Do you carry?

[dtappy3353]

Folks:

There are times each of us has nearly run out of fuel on a trip.

Has anyone carried a 5 gallon can of fuel as a spare "just in case"?

[ctilsie242]

When doing festivals, I keep about 3-4 gas cans in the truck bed so I can power my generator. I still keep a few cans full just in case, and this thinking helped when Austin had its fuel "crisis", since all I needed to do was empty the fuel cans and generator tank for the week when all pumps were either shut down, or had people physically brawling at the pumps.

When I was renting a "B", I found that having a hitch mounted cargo carrier, a CarPod rack with high walls and a locking top, and several five gallon gas cans secured inside made a drive a lot easier, because I could just use a gas can if I couldn't find a usable gas station.

[Edd505]

Found out as a teen the vehicles run just as well on the top half tank. Non of my vehicles now have spark plugs and running outs a real issue. Generator & 2 gallon gas on the rack in back of the 5W.

[JerryandSusie]

We carry 5 gallons. Gives me peace of mind. I've never had to use it. I'm like another poster, I start looking for a fuel stop at 1/2 a tank. My wife also has her handy Next Exit book to make sure I don't pass a station.

[Don___Barb_Bogu]

On a new trip an extra 5 gallons never Hirt anything. Other carry always A 9 mm in the 5er. and a 380 in the truck.

[Cummins12V98]

dtappy3353 wrote:
Folks:

There are times each of us has nearly run out of fuel on a trip.

Has anyone carried a 5 gallon can of fuel as a spare "just in case"?

When in areas I know where fuel is next I just use the 32 tank on truck. If towing in new territory I keep my 5 filled in my tool box. Only have needed to use the 5 once!

[Atlee]

I carry 3 2.5 gal cans of gasoline, plus a 6 gal extended run tank, but these are used for my generators. In an extreme emergency, we could use that gasoline for the truck.

[doc_brown]

dtappy3353 wrote:
Folks:

There are times each of us has nearly run out of fuel on a trip.

Has anyone carried a 5 gallon can of fuel as a spare "just in case"?

Never carry, never go less then half a tank which means I fuel up every 400-450 miles.

[LOFAT36]

Not anymore. I had Titan tanks swap out my 2010 Silverado Duramax 26 gallon tanks for a 52 gallon tank. Love it and I don,t sweat about it anymore.

[jkwilson]

Generally not. My bladder, back and hips generally require a stop well before I need fuel.

I make it a practice to be aware of the fuel situation ahead, make fuel my #1 priority if I get to 1/4 tank, and generally fill up if I stop for one of the reasons above if my fuel level is at 1/2 a tank or less.

I once spent the night at a gas station. I had hauled a load of antique tractors to Nebraska for a guy. Took a couple of hours to unload and we spent an hour looking at his collection, then he invited us to stay for supper and fed us like kings. Paid us what we had agreed on plus gave us each $100 tip. Left in such a good mood but way behind our planned schedule that we completely spaced on needing fuel. By the time we realized we were low, we were in a very remote area. Decided we were better to stop and wait at the pump than risk stalling in an unsafe spot with a big trailer trying to make it 34 miles to the interstate. The guy who opened the station at 0700 said it was a regular thing to find a vehicle at the pumps when he opened.

[dcmac214]

Absolutely! About 12G in 3 5G diesel cans.
Learned our lesson on our maiden voyage. Rural Arizona highway, fuel needle just below full, assumed we'd pass plenty of gas stations. Yep, several gas stations - gasoline only. When we pulled into 1st station that did have diesel the truck's readout said we had 17 miles to go to empty.

[doxiemom11]

Our generator runs off the gas tank of the motorhome. We start looking for where/what station we want to stop at when we hit 1/2 tank. We may identify a city/station 40 miles down the road, but we never drive with less than 1/4 tank of gas. We need 1/4 tank minimum for the generator to run.

[time2roll]

pianotuna wrote:
I would have bitten my fingernails off to my knuckles. LOL My low fuel light is set at a couple of gallons. That gives me about 18 miles (30 kilometers). Fine for a city but not so good for rural areas.

time2roll wrote:
I have half the range and so I try to stretch it a bit more.
If I have the fuel light on with less than 30 miles remaining range I call that perfect.
Never an issue with no fuel out west.

My light comes on about 4 gallons remaining of 25. 4 x 8 = 32 miles.

But I do not wait for the light to come on to look for gas. I use navigation to look for gas on route with 100 miles remaining. If I find a truck stop or multiple stations at about the right distance I am good to go.

Have seen signs 'next gas 100 miles' and 'next gas 132 miles' and head the advice immediately. Not a big deal. Have bit my nails once when I judged it wrong. Slight detour to first fuel and 26 gallons later we were on our way. That was a decade ago.

[discovery4us]

When I was towing with gas I carried only because I had gas cans for the toys. When I went to a diesel TV the first thing I did was add an auxiliary tank that let me go 700+ miles between stops. The MH carries 90 gallons of diesel and gets a solid 10 MPG so with around 900 miles between stops I have not seen the need for extra fuel. I still carry gasoline cans for the toys but are useless to my TV 😞

[toedtoes]

pnichols wrote:
I trickle-fill our MH's gas tank for 8-10 minutes after gas pumps automatically shut off. This always gets me 5-6 more gallons into the tank.

Our family daily driver sedan and our 4X4 pickup truck fuel storage systems act the same way -> I get more gas into the tanks after automatic pump shutoff if I trickle-fill them for a few more minutes.

I suspect that the above situation is the case for the fuel storage systems in most modern vehicles. Why have a fuel tank of "X capacity" ... and then never be using that full capacity?

We like to stop when we want to take pictures, go potty, eat, or top off the tank for plenty of generator fuel headroom when getting ready to drycamp - not just because the vehicle wants to drink.

P.S. I guess that the title of this discussion topic meant "Do you carry heat?" and "Do you carry enough fuel?". 😉

Isn't that considered "topping off" and illegal?