Steven,
I think your idea of putting a can of gas inside the spare is ingenious...
BUT it does occur to me that if the container's seal is compromised... and
this doesn't have to be a leak; just gasoline vapor rising and being trapped
under the van... and there is a spark from one of the nearby wires... or the
fan shorts out and burns up... the results could be catastrophic...

Maybe I have an over active imagination, but.....

Bill
-----Original Message-----
From: S Sittservl <Ssittservl@AOL.COM>
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Date: Wednesday, April 19, 2000 3:25 PM
Subject: Re: Gas Can Carrier

>Here's an alternative for carrying extra gas that I posted last July.
>
>> Subj: Auxilliary gas can
>> Date: 7/22/99
>> To:   vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com
>>
>> For a while I've wanted some convenient way to carry some extra gas
>> for emergencies on my Westfalia.  At only 15 miles to the gallon and
>> a 16 gallon tank, the cruising range is only a few hours of highway
>> driving, so it would be pretty easy to make a mistake and not fill up
>> in time if I wasn't paying attention.  When my gas gauge stopped working
>> recently, I gave the problem a little more attention while waiting for
>> the replacement sender to arrive.
>>
>> There was some discussion on the list a while back about round gas cans
>> that would fit inside the spare tire.  Griot's Garage
(www.griotsgarage.com)
>> used to sell them, but doesn't anymore.  (They were pretty expensive
>anyway.)
>> Volvos apparently use them (or used to), but I never did get around to
>> hunting through salvage yards and looking into the trunks of wrecked
Volvos.
>>
>> However, I did find something else that worked out just fine: the "One
>> Gallon Plus" red plastic gas can made by Blitz, and available at Wal-mart
>> for about $3.  Although it's not round, it fits just fine inside the
spare
>> tire.  My spare tire was in its holder with the open/inner/convex side
down;
>> I turned it over to put that side up.  I set the can so that its long
>> axis would go side-to-side (rather than front-to-back), with the spout on
>> the passenger side.  I stuffed thin plastic sheet foam packing material
>> under and around it, to keep it from sliding around, and placed one
>> more sheet loosely on top just because it seemed like a good idea.
>> I secured it with a Coleman tie-down strap through the holes in the
>> wheel.
>>
>> With the spare tire rack bolted back into its usual position, there
>> don't appear to be any clearance problems - the can doesn't touch
>> anything except the wheel it sits in.  It looks like the radiator fan
>> exhausts through the area just above the spare tire, so I was a little
>> concerned the can might impede cooling, since it sticks up a few inches
>> above the tire, but in 85 degree weather I haven't noticed any problems
>> so far.
>>
>> Disclaimer: the installation looks safe to me, but I don't have any
>> particular knowledge of safe gasoline handling practices.  I figure
>> a commercial gas can ought to be a safe container, particularly since
>> it's outside the van and wrapped in a big air cushion (the tire).
>> There are electrical wires a few inches away from the can, and an
>> electric fan a few inches beyond that; that seemed OK to me, but
>> again I'm no expert.  I'd appreciate any comments from anyone who
>> knows more about handling gasoline.
>>
>> I'll add a picture to my web site (members.aol.com/ssittservl/Westfalia)
>> as soon as the film's developed.  (But it's just going to look like a
>> gas can in a tire, so don't get too excited.)
>>
>>                                    -Steven Sittser
>
>One gallon of spare fuel isn't much, but my intent was "limp to a gas
>station after I've done something stupid" rather than "conquer the
>uninhabited reaches of the desert".
>
>Additional disclaimer: Karl Bloss responded to the original post saying
>that he'd tried something similar, and his can shifted, touched a cooling
>pipe, overheated, and vented gasoline (harmlessly, but obviously
>dangerously).  However, his was not tied down, and I am convinced that,
>given the secure mounting and the orientation and size of the can, mine's
>not in danger of touching anything except the tire.  But his warning
>certainly should be taken into consideration.
>
>Update: Still no cooling problems or explosions.  I haven't needed the
>spare gas yet (and hope never too).  I probably should put in fresh
>gas and fuel stabilizer, though, for long-term storage.
>
>Non-update: no, the dull picture's still not up on the web site.
>
>Additional interesting thing (to me) that I noticed:  I currently get
>about 12 MPG in my van, but this old post says I was getting
>15 MPG 9 months ago.  I kind of thought it used to be higher, but
>wasn't positive until I re-read this.  Something must be wrong.
>
>                                                        -Steven Sittser
>