Has anyone considered this? We could bring it with us, to stop gas siphoning. $50 a tank is a lot of $$$ to loose.

Marge
Judging only from what I have read, it seems like the gas thieves cut the rubber inlet neck above the tank and insert their siphon hose there. So a locking cap would not help.
Also there are a lot of different gas caps, so bringing the right one would be a problem.
Mick

Thanks Mickey. That answers that question. No cap. Ernie should would love to catch someone trying to thieve from us. I has heard you can not hold someone until the police arrive because it's unlawful restraint. What option does one have?

Marge: Not a problem, just invite him inside for some coffee and donuts. If that doesn't work, I betcha a cold beer will do the trick! Ooops, "he fell & cut himself on the beer bottle I gave him".

I suspected having gas siphoned once " years ago" since then I only buy $20 - $30 of gasoline at a time. That usually lasts me a few days and I drive by the gas station everyday anyway.

The Perps cut the flexable line from the tank going to the engine take the cap off and let the gas drain into a container under the truck. When that happens you are stranded! The engine won't get fuel till the line is repaired... Ron

On my case I don't believe that lines were cut. On the morning after a night dive at Torri's reef I was surprised to see that I was just about out of fuel. When I fueled up after there were no leaks from cut lines.
After the surprise with the missing fuel I checked the rest of the truck and found that my spare was gone too even though I had a chain and lock on it, they cut the lock, took the tire and left the chain hanging.
I've had no problems since, I now rent cars only, the spare is in the trunk.

They could be using an auxiliary 12 volt fuel pump,with two fuel lines. They use their battery, one line in your tank, the other in theirs?
It takes a short time to transfer fuel. the one thing I would do is put a screen down the neck of the gas line, keeps them from doing this.

Vince, LMAO. Ernie sez, that's exactly what he'll do. Come over here and have a seat while I get you a beer. Oops, ...

Make sure your battery is secure. We met some divers that exited after a dive and their battery was taken. The car was empty and unlocked so the battery was the next best thing to take.

I suggest that you keep your tank low & don't lock the cap.

If you make it difficult to access the fuel via the cap, it is probable that they will cut the plastic filler between the tank & the nozzle. This is common practice & on some pick-ups, it is difficult & expensive to fix.

On the Mitsubishi pick-ups, there is a drain plug on the tank, with that there is no damage but you lose all of the fuel.

Most fuel is taken by kids for their scooters & they waste more than they take. The more that the fuel price increases, the more this will happen.

If you only have a few dollars of petrol in the truck & they don't have to cut your lines to get at it, your loss will be minimal.

Many of the pick-ups on the island are produced under licence in South America & are more basic than those produced in Japan. An easy tip to stop it being stolen is just simply remove the rotor arm from the distributor. It takes less than a minute.

If you ever get a battery or wheel stolen, get some prices from local garages or tyre shops, it could work out a lot cheaper than the rental firm.

Just to put things into perspective, this isn't a Bonaire thing, this is a world thing. In England, petrol is nearly $11.00 a gallon & theft is not unheard of. In addition, here in Scotland, many of us have oil central heating & it has become big business for thieves to steal the contents of oil tanks.

A previous government on Bonaire signed an exclusive deal with Curoil that they can't get out of (note that the Airport has it's own fuel) & as a result, they are paying through the nose for petroleum while a few miles away in Venezuela, the average price per gallon is 6 cents!

Maybe the Dutch Government can intervene & do something about it. Maybe then, the local kids won't have to pay such an extortionate price for fuel.

I think you have said it all Antony