What are the Pros & Cons of Skid Mounted Sprayers?

We often get calls from prospective customers who are unsure if they want a skid mounted sprayer or another type of power sprayer. This article will describe my thoughts on the pros and cons of skid sprayers.

There are a number of ways to mount power spray equipment to your vehicle. The most common are skid mount and component mount. Skid mount involves mounting all the sprayer components on a metal frame, which is then bolted to the vehicle. Component mount involves bolting all the components individually to the vehicle.

Pest control sprayers and weed sprayers can be skid mounted or component mounted.

Pros of skid mounted sprayers:

- Easy to install. Just bolt the skid to the vehicle.

- Can support standardization because most equipment vendors build standard skid sprayers

- Since there is only 1 unit, the sprayer is easier to remove from vehicle. This can be important for a number of reasons:

- the vehicle is to be used for another purpose which requires the sprayer to be removed

- the sprayer is only used periodically and there is no reason to store it in the vehicle

- if the vehicle breaks down or requires maintenance, the sprayer can be easily moved to another vehicle

- when the vehicle is replaced, it is relatively easy to move the skid sprayer to the replacement vehicle.

Cons of skid mounted sprayers:

- The skid adds cost and weight

- Most companies do not move skids in/out of trucks very frequently, because the sprayers are heavy. This means that the “easy to move” idea is not quite as valuable as it sounds.

- The equipment goes where the manufacturer puts it. Particularly on standard spray skids, the owner or operator of the equipment really has no input on where the components are mounted. This can affect access for use and maintenance.

A future blog post will discuss the pros and cons of component mount sprayers.

Hope this helps. Comments?