Swedish invention provides painless cleaning of ponds - Greenkeeper

Swedish invention provides painlesscleaning of pondsMan & machine: Truxor mowing amphibianIt is a strange machine. It is sort of a cross-breed between a tank of World War I and a pedal boat. There is only one big difference: bothpedal boats and tanks are no machines with a high fun factor. The Truxor, an amphibian vessel which was designed to clean hard accessibleditches and ponds, clearly is. Jan van Dun of Mobarn Dredging has a lot of fun when he is cleaning the ponds of golf course Herkenbosch inthe south of Holland.By: Hein van Iersel‘Ponds don’t get the attention they deserve’,says Jurgen Ruyter of golf course Herkenbosch.‘It is almost five years ago that the ponds onour wood course have been cleaned properly.Little islands in these ponds had vanished longago and in most ponds there was no water left.According to de Ruyter the main reason for thisunderdeveloped cleaning is the lack of good, reliablemachines. ‘Of course it is not difficult to renta crane with a long jib, but often you deal withheavy machines that can cause a lot of damageto the fairway and other surrounding spots. Sure,then you can work with psp planks but thatmeans an enormous amount of extra work andthe action radius of the jib of a crane remains ofcourse limited’.Water boards, responsible for the maintenance ofpublic waterways and water management, usemowing boats. These are aluminum little vesselson which a crane or a mowing mechanism hasbeen built. It’s true, the working capacity of thesevessels is high, but they must always be hoistedinto and out of the water, so they are not suitablefor use on golf courses and with rathersmall ponds.In fact it is a catamaran withcaterpillar driveCatamaranEspecially for this application Mobarn Dredgingdeveloped the Truxor. Actually the Truxor is acatamaran with a caterpillar drive over bothfloats. This enables an easy drive into and outof the water. Also with rather steep banks. Janvan Dun of Mobarn: ‘More or less standard amowing mechanism has been integrated. Thiscan be expanded with an collecting basket, cranesand pumps. A big advantage of the Truxoris the limited weight, only 1100 kilos, so that itcan reach every spot without causing significantdamage. On the spot where the mowingamphibian has crossed hardly any trace is visible.The caterpillar of the Truxor only causes damageon the lawn when it makes a sharp turn. Themachine is provided with a 23 horsepower dieselengine’. According to van Dun the Truxor hasalso a big brother, especially suitable for largelakes. You won’t see this machine on golf coursesvery often. Advantage of this machine is thatit can mow and collect simultaneously.On the fairway no significantdamage is visible54www.greenkeeper.nl

Man & machineEasily into and out of pondsWithout damage to the fairwayA mobile or caterpillar cranehas a limited usabilityJan van DunCleaned BanksJurgen Ruyterwww.greenkeeper.nl55

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