Cycling UK Forum

Hello,
I have just joined the CTC and am planning my first camping trip. I need to carry meths for use in a Trangia mini stove.
Is it unsafe to carry the meths in an old water bottle, i.e.should I just buy the proper bottle and large bottle carrier to support it?

Regards

Colin

sigg fuel bottle
http://www.outdoorsmagic.com/reviews/co ... /5107.html

Will this fit in a normal water bottle cage, or would it need something like a Bikebuddy?

For quite a while I carried my meths in the plastic bottle that it was supplied in. The bottle are robust enough and I never had a mishap. I subsequently migrated to using fule bottle but be care ful - unline aluminium bottle will corrode when use with meths. It will take a long time for the meths to etch its way through the aluminium but I have been assured that it will.

Should be ok in a old water bottle, although, ideally the proper Trangia containers are better. These have a pressure value and a nozzle to control the flow of meths into the burner unit.

I have both, the 500ml & 1000ml. I think the 1000ml Trangia container would be best suited to a bike buddy.

vernon wrote:unlined aluminium bottle will corrode when use with meths. It will take a long time for the meths to etch its way through the aluminium but I have been assured that it will.

It's a problem when you keep meths in the bottle between camping trips.
A couple of weeks during a trip is OK, but if you just put a half full aluminium bottle on the garage shelf at the end of the trip, you could get a pinhole corroded through which not only drains the meths out, but means when you refill the bottle and set off on your next trip you find you've nothing left by the time you arrive at the campsite.

Generally speaking, aluminium fuel bottles are unlined (being aimed at petrol/paraffin stoves), aluminium drinks bottles are lined.
The proper trangia bottle is tough plastic

Thanks for the replies.

Its a "normal" cycling plasic water bottle I was thinking of using - not aluminium (I have a lot old ones lying around). The main reasons I thought it might not be suitable were that the drinking valve at the top might not hold the meths vapour for a couple of weeks, and that when hot, tired and thirsty I might just forget it it isn't water in there!

Regards

Colin

If carrying the 500ml size, then these would fit inside the standard drinks bottle if you cut the top of the drinks bottle.

I have just bought a mini T - any advice for using it first time out?
Thanks

ColinW wrote:Hello,
I have just joined the CTC and am planning my first camping trip. I need to carry meths for use in a Trangia mini stove.
Is it unsafe to carry the meths in an old water bottle, i.e.should I just buy the proper bottle and large bottle carrier to support it?

Regards

Colin

matt2matt2002 wrote:I have just bought a mini T - any advice for using it first time out?
Thanks

Leave it in its packaging and use the Tangia 25 that you subsequently bought to do a proper job in the wind

I have a mini Trangia that I bought from a chap called Asdace that frequented this forum. I used it once as my sole source of cooking and found it to be impractical as it has no wind shield and found the the meths boiled in the burner because the pan support/burner holder conducted heat back to the burner. I now use it as a supplementary cooker when attending festivals and I take a a lot more gear with me in a car than when I'm on a bike.

It does the job of boiling stuff and cooking stuff but not particularly efficiently if you want something more complex than rehydrated stuff and hot drinks.

I often use plastic coke bottles - they are near indestructable and you can squash them down after use. I use them on sea kayaking trips where your gear gets more of a hammering than cycling and they have never leaked.

Thanks.....
But I plan to use it for only a few 'meals' or brews.............
so hopefully it will be worth it's weight

vernon wrote:

matt2matt2002 wrote:I have just bought a mini T - any advice for using it first time out?
Thanks

Leave it in its packaging and use the Tangia 25 that you subsequently bought to do a proper job in the wind

I have a mini Trangia that I bought from a chap called Asdace that frequented this forum. I used it once as my sole source of cooking and found it to be impractical as it has no wind shield and found the the meths boiled in the burner because the pan support/burner holder conducted heat back to the burner. I now use it as a supplementary cooker when attending festivals and I take a a lot more gear with me in a car than when I'm on a bike.

It does the job of boiling stuff and cooking stuff but not particularly efficiently if you want something more complex than rehydrated stuff and hot drinks.

I would prefer to carry meths in 2x 500ml bottles rather than 1x 1L bottle, for the simple reason that if anything happens to one container, I would still have another in reserve. Much in the same way, I carry my drinking water in several smaller containers than one big one.

ColinW wrote:Hello,
I have just joined the CTC and am planning my first camping trip. I need to carry meths for use in a Trangia mini stove.
Is it unsafe to carry the meths in an old water bottle, i.e.should I just buy the proper bottle and large bottle carrier to support it?

Get a Trangia 1l fuel bottle, one of the few that is certified for use with fuel alcohol. They are extremely tough and have a proper valve to stop leakage. We carry ours in Top Peak expanding bottle cages which when fully extended hold the Trangia 1l bottles well. We use the same method on our current touring bikes. The Trangia bottle valve makes pouring alcohol into stoves a lot easier. You have to remember to release the valve and press it down with the bottle upright just in case the contents have warmed up.
Regards
Sta

I to also use a red 1Lt Trangia fuel bottle as i find it safe and easy to carry in my bottle cage.When people ask whats that for i tell them its a fire extinguisher which i use to keep my brake blocks cool on long decents .