Broken again, loosing faith

[Looking4new]

And the deer are not the least bit afraid of you either.

 

[phiferpharm]

I think your gonna be a happy camper KK, the DK is really a nice piece of equipment and if your experience is like mine has been, very robust. As for wives, I guess after 41 years of putting up with me, grammie is a keeper. She has kept our retirement property going by herself for the 4 years I had to finish up with my military and civilian jobs. Those of us with wives like that need to be saying prayers and thank yous on a daily basis..:thumbsup:

 

[beppington]

At the ferry dock we have one combination Post Office, lemonade stand, swap library, gas pump, and one room general store (coffee, peanut butter, Wonderbread, candy and a few canned goods ). We all treat the island as if we were on a boat. What you bring with you on the ferry is what you have. Lots of sharing between neighbors. There is a community heritage farm that produces blueberries, corn, garlic and a few other easily grown items that the deer leave alone. We'll soon have wine grapes and apples.

I'm in the middle on the west side. We see nice Kioti orange sunsets, sailboats and lots of C-130's with weekend warriors practicing takeoffs/landings at the National Guard base three miles across the bay.

Oh yeah, and we have more Lyme Disease ticks than almost anywhere on the east coast. We are all used to it and just do tick checks. We like the fact that the State Health Dept has posted "Lyme Disease" warning posters at every conceivable landing spot. Keeps the day trippers under control. "I want to check you for ticks" is everyone's favorite country song.:laughing: They've loosened up the bow hunting limits so things in that department are getting better. Still enough deer that I could shoot one off my front porch or tractor every evening.

Very interesting! Is it expensive to live there? Can't remember if you said - Do you know everybody that lives there? If somebody puts their house up for sale, does everybody know right away?

Oh, and how did you end up living there?!

 

[IslandTractor]

Very interesting! Is it expensive to live there? Can't remember if you said - Do you know everybody that lives there? If somebody puts their house up for sale, does everybody know right away?

Oh, and how did you end up living there?!

Very modest costs actually at least by New England coastal standards. A hundred year round residents (not us) mostly retirees or folks who commute via ferry and probably an additional 400 or so on summer weekends. Most places are handed down in families and most were originally built by factory workers or small businessmen from southern MA or RI who wanted a summer camp. Expensive to build from scratch on the island these days but only a handful of the houses on the island are anything other than upgraded original summer shacks. I don't believe the building inspector from the mainland has ever been here. Motor vehicles have only required registrations etc for the past fifteen years. Only a few of the original farm houses survive. I live in a small area that someone tried to develop in the 1880's as a place for Providence businessmen to park their families during the summer so they could take the ferry from Providence and join on weekends. Mostly it is a unique community because there is absolutely nothing here except what you make of it. No Starbucks, no McD's, no restaurants period. No golf course or tennis course or yacht club. Just an old Yankee island with about 2/3rds of the land held in conservation trusts or as a state park (the old Navy base). People just hang out with neighbors, fix things and try to solve problems without resorting to calling in a tradesman (they hate coming as they are stuck with the ferry schedule) or going to Home Depot. It is kind of a throwback to the US before super highways and strip malls and fast food. I'd say it is a rural area but it's more like a time warp area. How many rural areas today in the US are more than 15-20 minutes from commercial or business resources. We are separated from the mainland by a simple 30 minute ferry ride but the ferry only runs a handful of times a day and when it stops you are just floating on the island. If you need something you get it from a neighbor. Different neighbors specialize in distinct areas of self reliant expertise. The guy who had my place thirty years ago was the island expert on brakes so there are all sorts of old brake parts in the barn. One of my neighbors keeps our semi private neighborhood water system running (left over from WWII Navy base) and I provide backhoe digging services whenever needed to find leaks etc. I till the corn field and the island VFD captain plants and farms it. Different world than what you get when all it takes is a set of car keys to have access to all the wonders of Wally World or HD or Stop and Shop. It is not for everyone. Golfers and tennis players chomp at the bit. No shopping period. Teenagers who haven't grown up summering there as youngsters have a very hard time. Kids who have grown up there however know that on the island you have island playmates who may be four or five years older or younger. Little changing groups of kids seem always to find ways to entertain themselves. Our 3rd grade daughter became an expert Texas Hold'm player last summer because a college kid visiting his grandfather for a month taught them and ran a game for a half dozen kids from five to sixteen years old in our barn loft whenever the weather was not appropriate for outdoor play. No cable TV. Biggest social event of the summer is the Fireman's fair which is basically a fund raising flea market and auction where all the junk and treasures from all the island homes seem to switch residences each year. Biggest celebration is the 4th of July parade when all the old fire trucks are brought out and kids climb on to throw candy and squirt water at the onlookers while sirens wail.

