The ‘23’ reg tippers have been specified following a collaboration with Harsh.
Alasdair McPhee said: “For the first time, we’ve gone for PPG insulated alloy bodies. They are very well built and notably light - a 20 tonnes payload is no problem at all. The tipping gears are Harsh FE front ends, which because they are light and 100% problem - free we’ve been buying for 7 years now.
“The sheeting system is also Harsh - their sliding front to rear ‘Slide & Cover’ model which we particularly like because when the sheet is retracted up to the front headboard a shovel driver gets a clear view of the body and can load it equally easily from either side, and without risk of damaging the sheet. A lot of the time we have to work in restricted spaces, so that’s a real bonus.
Operationally, ‘Slide & Cover’ is a very practical system too, and easy to maintain. Along with the body insulation, we can hold the heat in the load for 9 hours, which is exactly what we need when we are sending trucks on the ferries to the islands.”
Typically doing tar jobs on Barra, Mull, Colonsay or Islay, long waits of up to four hours are not uncommon. Catching the return ferry is important, however, because as the islands have no tar plants of their own the trucks need to do a round trip in the same day.
“We still do all our own maintenance” McPhee added “and carry a comprehensive range of parts. It’s rare that we can’t get a truck back on the road in just a few hours - or less. Product reliability and first class backup are really important when you are in a distant location such as this, and for these reasons Scania chassis and Harsh ancillaries have come together as our standard tipper specification.”