One Dutch contracting firm has removed the slurry tank from its Vervaet self-propelled trike and converted it into a lightweight umbilical system. Proof that old age needn’t preclude impressive productivity, the 25-year-old three-wheeler remains a valued member of the contractor’s team.
The area between the Dutch towns of Alkmaar and Purmerend to the north of Amsterdam is famous for its cheese and the largest factory is located in the Beemsterpolder. Supplied with milk from 475 dairy farms, at the end of each winter, slurry pits are at bursting point and contractors are tasked with the job of emptying them.
One of them is Koning, who is believed to have been the first customer for Vervaet’s trike in the early 1990s. However, while the machine clocked over 1,200 hours during its first season, it quickly fell out of favour. The perception may have changed today, but two decades ago many of the area’s dairy farms were concerned about having such a heavy machine on their fragile land.
As a consequence, the vehicle spent most of the time parked, and 20 years later still had just 2,500 hours on its clock. Keen to seek some return on its investment, in 2010 the contracting business converted it into a self-propelled umbilical machine. After removing the 14m3 tank, the chassis was shortened by a metre, and an engineering firm helped with the drawings for the new frame to house the hose-reel and calculated the sizes of the six hydraulic cylinders needed to operate it.
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