The 3545 7-Plex Series Paralink hoe drills will be available in 80- to 100-foot working widths for the 2026 model year
Simplicity was a word repeated often during Bourgault’s presentation to customers at a new product launch in Phoenix, Arizona.
Product reps emphasized it as a guiding principle for engineers as the brand developed a new 7-Plex drill and other products that were introduced at the November event.
“The theme for our event here at Phoenix has been capacity without complexity,” said Bourgault territory manager Curtis Hinrichsen, as he stood beside a new 3545 QDA 100-foot air drill. “So, we made this drill very simple to fold, unfold and use.”
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The 3545 7-Plex Series Paralink hoe drills will be available in 80- to 100-foot working widths for 2026.
Although Bourgault has previously offered a 100-foot drill, the new 7-Plex version is significantly different.
“Our first 100-foot drill was a fantastic product, but as times have changed, we’ve seen the need for some improvements,” said Hinrichsen. “That’s what we think we’ve done with this new model 3545.”
The first noticeable difference is tire size.
“It uses the same high-float kit we’ve used since 2014 on all our conventional fold drills,” he said, “but we beefed it up. It’s on steroids, massive 900/65R32 tires on the main frame actually give it more flotation on the main frame than our previous 3335 drills, 86 (feet), 76 and down.”
The 7-Plex design also uses wider spacing between rows, with an extra five inches between each frame rail. That allows improved trash flow and provides space to equip the drill with the brand’s twin shank TriMax openers if a customer wants them.
The drills can also be ordered on 10- or 12-inch row spacing. Even with the extremely wide working width, they can handle high rates of fertilizer.
“So you’re not compromising yield when you buy this kind of capacity,” said Hinrichsen.
One problem for farmers and dealers who invest in very large drills is reselling them as used units, because the market for used equipment of that size is limited.
Engineers who developed the new 7-Plex drills found a solution for that. The outer wing sections can be removed to shorten the drills to a more popular size.
“One of the challenges in the past is a 100-foot drill is not as marketable (used),” said Hinrichsen. “If we can convert this to an 80-foot drill, it makes that market larger. It’s very easy to do that on this drill. With the 84-foot 7-Plex, you can drop that one down to 66 feet.”
When it comes to transport, the seven sections fold down into a reasonably tight package.
“We actually make comparisons for this 100-foot 3545 drill to a 76-foot’s transport dimensions,” says Hinrichsen. “It’s within a few inches of a 76-foot in width and about a foot in height.”
The drill’s overall height is 19 feet, 10 inches, which would allow it to squeeze through a typical 20-foot door in a cold storage shed. In the QDA version, the height is 19 feet, five inches.
Pricing out a 7-Plex drill as well as the other equipment from Bourgault will become a simpler process for interested buyers. This fall the brand will launch a build-and-price feature on its website, Bourgault.com.
Farmers can use the site to configure a drill to their specifications and see the suggested retail price online in either Canadian or U.S. dollars.
