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We had a shipmate 2 burner kerosene stove that we used daily in almost 4 years of cruising and live aboard. A really hot, yes hotter than propane, safe, economically fueled stove. You have to be willing to put up with the preheating ritual but that was no big deal once we got used to it. Fuel seemed to last forever. We had a 4 gallon pressure tank and took a 5 gallon Gerry jug when we did French Polynesia and still had fuel left when we got back after more than a year.
The kerosene when properly preheated burns clean, hot and without smell. The alcohol for preheating was the only smell I remember. Kero does put out a little carbon but not enough to be a bother. After two years of daily use, noticed the overhead was a bit dingy. I took a little 409 and about 5 minutes to wipe the carbon residue off the varnished wood overhead above the stove and it was fine for another two years. That's in sharp contrast to the oil lamps that can soot up the overhead in no time. Looked just like new afterwards and good for another 2 years. We burned paint thinner instead of kerosene because it was cheaper and used to be readily available in 5 gallon tins at professional paint stores. Might not be the case now. In any case, the stove was trouble free for the 10 years we owned the boat. No solenoid valves, no turning off the supply at the bottles stored out in the back 40, no rusty bottles, super expensive aluminum bottles, constant refilling hassles, etc. of propane.
I like kerosene so much that I just picked up a Taylor's 028 stove for my 'new' old boat.
Oh, did I mention, kero doesn't go boom in the night. Lost another boat last year in Mexico to propanes propensity to test the hull to deck joint.
Aloha
Peter O.
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