Hey, Dave-- we're still here, but Spring is here and we've been outside! Actually I have been outside more and have had less time at the computer. You're correct, the forum has been quiet. Compared to several months ago, when I was making my ToolCat purchase decision, the forum's de facto ringleader, Brian, has been inexplicably absent. (Many members here have expressed concern over Brian's absence, and he might not know it-- one of the aspects of internet community.)
I had a busy week. Here's a recap of my ToolCat use around the farm. I am impressed by the versatility and by how quickly and effectively ToolCat handled several big tasks. I finally used my Bobcat (near finish grade) 72" mower for the first time. I set it to 3 1/2 inch cutting height. I expected it to work well in the meadows, and it did. But it surprised me in how well it worked on a more finished looking lawn I use as a playing field. In the past I had always used my Walker mower with grass catching system on this field, but I mowed it once with the ToolCat and it looks quite good. We'll see if I can live with this when the grass really starts growing fast... that would save me a lot of time.
FYI, someone was asking earlier about how fast you can move forward while mowing. My terrain is not all that perfectly flat that would want to make you drive fast anyway, but my perception is I mowed fairly slowly-- I'd say comparable to my Walker mower, maybe 4 mph.
On my island, two standing dead trees were overhanging the horseshoe pits, so I felled them, cut them into five foot lengths and gathered them easily with my Anbo farm grapple and carried them off the island to the burn pile. I also loaded the dumping bed with debris and dumped it easily.
Speaking of dumping, my Bocat model 10 dump hopper was delivered last week. It's basically like a little dumpster on a pivoting wheel up front. I don't think I'll be loading this with a bucket-- it's a bit small, it only holds a cubic yard or so-- but it looks like it will be handy for relocating piles of demolition debris.
I also used the forklift to offload a 1200 gallon water polyethylene water storage tank. I used a couple of ratchet straps to secure the tank well. I washed and brushed out the inside of the tank. The ToolCat's forklift articulates so well, I could maneuver this huge tank very fluidly and drain the tank really easily. Finally, with four wheel steering I could get the ToolCat into a fairly tight place where I wanted to place the tank.
What's in the future? I sure could use a ToolCat mounted sickle mower-- I may head up to Skidsteer Solutions and demo their product. And I'm ordering a home standby generator that weighs about 1600 pounds. The dealer asked me if I have access to a forklift to offload the genset from the truck. Hmmm. I'm carefully considering the answer to that question!
A week in the life of ToolCat! Cheers from Gadgetnut
