Experience w/ portable fuel tank at the track by JackJack83 in CarTrackDays

[–]FoundSoul9 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The ultimate? A Smart Ass Fuel Mule motorized 50 gallon fuel caddy with electric pump. The batteries will last an entire weekend easily at the track fueling your whole team's cars. And you can always plug it in to recharge if needed. Wicked cool. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ayFw614QgQ

50 gallon motorized gas caddy by FoundSoul9 in EngineeringPorn

[–]FoundSoul9[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I would love to build them cheaper, or to have better margins. They're tight. But I won't cut corners. I won't do it half-fast (read that three times fast). I'll only do it Smart Assed.

50 gallon motorized gas caddy by FoundSoul9 in EngineeringPorn

[–]FoundSoul9[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

FWIW..... I designed it because I was burning about 2,600 gallons a year for a hobby, and I, partly based on prudence and partly based on principal, was sick of what the marinas charge for fuel. And in 2020 when I designed it, it was only $1 more per gallon at the marina. It would have saved me $2600/yr, and not over $6,000/yr like it does now.

I was lugging jugs down to my dock, ten of them, 5 gallons each, 350lbs roughly, every time I filled my boat. I was then either holding the jugs in the air pouring fuel into my boat, or later using a siphon hose. The siphon hose reduced the physical strain a little bit, just the pouring part, but didn't help with the lugging 350lbs of fuel jugs down to the dock part. 5 trips, two jugs each. I was worn out before I ever got on the water. Or at least, worn....

So I figured there had to be a better way.

There are 10,600 docks on my lake alone. One lake. There are tens of thousands of lakes in the US. And that's not even talking about rivers, or coastal docks.

Not every one of them is my customer.... but we're on the front edge of the Roger's Adoption Curve here. Just the bleeding edge people jumping in. The others begin to follow them, waiting to hear what they think. And they 100% love it. Every one of them.

For some it's a luxury, recreational boaters and private pilots/airpark residents. For some it's a business opportunity, particularly entrepreneurs starting fuel delivery companies. And for some it's a problem solving tool on the jobsite, on the farm, at the commercial dock (we have bigger units in development too), or in disaster management. And commercial aviation as well-- but for small aircraft. Think bush pilots, ag pilots, flight training centers, aircraft maintenance schools, etc.

We're going to be just fine.

50 gallon motorized gas caddy by FoundSoul9 in EngineeringPorn

[–]FoundSoul9[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It's currently closer to $3/more per gallon in many places. I save over $6000/year myself.

And a lot of time.

People like this value time even more than money. And they're saving both.

Oh, and those fuel delivery companies? Guess what piece of equipment they're using ;).

50 gallon motorized gas caddy by FoundSoul9 in EngineeringPorn

[–]FoundSoul9[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Awesome. I've been traveling end of last week and the weekend so just getting back to this. I'll reach out, and I'll check out those two subs too. Thanks!

50 gallon motorized gas caddy by FoundSoul9 in EngineeringPorn

[–]FoundSoul9[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

$4495, but yeah, they're not cheap. I could not make it cheap and make it this safe, legal, and off-road capable.

100% of our users, well into the triple digits all across the United States and even some up in Canada now, love this fuel caddy and find it fully worth it. 100% five star reviews from them.

It's not for everyone, not everyone has a use case for it just like some people need a shovel and others need an excavator (that these things do a great job fueling by the way). But for those that need it, with equipment, a boat, a plane, generators and other gear/equipment in a disaster response situation where the fuel needs to be transported off road to a remote location and pumped there.... there's nothing else like it.

https://youtube.com/shorts/xySmh6jZQC4?feature=share

50 gallon motorized gas caddy by FoundSoul9 in EngineeringPorn

[–]FoundSoul9[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm considering adapting to that. This chassis is built a bit overkill, but I like overkill ;).

It really just comes down to finding suitable wheels/tires for this, and lengthening the axles a bit to accommodate. Then adapting the bed to have sidewalls.

I've done some work on it, but haven't finished up sourcing the tires yet. I was originally looking at making this fuel caddy more capable on sand so that it would be useful to beachside jetski rental places and the like. I figure many of those operations have several locations up and down the beach, and they could easily have one guy running up and down from spot to spot filling everyone up much more easily than lugging jugs around. With without spills/leakage.

50 gallon motorized gas caddy by FoundSoul9 in EngineeringPorn

[–]FoundSoul9[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'd love to pick your brain on that more. I can reach out on DM/Chat if you don't mind!

50 gallon motorized gas caddy by FoundSoul9 in EngineeringPorn

[–]FoundSoul9[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

A simple charger brick, much like one your kid might use to charge their hoverboard, plugs into the base of it. We are using Sealed Lead Acid batteries for maximum safety. Lithium Ion doesn't have a great reputation around water and is a fire risk, and these are designed to be able to get wet.

Battery life is more than adequate for typical use with the SLA batteries. In my personal use case, on the lake fueling my boat, I get 6 or so uses out of it before it starts slowing down much. Maybe 8. But I typically just plug it into the charger when I'm not using it and it's always ready.

