though two jerry jugs did spring leaks as the outside was abraded on the corners. Never saw any degradation due to use. However, we carried them in our lazarettes, not on deck where UV rays could seriously degrade the plastic quickly. We do not believe in carrying anything on deck for safety reasons anyway.

The greatest risk to fuel and filters is storing the unused fuel for more than a year in the fuel tank, and not having an algicide in the fuel in tropical environs. Diesel has a limited shelf life. I've given more information in my Cruiser's Dictionary, a free on line compilation of information for cruising sailors. It is now on the Cruiser Log Cruising Wiki as a separate resource. Here's a link to the C-D section, scroll down to Diesel for more information drawn from BP technical web sites: http://www.cruiserlog.com/wiki/index.php?title=C-D

We also had steel propane tanks that we would wire brush and repaint when we saw any rust spots. They are probably still on the boat. We used them for more than 10 years, possibly as much as 15, and they were still in excellent condition.