Bug out location several hundred miles away - need ideas for gasoline storage & hauling

So the wife and I are considering our bug out plan and our biggest concern is getting to our bugout location which is several hundred miles away. Unfortunately neither of our cars would make the distance on a full tank so our main concern is what/how to best store fuel at home, and be prepared to haul it along for the journey.

I have no idea how good a plan this is or not, but we figure that with six 5-gallon containers of fuel, plus an already full tank of gas in either car, we should be good to go. So the questions I have are as follows:

1) Are those $15-20 red plastic jugs typically good for storing fuel for extended periods of time for this purpose, as well as for hauling them, or do we need to consider other options?
2) What kind of stabilizer should I use in the fuel and/or how often should we replenish with new fuel?

Those are my top of mind questions, but any other input/feedback/suggestions/discussion on this subject matter would be greatly appreciated.

I just reread it and saw the part about 6 5gallon cans. That's 30 gallons. A full tank in most vehicles. Does your car get 3 mpg? You state your BOL is several hundred miles away. Just your vehicle gas tank contents should get you there.

Nato gas can if you can find one in good shape. Otherwise Bliz makes a pretty good can. Go with a metal can over plastic.

1) Personal experiece, ive had several plastic containers leak on me for no good reason. They do make higher quality steel containers for long term storage. Additionally they do make tool box/aux tanks that are perfect for what you need, but both options can be pricy.

2)I simply use Stabil and rotate about every 6 months. I have tried fuel that has sat for a year stabalized for a year that has done just fine however.

I'm in the same boat. My BOL is six hundred miles off so ill either have to shelter-in-place (primary plan), get out early, or wait until things calm down a bit. I have no illusions that it will be an easy or safe trip, but I dont have much option at this point for a closer BOL so I have to make due with what I have. If you havent already, make sure to plan out every alternate route you can possibly find, and keep a map of them in your vehicles

Saddle Tanks or Auxiliary tanks, more common on trucks. Sounds like you have a car.

How many miles is several hundred? Almost any car will go 350-400 miles on a tank.

Any good friends or relatives between here and there? Stash some fuel there.

In addition, if you get out of dodge fast, gas stations will still be open. Pay with cash, it always talks. Use your stored cans to top up before you leave and get ahead of the pack, bring what you don't use with.

Requiring 30 gallons of additional fuel you are either bringing both vehicles, going farther than a few hundred miles, or get horrendous gas mileage.

Have a trailer hitch on the vehicle? They make racks that mount to the hitch and you could put your fuel cans there. Better than in the truck or on a seat. No fumes or spillage worries. Plus added room for things you rather have dry or more secure.

Fuel can oracle in the survival forum. But a NATO can or MFC (military fuel can) will work well. If you can find ethanol free gas even better. Use Pri-G if you can find it, if not use marine Stabil, its green not red. If you have a trailer hitch those hitch racks will hold 4-6 cans easily.

spend the money and get the sceptor fuel/water cans. you can get them about $50 a piece online new or just keep your eyes open. They hold up VERY well and can take a beating. You can also use the water cans if you replace the seal. I have also read that Stay-Bil is is great for long term storage. I think these cans are by far the best you can get. the only thing iv ever seen break are the little nozzles on the water cans. They can take one hell of a beating.

Also there is a guide online on how to make you own nozzle from a few things at home depot. I did it ant it was very very easy and lets you make the exact adapter that you will need.

Do it yourself spout:
http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/threads/56733-2-quot-to-1-quot-PVC-fitting-for-Scepter-Military-Fuel-Container-Spout

ETA:
http://pure-gas.org/index.jsp?stateprov=KS

What type of vehicle do you have that can't go 300 miles ( several hundred ) on a full take of gas?

FWIW Just because you can get >300 miles to a tank on a good day's travels doesn't mean you will be able to when you are in a SHTF situation. 300+ miles per tank might be possible in clear traffic at highway speeds but spend a few hours bogged down in traffic, clearing trees from obstructed roads, creeping through a snowstorm, or 4X4ing on poor trails etc and your MPG can be abysmal.

Good point

Several hundred miles away... you are dinked! Does it have a sun roof.... you might make it.

The BOL is roughly 1200 miles away. We get about 400 miles to the tank under 'normal' driving conditions. The 30 extra gallons wouldn't even necessarily get us all the way there, but it should get us far enough to find alternate places to refuel.

Wow that is one HELL of a bug out.

I recently picked up 5 sceptre mfc cans for exactly this reason. They are expensive, but they don't leak. I would have no qualms tying them to the roof or even in the trunk on a car.
A quick search of eBay shows cans for $30 each.

5 gal cans are on sale for $35 at Atlantic British. There are a couple of threads about them here and in the FUEL CAN ORACLE in Survival Discussions

What kind of car are we talking about?

What kind of situation would require a 1200 mile evacuation?

Are you bugging out or moving across the country? 1200 miles... You better come up with something else.

I could see 4-600, but 1200? Nah. Better off bugging in. SHTF and you pack up the family for a 1200 mile vacation?

Sorry but your not being realistic here.

Yellowstone caldera exploding?

I hope you have a place or two along the way that is secure enough to refuel without getting mobbed by ghetto rats that have run out of fuel, a la Katrina evacuation.

So...when you finally arrive at your BOL after several days of travel.....how prepared are you to deal with the squatters that have moved in and claimed it?

If you're using cars as BO vehicles, you could probably stand some extra room for cargo - in which case a small utility trailer might make sense. A trailer opens all kinds of opportunities for fuel tanks - permanently-mounted or removable. Also, if you have some place to store the trailer securely, you can leave a lot of your BO stuff pre-packed on it - which allows you to leave sooner.

