DIY Ultralight White Gas Stove

Alright, so it’s not exactly DIY, it’s more of a Frankenstein stove. I’m also not sure it qualifies as ultralight, but it is the lightest I have seen.

The reason for me trying to do this project was that on some longer winter trips, it actually works out that a white gas (petrol) stove is lighter than a canister stove because of the fuel weight despite the fact that the stove itself might be heavier. So, I’ve been looking for a lightweight white gas stove without much luck. I figured with a lighter white gas stove, the weight savings wouldn’t be despite the stove weight, allowing for the switch to white gas on shorter trips. All of the wite gas stoves I found however, are heavier than remote canister stoves. So, I took one and put it on a diet. The result was a white gas stove, which together with the fuel pump weighs just 6.1oz.

The competition was remote canister stoves. The one I use is the Kovea Spider, which weighs 5.9oz, and the MSR Windpro II, which weighs 6.6oz. So in effect, this white gas stove is now competitive in terms of weight with remove canister stoves. Now the lighter fuel weight can really come into play.

The foundation of this stove was the Fire-Maple Turbo FMS-F5 white gas stove. In its original form the stove and pump weighed 8.5oz. That is light for a white gas stove, but I wanted to try to make it lighter.

The procedure was fairly simple. I just had to remove the orange frame along with the legs. To do that you have to unscrew three screws which hold the frame to the burner, remove the burner cup (have to remove the burner cap, unscrew the jet, and an additional nut). Then everything comes apart. I removed everything other than the burner assembly, and a piece of metal onto which the frame was originally attached, which is in the form of three protruding legs. All I had to do then is take three jumbo paper clips, bend them into shape, and attach them to this piece of metal using three screws and bolts.

I suppose you can make the legs fold to the side, but I don’t. I just sized them so the stove can fit inside my 1L pot.

The stove works just as it did before. The burner is not effected in any way.

So, that’s it. Not a huge project, but it yielded some good results. I’m also using it with the MSR fuel bottle because it is a bit lighter than the Fire-Maple one. As I said above, the stove together with the fuel pump weighs 6.1oz. With the 11 ounce fuel bottle the set up weighs 9.1oz. For comparison, the Kovea Spider with an empty 4 ounce fuel canister weighs about 9.9oz. Interestingly an empty gas canister weighs more than the fuel bottle for the white gas stove.