again.

I burn about 1oz of fuel per day in an old SVEA. Total weight for ten days is:
SVEA: Stove and cup, 19oz
Fuel: 12floz pepsi bottle (about 10oz fuel and bottle, full 12oz but I don't think I have ever used it all.)
3 cup pot, spoon, lid and windscreen: ~5oz

Right around 35-36oz for the total kit. Two weeks is about 4oz heavier in a slightly larger bottle (16oz.) Bottles only change about 1/4oz.

I tried canisters but require several of them at about 3/4oz per day (three 4oz canisters+pot&lid, cup, spoon and wind screen. The UL "toppers" for canisters waste a lot of heat to the outside. You need another canister. Alcohol is just as heavy at 2.5oz per day + cup, pot & lid, wind screen and spoon…and it is slower.

Some numbers…
Kitchen kit: Pot, lid, cup, windscreen, spoon, total: ~5oz

With canister gas I get:
Windpro: 6.8oz, three 4oz canisters: 24oz (I should have 4 but on low it works with three.) + kitchen kit total: about 35.8oz

With Alcohol I get:
Caldera cone: 12/10 (ading in the difference for wind screens here) 2.5oz + fuel is 28oz + kitchen kit total: 35.5oz

SVEA is total: 36oz

So for boiling 2 liters a day and being ccomfotable with a warm drink just before bed, they all work out close to the same for 7-10 days. I don't worry about the ounce or two difference for a ten day hike. For longer, I always bring the svea. It pays in the long run in fuel. Not necessarlily weight, but volume and dollars. Smaller volume means a smaller pack, so I save overall weight by bringing a smaller, ligher pack (usually a Miniposa at 17oz-with hip pockets- for 7-14 day trips, a Murmur at 8.5oz for shorter trips.) It really doesn't matter which stove I bring. The SVEA is the most compact, taking up about as much space as two and a half cups. Again, this is not my UL kit for two nights out, but weighs close to the same and is always set up, ready to go. Canisters and a Jet Boil Sol for example are a lot larger. A Simerlight burns fuel at twice the rate. A Primus needs delicate handling, unlike the SVEA and needs an extra canister. The Caldera cone does not cook well. And so on…

"The Caldera cone does not cook well."

I've baked a variety of quick breads, cooked scrambled eggs, and simmered oatmeal. But that is not what a Cone is designed to do.

A Caldera Cone boils 2 cups of water very efficiently, which is what the OP is looking for.