Ain't metal but ...

Maybe. I'd guess they're polypropylene or polyethylene. Neither takes to glue very well, but they are both weldable with a hot gas and filler strand of the same material. Maybe a hot iron would work in a pinch.

It's possible to make epoxy stick after a fashion with "surface treatment". That can consist of passing a flame over the surface to let hydroxyl radicals and atomic oxygen attack the surface. For a short time, glues will stick to the chemically activated surface. The techniqe is also used for painting plastics. Sanding the surface with a solvent like acetone or possibly even water has a similar effect. The treatment has a short lifespan, supposedly less than an hour.

I managed to repair an unobtainable bit of fuel vapor recovery plumbing using the sanding method and the initial bond was quite decent.

There's considerable literature online dealing with making paint stick to plastic. Terms like surface activation paint plastic should get a few useful hits.

Good luck,

bob prohaska

Is there a symbol on them somewhere that might tell you what kind of plastic they are? If so have you checked to see if that particular polymer is "plastic weldable" or chemically fuse-able.

So many plastics are made to degrade I assume at the first sign of that sort of failure more failures are coming. Sometimes I'll play with a glass and resin batch for something that is LIGHTLY structural, but if it needs to be liquid/air tight its dumpster fodder.

Steel Jerry cans are still available. They cost, but if you keep them off the ground and out of the snow it will be a long time before they rust out.

I know sometimes you have to do what you have to do, but I would generally never transport a gas can, propane tank, etc inside an enclosed vehicle. I've seen the aftermath a couple times of an errant spark. Its not pretty.

When you live 10 miles from town you try to minimize extra trips ... but now that the truck is running well I usually try to make gas runs on days I'm driving it .

I get that. I'm not so many miles from town, but it depends on where in town. Fortunately gasoline, propane, and welding gas are closer so I always take the truck for those.

I have had good luck heat welding rotationally molded plastic containers like gas cans but for fuel tanks (cans) I'd be checking local garage sales to get "budget" replacements - hopefully newer than yours or al least with less UV exposure. I've had them given to me with cracked spouts or missing caps for FREE - use your old caps/spouts ore buy replacements (not CHEAP, either - but still a lot better than a new can!