The recent launch of the new Umount blower system for utility vehicles is the culmination of almost seven years of brainstorming, strategizing, prototyping, testing and reworking for Kris Shumaker. As yet another superintendent-designed solution to what was a nagging problem with no commercially available answer, it represents a better way for Shumaker, superintendent for the past 15 years at The Mines Golf Course in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
"This is a very heavily wooded course with lots of cart paths and many tee boxes that back onto native areas," Shumaker explained, "so maneuverability of the large tow-behind blowers was a problem. There's nowhere to turn around on many of our tee boxes, so my options for blowing off divots were either unloading and reloading a walk blower or trying to find a front-mounted blower for a utility vehicle."
Therein lay the rub for Shumaker, who found the power of most walk blowers insufficient for the amount of leaves he had to move at some times of the year. He also didn't want to jerry rig a homemade bracket or platform that took up space and was cumbersome to hook up and remove.
"Grand Rapids is a manufacturing city, and some of my employees were retired from manufacturing jobs so there was a strong engineering and fabricating mindset among the crew," Shumaker said. "I started playing around with a hydraulically powered unit, then an electric/battery system, but the cost and complexity was too much. I found the regular four-cycle gasoline engine to be the most efficient and affordable."
As a self-described "greenskeeper" for more than 30 years, Shumaker realized the limitations of his engineering skills so he brought on a mechanical engineer as a partner.
The end result is a lightweight PVC blower housing with a bronze, lock-tight tapered mounting system, an integral 7hp Kohler cast iron gas engine, remote-operated directional chute and storage stand/dolly.
Once the mounting system is bolted onto the utility vehicle, the blower is installed and removed with no tools or pins for a solid, rattle-free connection.
The unit has no wheels and is mounted inches from the axle so as to disrupt as little as possible the balance and ride of the vehicle. The nozzle is positioned within the operator’s line of vision to eliminate guesswork, improve productivity and reduce operator training.
The patented nozzle system employs electrical 200-degree swiveling, up/down settings and a ratcheting tip adjuster. The flexible nozzle can bend or break away utilizing a magnetic system upon impact.
The engine is recoil start. Why not remote electric? "I started out thinking and designing that way," said Shumaker, "but that required a battery, battery box, starter, larger control box and wiring harness. All told it added about 20 pounds to the weight and would have added several hundred dollars to the cost, so we went with the simpler solution for the time being. It's really not a big deal to get off the vehicle and pull start it."
Shumaker said it would be no problem to offer a remote start option if there is sufficient demand.
The unit is priced at $3,495, with free shipping during the introductory period.
Umount currently has distribution agreements with JW Turf in Illinois and Wisconsin and Podolinsky Equipment in Ontario, and will be setting up additional distributors.
Contact information: www.umountblowers.com | info@umountblowers.com | tel 616-648-4528 | @UmountB