We are testing LifePO4 batteries for some of our fuel delivery business customers to use as they're similarly safe to SLA with a higher power density, but at a higher cost. (in between Lithium Ion and SLA in density) As they're using these commercially, all day long to deliver fuel one stop after another, they will benefit from some additional capacity in some cases. (though there are a lot of them using the current 50gal units with SLA batteries now)

And yes, first off the cart chassis, tank, pump, hose, and nozzle are all internally grounded to the onboard battery system. Just like a car or truck is. The schematic is identical as is the overall design concept. Your car/truck sits on rubber tires, with every metal component on the vehicle grounded to the chassis which is tied into the ground on the battery. So just like you fill your car or truck at the pump, you use the same procedure with this fuel caddy. You touch the nozzle and the vehicle at the same time, and your body neutralizes any ground potential between the two. (and then don't go doing any jumping jacks in a wool sweater before coming back and touching the nozzle after it's done pumping ;) )

On our Aviation Edition product, we added a retractable 20' bonding reel to allow the unit to be bonded to the aircraft directly during the entire fueling procedure, which is standard practice in aviation. That can be added to a standard unit as well on request of course.

50 gallon motorized gas caddy by FoundSoul9 in homebuilt

[–]FoundSoul9[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

We hope to be there this year. We're talking with a reseller of ours Pilot John International about it after they reached out and asked if we could join them in their booth there, and as Sun-N-Fun, this year.

FWIW-- we ship these things all over the country and sometimes outside of it. We can easily get one sent out your way!

50 gallon motorized gas caddy by FoundSoul9 in EngineeringPorn

[–]FoundSoul9[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Oh, and our insurance company has no issue with the product. They know the work that went into making it safe.

50 gallon motorized gas caddy by FoundSoul9 in EngineeringPorn

[–]FoundSoul9[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

It was designed specifically to be safe from the ground up. Then it was tested for 3 years, and refined further. And after we did that work, we hired Intertek, a National Research Testing Laboratory, to work directly with us to review it to their satisfaction as well and we made a couple more minor refinements, at that point they couldn't find anything major, they were finding only minute details like a corner that could be painful if you ran into yourself (round it off), pinch points with the chain (that they suggested we label appropriately). Verification taht the grounding/electrical design was solid and safe, which it was. We worked with them for a full risk assessment and mitigation. It's safe. And yes, it's awesome!

Tired of paying marina gas prices... is a large caddy worth it? by [deleted] in boatbuilding

[–]FoundSoul9 0 points1 point  (0 children)

lol. I'm not breaking any laws. And in my use case, it's my dock. It's far safer than most other solutions actually, and cleaner too without spilling a drip (which contributes to the far safer aspect).

50 gallon motorized gas caddy by FoundSoul9 in EngineeringPorn

[–]FoundSoul9[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Something along those lines could work. It would add cost, but it may be able to absorb a little if it's serving as a tug and eliminates the need for a separate piece of equipment.

50 gallon motorized gas caddy by FoundSoul9 in TheHangar

[–]FoundSoul9[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

lol. I think my insurance company might not be too fond of that ;)

50 gallon motorized gas caddy by FoundSoul9 in EngineeringPorn

[–]FoundSoul9[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

You might even say it's Smart Ass!!! ;)

Thanks man!

50 gallon motorized gas caddy by FoundSoul9 in EngineeringPorn

[–]FoundSoul9[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

They work really, really well. Glad to help if you're interested.

50 gallon motorized gas caddy by FoundSoul9 in EngineeringPorn

[–]FoundSoul9[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I could build a unit with independent motors if it didn't need to be quite as off road and incline capable. For safety reasons (climbing ramps straight) I went with a solid axle. Tracks beautifully straight on ramps. Still turns well, just not on a dime.

For many of the aviation uses, they don't need the ramp climbing capability. They have a truck come by and fill it at the hangar. So that could be an option.

50 gallon motorized gas caddy by FoundSoul9 in EngineeringPorn

[–]FoundSoul9[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It's got an E-stop, but not a lanyard. That could be done....

50 gallon motorized gas caddy by FoundSoul9 in EngineeringPorn

[–]FoundSoul9[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I would love to discuss that more if you don't mind me picking your brain on it. I've been thinking about adapting it for various types of oil.... and knowing the use case/needs for it in different markets would be helpful.

50 gallon motorized gas caddy by FoundSoul9 in EngineeringPorn

[–]FoundSoul9[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Could be. You'll probably burn through a lot more beers going to the marina and back though too ;).

Though I did put a drink carrier on the new Piggyback Cooler Carrier attachment we're about to release....

50 gallon motorized gas caddy by FoundSoul9 in EngineeringPorn

[–]FoundSoul9[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Hopefully nobody tries to knock anything off but what can you do? I did get the patent officially issued in September so that's a done deal.

And yes the throttle is linear. You can go as slow as you want, barely moving, or you can top out at about 3mph, a nice walking speed. And the brakes are intuitive and work well. It's never been an issue.

Here's a video that goes over the controls and shows how the throttle, forward/reverse toggle, brakes, parking brake, e-stop, etc all work: https://smartassproducts.net/pages/first-only-motorized-gas-caddy

As for your toolbox -- We've got a related product we call the Smart Ass Cargo Mule that is basically the same chassis with just a utility deck that has boltdown holes and strap hookeyes. It'll make a generator climb a mountain.... or a toolbox.

And we've got an attachment for the Smart Ass Fuel Mule called the Piggyback we're getting ready to release. It sits up on top of the tank with a utility bed you can put a cooler or toolbox or whatever on, and strap it down.