And an update, I have just purchased another Husqvarna 25r Brush cutter from eBay, which will be donating it's shaft, throttle controls, bullhorns and gearbox to bring my one back to life!
And the spare set of bullhorns may be fitted to the Honda to make it a little easier on the wrists!
So that will add another machine to the list!
After the weekend, and this afternoon I have some more to add to my reviews of some of the machines.
The Husqvarna 359 Chainsaw has settled well into it's new piston, and is firing up easily now, and giving good power, it will need a good sharpen, and possibly a new chain at some point, but it's handling the blackberry and rose masses very well.
The Honda is still going strong, personally I would love to get a second brush cutter attachment though, as the guard does get in the way of brush cutting but is very much needed with the line head, so downtime is annoying when swapping heads!
The Revolution backpack brush cutter is very powerful, as as I can leave it just for the blades, I have the guard off, making it much faster, it also hits higher revs, which speeds things up, however the head jams up easily, as it lacks the torque to fight through grass wraps. It also can be quite uncomfortable due to the vibration at mid revs, which is why I will eventually swap it out for the spare Honda 4-stroke engine. On top of that the exhaust is pointed at the operator, so you do get a little gassed in still air.
The Rok Hedge trimmer is still showing it can work well above it's pay grade, and is surprisingly good at tasks outside its intention, knocking down masses of rose and blackberry with ease! However I am still finding myself irritated by how easily it can be switched off accidentally due to the position of the switch, it's not hard to start it, then kill it straight away just picking it up!
The GMC generator has died, I have a feeling it may have swallowed some dust at some point, and has a blocked jet, it's a temprimental little one, and takes alot of choke fiddling to warm up, however once it's going it's gennerally quite good provided you use something above 150W and of corse below 850W, if you use something on it with low wattage (such as the 55W Black and Decker 'Mouse' Sander) the mechanical governing system struggles to register it. Once I have it back online, I will report back.
We also have a new generator coming, as the power needs during the renovation will exceed the 850W limit we currently have. We have purchased an 8KW 3 outlet Ducar generator with a 15HP 4-stroke engine, Digital throttle control, AVR, and wireless remote on-board key starting. which should hopefully keep not only the renovation on track, but also keep the caravan supplied and warm.
The Ducar is not the most High end of generators, but it does have generally favourable reviews, and should meet the needs of the renovation, as it will need to do a few months regular weekend and afternoon work, then only occasional work after that. and it has features that will be important, allowing multiple tools to go at once, having enough power to run a heater in the caravan, being key start so that Elly can start it when I'm not there, and the remote start saves getting out of the caravan to turn it off when it's time to sleep, which is really good considering the miserable weather we keep getting! Not to mention you can start it from inside the caravan fast when needed, and that's not too bad for about $650.
