If he's a fit pigeon he should be capable of 50 mph, if he's an older bird that might drop to 40 or even 30 depending on the weight of the package. At the moment we have 32 mph winds from the south west, so I think he's hiding in someones loft somewhere up north
I always spray my wheelhorses with 2k and use a high build 2k primer that's easy to flat down with wet or dry,
Its all a mater of choice really and what your happy with using
Ive been using a mid 70s Raider 12 with 8 speed unidrive manual transmission and find it more than capable for ploughing, I'm just about to set up another C series to do the job with the Kohler 8hp engine and 3 speed unidrive transmission.
This is only my opinion I've never used a hydro box simply because i was warned off them and quite happy with the manual tranny.
At the end of the day its a matter of choice