Ideas for water tank where spare was located on E350

[SheepShagger]

Not pre made, but simple to make, I also added twin compressors and air tank along with water tank in that location.
https://www.sportsmobileforum.com/fo...ater-6607.html

[dougmitchell]

Agile sells this 21 gallon spare tire tank for Sprinters which I just bought. I don't know if you could make it work or if they sell one for your vehicle.

https://agileoffroad.com/product/tir...tank-sprinter/

[wahoo]

It might be worthwhile for those that have had gas tank strap failures to list their install details. There might be some commonality.
Mine is an EB 350 with Transfer Flow 46 gal. installed by SMB West in 2005.
No failure for me yet.

[Glenn P.]

After looking at everyone's comments and shifting ideas as to what to store in the old spare tire location I have decided. I am going with 3 Rotopax 4 gallon fuel cans mounted to their mounting plate with mounts/locks. This will provide me with 12 gallons of fuel if needed. I already have a 40 gallon main tank and can get 600 miles range so the 40 gal auxiliary was a bit much in both quantity and cost. The whole Rotopax setup delivered is about $650 (who knew CA had a special tax on fuel cans?) and will not even extend any lower then the old spare did and that's even with adding a third Rotopax can under there. I can now also carry 2 diesel and one gas if I so desire to full up some of the toys I may bring along, ATV, chainsaw, flamethrower, whatever mood I'm in I guess. Funny how this started as a search for a water container but morphed into putting fuel down below. Now the fuel cans do not need to take up space in the galley box and water cans can go there. Besides, I'd much rather my cooking gear in the galley box get soaked with some spilled water rather than diesel. Remember my story from the beginning about getting a hole in the fuel tank in Death Valley? Well lets just say that siphoning 15 gallons of diesel from peoples tanks has left me with a horrific memory of the taste and smell of diesel so keeping it under the van seems a much better plan than in or on my galley box!!! I'll post pics once I get this all installed.

[Twoxentrix]

Originally Posted by Glenn P.

... Well lets just say that siphoning 15 gallons of diesel from peoples tanks has left me with a horrific memory of the taste and smell of diesel so keeping it under the van seems a much better plan than in or on my galley box!!!

This it brought back vivid memories of siphoning gas way back in the 70's when we had the big gas shortage... had my share of that taste!
Long lines for gas were common & thievery was out of control - FWIW, I only siphoned from my parents car! Although a couple of us would visit the wrecking yards occasionally and requisition the left over gas from cars in the yard.
***Taco Bell was the only thing capable of removing that taste from your mouth.

[JWA]

Originally Posted by Twoxentrix

.
***Taco Bell was the only thing capable of removing that taste from your mouth.

The lesser of two evils you're saying!?

BTW I love Taco Bell for a cheap filling meal!

[Glenn P.]

Here is the setup prior to mounting under the van. 3 of the Rotopax 4 gallon cans, a large Rotopax mounting plate, 1 deluxe Rotopax mount, one locking Rotopax mount and 4 Rotopax extensions in total. This weekend I hope to get the chance to check fit it all and get the plate mounted after pulling out the spare and the winch for the spare. More pics will follow once I complete that.

[Twoxentrix]

Glenn, just an observation - seems as soon as you release the mounts holding the tanks in place gravity takes over with all 4 tanks (unless I’m not seeing something in that design). What if you used some Velcro straps between each tank - just the 4 outside handles??? Each strap holds the lowest tank to the next, and the first one closest to the body has straps that hold it to the mounting plate or a part of the body.
That would allow you to remove one at a time without having to endure the full weight of all 4 tanks at once. (The gas in each tank will weigh ruffly 32lbs)
Obviously there are other options you can come up with as well, just creating some thought into how you may approach loading & unloading them.

[BrianW]

I’d also add some sort of safety cables or straps as a secondary support. Pretty dangerous if the main attachment fails and gas cans go bouncing down the highway [emoji15]

[bigriver]

Originally Posted by Twoxentrix

This it brought back vivid memories of siphoning gas way back in the 70's when we had the big gas shortage... had my share of that taste!

When i was a kid my dad called the hose in his trunk for emergencies his Oklahoma Credit Card