The Gas Dingo

[LoopSki]

I would love to have one of these. Hate gas cans. But at $5500 its to steep for me . I'm thinking the high price tag is to make it legal. Maybe ill make one

 

gasdingo.com

[liquid d]

and it might eat your baby!

[Stevie Boy]

How about 50 Gal Oil Drum on trailer, with Hand Operated Transfer Pump Aviation Style or High Flow Fuel Rotary Hand Pump

[6balls]

This would have been awesome to have at my brother's place back in the day. Not only did he ski a ton and go thru a ton of gas, but when all of us ski buddies stayed at his place for a week the gas consumption was nutty.

Would have been awesome for family vaca as a kid, too, in WI where my dad basically supplied the boat/skis etc for each of 6 families. We were always runnin' for gas.

[BraceMaker]

@Stevie Boy the drum would probably be illegal to fill at gas stations.

 

DOT tank is important but you can buy at tractor supply co

[E_T]

Just get a tool box tank

[Orlando76]

There’s a lot of regulations on storing and transporting gasoline and most tool box tanks and pumps are not rated for gasoline. In Florida, the last time I checked, the maximum amount of gasoline you’re allowed to haul are (2) 5 gallon cans. There’s ways around it though. I don’t mind hauling Jerry cans, it gives another reason to justify my golf cart. Just load it up with cans and drive through yard to the boat.

[DangerBoy]

One of those Gas Dingos would be pretty handy for me as well but I'm pretty lucky in that we have a local fuel company that's willing to drive out a fuel truck to our bay once a year and fill up the barrels and storage tanks that a number of us have. I have an overhead 900L tank that I get filled or nearly filled every year. I share the gas with two neighbours as I don't go through near that amount of fuel in a year.

 

I pour the gas from the overhead tank into portable 5 imp. gallon (6 US gallon) gerry cans and carry them down to the dock to manually pour into my boat's onboard tank. I found that process messy and time consuming though so I cut into my boat's fuel line, inserted a switchable Tee valve and ran one side of it to a fuel hose with a Johnson/Evinrude fuel tank connector at the end. Now I can either run off the onboard tank or turn the valve and run off one of those old orange 6 US gal outboard tanks. There's enough room behind the rear bench in my boat for me to carry two of those portable tanks. Now all I have to do is just carry the portable tank down to the dock, drop it in the boat and I'm good to go. No more having to stand there holding up a heavy gerry can while trying to slowly and carefully pour the gas into the filler pipe for the onboard tank. This almost always results in a small amount of spillage as the lake I'm on is a large public lake so the boat is often rocking up and down in the wakeboarder/wakesurfer waves when I'm trying to pour.

 

This year, I bought a small fuel transfer pump that I can now use to pump the gas from a gerry can sitting on the dock straight into the onboard tank. I'm hoping that will make it a lot easier, cleaner and quicker to fill the onboard tank. The transfer pump is 12V so will run off my boat's battery. It can pump up to 11 US gallons/minute so it should take no time at all to pump a gerry can full of fuel into the onboard tank. If it works as well I hope it will, I'll probably make more use of the onboard tank because up until now it's just been so much quicker and easier to use the portable outboard tanks.

[B_S]

MI passed a law last year requiring poratable tanks to be removed from the vehicle and placed on the ground for filling. This makes my 26ga gas caddy useless. Wonder what the law is on something like this?

[lpskier]

@B_S 26 gal gas caddy? How about a 9000 gallon fuel tanker? Let’s see then set that baby on the ground?

 

@Orlando76 two five gallon cans? Wooo they’d hate me with 12 of them in the back of the truck. Can you imagine running a ski lake 10 gallons at a time?

[floridagm]

For those pouring gas from the can, look into a jiggle pump. I’d never heard of them before but amazing tool to transfer gas. Harbor Freight sells them in different sizes.

[skimtb]

Another option w 5 gal cans is to buy hi flow spouts. I can dump 4.5-5 gal in under 30 sec. I also added vents to the ventless cans - that was a must.

https://www.amazon.com/N2-Fuel-Can-EZ-Pour-Spout/dp/B017Y9NLMI/ref=mp_s_a_1_2?crid=2K4OJP5TXN5D9&keywords=gas+can+spout+high+flow&qid=1551660997&s=gateway&sprefix=gas+can+spiut&sr=8-2

 

[DangerBoy]

@B_S I've been thinking about a possible way to get around the MI law since I first read your post. I haven't seen the regulation but my suggestion is to check how they define the term "portable" or the phrase "portable tank" or however they describe it in the regulation.

