Transporting Extra Fuel in BOV

[Ltlabner]

Have been trying to figure out a way to transport extra fuel on BOV and can't seem to come up with a sensable answer.

I have a number of plastic fuel containers out in the shed. Should the need to dee-dee-mau arise, I'm kinda stumped on where to put the fuel "cans" on the BOV.

If I put them in the passenger compartment (Rav4) they will both take up A LOT of valuable real estate, but pose a risk from fumes.

If I lash them to the top of the vechile, I'm afraid they will either leak from all the vibration, are not very secure if someone was desperate for fuel, and in a worst case scenario, shapnell/bullets could pierce the container and cause fuel to pour all over the BOV. Obviously, not good.

Am thinking of mounting a trailer hitch, and getting one of those hitch shelves that slide into the hitch. I could mount the cans back there with a bike chain or something. Or my other idea is to store the fuel cans inside a wooden crate that says potatoes or something. Using the shelf thingy it would keep the fuel from inside the passenger compartment and if the cans become compromised they are behind the vechile.

Thoughts?

[firefox]

i hope this link will help might not be what your looking for.
http://www.jcwhitney.com/Car-Hitch-Carrier-Accessories/600016421.jcw

[RedNeckSCOUT]

i have one of those hitch haul carriers for my explorer they are great. most are rated for 500lb loads i have haull a lot of stuff on them. i would go with that and put them in a crate like you said ( dont know about marking it with potatoes)

[bob200587]

I just bought a aluminum hitch carrier from harbor freight. It's much lighter an has railing whereas most of the one's I've seen are heavy steel and just a platform for the most part. It's rated for 500lbs and I've put a good bit on it with no trouble.

I would advise you do not keep gas cans inside the cab of the vehicle. It's "supposed" to be pretty dangerous.

If you had a off road bumper made for the back you could incorporate a spot for cans on it.

[alpmco]

Milk jugs! It works for moonshine too! :eek: . :flame:

[BobS]

There are inserts for military fuel cans (bladder and foam) to prevent the sloshing around and reduce the chance of a fire if punctured, but these are not cheap-IIRC, the cost is around $75.00 per can (and you must use true GI cans, not NATO or plastic). Gasoline cans must be painted red all over the US to be "legally" used to carry gasoline (not sure if this is an issue for you or not....YMMV). If you use cans that match the military shape and size, you can get mountable single can carriers both new and surplus that have either a webbing strap (surplus) or a steel locking strap (commercial and new). If you wish, I can look them up for you for prices and pics....

Best regards,

Bob

[soberups]

Look around on Craigslist or in the classifieds for a cheap utility trailer. You can keep your cans back there and cover them with a tarp or hide them beneath various household/camping items. You do NOT want gas cans inside the passenger compartment or trunk of your vehicle. As a last resort, secure them to the roof.

[doc762399]

I second the trailer option. You could armor it, and if it were to catch fire in a situation, you could jettison it and still have your vehicle. You can pic up used jet ski trailer for cheap. or get a service body bed and make or buy a trailer for it. What about adding extra tank to your vehicle?

[hitech_hick]

I would advise you do not keep gas cans inside the cab of the vehicle. It's "supposed" to be pretty dangerous.

If you had a off road bumper made for the back you could incorporate a spot for cans on it.

You do NOT want gas cans inside the passenger compartment or trunk of your vehicle. As a last resort, secure them to the roof.

As stressed you really don't want gas cans inside your vehicle. I have done it for short trips (under 10 miles) and no matter how good you think that they are sealed, you will be breathing fumes. An issue that I have with the hitch shelf is that is puts more weight on the hitch than they are designed for, especially for a uni-body vehicle. I think though aside from a trailer, this would probably be your best option.


hick

[NonConformist]

You could fabrocate a rear bumper thats designed to hold cans, or maybe find one in a off road type parts catalog and even then you could always bolt platforms to them for more fuel

[doc762399]

My only thing with rear bumper attatchments, they create rear over hang when wheeling, even if you make them of the lifted variety. and you are storing gas behind you on your vehicle WSHTF and some on starts shooting at you, and you are evacuating your family you realy want a firebomb strapped to your A$$, that if it goes up your main tank is now at risk not to meantion the whole vehicle??? I would first look at adding extra fuel tank to vehicle first, if that is not possible, then trailer.

