Kayak tripping stoves

Which stove is best for kayak tripping?

Criteria would be 1-3 people going out for 2-3 days, several times per year.
Thanks

I like the Optimus Nova Plus

Hey Al,

Thanks for your question.
There are many stoves that would suit 1-3 people tripping for 2-3 days.
There are, however, some other variables to take into consideration. Such as:

Size/Weight of stove
Fuel type
Your budget
What you are cooking?

Firstly I am going to rule out some of the big bruiser stoves which are great for cooking for large groups. Coleman and Brunton make decent white gas or propane "group stoves"

Depending on the size of your kayak, you probably want to stick to a smaller, "backpacking" sized stove. These again vary in size from palm sized propane units up to slightly larger heavier white gas fueled stoves.

If you are cooking boil in the bag style meals and you only have to boil water then I would recommend either the MSR Reactor or the Jetboil. The amount you can boil varies between these baby's but if this is the route you want to take check out this link below debating between the two for speed, fuel consumed and performance in the wind.

http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/forums/thread_display.html?forum_thread_id=5777

If you are not planning on just re-hydrating food and are actually going to be cooking gourmet learntokayak.ca style meals (hehe) then you are going to require good simmer control. Propane stoves will simmer really nicely but be aware that in colder weather the tanks loose pressure and then you are left trying to build a fire! White gas stoves you can just add more pressure in cold weather by pumping the bottle a few more times. Propane is also kind of wasteful because all summer you will be throwing out used tanks. White gas in bought in gallon cans which you re-fill your white gas bottles from and then can recycle the tank.

If you want a high quality white gas stove I would recommend the Optimus Nova Plus. This is the stove I use and in fact have three of them! It boils like no other white gas stove I have ever used thanks to having two controls. One is located on the top of the pump and the other is by twisting the fuel line itself! It simmers so low that once I went to reheat the stove to heat some dish water and when I turned the control found out the stove had been on a micro simmer while I was eating dinner! I couldn't even see the flame it was so low. The other beauty of this stove is that it comes with a magic magnetic key that with a couple of passes beneath the unit before lighting operates a needle that cleans out the jet for you. What!? WOW maintenance without taking the thing apart! Amazing! This is a multi-fuel stove which means when you take that trip to somewhere that doesn’t sell white gas fill it with diesel, petrol, kerosene or aviation fuel and it is ready to use without having to change the jet.
There are other nice good simmering stoves on the market too but from my experience this seems to be the best.

Check it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ryJxhQRTUvg

Hope this helps!
If anyone disagrees with me please post below and give Alan your opinion!