Date:         Mon, 24 Feb 1997 23:05:31 -0800
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         Barbara Sutton <bsutton@gladstone.uoregon.edu>
Subject:      Re: extra gas

William Dummitt wrote:
> 
> Chances are many of us have carried a gas can in a vehicle at one time or
> another, but most of us did so in the full knowledge that it was unsafe.
> The older you get, the more fires you have seen, and you get more cautious.
>  Probably the safest place to carry an extra gas can is in the luggage rack
> of a vw camper.  There are still disadvantages to this, but it sure beats
> carrying it inside the van.  I feel the same way about Coleman fuel-I get
> nervous carrying it around inside the vehicle makes me nervous.
> 
> Bill
A little story that I shouldn't be telling: 
I once made the mistake of transporting a gas tank taken from a bug I
was restoring in my '69 kombi. The tank was 1/2 full and I made a
turn...The thing flipped and began spilling gasoline at a higher speed
than a gas station pump would.I immediately stop the engine and went to
the back to stop the spilling. By now all the floor was under 1/8" of
gas. While doing this, I look outside for a second, and observed that
the car was... moving! In the rush to stop the spill, I hadn't engaged
the first gear nor the parking brake. Rushed into the cockpit and put
first, scared to even press the brakes and create some electric flow
that could originate a spark, followed by an explosion, fire, etc.
Fortunately, nothing happened, other than the bus smelling like gasoline
for the next three months, and me getting some dizziness that night. But
talk about things not to do... I have learned my lesson (the hard way),
and I now carry emergency gas ONLY in the luggage rack.Plus, like
someone has already said, it even looks nice. Placing a gas can in the
spare tire area seems unsafe to me, in the event of an accident, or if
you hit something.
Cris.