rbpru wrote:
I would consider the following.
• Do you want an extra 30 gals of gas behind you in the bed?
• What does and extra 240 lbs. of gas do to your max cargo capacity?
• If you saved 30 cents a gallon verses purchasing the gas on the road, you would need to purchase 1000 gallons to offset the cost of a $300.00 tank installation before you started saving money.
• At 10 mpg towing, your breakeven point on a $300.00 tank installation would be 10,000 towing miles; assuming you can save 30 cents a gallon.
• Optimistically 25 gals. in the truck tank and an additional 35 gals. in the bed; would get my rig about 600 miles before I needed to buy gas at the local price. 600 mile is less than half the distance to many of my camping distinations.
Why is there such a concern of saving money per gallon?
I typically find not much more than $.20 per gallon "differences" from state to state. Yes, there are a couple of states that are super tax happy that I typically travel through but that IS part of the game and I plan accordingly.
I NEVER considered or reasoned to save money on the gas prices.. I BUDGET PLENTY for my trips..
I added my tank for CONVENIENCE SAKE..
Towing a 26ft TT makes for a lot more challenges with finding gas stations that are RV "friendly"..
I have got into a few that backing out was the ONLY way and that makes for quite a few unhappy motorists BEHIND YOU..
I have also found a few stations in which the ONLY way to get gas was to park the truck just about as far as the pump hose will allow..
I have also run into a few stations in which I was able to get into OK, but when leaving I darn near high centered the trailer scraping the tongue jack AND the rear "skids" at the same time grinding off a 1/4" of the tongue jack and bending up and breaking the spare tire mount behind the jack in the process..
I also had to "short hop" (use only 1/2 or 3/4 tank)on repeat trips to the same destination since there are often a lot of long stretches with very few RV friendly gas stations.. This caused us to make many more fuel stops which wasted a lot of time in the process.
Adding 15 extra gallons doesn't sound like much to you but to me that allows us to drive nearly 450 miles instead of 275 miles before looking for fuel station..
Priceless to me.
As far as carrying extra weight in fuel goes.. For me 15 gallons plus the tank weight is peanuts.. my truck has 3415 lbs of cargo weight, trailer tongue is 875-900 lbs, have 110 lb gen, some bikes plus 3 passengers.. I am nowhere near my trucks max cargo..
As far as "safety" goes.. That tank I used is constructed out of 1/8" steel.. It is far "safer" than your own vehicles plastic tank, thats for sure.. It is more likely to stay together without spilling its contents than those cheapo EPA gas cans you only can get now days..
I have no "installation" cost and my setup cost me about $230 since I was able to pickup a discontinued brand tank for $100, fuel pump was $80, fuel line $6, some brass fittings of $20 and a filter $6.. Wood, bolts, wiring and such I had laying around..
Just in ONE trip, I eliminated at least 4 - 5 fuel stops, typically each fuel stop wasted at a min about 30 minutes.. That cut at least 2.5 hrs from nearly 28 hrs of driving for the entire trip..
I get to my destination quicker and get back home quicker all without driving faster.. :B
