Small beach maintenance machine?

[Stevemo]

Hi all,
I would like to get a machine to maintain this beach that is about 1/2 acre. The initial job is to dig down the upper half of the beach 12" and drag it back towards the water. After that gets done I need to drag it every couple months to kill weeds from growing. The material is zebra muscles and they are kind of like coarse sand after they get broken down by the waves.
What would be a safe small hydrostatic machine to do this relatively efficiently? My access limits to me 48" wide across the widest part of the machine less implements. I can get to the water through neighbouring properties with an 8' wide machine but would like to use my access.
Cheers, Steve

 

[PaulL]

I'd guess you could drag that with anything. A BX is narrower than 48", and it's the cheapest Kubota tractor you can buy new. Are you looking new or second hand? A BX has a front end loader and will drag a beach I presume, depending on what you're pulling behind you. Discs? A harrow?

 

[Runs With Scissors]

I'd guess that a small'ish machine with a Landscape rake, and "turf tires" would be good.

It would "pull sand" without digging in too much, and give it a nice "combed" look.

 

[woodman55]

I would agree a BX machine with a landscape rake for moving the "sand", and then a land plane/grading scraper to flatten it, and maybe even a chain harrow to give it a bit of a finished look. The harrow will only disturb the top few inches.

The turfs would be your best bet, but R14's would be another option for tires.

 

[Motion]

Consider modifying a 4' land leveler with expanded metal (sized to what you don't want to pass) and a mount 12- volt trailer vibrator. Mount the expanded metal to two pieces of angle iron and place it behind the first blade make it adjustable to pivot (up/down) to achieve the best performance. You may also need to lower the front blade to grab more material.

 

[DustyRusty]

I would start by killing off the vegitation. I would use a strong solution of vinegar and water and spray the vegitation a couplle of times. Once it is dead, you want to remove it to another location. Then start your plan of attack on how you want it to look when finished. It is going to take some time for you to get a handle on working the material, but once it is done, it should only require a small amount of time to maintain it like originally done.

 

[NCL4701]

Because you have such a specific task, I would start by determining the appropriate implement(s) and then match the tractor required to run them. There are some good suggestions above. You also might consider something specifically designed for beach cleaning/conditioning. Even if you don’t have litter problems, storms can dump quite a bit of undesirable material that necessitates semi-routine cleaning.

Example: https://www.cleansands.com/light-duty-cernia.html

I have seen these things. I don’t have one. Not endorsing that specific make or model. It’s just an example of something you might consider.

 

[Stevemo]

Thank you for all the responses. I intend to buy a used machine and have been watching the market for a bit to see what they will sell for. Having a front-end loader is on my list of must haves. What to put on the back is a bit of a mystery so far. The trash collector is a good idea to harvest plastic trash and stripe the beach but maybe a rake would be adequate to do that. I was sort of thinking a box blade for dragging the area or maybe even a tiller. The tiller would fluff things up and maybe provide some hammer mill type action on the zebra muscles. They are pretty fragile, if you push the full shells down to the waters edge the waves will break them up in a few days of wind.

Does the BX have enough clearance to go exploring on the beach? I won't be carrying a mower deck on it as I have a 36" walk-behind Toro bagger.

I have seen some "narrow" machines but unsure if they would be safe on a side grade of any sort. It looks like they start off at 36" wide and you can swap the wheels around to make them wider.

 

[airbiscuit]

I would never want to dash an excuse to buy a tractor, but why not just use an ATV and a drag?

 

[DustyRusty]

Because you have such a specific task, I would start by determining the appropriate implement(s) and then match the tractor required to run them. There are some good suggestions above. You also might consider something specifically designed for beach cleaning/conditioning. Even if you don’t have litter problems, storms can dump quite a bit of undesirable material that necessitates semi-routine cleaning.

Example: https://www.cleansands.com/light-duty-cernia.html

I have seen these things. I don’t have one. Not endorsing that specific make or model. It’s just an example of something you might consider.

That is quite a slick machine.

 

[pokey1416]

Get a tiller and use that. I do a beach for neighbors every year and they are very satisfied with the results.

 

[GreensvilleJay]

BX with whatever the baseball park guys use to groom their sand with !!!
The real 'trick' is to do it OFTEN ,depending on weather and such, maybe every 2 -3 weeks ?

 

[PaulL]

I think a BX is the right size, and without mower will have enough clearance. A B2601 or older B series machine would equally do the job, they're a tiny bit wider but would still fit I think. I see a lot of old B7200s and the like around.

Tractor data has the list of relevant models https://www.tractordata.com/farm-tractors/tractor-brands/kubota/kubota-tractors.html, I'd be looking at B7200, B7300, B7400 perhaps, but there are plenty of others in that size/age. If you go a bit newer, then the BX or maybe a B2410.