With seven fishing lakes surrounded by steep 45 degree grassed banks to maintain throughout the year, Nathan Coupeland the Grounds Manager at Westbrook Lakes, Lincolnshire realised his staff needed to be working smarter and he needed to address the Health and Safety hazards entailed with maintaining the turf.
Nathan explained; “It used to take three people, two weeks to cut the banks around the site when using handheld strimmers. Now it is done in the same time but with only one person completing the work, this means I can release the two other members of staff to spend more time improving other areas of the grounds for the visitors. It has saved us hundreds of hours every year and all the health and safety risks involved with strimming banks have disappeared.
“To make sure we get the most flexibility from the Raymo mower we chose the hybrid power pack allowing me to work earlier in the morning around the lodges on the battery pack and then continue for the remainder of the day on the engine. It easily gives us 8 hours working time before a charge is needed or the tank needs refuelling.”
Built with anti-scalp rollers on the underside of the deck means that when mowing over undulating hills, mounds and banks the turf is not caught and damaged. The height of cut can also be adjusted from 40mm to 100mm which is ideal for use on fine lawns up to the longer grassed banks.
Nathan concluded: “It has completely revolutionised the way we maintain our banks, saving time and money, we wouldn’t look back and I would also recommend the workshop staff to take a look too as it has saved a lot of time and money in that aspect too.”