Jerry cans

As long as they pass the relevant Australian Standard they both will be OK.

Ihave metal because my old man went around Oz in a series land drover donkeys years ago and i still use the jerry cans for mower fuel. They are stamped 1965 the year they were made. From memory they were ex army at auction.
For me metal is good as i can easily see any paint being worn off so i can look for damage etc. Maybe a bit harder with plastic.

People will have good stories about plastic as well.

Cheers,

Glenno.

Hello Will,
They both have advantages,
The plastic is cheaper than metal. But the metal is more abrasion resistant.
The metal is more robust, plastic is lighter.
Both are required to meet Australian Standard and should be marked accordingly.

Do you already own the containers? Or are you buying them special for this trip? If a special purchase, will you use them again?

If your buying them as a one off special for this trip only, go for the plastic. Lighter, cheaper, if you hole one throw it away when you get home, no great loss. If you expect to use them for many trips over many years, one answer, steel.

I've got about 8 steelies I inherited from my grand father from his early Land Rover days. Ex army with date stamps ranging from about 1950 to 1953 and still going strong.

Geoff.

I had 2 jerries 1 metal one that rode at the back of my camper and 1 plastic that I had inside. After selling my camper I bought another plastic one (havnt used it yet) for inside my 80. Neither leaked and neither sprung a leak - probably answers your question

Yep - the black plastic jerries with the yellow fittings (commonly available here and there) are very robust. Had mine for years using diesel and nairy a problem - about to buy another one for extra capacity on the trailer.

I go for plastic these days. I did a trip up Cape York with tha Army years ago and we had several jerries split aling the seams. None of the water jerries leaked. Also my cousin had a metal one split from being heated/cooled in the shed for a few years. The expanding and contracting put a pinhole crack in the side of the can.

No problems with rusting on the inside either.

I have had my Rheem plastic one swell up to resemble a beach ball (not reccomended) and it is still OK.

Thank you everyone for your informed opinions.
This is what makes this forum so good. Information backed with first hand experience.
Because I am unfortunately only able to take these trips irregulary I think I will go for the plastic ones for the above mentioned reasons.
Thanks,
Will
PS should I cover them in rubber to act as a buffer against rubbing.

Will, if space isn't an issue perhaps you may want to consider a 60lt drum. I've used them before with no dramas and find they take up a whole lot less space than 3 jerries.
You can try your local panel beater for an empty thinners drum or a drum recyclers.
You can syphon from the drum straight into the tank or decant into a jerry, depending on how much fuel you need to carry.
T

I crossed the Simpson with both a plastic and a metal jerry filled with diesel. No problems with either, except that the metal, with its cam lock, seals better. This I found out from a prior trip into the centre. Also, the pouring spout for the plastic is inside the jerry, so when you pull it out, the ribs drop diesel everywhere. My answer in the end was to carry both the plastic and metal jerry in a large plastic bin in the rear - and use the metal one first.

Hi Will,
I had a plastic one (yellow Willow brand) fall off a trailer on the Gibb River Road north of Drysdale Station. The jerry can contained 20ltrs of diesel. A panel to which the jerry can was attached broke loose as a result of prolonged travel on corrugated roads (and poor design) while traveling at about 80k/h. As luck would have it (depending on how you look at it) I saw the jerry can and the panel hit the dirt. On contact with the ground, the metal panel and the jerry can separated. The jerry can rolled and tumbled along the dirt for about 40-50Mtrs. The panel has lots of damage (twists, dents and fractures) while the jerry can remained in tact and sealed - apart from a few scratches... maybe a gouge or two as well.
I think that a metal one would have ended up more like the panel that fell off.

During the trip I has occasion to carry the jerry cans on the trailer, on the roof rack and, for a short distance, one in the car. Being plastic, they are not noisy and cause little or no damage if they come in contact with other objects, accessories and/or bodywork.
This mishap demonstrates that the Willow brand plastic ones are sturdy as well.

I should mention is that the screw-on flexible spouts that come with them can split if you bend them too far. Also, I use these spouts to support the top of the jerry can at the car's filler neck so I can maneuver the bottom of them while refueling.

Scrubba

Hi wilb,

A number of people have shown that there is no real great difference other than personal preference. That said, both are durable unless abused. Plastic is obviously lighter when empty, but metal have the three piece handle which allows you to easily pass a metal jerry to someone else or to carry two emptys together at the same time... Plastics require double handling only having one handle..
metals can eventually leak at the lid if the rubber seal gets cracked by age.
But plastics can get a crossed thread. Metals have a built in breather pipe whereas plastics require a small cap to be taken off to allow a constant flow of fuel.

at the end of the day its your own preference