Sunday 7 June 2009

Fuel Bottles



I'm always on the lookout for bottles suitable for carrying Meths and I have a variety of sizes ranging from 30ml to 500ml some of which are spun alloy type while the rest are plastic. I also have a variety of different caps from plain screw caps to flip caps and even pull top sports bottle type. My current favourite is an Oval 300ml bottle. This is a liquid soap bottle and I'm pretty sure it was Carex, most bottles of this type are 250ml or 500ml but I specifically wanted a 300ml. It came with a pump dispenser but I found that a standard PET bottle cap fitted so I've used one from a 'Fruit Shoot' bottle, Blackcurrant flavour as I wanted the purple cap. I've used this on my last 2 trips and so far it has been fine. I find that the shape makes it easier to pack than a round bottle. These bottles come with a clear safety cap which can be clicked back on to help reduce the chance of the Pull Top being pulled up. I've started carrying a small measuring cup (25ml max) as I only need about 15ml for a cuppa and it makes it easier to measure the required amount. The bottle c/w 300ml weighs around 265g.



Plastic, 100ml, 250ml, 300ml & 500ml with Screw, Flip & Pull Caps

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Aluminium, 250ml, 100ml, 50ml, 30ml with Screw and Flip Caps

The Round Plastic and Aluminium are the ones I sell on my website, www.einzel-kocher.webs.com

3 comments:

  1. Ah, more than coincidence! I powered up this morning, checked out my RSS feeds and noted this article.... which corresponds to your reply to my unearthed meths stove OM thread. I was just musing on how I bring a Trangia 0.5L bottle with me and the space it takes is that of another drinking bottle (in my OMM 10L pack). I don't like the idea of using a platypus as that could mistakenly be grabbed as a water bottle - a slim chance is enough.

    I'm just wondering about actually getting the fuel out. With the Trangia bottles, there valve has two openings allowing the fuel to pour out. With your oval bottle, this can clearly be squeezed. How does it work with the single hole aluminium bottles you sell?

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  2. Oh, and as I'm going to be a first time Dad in October, I thought it was time to start addressing possible H&S issues in the household now rather than later on!

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  3. Hi Martin, 1st off, Congratulations :-)

    About the bottles, with the Aluminium bottles and the flip caps you need to gently shake (for want of a better word) the fuel out. They work better with screw caps and I tend to use a measuring cup. I still prefer the oval bottle, must pick up another one. They're tougher than you might expect.

    http://maceachain.blogspot.com/2009/05/how-tough-is-pet-bottle.html

    Regarding H&S remember that meths normally comes in a plastic bottle anyway albeit one with a safety cap.

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