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Equipping the Overland Vehicle Vehicle accessories - Making your home away from home comfortable, safe and reliable.
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  #1  
Old 29 Oct 2008
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Petrol in vinyl containers
Musing the short term storage of petrol in a flexible vinyl container rated for diesel/water only.

There must be a reason why the container isn't suited to petrol. But having ridden motorbikes with carrier bags full of 2-stroke dangling from the handlebars in SE Asia I'm guessing there is some 'real world' leeway.

Any issues spring to mind? expansion under heat, venting, sealing?
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Old 31 Oct 2008
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Saw one expand and burst in Oman a few years ago inside a friends truck.We think it was expansion but it could have split with impact in desert terrain.There have been some big advances in plastics in recent years but,because of the above,the danger and nerves on the way to home base and the cost of cleaning the vehicle after I have always avioded them and probably always will!!!!!!!!!
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Old 31 Oct 2008
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There are whole volumes of UN, Road, Marine and Air treaties/agreements about the design of containers for flammable liquids - the container has to be able to cope with the vapour pressure of the liquid, temperature changes, drop tests, chemical compatability, resistance to static electricity......etc etc.

Best to stick to containers that have the little UN roundall on them and are sold by petrol stations or auto shops. A vinyl bag splitting and spraying you/others with liquid would not be nice to see.

Diesel is a whole different thing as it is not considered to be dangerous unless its being carried with dangerous goods (flammables, corrosives, etc).
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Old 3 Nov 2008
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jerry can usgi
http://www.sonoransteel.com/JerryCanPaperV1.2.pdf

scroll down a bit to the pic of the hummer

there are some 20l jerry cans approved for the us army it seems, which are made in canada??, but around £60 in the uk. various colours for diesel, petrol water etc, or green with an appropriately coloured lid keeper if you wanted.

i've only seen green ones for sale in the uk, on chandlery type sites, but they apparently melt before they can explode, so are safer than metal?!?

they also have a threaded bigger filler hole, and water ones having a breather smaller hole, so filling maybe quicker and easier, but also no clanking in their racks!
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Old 3 Nov 2008
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Wearing through Cans
I've seen a few plastic fuel canisters (proper ones made for the job) wear through on dirt roads on roofracks and inside vehicles so I'd put up with the metal clanking.
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Old 4 Nov 2008
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I think the main reasons against vinyl for petrol are safety related: the much higher vapor pressure of petrol and the danger of fire if ruptured.

The Zodiac company makes 100L diesel bladders out of Zodiac boat type material. They are called "Addisup 100L". They are designed to hang off the sides of a vehicle's cargo area and are ~2.1m long and ~50cm high. One empties the bladder into a fuel tank by gravity with a hose via quick disconnect type fitting. So far I have not been able to get the Zodiac company interested enough to sell me a mere 3 of these (I am not the French or even the Zairian Army!!).
Has anyone reading this ever been able to purchase these items?

Charlie
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Old 5 Nov 2008
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Thanks for the replies, to clarify I was looking at bladders rather than cans. We've used the turtlepac type for diesel and water (100-150litre) they can be messy to use but very strong.

Charlie: maybe you could try them instead of zodiac?

The material is PVC nitrile in various laminations, the difference between the petrol and diesel rated containers seems mostly to be engineering - stronger fabric and alloy fillers/caps. For temporary storage away from people, foliage and buildings I reckon there is some leeway.
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Old 6 Nov 2008
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Dunno about cars, but when I crossed the Sahara 30 years ago on a thirsty two stroke road bike I just strapped a 40 litre water container filled with petrol, on the rack on the back of the bike. Did amazingly bad things to the handling but it got me from In Salah to Agadez across the sand (no bitumen) without problem.

Now when I offroad anywhere on the bike, most recently Kazakhstan/Russia, I just scavenge as many plastic mineral water bottles out of the nearest rubbish bin, fill those with fuel, strap thme on the set, empty them into the tank as it drains and squash them flat for disposal at the next bin.

Hope this helps.

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