RO Rentals

[Scribner's Mountain Maple]

Has anyone ever heard of this? Do they know of a traveling RO? If so, I'd be interested for sure. Somewhere in VT ideally:)

[markct]

The trouble is we all need one at the same time! If someone were to rent one it would sit idle almost 10 months of the year. Then during the season much of the time no one would call for it except the busy days then everyone would want it.

[Scribner's Mountain Maple]

Well I never did add more information to this thread. I posted in desperation last year for a "traveling RO rental" not really expecting that to exist. However, I made some calls during the season last year and was able to find a dealer that was willing to "rent" me an RO for the remainder of the season. It was a life saver for me as I was almost out of wood. The RO was small (250 gph) but it saved me 10 cord of wood and countless hours.

I think that most manufactures and dealers would rather collect a $1000 or 2 from renting a unit rather than watching it collect dust. Not every dealer will do this, but I know that some will. It was an excellent intro to the RO for me and it prompted me to add one of the Leader Extreme machines for this year. I am excited to see it work.

For those who may think renting out an RO is foolish for a dealer to consider, it did cause me to spend 10K with that dealer on a filter press and storage tank, so I think it worked out well for us both.

Ben

[markct]

I agree that if the dealer had it on hand good to rent it out as at that point it wouldnt likely sell til next season anyhow. And at the same time a huge risk if it had froze etc. But yes as for ro in general i could never go back to making syrup without mine which is a small 250 as well. It saves firewood and gains me time in woods fixing leaks and lets me actualy sleep at night in maple season!

[Diesel Pro]

I don't know about traveling rental, but I made mine highly portable by building it on a 2 wheel hand truck. Nothing big enough for a major supplier, but it pulls off 30 gph and saves me a lot of wood.

[DaveB]

Equipment rentals is something that my wife and I are looking into. There's so much specialized equipment that it gets hard to justify buying something that you only use a few weeks out of the year. We're looking at ROs, canning units and filter presses to start. I know we could do cotton candy and maple sugar machines year round, but the others could be helpful to producers during the season. I'm still trying to work out the details. I'd welcome any ideas that people have if they want to PM me.

[grimmreaper]

I would say rental equipment for maple is just a money losing battle.the problems that could happen(frozen,burnt,misused,damage)the list goes on.the other thing is when you purchase something,the value drops aton.buy an Ro for 5000 & use it for a year.now its worth3500-4000.for what it depreciated by is what you would have to rent it for and then some.then hope it still works..

[DaveB]

Equipment rentals is something that my wife and I are looking into. There's so much specialized equipment that it gets hard to justify buying something that you only use a few weeks out of the year. We're looking at ROs, canning units and filter presses to start. I know we could do cotton candy and maple sugar machines year round, but the others could be helpful to producers during the season. I'm still trying to work out the details. I'd welcome any ideas that people have if they want to PM me.

Just as a follow-up, it looks like we will have one or two RO's available for rent next season. I'm still trying to work out the details, but if anyone is interested, particularly in the northeast, PM me or check out our Website (link below).