Venturing into the Dart Valley West of Nelson with Willie Waldron of C and W Logging to test the Sany SY330H excavator running a Duxson grapple, is quite an experience, says Iron Test writer Tim Benseman. 

“These guys often need to use helicopters to shift ropes, have had to lower breaker-outs down hills on ropes, and they are frequently attacked by ferocious sandflies. She’s all on.” 

C and W Owner, Willie, says, “We’ve actually been on day rate for the last three years. We are what’s termed as a clean-up crew. There is quite a lot of challenging ground in this area that people have walked away from two or three times. We’ve had a look at it and said it’s actually not too tricky, we’ve done stuff like that before but what we learnt from it is, it’s not going to be cheap.” 

Regular Sany operator, Trey Styles, climbs down from the machine and they look over the log quality and count some rings - 45 years old. Very close growth rings so obviously restricted growth and these trees needed to be changed out for some fresh and vibrant new growth. On the plus side most of the wood looks dense.

Trey adds, “Things I like about this machine are the visibility, the power… like I only run it on 80% loading because it’s just too quick otherwise. It’s just awesome for shovelling wide open though, picks up whole 45-year-old trees like they’re nothing and throws them around. Just amazing power, and smooth with it too.

For more, get your copy of the June 2023 edition of NZ Logger magazine, on sale from 4 June. Check the link on this page to subscribe to either a printed or digital copy (or both).