I am working on a project to clean up a bunch of lakes. We have overcome many obstacles and are almost ready to go. Just thought that I would throw this out to you brainy types and see what other ideas you can come up with.
To treat the water it is necessary to spray the surface of the water a few times. The problem is, how to spray the product quickly. We can of course use a traditional crop sprayer aircraft, which will work OK out in the open water, but cannot be used too close to shore or in windy conditions as the spray will kill vegitation. The shore areas will have to be done by boat.
One lake we are looking at right now is approximately 82 X 19 kms or about 1,112 square kms. This is a fairly large surface that needs treating and we are trying to find the best (fastest, most economical) way to do this.
As we are going to use a boat to spray close to the shoreline, what if we upped the boat size and used a flat surface over a couple of pontoons (house boat style) and mounted a commercial spray system on that with agricultural spray booms of at least 120 width. Over the flat water surface with adequate support it may even be feasable to go wider. Then power that contraption with a couple of 200 hp outboards to give us the max surface speed possible. This of course will be lot slower than an aircraft, but which system is best?
How would you boffins solve this problem?

 

Well when our cove had to be treated for hydrilla sp.?? They used an airboat so they could get really close with getting caught up in the mess. Would be too slow for the open water but would work well for treating close to shore.

Note to Fisherman:
Clean your bilge compartments and live wells so you wont spread this crap to our lakes!! I cant ski or wakeboard close to shore anymore because the dang hydrilla is so thick people are getting caught up in it and some drowning. That and it doesn't feel all that nice either kinda scratchy!!

 

Helicopter!

 

If you go with the sprayer boom method Mextan. I'd reccomend you use a GPS lightbar tracking system so you know where you've been and where you haven't as you have no idea of what area of the lake you have sprayed and have not otherwise.

What water volume do you need to apply with this chemical?? I'm assuming quite low as you are applying it onto a lake?

Obviously one concern with spryaing with a boat is the weight of the product....... IE 1,000 IMP gallon tank is going to have 10,000# of weight.

Also, a 120' suspended AG boom is quite heavy. You would need a lot of stability with your boat!!

Just a few ideas I am throwing out........ I was a custom applicator for 5 years and now sell Ag equipment including self propelled sprayers and other spray equipment.

 

Thanks for the valuable info. One of the problems is flagging the turns. It's easy over land, but not so easy over water. We were considering a GPS system, but I am not familier with the lightbar. Where can I obtain more info on this?
Not sure of the application volume at this point. It is low and has to be re-applied over three consecutive days. Don't have that info here right now, but will dig it up in a few days.
Yes, weight and stability is a concern, which is why I was thinking of a flat decked, fairly low center of gravity boat with wide spaced pontoons. If wide spaced pontoons are used, then the tank can be sunk down to almost water level for added stability. Of course, a configuration like that does not readily lead itself to speed, which we also need to cut down on application time.
The use of ag aircraft is still a strong possibility. I am very well familiar with Pawnee's and C-188's and either of those will work for the open water. Also have worked with the 600 HP Ag-cat but that is possibly too much for our use. Some lakes are very highly infested with water hyacinth, which may force us to use aircraft anyway as a prop driven boat may not cut it there. Maybe a jetboat will would work better in that scenario, but I have not investigated that yet.
DmaxEter, I don't see any advantages with using a chopper versus fixed wing. What advantages do you see? Cost per hour using a rotary wing is probably higher per hour than a fixed wing.

 

http://www.trimble.com/agriculture.shtml


Mextan you should be able to find all the info needed here, these are the systems we sell via Case\ New Holland.

It is an EZ guide plus system you will be after, very basic, affordable and user friendly.

 

I just thought I would throw the idea out there. I know the local farmers use them due to the tree lines being so close the fields and thought that maybe you could use that to get into the hard to reach areas! Just an idea. But, the rotor wash would probably blow your product on to the land and you said you dont need that so scratch my idea! Sorry

 

Thanks tool for the info. I took a look and like what I found. Will dig into this a bit more.
I have a question for you boating types. If I go to a flat deck system over two large pontoons, what suggestions can you give me for jet pumps? I was originally thinking about using a couple of large outboard motors to power this contraption, but as this could be used in shallow water, plus weeds, maybe I should consider a jet system? From what I have seen, outboard jet pumps do not come in large sizes, so maybe I should go for a couple of inboards (is it still an inboard if mounted on a flat deck?) driving a couple of jet pumps with extra large and screened intakes? I think there only about 30% efficiency with a jet pump, so will have to use a larger engine than an outboard with a prop.
Is it possible to get pontoons up on a plane without a step like the floatplanes use?
Which pumps? Brand, sizes, where to buy, how to couple to a high mounted engine etc.
Another thing I need to consider is if we go the pontoon route, is how to make the deck easily detachable from the pontoons for transportation from one lake to another. Even the deck will have to be made so that it can be collapsable and be made wide enough to transport on normal roads.
Heeeeelp! Where are the brains on this site?

 

http://www.outboardjets.com/
Clark

 

you could make the actual boat narrow enougt for roading then use adjustable , removeable outrigger pontoons for added stablility and flotation
Clark

 

http://www.u-fabboats.com/ these guys can help you size the pontoons for your load
Clark

 

http://www.gas-turbines.com/

This may be a streach, but if the guy can make a jet pump that can hold the power of a T58-GE-8F gas-turbine engine he may be able to assist you in locating a pump for a large hp motor....

edit:
Ok, maybe not practical but this would definatly solve the weight and speed issue with your boat....