 

I assume you're carrying that gas caddy around in the back of a pickup truck. Am I right? What if you found a way to secure that caddy in (i.e. bolt it into) the box of the pickup and took the wheels off of it before heading to the fuel station? A 26 gallon tank with no wheels on it secured to the truck isn't exactly "portable" is it? If it doesn't exactly meet the definition of "portable" or "portable tank" as specified in the law, then you shouldn't be legally required to comply with that part of the regulation. ;)

 

I doubt they have any rules against making a non-portable tank portable away from the gas station so you should be in the clear to un-affix the caddy from the truck and mount the wheels back on it once you're back where the boat is or any place away from the gas station.

 

Could this be a possible workaround?

[Bruce_Butterfield]

I would be very careful in trying “workarounds” to put gas tanks, portable or not, in the back of a truck. The issue is that it’s very easy to generate static electricity from movement of the tank. A spark from static while filling the tank will ruin your day. I’m pretty sure that is the reason behind the laws about gas tanks and pumps in the back of a pickup.

 

Diesel is another story and won’t explode from a spark. All the tanks you see in pickups are diesel.

 

You should always remove gas cans from the truck prior to filling. While the probability of a spark may be small, the consequences are severe.

[Orlando76]

Exactly @Bruce_Butterfield. That’s why I caution people using refueling pumps and tool box tanks/auxiliary tanks. Rarely are they gas rated. Take the cans out to refuel. And when people modify or rig a pump how many times has one seen a discharge jumper used? Proper ventilation? There’s a lot of hoops to legally and properly tote gasoline and it makes it expensive for companies too properly do it.

[Drago]

+3 what @Bruce_Butterfield said ^

It's a law for a very good reason

[liquid d]

I tapped an empty metal tank on the rim starting to fill it up 10 years ago. Blew up in front of me, and i'll never use one again. One of the loudest things i've heard and 14 inches from my ear! Was looking all over to see if all my body parts were in tact.

[Rednucleus]

@liquid d how big a tank? Was it on the ground or in vehicle? Thinking a metal Jerry can in that situation would be pretty exciting!

[BCM]

I have been searching for a diesel transfer tank and stumbled upon ATI, apparently they are able to built 50-state DOT legal gas refueling tanks

[PacMan]

https://flofast.com

 

Best solution to carrying gas cans I have seen. The pump empties the 10 gallon can in 30 seconds.

[eleeski]

Having transferred thousands of gallons (tens of thousands!) of fuel, static is real and deserves respect. Never use a non rated hose because it won't have the static pathway (OK, I did but I ran a bare copper inside the hose to deal with the static). Never use plastic pipe or fittings instead of the original equipment (I'm lucky it was diesel as the sparks were surprising. Diesel will ignite but not as easily as gas. Another static wire got me through that transfer in one piece until proper replacement parts were installed promptly.)

 

However, I'm not convinced of any static issues in putting plastic cans in the bed instead of on the ground. Touching the cans should dissipate any static. Touching the nozzle to the truck bed should dissipate any differential before you fill. Always touch the nozzle to the can while filling. I think the no fill in the bed rule is to keep the truck from blowing up with the can - important if your kid is strapped in the truck.

 

The gasturbator from Harbor Freight is nice for emptying fivers. A water separating fuel funnel is faster and safer if your fuel is at all questionable (I got mine from Aircraft Spruce). My pumper tanker trailer with dual fuel filters was so easy.

 

Fuel management, another plus for the electric boat?

 

Eric

[DW]

And if you are in a hurry: http://www.historictransam.com/racephotos/2011Monterey-bigrig.html

 

[Bongo]

@skimtb : It is a bit sad we have to pay $12 to buy a spout to add to that $10 plastic gas can to overcome the new style spouts guaranteed to spill. In my current situation, this is what I use about half the time. The other half for my other boat, where the boat typically sits lower than the water, I use gravity with a rattle nozzle similar to this: https://www.amazon.com/Wadoy-Siphon-Gasoline-Transfer-Priming/dp/B07D7TN9D6/ref=sr_1_5?keywords=shaker+siphon+3%2F4&qid=1551840607&s=automotive&sr=1-5-catcorr

 

When I lived in MN, we had a ski shed close to the water and we used fuel oil to heat our house. Got a 150 gallon fuel tank intended for a pick-up for the shed. Since I bought enough fuel oil to heat my house, fuel delivery truck was willing to fill it up a couple times per year.

 

In my current situation, couldn't find a real reason to overcome a parade of 5 gallon plastic cans.