Getting gas to your boat

[IDBoating]

When we bought our lake place ~6 years ago, I toyed with the idea of putting a 100 gallon tank on a small trailer and towing it to the gas station. Back home, I'd hook it to a hose running underground down to the lake, under the lake, surfacing under the dock where I'd have a filler handle. Gravity would provide plenty of pressure. I'd basically have my own gas station on the lake.

The problem was safety. Everyone I talked to in the fuel/trailer business said this was basically insane. Might be OK with diesel, but not with gasoline. Simply too volatile to be towing around like that. I never came up with a decent, safe solution so to this day I have about a dozen 5-gallon gas cans that we haul down to the boat. Glad they're empty coming back up the hill! {grin}

[brody66]

If you would have to tote gas cans to the dock to fill a bulk tank you might as well skip the middle man and go straight to the boat and just have the cans in the garage.

[Dave S]

We use 5 gallon tanks and a syphon with a ball at the end, makes syphoning a breeze!

here is a link to the syphon - they are all the same

http://www.shammysolutions.com/site/...product/100-23

[Guma]

What kind of lake? big? small? private?

1200+ acre lake, so average for the area. Its not private, just nothing commercial, like a marina, on the lake.

Lots of good ideas and thanks for sharing. I ordered the 14 gallon roll around gas caddy from Overton's with a gift card I had gotten for my birthday. They just ordered the lumber for our boathouse, so figure 4 to 5 weeks before our boat has a permanent home on the water. Excited!

[Guma]

When we bought our lake place ~6 years ago, I toyed with the idea of putting a 100 gallon tank on a small trailer and towing it to the gas station. Back home, I'd hook it to a hose running underground down to the lake, under the lake, surfacing under the dock where I'd have a filler handle. Gravity would provide plenty of pressure. I'd basically have my own gas station on the lake.

The problem was safety. Everyone I talked to in the fuel/trailer business said this was basically insane. Might be OK with diesel, but not with gasoline. Simply too volatile to be towing around like that. I never came up with a decent, safe solution so to this day I have about a dozen 5-gallon gas cans that we haul down to the boat. Glad they're empty coming back up the hill! {grin}

That's an interesting idea you have there. What about farms that have fuel delivered? Is 100 gallons to small for them to deliver or would it not be cost effective?

We also have a slope down to the water and would NOT want to be pulling anything heavy back up the hill..

[IDBoating]

That's an interesting idea you have there. What about farms that have fuel delivered? Is 100 gallons to small for them to deliver or would it not be cost effective?

Not sure, never checked. But I think it would be a tradeoff between tank size and consumption rate. The larger the tank, the more likely you could get it delivered inexpensively - but also the older and more stale your fuel gets before it's time to order again.

[OldeBoy]

I have been using 5 gallon cans as well. Typically dump in 15 gallons at a time. I started using this siphon this year to keep from having to hold the can while it empties. I bought it at Lowes.
It empties a 5 gallon can pretty quickly.

http://www.google.com/products/catal...ed=0CEEQ8wIwAA

[Fiveflat]

You can hire an oil company to come out and fill a tank at your house. But you'll need a 500gallon farm tank usually.

I just sold one because I don't 'farm' anymore