I have said severl times on this site that jetboil were not even trying to make a light stove. In fact we now mostly use a Caldera Cone.
However we, 2 of us, are going, for 15 walking days, to the Pyrenees by train with only one resupply possibility. This resupply is on day nine where we were not sure if meths was available and almost certainly English type screw on canisters were not. I do have an adaptor to use pierceable European canisters but it weighs 110gram.
It seemed to me that the jetboil with a 450 gram canister brought all the way from home would be the lightest option.
So I have done what I said should be done and lightened my jetboil. It now weighs 292 grams. It still has piezo ingnition. It still locks on. It still has a neoprene sleeve.
This is what I did:
I cut down the pot to 3/4 size, saving 33 gram, this is still bigger volume than the MSR kettle that we would use with alcohol. I cut down the neoprene sleeve to suit, saving 7 gram
I filed off most of a flange on the valve saving 2 gram
I cut away large parts of the steel base plate saving 18 gram on a 42 gram component. I have not changed the ventilation to the burner in doing this.
I cut away large parts of the black plastic moulding underneath, but leaving enough to keep the piezo in place and stabilize the steel base plate. I do not know how much I saved as I had already cut some of the moulding away before. What is left weighs 27 gram. and I saved another 7 grams over what I had already done.
I put aside the lid, 30 gram and cup/heat exchange cover, about 30 gram and made a new lid from foil, 6 gram.
On my calculation comparing with a piezo standard cylinder stove and MSR titanium kettle and a windshield at about 250 gram the break point where my lighter jet boil is initially lighter is 22 pints boiled before resupply, using Will Rietveld's consumption figures. In our case that is about 4 days.
Or to redo scenario 1 in Will's stove analysis as soon as a standard canister stove needs a second canister without resupply it is likely to be a heavier option.
The alcohol comparison for 4 pints per day puts the break point with an ordinary jetboil at about day 10 40 pints. The lightened jetboil is about 110 grams lighter which equates to a break point about 11 pint less about day 7. We tend to use more like 5 pints boiled per day so Even if we could be sure that meths was available at the resupply village it would not be the lightest option.

Hi Derek

> However we, 2 of us, are going, for 15 walking days, to the Pyrenees by train with only one resupply possibility.
My wife and I found that we could get 14 days out of one 450 g canister in the Pyrenees. If you buy a few meals, you would manage. This applies to both the GR10 and GR11.

> This resupply is on day nine where we were not sure if meths was available
We didn't see sign of meths in the MANY shops we went through, although I admit I didn't look hard.

> and almost certainly English type screw on canisters were not.
Actually, we did see a few shops with screw-thread canisters. The shop keepers are catching on. Lots of Poms walking there.

> I do have an adaptor to use pierceable European canisters but it weighs 110gram.
YUK! Those canisters are dinosaurs, and freeze up and leak. Pre-history stuff, unreliable and even dangerous imho.

THE BEST solution is simple. Buy a French CampingGaz stove and you will find a plentiful supply of CampingGaz canisters all across the Pyrenees. They aren't the lightest stoves around - mine weighs 184 g, but you could have endless fun reducing the weight of one beforehand.

Cheers

Thanks for that Roger.
Confirmation that 450 grams will last is very useful. If it will last with a french stove we can be more extravagant with the jetboil.
Without leaving the Haute route there is only one village with shops on the part we are doing.
That is Salardu. I do not even know for sure that they sell any canisters although I expect so, even so it is reassuring to not need to find another thing.
The only problem with my plan is do they allow gas canisters on trains through the channel tunnel.

By the way what do you mean? you suggest pieceable canisters are unsafe? and then suggest the best solution is a french camping gas stove that I thought would use those canisters.

Hi Derek

The HRP has fewer villages than the GR10 for sure. You need to do a bit more planning for that one. You may have to make one or two deviations.

Canisters on a train? What they don't know about ... :-) But you don't 'check in' your luggage on a train, so I can't see any problem. Just say nothing.

Piercable canisters are the old Bleuet ones. Yes, I have had a Bleuet stove leak in my pack. I have also had one nearly come apart during use: the plastic parts started to melt. Oops! I FAR prefer the resealable canisters these days, and they work to much lower temperatures too. Yes, I always disconnect the stove before packing.

The French CampingGaz canisters I am talking about look just like the 'Epigas' screw-thread ones but have a Twist-Clik fitting rather than a screw-thread. The stoves look quite similar as well, and are very robust. We were able to buy replacement canisters in many places.

In point of fact, I think that the French connection is better than the more widely available screw-thread - more reliable in the long term. It's very similar to the PowerMax connection, but done better that that one as well.

Vaude sell an adapter which allows you to put a screw-thread stove on a Twist-Clik canister, but it is extra weight. I made my own much lighter and used it for several long trips with good success.

Cheers

I'd very much like to see a picture of this lighter Jetboil, I agree totally with loosing some height off the pot I was going to get that done by a friend who has a machine to roll the edge so the lid still fits, It replace the webbing strap on the neoprene sock with a thinner strap,

Has anyone tried to replace the actual burner and head, this is where a lot of the weight remains with that brass valve, is there any reason a machined down coleman F1 could not be made to fit? I have an F1 and it can go very low using the valve and the extra power would be useful melting snow?

I must get round to taking pictures but at the moment my head is full of my Pyrenean trip.
The cut down pot pours better than I thought it would, without the roll top. The lid is so heavy that I do not think it is a loss. I have a 5 gram lid cut from Aluminium from a large ringpull (from bulk protein powder from a bodybuilding friend). It has a small external downstand for location and a Aluminium tape to make a handle. I never found the handle on the neoprene worthwhile and unpicked it as soon as I bought the jetboil. I just hold the whole pot to pour. I dont have big hands.
I have not dared to play with the burner and head, but as you say the valve is where the weight is and Tony shows what can be done with a valve.
There is still weight that could be lost on the steel base plate but cutting that away might make the flame more vulnerable to wind.
I emailed jetboil to say what I had done and they said they did not listen to none employees, basically put their hands over their ears and said LaLaLa.... I'm not hearing you.