SETexasLibby, thank you for the reference to the UL-approved can. I'll definitely check that out. You're right, I have to start carrying a fire extinguisher. Once upon a time I even had an engine fire. The engine burned oil, so had to fill often, so a little accumulated on intake manifold. Had headers so maybe they got hot and ignited it. And someone I work with recently was first to arrive at a wreck where the passengers were afraid of fire and he had no extinguisher. So note to self: carry extinguisher at all times!
Durangotang, I hope I didn't give the impression that I carry gas all the time. It's only once or twice a year. I'll probably buy an external carrier at some point, but there's nothing I could order today and get tomorrow. The lead time on the Rocklizard setup is long. I'd have to go to a custom shop and have something made. Which I could do but would rather do other things first.
Reasons why I like to carry fuel on occasion? Here are a few examples / reasons.
I like to explore new areas and roads. Once I was driving back from the White Mountain Apache Reservation, across the San Carlos Apache Reservation. This is before consumer GPS and in a 4WD pickup that got about 12 mpg and had maybe a 16 gallon tank. I had maps. The roads on the WM Apache Reservation were well signed. So I thought they would be well signed on the SC Apache Reservation as well. They weren't. I knew pretty well where I was, but not exactly and the roads were not marked. So if I made a wrong turn, it would take me 10 mi to figure out the mistake and I would have to backtrack the 10 mi, bye-bye almost 2 gal of fuel. I got lucky and made all the right turns, but I was biting my nails about fuel. It was not a dangerous situation, but stressful.
Another time I'm riding a motorcycle from Flagstaff to Tucson and decide to take a detour on a dirt road that goes by the Meteor Crater, from I-40 to some state highway. On the maps this looks like pretty much a straight shot, no room for navigation error. This motorcycle has no fuel gauge and a fairly small tank. For the most part it was a straight shot, but when it got near the highway it emptied into this maze of dirt roads in a state park, with no signage. It was the middle of the week and the place was deserted so I couldn't ask for directions. There was not enough fuel to backtrack. So I had to bushwhack (on roads, not literally). I found my way out, but once again I was biting my nails about fuel. The relatively large scale map gave no indication of this.
I've driven a lot over rural parts of AZ, CO, NM, KS, OK, TX. In the small farming towns, you can't count on the gas stations being open after 6:00. That's changing somewhat. But also some towns have fewer services than they used to. Partly that means you have to tank up around 5:00. But I like to have a little extra fuel if I'm driving around rural or truly remote areas in the evening.
Let's take SW CO where you are. On the atlas I see dots named Paradox, Bedrock, Egnar, Gateway. Are those all really towns? I grew up one mile from such a dot on a map with a name that had not one single resident. No one ever bothered to take it off the map. I'm guessing most of those are towns or at least hamlets, but do they all have gas stations? And if they do, are they open after 6:00? Of course you can plan your trip to go through larger towns that you know will have gas like Cortez and Durango, but that takes some of the fun out of it. In more sparsely populated SE CO I know that not all of the dots on the map have gas.
For long road trips, I'm mainly talking about road trips in unfamiliar territory, maybe pulling a load. So the first time I drove to San Diego, it was pulling a boat trailer. I can't use overdrive. There are some steep hills, and I don't know where the reliable gas stops are.
Independently of all that, I don't consider the Liberty to have great range. At least a few times a year I manage to have the low fuel indicator light up. How the heck did I run out of gas so quickly?
I'm hoping to go on the El Camino del Diablo run next year. You'd better believe I'll take extra fuel for that.
It's not that I'm carrying fuel all the time. Just once in a while. And when I do, I don't want it to smell!
One thing I think I might try is using self-vulcanizing silicone tape to seal the base of the cap. Supposedly that will hold up to the fuel. I'm not worried about the pressure, and even if that's an issue the vent cap is a pressure relief.
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The plan is to buy one of Boiler's aluminum racks and for him to weld some plates to it for attaching a universal jerry can carrier.
The Roto Pax are heavier built and come in a wide range of colors. You can them at Boulder Bars