Cooking Fuels: Butane

Small single burner camp stoves are popular as an affordable and temporary cooktop while you start out cruising. They are cheap and effective, letting you eat and go cruising now without having to wait until you can afford a more expensive stove and oven.

These small camping stoves usually use propane, but some run on butane. The small can of butane will clamp into the stove and burn away as you cook your meals in the comfort of your cabin. The entire unit is self contained and fits into small spaces when stored and not in use. 

We met a cruiser who was using this type of stove on his Cape Dory 22. It worked well for him, but he did have one problem with it: he couldn't get the fuel! In his home town, the fuel was plentiful and readily available from most hardware stores. Then he left his home town and could no longer find the cans that his stove required. He discovered that Wal-Mart carried them from time to time, so he was forced to find a Wal-Mart in every port he stopped in and would search for the butane cans. If they had them, he would buy all the cans they had in stock. If they didn't have them, he would ration his remaining cans until he could find more. 

Cruising for him was carefree and fun, except with his cooking fuel. Searching for butane was a constant stress for him, as he was never sure when he would find more and was never certain if he would be able to cook in a month! 

If you are choosing a fuel to cook with, make sure it is something that is universally obtainable and doesn't require any proprietary parts to operate.