[caspertattoo]

Blitz Cans has a metal jerry can for about $35 to $40 for 5gl cans.
http://www.blitzusa.com/fuelcanda.htm
scroll down to the metal cans. they also make the mounting brakets for them.

I store these in the house with no smell of gasoline at all.

you can find them at Harbour Frieght and Northern Tool.

[Jeffrey]

If you are carying gas cans, you must have a manual siphon hose. Preferrably commercial crank style not plastic pumper. Heck, even if you dont have gas cans a siphon is good. Oh no, the electricity is out! How do we fill our gas cans? See that car over there? Its now our gas farm. lol.

[PyroUSC]

First you should ask yourself, why do I only have 2 gas cans? Then you should ask yourself if a Rav4 is the best bug out vehicle you can manage. You may only get one chance to get out of dodge with enough to survive.

[doc762399]

Oh yeah my 42 gallon gas guzzling suburban will run a rav4 over :) just save the gas tank

[mr slow]

I have a motorcycle trailer I built and I would mount the gas cans behind my two motorcycles. I could get around 15 five gallon cans on there with the bikes. I would pull the trailer with my motorhome. My motorhome has a hitch on the front and back. It helps with moving the trailer or boat in tight spots with the motorhome.I mounted a winch on the trailer for pulling the bikes up the ramp I built.

[ak474u]

What about steel sleeves around the cans or a steel retaining box for the cans 1/2" bigger in both length and width dimensions it would function as a storage bin for the can and if it were a decent thickness of plate, it'd stop handgun rounds and a locking strap could be welded to the top of the box to secure the cans with a lock. You could also just put a steel plate at teh back of the hitch platform all the way across, it would be hard to open the back doors or tailgate, but it would lend some ballistic protection to the lower rear of the vehicle. You COULD always buy a hybrid prius and blend in with the sheeple.

[doc762399]

You would have to go to some thing like 1/4 inch thick steel. How much would that weigh? and then make like a whole box. the cans would have to be completely covered. Or just get a trailer like these

[hitech_hick]

You would have to go to some thing like 1/4 inch thick steel. How much would that weigh? and then make like a whole box. the cans would have to be completely covered. Or just get a trailer like these

1/4 inch steel plate weights about 10.21 lbs per square foot, than means 50 lbs to make 5 gallon bullet resistant gas can. Kevlar would be a better choice, but a bit pricer. You would be better off having the gas in a tank (under the vehicle, out of sight) or in a trailer.


hick

[BobS]

Properties of various alloys of steel (common alloys, not specialty type) are within 10% of hitech hick's weight he gave. Strength properties vary widely however. Anything from 36,000 pound yield to 100,000 pound yield are possible with alloy and heat treat.

Think about using 4130 chrome-moly or a heat treated T1 spec steel to gain rifle penetration protection...IF you go that way.

Think about "sandwiches" of various alloys (example-a 3/8" thick 5300 series aluminum and a 3/16" 4130 inner liner) to slow down and dissapate the forces.

Think about a "skid plate" for an underbody tank of T1 heat treated CRS- 1/4" thick.

Best regards,

Bob

ADDENDUM: Take a look at this:

http://steel.keytometals.com/default.aspx?ID=FreeDownload

...if you are interested in pursuing this line of thought.

[Ltlabner]

First you should ask yourself, why do I only have 2 gas cans? Then you should ask yourself if a Rav4 is the best bug out vehicle you can manage. You may only get one chance to get out of dodge with enough to survive.

Actually I a few more cans than just two.

