Lake/Slip Owners - How do you fill up?

[Jeff W]

For those of you who live/slip on a lake without a gas station - how do you fill up? Do you pull the boat out of the water for a fill or do you bring gas down to the lake? If you bring it to the lake, what method have you found easiest? I'm looking into a 25 gallon "gas buddy" that has wheels. This would eliminate carrying 20 gallons at a time up and down the hill to my slip.

Funny - I saw a Gas Buddy on Craigslist for sale but he has mounted a receiver hitch to it so you could put it on the back of your truck and drive it down to the lake. Great idea - but I can't imagine that isn't a huge fire/accident hazard. Can you imagine if you got rear ended with 25 gallons of gas stuck to your hitch? Yikes!

What do you guys do? Any good solution I'm not thinking of besides a gas buddy? If you have a 20-30 gallon tank - how do you fill up with just one guy? Gas weighs about 9 pounds per gallon so that thing is heavy when you fill it up. How do you get it out of the truck if you don't have a buddy?

Thanks!

[wolfeman131]

some discussion from earlier this year on this subject:

https://forum.moomba.com/showthread.php?t=7488&highlight=brass

I don't use the wheeled caddie anymore as it was too much of a hassle as you've already suggested.

[mmandley]

Have you looked at these? 3 of them would keep the boat pretty full of gas since its 27 Gallons,

http://www.overtons.com/modperl/product/details.cgi?i=36863&pdesc=Moeller_Portable_9_Gallon_Plastic_Fuel_Tank&str=gas%20tank&merchID=1008&r=view

[deerfield]

Jeff - I'm on a slim budget. So I bought four five-gallon tanks and carry them to the dock. It takes about ten minutes to empty into the tank on the boat. Yes, it is inconvenient, but it is simple and by now I am used to it and just part of the routine. Paying at the gas station and hauling to the dock is half the price of paying at the pump on the water. - Deerfield

[brenpire]

Hello Jeff - I have a solution for you. At least this is what I do. My cottage is water access. I can't drive to it.

I fill up 8 25Litre (Canada)gas cans, put them in the back of the SUV then drive to the lake. I then put the gas cans into a boat at the marina, drive the boat to the cottage and unload the gas cans. Then I store the gas cans in a little shed by the dock. Fun eh? By the end of summer I'm pretty buff.

When I fill up the Moomba I use a Siphon from an autoparts store. It works great and I never spill a drop of fuel into the lake. http://www.princessauto.com/engines/fuel-lubricants/manual/2460065-brass-jiggler%E2%80%9D-siphon?keyword=siphon

[Waynes345]

When I fill up the Moomba I use a Siphon from an autoparts store. It works great and I never spill a drop of fuel into the lake. http://www.princessauto.com/engines/fuel-lubricants/manual/2460065-brass-jiggler%E2%80%9D-siphon?keyword=siphon

Sounded like a pretty good idea. I looked up the siphon and noticed this caveat:

Not to be used for siphoning fuel

[zabooda]

I use gas cans and a fuel pump that I plug into the lighter. I use a generic fuel pump from an automotive store and have rubber hoses on each end and an in-line filter. One hose is weighted and goes into the can and the other goes into the fill. I have a long power cord that reaches the 12 volt lighter connector. I also use it to refuel the motor home. The most dangerous part is bringing the gas back from Costco in a small car.

[kenidaho]

well the gas station about a mile from me on the water was closed for a year a couple of years ago. I bought a Gas Caddy it holds about 30 gallons. I put it on my atv trailer and pulled it down to dock and filled the boat. The closets station was 9 miles up the river I had a boat that had a smaller tank so if I went down the river I would only be able to run about 1/2 tank.

[Jeff W]

I picked up a siphon from Overtons last night and I'll just pick up 2 or 3 (5) gallon tanks and do the same that everyone is doing. I'll just try to stay ahead of it and bring a full tank or two every time so I'm not running out.

[wolfeman131]

I picked up a siphon from Overtons last night and I'll just pick up 2 or 3 (5) gallon tanks and do the same that everyone is doing. I'll just try to stay ahead of it and bring a full tank or two every time so I'm not running out.

might as well get 4 as you can only carry 1 in each hand when they are full and there's no point in making the second trip with one hand empty! I had 5 cans and kept making that 3rd trip with only 1 can.

[Jeff W]

might as well get 4 as you can only carry 1 in each hand when they are full and there's no point in making the second trip with one hand empty! I had 5 cans and kept making that 3rd trip with only 1 can.

Where am I supposed to put my beer on the second trip then? I read above that it takes 3-5 minutes to empty each can. If I have a spare 12-15 minutes, I can assure you I won't just be sitting on the dock watching it.

;)

[kaneboats]

Just make sure you're guzzling from the right container.

[kaneboats]

I'll have to remember that-- drink from the lighter one.

[spyder]

i got to town with my 2 25L and 2 10L gas cans... wont fill up the boat completely by any means... but it gets the job done..

and i tend to go to the smaller town, not the city.. usually about 2-3 cents / L cheaper.

[Sled491]

I'm on an Island with no bridge. I just use race style cans with long filler hoses. Becasue my lake is small and we ski and surf litterally 200ft from my lot we don't burn much fule. Usually 10-15 gallons a week if that, more when on vacation so filling is no big deal. The nice thing with the race styl jugs is you just flip them over and fill with no spilage.

[NateDog]

We always fill up at the marina for simplicities sake but every time we go in and get our receipt. At the end of the year mail our receipts to the state and they send us a fat refund check for the highway tax since the fuel wasn't used on the highway.

[Sled491]

We always fill up at the marina for simplicities sake but every time we go in and get our receipt. At the end of the year mail our receipts to the state and they send us a fat refund check for the highway tax since the fuel wasn't used on the highway.

Really, I wonder if we can do that in WI?