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I guess it depends on whether you have time to wait a week or two for favorable wind on each leg...
It’s something that I’ve worried about. I only have a 17 gallon tank and usually take two or three 5-gallon cans if going any distance. I’ve never tried to transfer fuel in really boisterous conditions - generally would be sailing then, anyway. (? Except that time when you really, really need to?) But maybe my use case is aberrant. To get home, I’ve got to go 150 miles up a big river with currents ranging from 3 - 6 knots. Sometimes the wind will take you up, sometimes not. If I were to go out long-term cruising with this boat, I’d probably have a custom second tank made. Seems like one needs at least one can, for schlepping down the road from gas stations, where there’s no fuel dock. Not to mention fueling the dinghy and the dive compressor.
In some cruising guide, I read the proposition that “a west-coast cruising boat must have a motoring range of 200 miles.” I think this was based on the maximum distance between ports, where you might be trying to beat a nasty weather system, or getting timely to a hurricane hole in the Sea of Cortez. E.g., going North up the coast, often involves dashing from port to port between low pressure systems.
So, can we make that work with an A4 and 30 gallons of gas?
Re: oil. I’ve thought (wishful thinking?) that the aftermarket oil-filter kits might help stretch out the hours between oil changes. Anyway, I’ve bought one, but haven’t installed it yet.
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