WHY? or alternate title: Can one of you Brits explain this to me?

[45jim]

In Gagetown we continued to use these hoppers on the Leopards. We used steel Jerry cans exclusively, dispensed from stinky, leaky 548's. All crew members were instructed to pass cans from hand to hand (no tossing) to reduce the chance of denting the cans and thereby letting loose the inevitable shower of paint chips from the internal coating. Just make sure the hopper doesn't tip over while fueling or you'll be sleeping on a back deck wreaking of diesel for the rest of the ex.

Once we switched to the plastic cans and fuel pods this of course, all went away.

Say what you will about British engineering, only they could invent the boiling vessel. A most welcome and civilized accessory on an AFV and beyond the engineering capability of the boffins in the rest of the known world.