Derek Hairon wrote: > > I will be paddling in Alaska soonish from around Kenai Fjords back to > Homer. We were thinking of taking Trangia stoves which burn what we call > meths but I think is called denatured alcohol in the US. How easy is this > fuel to obtain? > Where do you buy it from? > Just as a little aside when in Scotland years ago for instance you had to > go along to the chemist and then sign the poisons book! There are two alcohols to fill the bill here: methanol (aka methyl alcohol, wood alcohol) and ethanol (aka ethyl alcohol, grain alcohol). The former is more volatile than the latter, and is probably what is referred to as "meths" in the UK. The latter is sold in a denatured grade in the US (and Canada, I believe) which avoids the tax on drinking alcohol. Both fuels should be available in the solvents section of any large hardware store. Denatured alcohol is used in several versions of "marine stoves," for the yachting crowd, so a marina would have it, too. In a pinch, you could use "190 proof" grain alcohol, sold in most liquor stores. One brand available in the US is called "Clear Springs." The drinkable stuff costs about US$10 per fifth (US$50 per US gallon) while the denatured version will run maybe US$3 per US gallon. You may have to sleep with your arms wrapped around the stash of the drinkable stuff, though, to keep your mates from ingesting your fuel! Have not used the Trangia, but if it is designed for methanol, it will probably burn a little hotter with denatured alcohol (lesser oxygen content). -- Dave Kruger Astoria, OR organic chemist *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.gasp-seakayak.net/paddlewise/ ***************************************************************************Received on Fri Jun 26 1998 - 02:35:30 PDT
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