A neighbor used to be a fuel tanker driver before he retired, did nothing but drive tanker rigs for 30 or 40 years, and the closet he ever came to an issue was when he was driving by the Hailey ID airport, before they ruined it by putting in the control tower. There is a big left hand curve (if you're northbound) at the north end of the strip, and about 1/4 mile before he reached that area, a landing Lear (I think it was) overshot the runway due to some mech problem, while landing north, and blew the fence at the end and across the road into buildings. It's been 30 or 40 years, but the point of the story, as my neighbor tells it, is if he had been about 20 seconds further down the road, he would have been involved, big time.

Zzz wrote: I am in the middle of building a lightweight fuel trailer. It's been a project I've been casually working on over the last 2 years, but without a flying airplane, obviously the motivation to finish it is low. Motivation is still low, but that's beside the point.
My use case is mainly for having a supply of fuel at my home dock, and also being able to retrieve mogas from the local station. I live in a part of the world where non-ethanol gasoline is readily available for off-road vehicles, but not at airports. .....

I'm curious how far your e-zero gas source is from home?
I considered getting a fuel tank for my pickup when I first bought an airplane, and started burning mogas,
but since my preferred source was (and still is) only a couple miles out of the way on my drive to the airport,
I bought three 5 gallon cans-- enough for about 3 hours flight in my first airplane (C150).
I've since added a fourth can, enough for close to 2 hours flight in my current airplane (C180).
Not as elegant as a tanker trailer, but cheaper & IMHO easier to use.
In fact, I'm so used to using these cans to fuel up, that when I do burn avgas (which is not often),
I find it easier to just fill up my can(s) at the airport pump & pour them into the airplane at the hangar.

Here’s pictures of my fuel trailer, which uses a Transfer Flow DOT legal 110 gallon tank. Of the two nearby fuel sources one offers self-service 100 LL daily for $5.50 about 40 miles away, the other offers full-service 100 LL daily for $5.99 and is about 15 miles away, but on Sat they give a GA $.50/gallon discount. The solar panel is covered with a sleeping bag cushion material to stop rocks from chipping it.

Nice setup jrc111, and thanks for the pics. Does the tank have a sump or low point drain?

“ Does the tank have a sump or low point drain?”

It does not. However, periodically (after I fill it) I tilt the tank up high in front and attempt to aspirate water at the rear bottom corner with aluminum tubing connected to a 60 ml syringe via nylon tubing and look for water. I’ve only seen a few drops. If I was a forward thinking kind of guy, I would have drilled a hole in the bottom and installed a drain valve before I first filled it. Of course, I sump the aircraft before every flight.

hotrod180 wrote:

Zzz wrote: I am in the middle of building a lightweight fuel trailer. It's been a project I've been casually working on over the last 2 years, but without a flying airplane, obviously the motivation to finish it is low. Motivation is still low, but that's beside the point.
My use case is mainly for having a supply of fuel at my home dock, and also being able to retrieve mogas from the local station. I live in a part of the world where non-ethanol gasoline is readily available for off-road vehicles, but not at airports. .....

I'm curious how far your e-zero gas source is from home?
I considered getting a fuel tank for my pickup when I first bought an airplane, and started burning mogas,
but since my preferred source was (and still is) only a couple miles out of the way on my drive to the airport,
I bought three 5 gallon cans-- enough for about 3 hours flight in my first airplane (C150).
I've since added a fourth can, enough for close to 2 hours flight in my current airplane (C180).
Not as elegant as a tanker trailer, but cheaper & IMHO easier to use.
In fact, I'm so used to using these cans to fuel up, that when I do burn avgas (which is not often),
I find it easier to just fill up my can(s) at the airport pump & pour them into the airplane at the hangar.

The problem with cans is two fold:

First, plastic cans are virtually impossible to electrically bond to the airraft, and there are more connections/disconnects, since you're draining several cans at a time, typically. Every connection holds the possiblity of a spark. Is that likely? Probably not, but if I can reduce the risk of igniting fuel during a fill up.....

Second, cans also offer a greater chance of some sort of contamination. Again, if you're careful, this is a miniscule risk, but.....

