Diesel Fuel

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Gary31

Gary31

Well-known member
Joined
Jun 23, 2015
Posts
63
Location
Raleigh NC
My wife and I just returned from a 10 day trip to Myrtle Beach, after a rather nerve racking trip down south I learned a very important lesson. While this was my first long distance trip in the newly acquired 2500 HD Turbo Diesel, I found that getting fuel and especially diesel can be a bit difficult when tugging a 35Ft trailer. Upon getting close to the SC line my gauge was reading 1/4 tank and I valiantly tugged south thinking the price would be cheaper in SC rather than NC. As we approached the outskirts of Myrtle Beach on Hwy 17, 6 lanes Friday lunch traffic  looking for Diesel it became apart very quickly that this was not a RV friendly part of town and all stations on my side of the street were small with little or no room for my rig or did not sell Diesel. I drove south hoping for a station that would accommodate me but as the fuel gauge was dropping from all the stop and go traffic I was becoming very nervous as how and where I would find petro. I finally had to turn around and backtrack the other side of hwy 17 north to find a station with Diesel that I could get into.

Couple lessons learned-
Buy fuel when 1/2 tank
I purchased a 5 gallon can so I can keep it in the truck on longer trips for  reserve, or I could park away from a station and walk up to the pump if I could not get into the lot.

When you only get 9 MPG only having 1 gallon in the tank was a bit to close for this grandpa, too old to be walking on the side of the street.

 
I would also suggest using an app that shows fuel stations nearby--and often prices.




Mike
 
There are two companion books called RVers Friend and Trucker's Friend.  Both provide fuel stops on a state-by-state basis and each state has a map so you can see at a glance where the fuel stops are located.  Best of all, it shows how much parking there is.  When a truck stop shows 50-100 parking places you know it will be large enough for a large RV.  If there is little or no parking, it might be more dicey.

ArdraF
 
Flying J and some other Truckstop have RV specific lanes (gas and Diesel) off to the side of the car pumps. Should be an easy in and out for you.
Even the car pumps at most truckstops are better than the local gas station for maneuvering room.
 
I agree I have used the truck pumps when I normally schedule my refueling, but when it get down and dirty you better have a plan "B" or be ready to call a wrecker.
 
Just for the heck of it I Googled Myrtle Beach SC truck stop and found an interesting link to the Truck Stop Fuel Finder.  The link is to the ones in SC, but on the Find the Cheapest Truck Stop you can put in a route and find all the truck stops along your route.  See http://www.findfuelstops.com/truck-stop-in-SC.

ArdraF
 
We installed a 75 gallon Transfer Flow Auxiliary tank and I wouldn't be without it.  Its totally DOT legal.  It raised our range to over 1000 miles pulling the trailer and has allowed me to manage when and where we fill up. 

It was particularly useful when traveling to Alaska in 2010, eliminating the need to fill up at the excessively expensive fuel in some of the sparsely populated areas of the trip.  It is an automatic system and works in the background without any effort.  When the truck tank drops to about 1/2, the auxiliary pump turns on and pumps from the auxiliary tank until the truck tank is about 3/4 full, then stops.  When the truck fuel guage drops to about 3/8, I know that the auxiliary tank is empty and I'm down to about 10 gallons.  I keep track of fuel use by resetting the fuel used on the truck computer so that I never let it get that low.  I fill up when we are unhooked from the trailer most of the time and am able to buy fuel at Sams, Wal Mart to save $ over going to truck stops.  Below is a link to the company.

https://www.transferflow.com/
 
8Muddypaws said:
Install 'GasBuddy' on your smart phone if you have one.
Click to expand...
That is exactly what I use. Not only does it find fuel, it lets you compare prices. It is a crowd sourced app, so I have registered and report prices whenever I stop for fuel.



Mike

 
Howdy,

Tinmania said:
That is exactly what I use. Not only does it find fuel, it lets you compare prices. It is a crowd sourced app, so I have registered and report prices whenever I stop for fuel.
Click to expand...

