Is it worth considering the multi-fuel camping stoves that have been widely used during long-term and high-altitude camping for many years? There are some branded models, but this one, made in China, seems to be widely available at reasonable cost. They all claim to run on butane, white gas (pure petrol/gasoline) kerosene and sometimes diesel, with jets of different diameters being interchanged. I wonder whether they will also run on alcohol, if they will run on something as volatile as white gas? The burner would obviously have to be built into some kind of cooker body, and the tank would have to be secured.

[edit] There are some backpackers' fora eg 

http://classiccampstoves.com/threads/brs-8a-multi-fuel.16553/

that report;

• These cheap BRS Chinese-made stoves are low quality, but good enough to see whether you like a multifuel stove, before investing in an MSR, Optimus or Primus.
• They do not burn well on kerosene or diesel
• They will not work with alcohol
• But a mix of alcohol and kerosene works well.
• Apparently Coleman fuel/white gas is pure naphtha, and panel wipe, used by car bodyshops, is also naphtha, much cheaper and the same price as meths.
  
• They are a roarer burner, very fast and very noisy.

Back to Kero?

I see, (on t'other thread) that Peter is thinking Taylor's 028.  I was having a debate last night on the various cookers and fuel, specifically as applying to my circumstances in this country.

Gas: so convenient, nice quality cookers; an absolute pain to swop or fill the bottles, unless you have very frequent access to a car, but dirt cheap to run (apart from having to own the car).

Meths: convenient, relatively fast, if pressurised.  Medium-fast with cookers that disintegrate on you with Maxie.  Otherwise slow with cookers that are not very seamanlike for a monohull; you can buy the fuel in any corner store (at a price).

Kero: inconvenient, fast; expensive cookers that need a work-over before you can live with them happily (ie take the cast-iron top to a founder and ask them please to use it as a pattern and make it out of bronze so you don't have rust falling off all the time); makes you and boat smell, sullies the deckhead; you can buy the fuel in any corner store (at a price).

The running costs of the cooker should also be taken into account, but it's already too much of a dilemma.  I've got an old pressure meths cooker: but the parts are irreplaceable.  I could buy an Origo but while 50% love them 50% can't tolerate them.  I lived with kero for years and get on with it OK.  I loved the wee gas cooker that was originally on Fantail, but the issue of the cylinders was beyond a joke.  In the not too distant future I shall have to make a decision because I will be building my galley!

Has anyone tried to make something from Trangia parts? 

I'm starting to think that the multi fuel burner may have potential. Unfortunately they are not cheap but two burners could be picked up for half the price of a Taylors.

Peter

I've just replaced both of Fantail's Maxie burners. There were two problems: the burners had suffered from dezincification and had crumbled away over time (a la Weetbix), and a 'jet' (actually more of a valve) had resolutely jammed. A minor niggle is the use of zinc plated grub screws to fasten the knobs; these had corroded to the point where they could not be used.

An attempt to rejuvenate one burner using canabilised parts, and specifically a damaged wick, provided a brief moment of excitement when tested. Meths is capable of providing a significant flare in the right circumstances, and damaged wicks are the right circumstances. 

Getting replacement burners from the supplier was an exercise in herding cats. Whitworths did their best, but it seems the manufacturer does very limited runs of stove parts. Six weeks of emails did result in the arrival of the only two burners to be had (I would have liked a spare). No complete stoves were available. Hopefully this was a just a case of bad timing.

Following Arne's suggestion and moving from Weaverbird's Refit to here.

Peter - and all those like you and me who are desperate for a decent metho/alcohol cooker.  I contacted 'John at Taylors' and suggested they go back to making/sourcing alcohol burners and offering them as an alternative to kero.  It's getting increasingly difficult to get good quality kero, but alcohol is more readily available.  If the burners are interchangeable, one could even swop over, if the one fuel became cheap/available and the other became expensive/unavailable (although the tank would need a good clean.)  If sufficient people do likewise and we could get through to him, this would be the answer to our prayers.  Hot, clean and efficient: just what we want in a cooker.