And, yes, I have fueled literally hundreds of gallons of avgas from cans over the years. I much preferred metal five gallon cans, which were available from our local bulk plant because they're easy to bond via a short cable with alligator clips on each end.

Again, the risks involved are small, but i personally know two gents who burned their airplanes down fueling from cans.

mtv wrote:.... The problem with cans is two fold:
First, plastic cans are virtually impossible to electrically bond to the aircraft....

If you put the can down on the wing before starting to pour in the fuel, with either a metal or plastic can,
doesn't that "bond" the can to the airplane?
I've been doing it that way for just about 30 years now, and never had a problem--
although I will admit that the pacific NW doesn't usually have the static potential that you can encounter elsewhere.

hotrod180 wrote:

mtv wrote:.... The problem with cans is two fold:
First, plastic cans are virtually impossible to electrically bond to the aircraft....

If you put the can down on the wing before starting to pour in the fuel, with either a metal or plastic can,
doesn't that "bond" the can to the airplane?
I've been doing it that way for just about 30 years now, and never had a problem--
although I will admit that the pacific NW doesn't usually have the static potential that you can encounter elsewhere.

With a metal can, yes, that probably works, though you're going to have to pick the can up to pour from it, so you'll stiill need a bonding wire while dispensing.

Plastic is generally non conductive. Therefore, any electrical charge that builds on the can may stay more or less isolated on the surface of the can. So, putting the can down on the wing may neutralize the charge on the bottom of the can, but there can still be considerable static charge over the rest of the surface of the can. Which is also the reason that attaching a bonding cable to the plastic can may help a wee bit, but not much.

What are the odds of generating a spark from a plastic can? Pretty low, probably. Very cold temperatures raise the likelihood of static charge build ups, and I never used plastic cans in winter in AK for that reason.

I'm not suggesting that you'll blow yourself up next time you fuel from a plastic can. Necessarily.

mtv wrote:DO NOT set the hose up to be detachable by cam locks. if you do, you will be spilling just a little (potentially a hose full) of fuel in the environment every time you disconnect it. I know, little tiny bits.

Gonna agree to disagree on this. Been connecting hose with cam locks for ages, and pretty sure it's produced far less spillage than most people dump out when they sump their tanks. Just takes a little care to not make a mess. Mind you, I don't remove the hose for daily operations- but I do sometimes store the trailer for long periods. Leaving fuel in the hose, especially black hose, turns it from pretty blue, to nasty yellow over time, which given the option, I'd just as soon avoid. Also, I recently had to add on 20' of hose to accommodate a visiting R-44, and having cam-locks made this dirt-simple. Granted, MTV's point might carry more merit around docks and float planes.

Cheers,

-DP

I have fueled from plastic jerry cans on many occasions and agree that bonding is a concern that troubled me. My solution was to use a jiggle siphon thereby leaving the jerry can sitting on the wing and in contact at all times, full disclosure I do tip it as a final act to get the last drops.

Mapleflt wrote:I have fueled from plastic jerry cans on many occasions and agree that bonding is a concern that troubled me. My solution was to use a jiggle siphon thereby leaving the jerry can sitting on the wing and in contact at all times, full disclosure I do tip it as a final act to get the last drops.

This is how I have been refueling for many years. Only issue being, lifting a 5 gallon container up onto the wing is getting more difficult. Especially when on floats!

Recently say an ad for a Saker pump that connects right to the fuel container. Not terribly priced either.

https://www.amazon.com/Sakerplus-Automa ... c31af&th=1

mtv wrote:... though you're going to have to pick the can up to pour from it, so you'll stiill need a bonding wire while dispensing. .....

I don't pick up the can to pour from it.
I put the can down on the wing, upright,
then put my thumb over the spout and tilt the can down & guide the spout into the tank opening.
Then leave it there & usually do something else while the can is draining.
The gas can never loses contact with the wing.

I have a nice fuel trailer build underway, you can read about it here. Not going to fuel from cans in my home sphere.

Sorry for the thread drift Zzz.

Zzz wrote:I have a nice fuel trailer build underway, you can read about it here. Not going to fuel from cans in my home sphere.

Apologies Zzz! I was just going with the flow...LOL As usually happens in lots of threads, things can go off to a different tangent. I will pay penance!