Plastic jerry cans

[Pikey Dave]

I'm looking to buy a couple of plastic jerry cans, 20-25litre. They are for petrol & I'm looking for good quality. Any recommendatons?

[Polwart]

Not sure how the costs compare but would "tanks" rather than "cans" be better? Easier to swap over connectors between tanks than syphon. Technically easier to fill up at the petrol station (although they may not understand the difference).

[lakelandterrier]

I was after something similar recently, but the max size plastic can for petrol you're allowed legally is 5l. As Plowart says, if it is a certified tank it can be upto 25-30 litres.

You can get 20 litre plastic cans for derv, but they're not meant for petrol & I'd expect difficulty in filling them at any petrol station - it's hard enough to find those that will alllow you to fill a 25l tank!

I ended up buying - cheap - 6 x 5l petrol cans to top up my internal tank without paying the 50p/litre premium on the local fuel barge.

If you want to fill / carry 25 litres of petrol legally in the one container it'll have to be metal (with all the risks of rust etc).

[willk]

Originally Posted by Pikey Dave

I'm looking to buy a couple of plastic jerry cans, 20-25litre. They are for petrol & I'm looking for good quality. Any recommendatons?

On the occasions that I required additional "deck stores" of petrol, I used 25L HDPE Hazardous Chemical drums as they were free. They are certainly NOT designed for fuel but are designed to safely transport nasty liquids. I had no problems with them and they withstood many miles lashed to the deck. I decanted them using a siphon to avoid spills. I recently was given a purpose designed HDPE jerry can of about 20 litres - I don't see how it is any safer...

So, if it's for occasional use...?

[Max...]

My Searider had two Barrus tanks - these are really heavy duty 'plastic' and hold 25 litres each IIRC? Obviously they were used as tanks not cans but if you just want to store fuel they are ideal.

[Polwart]

Originally Posted by willk

On the occasions that I required additional "deck stores" of petrol, I used 25L HDPE Hazardous Chemical drums as they were free. They are certainly NOT designed for fuel but are designed to safely transport nasty liquids. I had no problems with them and they withstood many miles lashed to the deck. I decanted them using a siphon to avoid spills. I recently was given a purpose designed HDPE jerry can of about 20 litres - I don't see how it is any safer...

So, if it's for occasional use...?

In the developed world he is very likely to run into problems filling your hazardous chemical drums.

[willk]

Originally Posted by Polwart

In the developed world he is very likely to run into problems filling your hazardous chemical drums.

... not least of which would be dealing with my Public Display of Affection toward one so generous!

As regards filling his own, they're not gonna let him fill a plastic 20L can anyway, so he will have to resort to Northern Cunning

[Pikey Dave]

Thanks for the replies chaps. As I have built in underdeck tanks, using "proper" plug in tanks ain't an option unless I want to start faffing about inserting connectors into my existing fuel lines, which I don't really want to do. A couple of 20l jerry cans will do the job nicely, as for filling them, I find stealth & sudden violence usually does the trick.

[willk]

Originally Posted by lakelandterrier

Plowart

Popular in the States.

[Starovich]

I have 4 of These use them all the time, never had an issue filling them.