Hi Howie, We also used Nuance for a while. I also had trouble sourcing it and have moved to using the Sunmodo SunTurf system with ground screws. I also was using the Nuance equipment to avoid needing large equipment, but I like the ground screws much better. It is not hard to find an excavator who can drive the ground screws. I find the installation process much quicker with the ground screws, even with the time to drive the screws.
I am also working on a way to punch through shale, as we have a lot of that here in central NY. I have some jobs coming up in the next couple months where the shale is only a few feet down. If you are interested, I can let you know how we get through it. I am working on making a 3" bit to pre-drill the holes, but need to test that with our excavator. Cheers, Dave On Wed, May 20, 2026, 5:39 AM Howie Michaelson via RE-wrenches < [email protected]> wrote: > We have been using Nuance Osprey racking for ground mounts for a few > years, with earth anchors for our attachments. Where there's decent, deep > enough soul, this system works reasonably well and we don't need to > mobilize any large equipment. This is a major advantage when working on > more remote systems where the expense and logistics of large, heavy > machines is less practical, especially for even larger residential sized > systems. > > Unfortunately, working in northern Vermont doesn't usually afford us > "decent" or deep enough soil, so we've struggled a lot with the earth > anchors. Additionally, our local supplier of Osprey racks no longer deals > with them so sourcing problems along with the installation hassles has > pushed me to look for another, reasonably priced ground mount system. > > So I'm looking for suggestions of racks and attachment systems others have > found useful. We are looking at helical piles, but of course they are > expensive. If they are our best option, we will price accordingly, but > they are not a sure bet around here either. > > All suggestions are welcomed! > TIA, > Howie Michaelson > Sun Catcher LLC > _______________________________________________ > List sponsored by Redwood Alliance > > Pay optional member dues here: http://re-wrenches.org > > List Address: [email protected] > > Change listserver email address & settings: > http://lists.re-wrenches.org/options.cgi/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org > > There are two list archives for searching. When one doesn't work, try the > other: > https://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ > http://lists.re-wrenches.org/pipermail/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org > > List rules & etiquette: > http://www.re-wrenches.org/etiquette.htm > > Check out or update participant bios: > http://www.members.re-wrenches.org > >
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