I used to sail into Narragansett Bay and knew about the island as a central navigational feature of the bay and an anchorage. I'd never been on it though. One day years later I just accidentally saw an ad in a local paper and just decided to do it. Rather difficult to explain that move to SWMBO who was out of town at the time but after some "I cannot believe you did that" moments she ends up being as enamored as I am so things have worked out.

This is the original tractor on the island. Used for years at the same farm where we now have community gardens etc. I love the ballast and the front hydraulics.

 

[beppington]

Wow that sound extremely interesting. This is now a major thread hijack; I hope nobody minds ... So you happened to visit the island & found your house for sale? Are you saying you bought it without wifey's prior consent or even knowledge of it??!

 

[IslandTractor]

Wow that sound extremely interesting. This is now a major thread hijack; I hope nobody minds ... So you happened to visit the island & found your house for sale? Are you saying you bought it without wifey's prior consent or even knowledge of it??!

Actually I hadn't even visited the island. I had just sailed around it. The ad had a photo and with the wonders of Googlemaps or whatever the predecessor was I could see the aerial views and setting well enough. I arranged to drive down to see it one morning by catching the 6am ferry over and the 8:30 ferry back. I was smitten. Tried to engage SWMBO by phone but she was in Atlanta and did not take me seriously apparently. I was pretty sure she would like it and as I said there aren't many places that actually make it to the market. I grabbed it and figured she would eventually understand. She's forgiven me for that but not for ten thousand other trespasses.

 

[Coyote machine]

30 years this year! 2 kids, 1 tractor. All are great, especially the DK-40!

I'm pleased I was able to get the OP to see the light of keeping it in the KIOTI family and not to go green or blue, or whatever other colors are out there.:thumbsup:
Oh, yeah, I almost forgot, some of the rest of you worked hard to help him see the value of his dealer, and his wife, and moving up to the big boys group of DK owners too:laughing::thumbsup:
Great outcome! Keep it in the pak, I always say.

 

[kiotiken]

...One day years later I just accidentally saw an ad in a local paper and just decided to do it. Rather difficult to explain that move to SWMBO who was out of town at the time but after some "I cannot believe you did that" moments she ends up being as enamored as I am so things have worked out.

:laughing::laughing::laughing: And I was worried about my wifes reaction to buying a bigger tractor!!!

Wow that sound extremely interesting. This is now a major thread hijack; I hope nobody minds ...

Not at all, all the other business is just about wrapped up, so while we wait for pictures, fill y'r boots as my Newfoundland friends would say.

 

[IslandTractor]

:laughing::laughing::laughing: And I was worried about my wifes reaction to buying a bigger tractor!!!

Remember the well proven strategy that it is often easier to ask forgiveness than permission from a woman. That plus a few nights on the couch as penance and you can have a new tractor or island! Not a bad deal. Just don't try it too often!:laughing:

 

[kiotiken]

I'm pleased I was able to get the OP to see the light of keeping it in the KIOTI family and not to go green or blue, or whatever other colors are out there.:thumbsup:

Well, I'll say I've always been incredibly impressed by what you get for the money with Kioti, and I'm willing to give you guys the benefit of the doubt that my first experience wasn't normal with respect to reliability. I don't think I could have moved to a different color without loosing my shirt and moving up to the DK gets me;

1) A bigger tractor that will meet my needs.
2) Out of my current lemon.
3) A new warranty
4) A tractor that will be easier to sell if it's no more reliable than the first one.

So yes, I'm happy to still be in the Kioti family, but I'm holding my breath and crossing my fingers this one will be a little more reliable. After my cab fiasco, they sent me a jacket, hoodie and a couple hats, and all that would just clash with green anyway!

I have been wondering why my dealer is giving me so much on my trade and what I've come up with is it's mostly because Kioti discontinued the DK35. My dealer told me they were almost in tears when the last one was delivered, it was a good tractor and they sold a lot of them. Now, if you want a cabbed tractor, you have to start with a DK40, and that's more of an investment than some will want to make. My CK30 cab will look good on their lot, especially when tier 4 final pushes prices that much higher next year. Add a price increase since I bought mine and the fact that I got $1500 off on the cab from Kioti (and it's yet to go on sale again) and my tractor will look well discounted compared to the new version of the same.