Fishing with Rod Discussion Forum
Fishing in British Columbia => General Discussion => Topic started by: Spawn Sack on August 16, 2018, 10:39:32 PM
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So launching my jet boat the other day, fire up at the launch and the needle is right on empty. Had a little over 1/2 tank (50ish liters) when I shut it down a few days prior. Ethanol free 91 too - ouch!! Only logical conclusion is some POS siphoned my gas during the night! Luckily I was able to buy 20L off a guy at the launch that had a full jerry can, saved the day and was able to go fishing.
Probably should have installed some sort of gas anti-theft device years ago. Boat sits in driveway year round. It's a Harbercraft Falcon 1625 and has the standard plastic pop up gas lid.
Clearly I need to do some thing to avoid this happening again. Or at least make my boat an undesirable target for someone looking for free gas.
Would be nice if I could unscrew the existing female end cap off the boat and install a new similar one that somehow locks.
Or I could have something fabricated that goes over the existing cap and pad locks shut.
Or maybe some other anti-siphon devise I am not aware of?
Come to think of it I should probably get a locking gas cap for my truck. It is a 2011 but the gas door does not lock. It would suck to have someone drain my truck and boat in one night!
Wife's vehicle has locking fuel door, you have to flick a switch down by your feet. Not much, but better than nothing which is what my truck and boat have.
Any suggestions from the fishing community?
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A couple of comments and thoughts.
Gas theft is problematic with boats - both on the hard and when moored. Boats are low hanging fruit in both settings.
Without being able to see your current fill cap, I can't really say what options you have for a locking cap or something similar.
You could switch to using removable gas tanks instead of the integral tank and keep them stored safely until needed. With a 100 litre tank, a medium sized 4 stroke outboard engine, and a relatively light aluminum boat, your fuel burn isn't going to be massive. As you said, 20 litres was enough to save the day.
One thing that I regularly do is keep my tanks completely topped off before launching. A partially filled fuel tank is going to "inhale" some humidity and over time water will start to accumulate. A filled tank doesn't breathe. Fuel theft sucks, but if you went to fill your tanks before hitting the water, you'd have noticed it and filled up.
Food for thought...
Anyways, you could check out Attwood's website for gas cap ideas or options for your application. Good luck!
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0s7QkRAtgzo
However, thieves have been puncturing the gas tanks of vehicles instead of syphoning. Only way to stop them is a trip wire. :o
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A pissed off and hungry Rottweiler?
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I like the looks of the Gas Bandit Blocker, thanks chironomidking. Will definitely consider this product.
Also thanks Shan0, some good ideas. Removable tanks definitely not an option. The boat has a 100L built in tank under the floor. Removable tanks would be in the way to say the least.
I like to run the boat with about 1/2 tank of gas for a typical day of fishing where ill use 1/4 tank or less. It gets up on plane faster and just handles better than with a full tank. I run ethanol free gas and have a fuel/water separator filter so potential condensation is not a concern to me.
I'll have to do a bit more research but I'd lean towards some sort of locking fuel cap.
The cap on my boat looks like this (if the link works).
https://www.bing.com/images/search?view=detailV2&ccid=Tsn4DZrW&id=2C2E41A3BB30D2CCAF8F93D1B44417B0630235D7&thid=OIP.Tsn4DZrW3ezqUCC_MTUXlAHaKl&mediaurl=http%3a%2f%2fi.ebayimg.com%2fimages%2fi%2f191563169714-0-1%2fs-l1000.jpg&exph=1000&expw=700&q=plastic+gas+fill+cap+on+boat&simid=608013560302340783&selectedIndex=18&ajaxhist=0
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Find somebody with an old boat gas tank and fill it full of shitty gas. Lock it down so they have to siphon it. Their problem not yours. ;D.
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I left an old Jerry can in the driveway marked “Clear gas- not mixed” and filled it half full of water and put a couple of litres of gas on top. Funny, when it was stolen instead of being bummed I was happy.
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--had a locking gas cap on my truck...some knob chopped it off with an ax. Ended up having to get a new neck and bodywork.
--Boat gas theft... I left the gas tank vents open (by mistake) only once, in transit and gas spewed out. Lost about 1/4 of a tank.
--Different vents on different boats but may be worth checking.
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Haven't really had problems with theft over the years thank God but last year I kept a 25L can in my back yard. I never knew anyone lurked around back there at night till it went missing. It was a huge eye opener.
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Buy yourself a nest camera . It’s a life changer. Sends you a text when someone is spotted and you see live footage. You will have years of prawn bait if you catch the s of a b
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I left an old Jerry can in the driveway marked “Clear gas- not mixed” and filled it half full of water and put a couple of litres of gas on top. Funny, when it was stolen instead of being bummed I was happy.
That's funny
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Buy yourself a nest camera . It’s a life changer. Sends you a text when someone is spotted and you see live footage. You will have years of prawn bait if you catch the s of a b
Oh yeah? I'll have to look into these. I have thought that I'd like to set something like this up. I pondered buying a game camera and setting it up to beam my driveway. Just no great place to mount it up high enough. Plus if it were too low some skid might just take the whole camera.
Would be nice to have some sort of CCTV but I think it's overkill for where I live plus I just don't want to pay big bucks.
I'll look into these nest cameras, thanks!
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Oh yeah? I'll have to look into these. I have thought that I'd like to set something like this up. I pondered buying a game camera and setting it up to beam my driveway. Just no great place to mount it up high enough. Plus if it were too low some skid might just take the whole camera.
Would be nice to have some sort of CCTV but I think it's overkill for where I live plus I just don't want to pay big bucks.
I'll look into these nest cameras, thanks!
look at the xiaomi cams too. with the nest you have to pay monthly per camera to store on there cloud.... xiaomi is free to store on there cloud