Carrying Petrol-filled Jerry cans

Hello Col,
On the jerry can holders, I have not heard anything regarding that... There is an engineering restriction on batteries and how close that can be to the gas bottles, (with good reason) as the gas bottle regulator has an over pressure vent... But I have not heard anything about jerrycans... Maybe it is in relation to batteries the same way, as some put the batteries on the a-frame, in that case then you would not want fuel there...

I have seen several petrol vehicles with long range tanks, but have not heard of any restrictions on jerry cans.. It has been routine for people to carry boat motor fuel on the drawbar of years, on all kinds of vans, as there is no where else safe to carry it. It has been routine to get yearly Safety Certificates and Roadworthy Certificates for second hand, and we have never been pulled up on it... Nor have I heard of it anywhere else. Before we were licensed for the Registration Inspection we used to pull them to the Q Trans Dept, and no one mentioned it there either.. If you hear of anything on this please let us know at BT, OK? But in Safety Inspections and Roadworthy Inspections in all States, we have not heard anything.

On the vans you saw at the Show: Forget the glitz and glamour of the Show.... Go to the Factory and see how they are built, and that goes for Bushtracker and all vans.. I routinely tell people, don't buy anything until you tour the factory and see the construction methods and how they are put together. That will answer things for you... There is more to this than a pretty face on the outside, when you pound it thousands of kilometres on the corrugation... Mind you I think the Bushtracker is good looking in a tough sort of way too!

Kind Regards, stg

Hi Col, we don't have a BT either, but started negotiations. We have done 3 years travel with our Jayco, and the only comment we heard in regard to Petrol cans on the rear of vans was, "we heard of a couple that got rear-ended by another vehicle and the jerry cans blew up". Seems logical when you think about it. I wouldn't carry them there. Hope this helps you?

Regards. Ian from WA.

When I left the Victoria Police at the end of 2000, the laws then were that any fuel being carried on a trailer or vehicle had to be within the confines of the vehicle or trailer.

IE. It could be on the draw bar so long as it was inside the A frame, and it was not permitted in jerry cans attached to the rear of a caravan or 4WD for that matter. I know that some other caravan manufacturers put jerry can holders on the rear of their vans, but you should only put water in them.

The laws may have changed since 2000 but that was what it was when I was working. I must admit though that very few police are aware of these regulations, and you would have to go to a dedicated Traffic Police Officer who would probably be aware of the regulations.

The Australain Road Rules came into force in about 1999 so all states should now have similar regulations.

Have a look at exploroz.com forum - go to post 27099 (today) someone has put a heap of info on regulations re carrying fuel. We carried our in an open frame on the a-frame, but didn't realise at the time that on sharp turns (like when we got stuck going down a road that just stopped) the tyres on the back of the patrol would hit the frame we'd made. We now have an aluminium box further back on the a-frame for the genny and the petrol cans.