# Get Out And Explore! > Tech Section >  Gas containers

## dryvah

Hi all. 
How many of you carry extra fuel on offroad trips? Would you say its a necessity for exploring in NH? 

If you do, what are you using? Ive been looking at the Rotopax on Amazon, but the get mixed reviews. The poor reviews are due to some having leak issues! Anyone use these ones? 

-steve

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## BlueberryHill

Unless your rig gets truly horrible mileage,  or you have a tiny gas tank it's not necessary. Safety is an issue too, in my opinion. 

 I haven't needed to top off the tank before the end of a run, and that's an old Wrangler (famous for poor mileage) with a 20 gallon tank. Saturday was 182 miles including driving from Fitchburg and back. Filled up the next day with 4 or 5 gallons left in the tank.

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## Ivoryring

The only place I've thought it might be needed was a trip to the North Maine Woods - and even though I'm glad I brought it - I ended up not using it even on that trip.

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## m_easty

you shouldn't need to carry extra fuel on any average ENH day trip. I have a rotopax container for my ATV and I love it. The only issues I have is with fuel expansion especially in hot weather can make it difficult to unscrew the clamp hold it to the machine.

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## ecgreen

Ditto, even after a 16 hour day of wheeling in NH, I have plenty of gas. Most I have aver burned locally is about 1/2 a tank (I get 19mpg average - 4 banger pride baby)

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## dryvah

Thanks for replies. Seems it's an unnecessary precaution having spare fuel. 
I just did nearly eight hours on class 6 roads and barley used a 1/4 tank. I gotta stop overthinking everything!

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## mewaschuk

> The only place I've thought it might be needed was a trip to the North Maine Woods - and even though I'm glad I brought it - I ended up not using it even on that trip.


can you elaborate on this please?  how many days & miles did you travel 'off road' up there?  thx

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## Sloth

Get a real Jerry can (i.e. wavian) if you really need it. No worries about expansion, breakage etc. Can store them upright or on their sides. That being said I concur, unless you're doing a multiday trip in the NMW there's not much need for it. Even on my FJ with it's pathetically small gas tank and horrible mileage it's not needed unless I'm doing a multiday trip far from civilization.

That being said you don't get any insta/ Overlund points for not having rotopax hanging off your vehicle at all times. So that needs to be taken into consideration too.

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## mewaschuk

> Get a real Jerry can (i.e. wavian) if you really need it. No worries about expansion, breakage etc. Can store them upright or on their sides. That being said I concur, unless you're doing a multiday trip in the NMW there's not much need for it. Even on my FJ with it's pathetically small gas tank and horrible mileage it's not needed unless I'm doing a multiday trip far from civilization.
> 
> That being said you don't get any insta/ Overlund points for not having rotopax hanging off your vehicle at all times. So that needs to be taken into consideration too.


thx.  planning a 5-7 day trip up there and wanting to stay our the whole time.  kinda a pita planning with my 2dr jk with 2 adults+2 dogs and not spending +$1600 on racks etc for occasional use.

...regardless, i do need more bro points...

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## Sloth

Get one of those hitch mounted cargo trays. You really won't need the departure angle up there. And if you do just take the crap off, remove the tray, drive by where you need more departure angle, and load everything back up and continue on your merry way. Much cheaper than a rack and a bunch of other junk you'll not get your moneys worth out of.

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## mewaschuk

> Get one of those hitch mounted cargo trays. You really won't need the departure angle up there. And if you do just take the crap off, remove the tray, drive by where you need more departure angle, and load everything back up and continue on your merry way. Much cheaper than a rack and a bunch of other junk you'll not get your moneys worth out of.


yeah, that's pretty much where i ended up.  warrior products make a hitch mount with built in 8in riser.

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## Tao

I had a 10 gallon tank and did need to refuel from a Jerry can on my last ENH trip. Not all of us are blessed with better than 8 mpg. The Jerry can was older but in good shape so picked up new rubber gaskets off eBay, turned out to be not be that great a gasket. Where can I buy a "good" gasket? I was also wondering if an o-ring would work better than the flat gasket?? I have the older threaded style container.

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## jeep crawl

by the time those metal Jerry cans need a gasket my bet is its all rust in side ...roto packs are the way to go .

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## Rubicon

> ...That being said you don't get any insta/ Overlund points for not having rotopax hanging off your vehicle at all times. So that needs to be taken into consideration too.


Haha! As most wannabees that want to look the part and then never see more than an occasional smooth dirt road.

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## Sloth

> by the time those metal Jerry cans need a gasket my bet is its all rust in side ...roto packs are the way to go .


The good metal cans last almost forever. Unless you're leaving gas in there for years at a time they really don't rust.

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## MassMopar

You can get the awesome old school jerry cans from these guys



https://www.roverparts.com

i bought 4 a few years ago. 2 in use, 2 dry in storage if I need them.  No rust to speak of, they have some coating in them.

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## Littlefish

I have two 3.5 gallon Rotopax on the side of my bed rack. Dont have any issues with leaks. I just make sure to avoid filling it up past the safe fill line. With that said Ive never actually needed extra fuel. But its nice to have. I dont fill them up for shorter weekend trips, but over the summer when we drove to Yellowstone or when we were up to the NMW for four days it was good peace of mind. 


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