carrying extra fuel

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Richard R

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Sep 17, 2019
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Evans City Pa
I thought I'd just mention this since I've had some experience in travelling out in the wilderness.  Several years ago my wife and I ventured out to the western states to visit National Parks like Glacier, Yellowstone, Devil's Tower, Little Big Horn etc.  I had the foresight to carry a 5 gallon gas container and I was plenty glad that I did.  We were running low on gas, somewhere out in the middle of nowhere, hoping that at the next interstate interchange there would be somewhere to fuel up.  When we got there, there was NOTHING!  That 5 gallon surely came in handy.  My son had a similar experience in a rental car when he and his wife travelled from Las Vegas to visit the Grand Canyon.  They had to go way out of their way, running on fumes to find a small, dinky town with one gas pump to fill up.  I'll never plan another long trip without carrying extra gas, it's not going to take up enough space that you won't have room for.
 
Probably a good idea if you are traveling in remote areas but for me, we've done a lot of RV camping and I've never had a time that I couldn't find a gas station. Seems that there is always one at every intersection no matter where we went.
 
It's certainly good to give this subject some serious thought, but a LOT depends on what you are driving, too. I carry extra fuel in my DP in its 100 gallon tank, and usually start looking for a station somewhere near half full, meaning after 350-450 miles, depending on conditions. Even when I was driving a car instead of a DP, I never needed a can with extra fuel, even in the most remote areas we traveled, including the areas you mention, but it certainly pays to monitor usage very carefully where it's a long ways between fuel stops, and sometimes to fill up when you don't quite need it yet.
 
We have an advantage here, our antique coach was built with two interconnected fuel tanks.  There is a cross-over because of the single fill.  So, if we run either tank down to where the "Low Fuel" light comes on, we still have 8~9 gallons to use to find fuel.  There have been times when I might have liked more. 

Matt 
 
What about mapping fuel locations prior to travelling through those areas? Lots of recources to choose from when plotting fuel locations. As extinct as some folks may claim, a citizens band radio can often find another traveler that will offer knowledge of fuel stops. Google maps is quite good and a host of others.

Back oh let's say 40 years ago, carrying container fuel was common on wilderness trips but the information highway has removed most of that necessity coupled with good planning and estimating.
 
I think planning ahead is better advice than carrying extra fuel.  If in remote areas, start looking for fuel at 1/2 tank and in no circumstances let it get below 1/4.  Yeah, I know folks who seemingly can't bear to have more than fumes in the fuel tank, but it's an risk that is easily avoided.  However, if you have a small fuel tank and low mpg, sometimes extra fuel is solid insurance.  Most class A's ought to be OK, but some C's and pick-ups are very limited in fuel capacity  When we had an F250 diesel and towed a heavy 5W, we stopped for fuel every day. Sometimes twice. Better than running out, though.
 
Henry J Fate said:
What about mapping fuel locations prior to travelling through those areas? Lots of recources to choose from when plotting fuel locations. As extinct as some folks may claim, a citizens band radio can often find another traveler that will offer knowledge of fuel stops. Google maps is quite good and a host of others.

Back oh let's say 40 years ago, carrying container fuel was common on wilderness trips but the information highway has removed most of that necessity coupled with good planning and estimating.

There are parts of Wyoming that are still barely settled. I try not to run my tank less than half full and never less than a quarter to allow the use of my generator when needed. I use Gas Buddy to find the cheapest and/or closest fuel anywhere in the United States and plotted out where I was most likely to get gas throughout an entire 8,600 mile trip. But I knew from the looks of Gas Buddy that I might have problems in Wyoming because of the routes we were going to take, and that is why I took the gas cans along, which came in handy just about where I thought they would. The second time I used them was to avoid getting gas in Canada for nearly $5.00/gal.
 
First of all, I had never travelled into an area like that in the western states.  My Ram pickup was getting about 8-9mpg.  I suppose I could have done some extensive research for gas stop availability, but in eastern states there is a proliferation of opportunities to refuel.  It's a lesson to learn.
 
I travel interstate from point a to point b and you have fuel all the way. I carry extra fuel because there is always the possibility of some interruption in the regular running of systems. there is always the possibility of satellite interruption and it would be cash only at the fuel stops or large scale black out of the grid and there would be no pumping fuel. I've never need that fuel yet but you never know.
 
Just wondering - if you don't have an event where you need to use the spare fuel, how often do you replace it with "fresh" fuel ?? ???
 
Fogetty said:
Just wondering - if you don't have an event where you need to use the spare fuel, how often do you replace it with "fresh" fuel ?? ???


I have limited range with my truck, with a little less than 30 gallons @ 8-10 while pulling. I stop about every 2-3 hours which is fine anyway. I carry two five gallon cans treated with Stabil (supposedly good for two years) but use the fuel every 6 months.
 
I keep my five 5gallon diesel fuel containers full. when the price of diesel goes up I use my stash and when it's on sale I fill everything back up.
 
We have 2 containers and have used fuel in an emergency twice over 4 years.

We usually have gas for the generators so usually carry some, although often remove if going off road.
 
If traveling on the interstates, there should be no problems with finding fuel.  Truckers demand this!  If you are off the beaten path, this becomes a very helpful discussion!
 
Does anyone have a custom auxiliary tank in their truck box? 

A 12? x 8? x 48? tank will hold about 20 gallons =~140 lb

A 12?x 6?x 48? holds about 15 gallons.  =~115 lb

 

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