Weight limit of aluminum cage?

immanence

I am probably going to mount this the the Yakima rack, but is there a weight rating on the aluminum cage?

I have a one gallon gas can that fits nicely there, but I am worried about weight rating.

AnOldUR

Can't find it, but I think there's a thread with a link to nuCamp that says the cage is only ornamental, not load bearing.

SLJ

and the worst place to put any weight. More bounce there than anywhere else leading to even more load bearing problems.

immanence

I moved it up onto the racks. But I am kind of thinking I just want to get one of those storage baskets for the racks. Weight wise this is only a gallon of gas so it isn't much. But those racks are only rated for 70 pounds anyway so I can't imagine that would cause too much of a load issue anyway would it?

1963122

A gallon of gas weighs about 6 lbs compared to 8 lbs for a gallon of water. I would not suggest putting a gallon of any flammable liquid on the rear of any vehicle. Just my opinion.

immanence

@1963122 I actually didn't like it mounted back there either, but I realized the can I bought fits neatly into one of the front, metal storage boxes (not the middle one, but one of the side boxes. I was a little worried about heat, but from what I read that isn't really an issue. I can't really think of a safer place to put it at this point though, where do folks usually store their gas?

AnOldUR

immanence said:

... where do folks usually store their gas?

We went with Rotopax attached to the side of the tongue box. There's a white one on the passenger side for water and red on the driver side for gas. Most of the time both are empty. The only time we put gas in the red one was on our Alaska trip last summer. It did save our butts! The station we planned to stop at was closed and there was no cell service. So glad that we listened to people who said to carry extra when traveling the Alaska Highway.

immanence

@AnOldUR Nice! I'd love to do that trip. What capacity is that gas can? Was the gas for the jeep? I'm just carrying a spare gallon for the generator (so I'd be SOL if I was relying on it for the TV!!).

AnOldUR

Yes @immanence, the gas was only for the Jeep. We carry a small 700W generator for charging batteries when solar isn't good, but it's a propane only model and we've only used it a few times. Along with the standard 20lb propane tank, we carry a 5lb to use with the generator or our Blackstone griddle.

The Rotopax are the 1.75 gallon size and give us another +/-30 miles in an emergency. I wouldn't think you'd get much more than a hour of generator use from a gallon of gas?

edit:

Looking at the wrong generator. More like 3-8 hours for the Honda EU2200i.

immanence

Yeah, that's nice that you can use the propane with multiple appliances.

These small generators are actually really gas efficient. I have the Honda EU2200i. The main purpose is extended boondocking or AC in the desert. It runs for 8 hours off a gallon of gas (which is its internal tank capacity). So I rarely even go through the gas in the tank on a trip, but I figure it is good to have a backup for emergencies.