Gasbuddy is good and we've used it a few times to search for good gas prices during our RV trips. But Waze was for us the better app, as we could put our final destination on it and it would not only give us the fastest way there (considering *current* traffic conditions) and provide us with turn-by-turn directions, but also would (when asked) provide us with a list of fuel stations along with current prices    *and* miles and minutes off the route.

We can't live without Waze... now if they only would add RV-specific features like low-clearance bridges and large-rig-friendly fuel stations, then it would be perfect.

Cheers,
--
  Vall and Mo.
 
Installed GAs Buddy and I can see how it will improve my confidence while traveling with the TT. As always it is great to hear how others have dealt with similar experiences, when RVing its not if but when you will need to resourceful. THANKS to ALL for your comments and suggestions.
 
That's why I bought the book Next Exit, very helpful to my DW and me.
 
We use Gas Buddy for every veehickle.

On our last 5000 mile trip, it wasn't uncommon for GB to locate a filling station that saved us 20 to 40 cents per gallon by driving an extra mile or so down the road.
 
We have family in MB and do a lot of travel/camping there.  I travel there from FL and usually try to buy my fuel in GA before getting to SC. 

Truck stops are not frequent in SC and I find many of those stops (such as Pilot) are small and difficult to get in and out.  I think you are correct to plan your fuel so you can reach your destination, park, and then go without the trailer to find fuel.  BTW, traffic to/from MB is most horrible during arrival/departure times from the many motels and resorts.

All that said, MB and southward have some of the absolute best beaches to play on and up the road in Calabash, NC, some of the best seafood.  Both State Parks there are good but the one listed as Huntington Beach State Park in Murrells Inlet, SC, is imo brighter and drier.  Also, it avoids much of the MB traffic.

 
Houston Remodeler said:
We use Gas Buddy for every veehickle.

On our last 5000 mile trip, it wasn't uncommon for GB to locate a filling station that saved us 20 to 40 cents per gallon by driving an extra mile or so down the road.
Click to expand...
I am sure you are aware of this, but it bears mentioning: the only way GasBuddy works is by user input. It doesn't even allow the use of online gas prices, should a station even provide it. It relies completely on users reporting prices they see right at the pump, or when driving by. So in essence GasBuddy doesn't find us lower prices; other GasBuddy users do. That is why I highly suggest registering, if you already aren't, and reporting prices you see along the road. I have kind of made a hobby out of it while driving. :)



Mike
 
Tinmania said:
So in essence GasBuddy doesn't find us lower prices; other GasBuddy users do.
Click to expand...

This is true it also has a drawback. Users are awarded points to put in gas prices. Every month you can convert these points into a chance of winning free gas (gas card). Around where I work are a few users that show up all the time, putting the gas price in (without change) from different gas stations within the same minute just to collect the points. These gas stations are at least 10 minutes apart. A few times I got gas a minute after the update and the price was higher. When I talked to the gas station manager when they had changed the price it was already hours ago.

But other then a few instances that it did not match the price, it works for me. I prefer to get gas on Wednesdays that seems to be the cheapest day in general. Today for regular gas it was $2.19 a gallon. Diesel was $2.59
 
A 50 or 60 gallon extra tank in the truck box solves all those issues. Instead of standing to pay , then fill ,then stand in line for credit you fill once a day and stop at rest stops throughout the day.
Benefits are :
Brisk walk at rest centre
Less down time ,resulting in better time behind the wheel management
No stress wondering about fuel as good for 900 miles and never plan on doing that.
 
We are pondering a 95 gallon add on fuel tank for our westward trip next spring. The hard part is justifying the $1300 cost of the tank plus labor.
 
+1 to using Gas Buddy!  Gas Buddy combined with Google Maps (to eyeball prospective stations to determine if the ingress/egress routes will accommodate our coach (which is 44 feet long) has been a winning combination for us.  Even when we're in territory that is completely unfamiliar to us - it only takes a few minutes to find our best option for fueling that considers current fuel price, our chosen route of travel AND the ability to fit into the station. 
 
Many of the locations on Gas Buddy link directly to a map and even have a picture.

99.97% of the time we use truck stops.  Never had a problem that way.
 
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