As far as the Rav is concerned it's the age old cost benefit analysis. Get an old Suburban and drive it daily will bankrupt me on fuel costs (drive about 2500-3000 miles a month). Plus I'd look stupid taking customers out in an old beat up Suburban. My personal vechile (the Rav4) is doing triple duty of personal vechile, work vechile and BOV.

Use the Rav4 for daily use and just buy an old Suburban to park until you need it you say? Ok, well....now I have $2000 to $5000 (or whatever an old Suburban would cost) less money to put into food, ammo, med supplies, etc. Not to mention liscencing, potential maintenance costs, etc. Since the chances of bugging out are FAR less than bugging in, it makes more sense to put more money into the more likely outcome. i.e. adding to preps for home. Every dollar that goes into a truck that sits and does nothing 98% of the time is one less dollar for a prep I could actually use.

So...buy a different brand new vechile besides a gashog Suburban and use it for day-to-day use and possible BOV? Ok, gotta have a vechile big enough to haul all of my sales stuff for work so a regular sedan (Camry, Taurus size) doesn't work. Get into a bigger SUV and you run into that gas issue again. Also, get into a SUV bigger than a Rav4 and the cost goes up rapidly. More money into vechile means less for preps. Pickups aren't an option for work use.

So the Rav4 offers very good reliablity. Less maintenance issues = more money for preps. Also offers 25 to 27mpg. Less gas used = more millage reimbursement money can be used for preps. A decent looking vechile that is comfortable for all the travel I do for work = more productive sales guy = more money for preps.

While I wouldn't go nuts with it, the Rav4 has 4x4 so I can do limited off-roading should we need to head down the road. Again, since the chances of Mad Max are far less likely than just having to head down the road for a short-term SHTF, the 4x4 option is the right ballance of cost and productivity.

Being new the car is not EMP proof. Then again, I personally rate the EMP risk pretty low. And if it does happen I've got way bigger issues than my car not starting.

Sorry for the long response, but yes, I have thought through whether a Rav4 is the right BOV for me. For me, and my situation, yes it is. Low overall cost, low operating costs, good cargo capacity, limited off-road abilities, ability to blend in with sheeple because I don't have a monster truck all add up to a good BOV to me.

[caspertattoo]

I have 2 BOVs and 88 toyota pickup and a 83 Jeep Wagoneer. but I believe Ltlabner is correct in using his BOV everyday and having one that gets good gas.

My original plan was to make sure I had a BIG BOV so I could fit everything... it will never happen. If you need to bug out, chances are you will not have time to pack.

I keep a trailer full of essential supplies that can hook up to either vehicle. and will let the situation dictate the vehicle. I drive both of these vehicles equally but trust the Toyota pickup more. However the kids have nowhere other than the bed to sit.

in any case there is no proof that EMP would have ANY effect on a vehicle. I would rather put my ducks in the row of dependability and less gas consumption on an everyday basis.. than the very small chance that I will need a HUGE tank to survive.

[hitech_hick]

Considering your situation and the type of vehicle that you have, I would say get one of those cargo hitch things with a couple of gas cans. Just make sure that you have a tarp or something to cover the gas cans up as to not make you a target (more worried about thieves and opportunists than bullets).


hick

[commoguy]

I just bought a aluminum hitch carrier from harbor freight. It's much lighter an has railing whereas most of the one's I've seen are heavy steel and just a platform for the most part. It's rated for 500lbs and I've put a good bit on it with no trouble.

I would advise you do not keep gas cans inside the cab of the vehicle. It's "supposed" to be pretty dangerous.

If you had a off road bumper made for the back you could incorporate a spot for cans on it.

the only thing i could this being an issue is if your offroading the platform could get stuck on alot of things. if this is your bov why not make a fan ventilated steel box to put them in ventilate it to the outside.

just thought of this on some of my trucks i work with they have pivoting jerry can holders much like a spare tire rack in the way it swings but they hold jerry cans.

[MOlivo]

What about a roof rack?

[NonConformist]

Maybe adapt the tire rack on the back to hold 4 cans side by side on the rear 'gate?