refueling
Hi ALL, I am still new to TT ownership and towing. We have had our set up for almost a year and haven't strayed to far from home. i haven't had to refuel yet.So here is my question or questions ...
Forum Discussion
KD4UPL wrote:
Truck stops do sell gas. They usually have regular "car" gas pumps and a few for RVs. These are typically located in the front; not out back in the big truck diesel lanes. There's normally no gas back there.
As for "smaller" gas stations; keep in mind that pretty much all of them get their gas delivered in tractor-trailer tanker trucks. If an 18 wheeler can get in there to unload you should be able to get in too.
I cringe every time I see this extremely bad "advice".
Just because a "18 wheeler" can get into a small station it DOES NOT NECESSARILY MEAN A TRAVEL TRAILER CAN ACCESS THE PUMPS EASILY OR GET IN/OUT OF THE STATION EASILY.
Tankers when filling the station tanks do not use the pump lanes at all. The tanks are typically off to the side away from the pumps..
Not to mention tankers have one heck of a lot of clearance between to ground and tank (tankers don't "high center" as easily as a TT), in other words tankers can hop curbs and "ford" deep drain ditches/skirts that some stations have at the entrance/exits.
Over the years I have severely scraped on the tongue jack AND the rear "skids" at the same time on my 26ft TT, sometimes going it, sometimes going out and a few both ways.. Tankers don't have that problem.
As far as getting to a pump, best thing to forget about any station which has the pump lanes pointed at the store.. This causes you to have to either back out or make multiple attempts pulling back and forth to make the tight turn in front of the store to get out.. And add in all the other customers who park in front of the store to get their coffee fix you can spend a lot of time messing around..
I prefer to pick the stores which have the fuel lanes parallel to the store.. This means all the pump traffic enters/exits left and right of the store.. This layout tends to have a lot more room for TTs to move in and out.
One of the best pieces of advice I have seen is to not let yourself get extremely low on fuel before seeking a station.. 1/4 tank mark gives me about 60 miles until empty.. So I start actively looking for stations that are easy access (no large dips in the entrance/exit, parallel pump lanes to the store, ect). This allows me to pass on any station that is too small or tight.
Makes for much less stress..
