December 4, 2000


What's your choice of stove for car or kayak camping?

What's your choice of stove for car or kayak camping, as well as power-outage use at home (in other words, when weight isn't much of a factor)?

— Patrick Dean Tennessee

I like propane. The fuel canisters are extremely easy to find, they store well, and the stoves themselves are easy to use and very hot. Also, you can build a complete appliance suite around propane —- everything but a refrigerator.

For a stove itself, Coleman's two-burner propane model ($50) is hard to beat. It can be used with the standard 16.4-ounce bottles, or with a bulk tank. You can buy an oven unit ($40), also made by Coleman, so you don't have to go without biscuits, pizza or cinnamon rolls. Century makes a single-burner propane stove called the Trail Scout ($20), but the burner unit mounts directly atop the bottle, creating a somewhat unstable stove.

But why stop at a stove? Coleman also makes a two-mantle propane lantern ($50) called the Northstar that has electronic ignition —- no matches needed. Plus, it uses tube-style mantles, so there's no fussing with those blasted tie-on mantles. And if it's cold, Coleman (them again!) makes a catalytic, propane-fired heater that's safe for use indoors. It's called simply the Portable Catalytic Heater, and sells for $50. Very nice.

White gas also makes a good all-around fuel and both stoves and lanterns are of course available in white-gas models (not the heater). But white gas is messier to work with, and the stoves and lanterns both require more fussing, such as pressurizing, to get them going. So lay in a case of propane bottles, get some stoves and lanterns, and get ready for Y3K.

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