Backpacking with white gas

[Ryan Wichelns]

I have a 3-4 week trip to Alaska coming up this June and we'll have to backpack everything in. We're obviously planning on needing a lot of fuel for our stoves but I want to try and find a way to carry it besides just stacking rectangular MSR cans in our packs. Ideally, there would be some kind of water bladder out there that wouldn't be affected by the gasoline that we could fill and get in our packs easier, and take up far less space after they're empty. Unfortunately I haven't been able to find anything that could take that without basically dissolving or something. Does anyone know anything that might work or another option for packing gas that is more space-conscious?

Edited May 3, 2015 by Ryan Wichelns

[Buckaroo]

I tried putting gas in a lexan bottle one time, it ate into the plastic.

 

Maybe a 1 gallon plastic gas can? But it's probably not too much lighter than a metal can, and roughly the same shape. And the DOT approved gas caps now are really funky. The plastic that they make milk jugs out of is gas proof but the caps are weak.

 

Just bite the bullet, a rectangular can is better than a square one anyway.

 

BTW when you say MSR cans are you talking the 1 qt cans? Those are not even cost effective, just buy Coleman fuel in the 1 gallon can, it's the same thing. And you can crush them when they are empty.

[G-spotter]

2 liter soda pop bottles, washed out and left to dry, then filled with white gas. You can crush them or burn them after use.

[DPS]

I researched the feasibility of using Platypus water bladders for carrying white gas. The bladders are made of a bilaminate - food grade polyethylene on the inside, nylon on the outside with a polypropylene cap. I cross referenced the compatibility of the four major chemical constituents in white gas with these materials and found that PE had good to excellent resistance for all four chemicals, and nylon and PP were even better. My conclusion was that using a water bladder would be just fine, although long term storage may leach some contaminants into the gas.

[rl23455]

http://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/3-5-Litre-TPU-Motorbike-Oil_50001758158.html

[BootsandPants]

I would think it would be OK with PE or PP as long as it doesn't sit in there for weeks on end (storage). Transport should be fine, but it may be worth doing a test at home. Those bladders aren't that expensive so if you ruin one, it's not the end of the world.

 

One thing I would be careful of with this would be any sort of elastomer sealing surfaces (o-rings, gaskets etc). Anything made of rubber or similar compounds will deteriorate when in contact with fuel, some faster than others. You'll have to replace any seals with nitrile based rubber seals. Nitrile is fuel resistant and will not break down.

[Blake]

I've used normal plastic soda bottles for a few weeks without issue.