+1 this for a full on SHTF. highway would be littered with traffic at every city you even got close to... other then that, one car with trailer....

Just how far will your vehicles get on a tank of gas? Most cars these days have 10-12 gallon tanks, but considering the mileage they get it is not impossible that they could make 200-300 miles on a tank.

I am not a fan of storing gasoline at all in any quantity. Most people will do so in their garage and having 30 (or is it 30 gallons per vehicle?) gallons of gas stored in your garage is probably not the best plan, especially if it is near your house, or worse yet, attached. The problem is that you may end up creating a far worse hazard to yourself than the highly unlikely one you are trying to mitigate by storing the gas.

I do not think there is a "safe" way to transport that much gasoline in 5 gallon cans in a vehicle, be they plastic or metal. Any kind of accident has considerable potential to breach such containers.

You probably did not want to hear that, but some problems do not have a real easy or cheap solution.

I noticed later in the thread that the distance has changed to 1200 miles. That is an even worse problem and the only real solution probably involves refueling multiple times along the way.

A lot depends on why one might have to BO that far. If it is a hurricane, earthquake, or other natural disaster of limited but large scope and you can get out of your immediate area, refueling probably won't be a problem. Just drive 100 miles and you are probably going to be able to find fuel.

I personally cannot come up with a larger scale problem where a 1200 mile drive is a realistic and rational response where refuelling is not an option.

I get in that long distance senario sometimes [too often] and I'll say that if transportation is so messed up that I have to carry fuel because of not being able to get gas, then the OVERALL situation is likely going to be so bad that the roads I expect will be unnavigatable because of extreme 'social' issues.

What I'm trying to say is that if things deterioriate to the point fuel is scarce, and bugging out is the only acceptable option, then trying to cover such a long distance probably isn't a viable idea MOST of the time -EVEN if you have all the fuel you need with you.

I wish I had a better idea/answer but I don't.

I'd try chartering a plane, leaving by car/truck, anything, well ahead of time. But if things deteriorate to where fuel isn't avaiable, I don't think most folks are going to get far down the road in a bad senario other than hurricanes and other localized disasters.

An adjunct to your strategy is to study the likely threats that could create a widespread lack of fuel and that means paying a lot of attention to political and social issues to gain as much understanding of them as you can and be able to recognize the early stages of SHTF so you can anticpate and take action before things go irretriveably south.

Another thought is to have a network of folks you might know professionally, etc and who know and trust you, at least a bit, and you might call them and trade your help for a base to operate from, little as it may be, and without posing a burden on your 'sponser'.

If you're a member of a church, you might want to ally with a denomination as far as you can get down the road, or other group. Something like this is going to quickly separate the multitude of MEMEME shitbrains from reasonable folks who have skills that a group might find valuable [I'm not talking abt the fantasty of trigger pulling].

1200 miles and you sound like your only taking one car.
I would look for a used truck (cab and a half) with auxiliary tanks.
If not then you may want to look at this:Rolling Gas Can
I saw one a car dealer, it was 30 gals. I have not found that one yet!
Takes up less space. Fill your car up.
Do you reall think your going to have any where near a full tank when you need it!
That long of a trip, you got more then fuel problems . I'm only talking about the car.
You may, also want to look at having two spare tires.
This most be a great BOL. Glade you have some where safe to go.
Good luck! Hope some of these post help you out!



PITA45

Just FYI for everyone if you don't know the Scepter CARB Jerry Gas Can are a little cheaper than the military ones and seem quite decent for the price to me anyway.

http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_200473764_200473764

I purchased 2 a few months ago filled with unleaded and mixed in some Sta-bil. I haven't put them through hell yet but I was just keeping them as a small fuel reserve. The plastic feels about the same as A scepter water can. I have a few that look they they got in a fight with a pissed off German Shepherd (because they did) and no leaks yet.

Ouch!

1200 miles...

Ditch the car and get yourself an airplane.

Seriously prefer an amphibious plane but they get pricy.

Check out an older Cessna 172 or even 182.

Not really too expensive and add about 2000 for training...

Also it's fun!
B

Damn, that's a long way in a SHTF situation. As others have pointed out you are going to
run into trouble at every large city you run into. You are going to have to anticipate an
average speed of 20 mph (unless you are the first to bug out or are very lucky). You
should also anticipate getting an average fuel economy of about half of normal.

So now you have 5 days of travel and twice the fuel needed. This is not going to be fun.

You should anticipate placing strategic stockpiles at five points along the route and then
visiting them every four or five months to refresh and replenish. I would still try to carry
the extra tank full when you start out just in case the fan is running at high speed.

Hmm - So you need a vehicle that gets its best fuel economy in slow traffic, with lots of stop-and-start driving...

Who would have ever thought that the Toyota Prius would be the perfect GTFOD vehicle?

Too bad it can only carry you, your BOB, and rifle...

You just gotta think outside the box...

Slap a roof rack on top of it, install a hitch receiver behind it to tow your BOT, and you're ready for the end-times!

(Anybody happen to know the towing capacity of a Prius?)

Check out this link:
http://sparefuel.net/media/

I bought some of this stuff. Like the safety issue for travel.

My BOL would only be about 450 miles or a little over 1/3 as far away as yours. I just do not see me getting there. I don't view myself as a pessimist, but as a realist. Step 1 for me would be to get out of a major city. If by luck I was able to do that, then I would have two much smaller cities to navigate around. However in a real SHTF scenario, I don't think I would be able to cross the first major bridge.

As much as I hate to admit it, I truly believe my only chance is to bug in. Good luck with your plans.

I actually tried to look that up for you (Prius thread about towing...), but I drive an F350 and they started making my head hurt too much.

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