“You saved my day, many times”

That’s Mathieu Albert’s verdict on how important Allways Hire has been for him in his role as Site Supervisor at Groundfix.

Watch the video of our interview with Mathieu here.

Supporting the recovery effort with Groundfix

As a main contractor for KiwiRail, the Groundfix team has been extremely busy since Cyclone Gabrielle. They’re focused on recovery earthworks that include fixing and clearing culverts that got blocked or filled with silt by the Cyclone. They also have more future work planned to add more culverts, along with drilling and earthworks.

Cleaning culverts with the Master 2000L Water Cart

We asked Mathieu to talk us through his experience of working with the Master 2000L Water Cart. It’s been a vital tool in the clean up work and, thanks to some adaptations, has given the Groundfix team access to water wherever they need it.

“We had many culverts to clean, there were concrete culverts and PEHD culverts. Different sizes from 300mm up to 600mm. In length between 10m and 6/7m. Fully blocked with silt or a mix with ballast and top soil and rocks as well – all clogged up together.”

The combination of silt and other materials formed a solid block inside the culverts that was impossible to clear by hand. The material was too hard and the culverts were too long.

Mathieu is photographed clearing out a 600mm wide culvert under a railway line, using the jetter nozzle that comes with the Master 2000L Water Cart.

Mathieu’s team knew they would need to soften the material then blast/jet/or wash it out of the culverts. Mathieu explains how the Master Water Cart proved to be the perfect solution: combining the portable water with the tools needed to use it on one handy trailer.

“The solution was to get to it, to clean it with a water blaster or water jet. Because basically we just couldn’t reach by hand because the length [of the culvert] was too long…we had to soften all the ground.

We had to use your solution which was a water tank and a water blaster and a water jet and a lance as well, the water lance, all added up together on the same trailer.”

Smart solutions to get water into difficult places

How to clear the culvert was one challenge, but once the Master Water Cart was identified as the solution; Mathieu’s next challenge was how to get it in place.

The Master 2000L Water Cart is easy to transport, which is essential when working in remote locations in rural Hawke’s Bay like those pictured here.

The Master Water Cart is easy to tow by ute, digger or truck but in this instance the only access was via rail. Always Hire came up with a solution which Mathieu explains:

“The site as well that’s a remote site, the only access we have to get to site is through the rail, which is very limited for us to drive a ute or to access with a big digger or with any other plant. So we were limited by that.

The solution was provided by you [Allways Hire] was to provide 5T diggers with a tow ball mounted on the blade and we had, like, a [Water] Trailer on that tow bar so that we can actually tow the trailer with the digger and so we will be able to reach the site that way…

Allways Hire made it possible to get the Master 2000L Water Cart to site by adding a tow ball to the 5T Yanmar Digger.

And with that [Water] Trailer there was the perfect deal basically. So we reached the site, we cleaned up the culvert. Once the main tank was empty, we basically just lift the trailer up, you just rotate it 180 degrees, and track it out all the way with the arm of the digger.

Once you’re out of the site, you collect more water, come back to the site. Tow the trailer back in, get back to site, and finish cleaning up the culverts. Things turned out working very well. You saved my day many times.”

A solid recommendation for the Master 2000L Water Cart

Mathieu definitely recommends the Master Water Cart to anyone looking for portable water and the tools to get great use from it. So we asked him to share what he likes best about this versatile piece of kit.

“100% [I recommend this] because it’s a nice set up, it does work well, it’s very reliable. You can access [your work] site with it easily, you can tow it with a ute or whatever you want. And the way it’s been set up, it’s just nice – you’ve got a long reach with the hoses as well which is clearly good. That’s the tools – that’s the gear that you want to have on site.”

When you hire the Master 2000L Water Cart it comes with long reach hoses for water jetting, water blasting, wash down of machinery and more.

Great solutions, good listeners and help when you need it: recommending Allways Hire

Mathieu’s been an Allways Hire customer since early 2023. His time is important and he needs an equipment hire company that can be flexible to his needs to help him maximise productivity. We asked him to sum up what sets Allways Hire apart from the competition.

“I would definitely recommend to anyone to work with Allways Hire. The reasons are…as contractors, when you need something you need it now and you guys are able to answer really promptly. If you don’t have your gear here in Napier you can get it from Hastings. You work closely from different branches to help us to get the gear sorted on site. Whatever we’re looking for you provided it.

You even provided more than is expected – with that trailer for example with the system mounted on it – I wasn’t knowing that existed but you did provide it for us.

So, you’re able to find the solution, to listen to what we want, to help us, you’re even able to create new gear if we need to. And you guys are just awesome, the service is awesome…there’s just no problem…”