reddot

We’ve seen Red Dot A/C units on some pretty cool vehicles, but none quite like the Land Tamer, a diesel-powered amphibious vehicle for moving small work crews and cargoes across rugged terrain. It comes in a six- or eight-wheel-drive configuration with an optional track-over-tire setup and a propulsion package for water travel.

PFM Manufacturing of Townsend, Mont., makes about 50 Land Tamers a year. “It’s designed to go anywhere,” says PFM’s Pat Miller, Jr. “I think Land Tamer owners take that as a challenge.”

Roughly half the units PFM builds are equipped with an enclosed cab.

“We sell a lot to oil and gas companies for pipeline and wellhead inspection in northern Alberta and Saskatchewan,” says PFM’s Pat Miller, Jr. “In the summer, the heat up there isn’t bad. It’s the bugs. There are severe mosquito issues in the muskeg and swamps. They need durable, reliable air conditioning to protect their crews and keep them comfortable.”

He says enclosed cabs and A/C are also popular with customers who use the Land Tamer for noxious weed control, and whose crews work in extreme weather.

PFM’s challenge was to find an air conditioner that could withstand vibration, moisture, and mud in remote off-road travel and consume little interior space.

It chose an R-9755 headliner unit and condenser designed for construction equipment cabs that produces 17,000 Btu/hr of cooling and 240 CFM. The condenser mounts on the rear of the cab, protected from obstructions.

Also important to Miller: the unit weighs 32 pounds and takes up just 5 inches of headroom. You can wear a hardhat and not hit your head on the plenum.

“This isn’t an ATV. The Land Tamer is commercial grade, built to be used eight hours a day, seven days a week with minimal maintenance,” Miller says. “Our customers go places in their Land Tamer that otherwise are accessible only by helicopter. They’re going to the ends of the earth. The Red Dot units handle the punishment along the way.”