How much extra fuel do you take?

llamalander

Well-known member
I can get 40-80 miles out of a 5 gal. can, that's enough to keep me comfortable in most of the western deserts-
 

calicamper

Expedition Leader
Same here only once carried extra fuel and that was to no mans land highway 395 region In a 11mpg Land Cruiser fuel pig. I have by design worked to improve my vehicle choice regarding mileage and stock tank range so that hauling extra fuel is never an issue again. If the ADV guys can do the remote stuff with an extra gallon or two at most the typical cager should do fine with most standard vehicles unless they drive a fuel pig with a tiny fuel tank.
 

calicamper

Expedition Leader
16 hours is like 1000 miles. I don't think even a Jetta TDI can go that far. My TJR, I'd need 70 gallons. WOW 16 Jerry Cans.
I'd have to leave the wife and sleeping bag at home.
Even my wifes Subaru is breathing fumes at 500 miles.
Yeah I don’t get that.
 

hour

Observer
3 gallon rotopax for generator or giving someone else who ran out of fuel. I'd still buy gas in the last podunk town even if it were a buck more a gallon, before heading out in to the void. 33 gallon tank. If I didn't have over $100 in to this (can, mount) I'd probably just leave it at home.
 

Joe917

Explorer
If you can add extra tankage it is worth it. We carry 24 hrs of fuel, 450 liters, 2000 km range. The added bonus of such large range is we can select the cheapest fuel. Not an option for smaller vehicles.
 

alanymarce

Well-known member
Only once have i carried extra fuel and never needed it. I have been driving 48 years and have never run out of fuel.

Well done!

Neither have we run out; however we have from time to time driven further than the main tank can handle, and have refilled en route, so we've needed to carry extra fuel.
 

Alloy

Well-known member
16 hours is like 1000 miles. I don't think even a Jetta TDI can go that far. My TJR, I'd need 70 gallons. WOW 16 Jerry Cans.
I'd have to leave the wife and sleeping bag at home.
Even my wifes Subaru is breathing fumes at 500 miles.

My latest off pavement trip in the Subaru was 15:38hrs on 681.82km (423miles) of road using 19-20gal of fuel. I was carrying 10 gal reserve.

I'm planning a trip to see if there is a FSR that connects Gold Bridge BC to Riske Creek BC
 
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calicamper

Expedition Leader
My latest off pavement trip in the Subaru was 15:38hrs on 681.82km (423miles) of road using 19-20gal of fuel. I was carrying 10 gal reserve.

I'm planning a trip to see if there is a FSR that connects Gold Bridge BC to Riske Creek BC
Guessing you were seeing 20-21mpg average based on my last 19yrs with Subarus?
 

calicamper

Expedition Leader
395 eastern Sierras region can at times stretch the fuel situation especially if your reaching a station late at night given many are closed by 8-9pm. My 83 Landcruiser was lousy like 180 mile range basically so I only did that trip once in the LC with a 5 gallon can and it just sucked fumes the entire trip. After that I did several trips in my Subaru much much better range and more enjoyable trips granted the Subaru at times limited my off pavement options. The Sequoia was a nice middle ground between the Subaru range and LC capability. My new rig only has 7000 miles on it since September so bit hard to get a sense of how its going to work out but so far its looking like very comparable mileage to the loaded Subaru only it has a 23 gallon tank. So it should be a nice remote region rig.
 

greg.potter

Adventurer
16 hours is like 1000 miles. I don't think even a Jetta TDI can go that far. My TJR, I'd need 70 gallons. WOW 16 Jerry Cans.
I'd have to leave the wife and sleeping bag at home.
Even my wifes Subaru is breathing fumes at 500 miles.

My 2006 Jetta TDI wagon commuter vehicle regularly gets over 1000 km per tank and on many occasions has gotten over 1200 km on a tank.

My 2012 JKUR - not so much. I have a 40 L AEV tank on the bumper (equivalent of 2 NATO cans) that I fill up before heading out on any extended trips or away from highways and bigger towns.
 
D

Deleted member 9101

Guest
When I camped in southern Co I carried two 5 gal gas cans. My Tundra was a thirsty girl and altitude combined with pulling a trailer with a sport bike on it and bed full of camping gear didn't help. Didn't have to use any of the extra fuel that I carried, buuut it was nice to have. I ended up burning it in the bike at a later point in the trip.

On two wheeled journeys I carry 2- one liter MSR fuel bottles. Never needed them, but it was nice around Big Bend National Park to have the option of riding to next gas station vs. walking.
 

billiebob

Well-known member
I'm planning a trip to see if there is a FSR that connects Gold Bridge BC to Riske Creek BC
yes, there is a route. I don't think it is all FSR, I think a short bit of it is just resource road. My last trip thru there was 20 plus years ago in a YJ, I never carried extra fuel. I don't think the distances between gas stops are ever 100 miles. Gold Bridge, Lillooet, I think Gang Ranch sold gas too.... altho COVID might have closed Gang Ranch. I was planning on doing it after the Overland Rally in Whistler last summer.... but that got cancelled. The Caribou is Gods country, I love the high elevations. The canyon and bridge over the Chilcotin River is spectacular at sunset. Definitely spend some time around there.

Or since this is 4 months later, how was the trip....

Apologies for my attitude, old truck driver, when I see 16 hours of driving I think 16 hours of hammer down, 1000 miles.
 
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roving1

Well-known member
I take up to 40L for a big trip but after being stuck in a city for days in Mexico because of a fuel shortage once I now carry at least 20L all the time everywhere. That situation just absolutely sucked. I have also been caught out by hurricanes and other storm related power outages where extra gas would have been nice.
PANO_20190105_123228.jpg

Waited in line for 4 hours and they ran out of gas anyways vid.

I am amazed how handy that extra fuel is even when freeway driving though. Pushing range and the gas station is closed? No biggee. Get to your fuel stop exit and the food sucks? Skip it and push on to the next town. Everybody's card readers are down? Same just move on. I have a dinky tank so on a big driving day it's nothing to fuel up 4 times and it's nice to be able to push things for efficiency or convenience. I have only dumped the fuel in a few times freeway driving but not worrying about pushing range I have done dozens and dozens of times.

I get seriously annoyed at the people that claim it's so hard to get out there enough to need extra gas. Most of these people often live in the urban centers where they start their journey and are not necessarily moving from one remote area to another semi randomly exploring. They are also much more likely to be going to very specific places and routes where they are confident of fuel. But what urks me the most about the mind set about how easy it is to get fuel is that if pretty much ANYTHING changes or goes wrong with your plans fuel instantly becomes what you have to base all your actions around. I can't count how many times something was washed out or blocked or the weather at altitude sucked or was snowed in or I just plain did not like an area and changed where I wanted to go. So many of those times would have just been "Well I now need to go directly here to buy fuel and backtrack XX miles and then retrace XX miles" without extra gas. To me that's the biggest reason by far is the piece of mind and flexibility it gives me.

Plus there is just such a range difference in stock vehicles due to tank size and MPG. I think people forget to convert to an apples to apples comparison when they have a pickup that might have 500+ miles stock vs something that can barely make 250-300 miles a tank.
 

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