A fellow suggested to me a technique that I have found works well. I keep on
board a piece of vinyl tubing of about 1 1/4 " ID, and about 5 or 6 ft long.
Set the jug on top of tank or filler neck, with the hose down in the jug and
stuck in the filler neck. Seal around the hose with a rag where it goes in
the jug, and blow into a small gap in this rag "seal".As long as there is
not a big airspace in the jug, i.e., the jug is nearly full, It is not hard
to force the fuel up the hose and down into the tank, starting a siphon.
Very quick and tidy. I stick tapered plugs into the end of the hose to keep
the inside clean, and wipe off the outside before use.
I have a similar hose for transferring water.

wrote in message
ups.com...
On Jun 6, 5:05 am, Wayne.B wrote:
...
My advice? Buy a boat with more fuel capacity. 20 gallons is totally
inadequate for extended cruising.

I hate that advise. People can and do cruise extensively without
engines at all and lots of folks cruise with very limited fuel. The
amount of fuel you need for extended cruising on a sail boat is
somewhat dependent on the boat's systems and largely dependent on the
skipper's attitude. 20 gallons is totally adequate for some extended
cruisers...

On my boat I can carry 50 gallons of fuel (but never have) about half
in cans and half in two fixed tanks. I stow my cans in lockers since
I hate having loose stuff on the deck. You may well find that you
need some cans to transport fuel to the boat in many parts of the
world. Cans are easy to inspect and clean and you will cycle through
the fuel in your fixed tanks more regularly if you use cans for your
excess... If you go with cans it is worth thinking about how you will
do transfers in bad weather.

-- Tom.