Was running through a dense clay pocket down near the old barge channel and the pressure surge just popped a fitting at the elbow, had to shut down and patch it with a spare line I keep in the truck, anyone else deal with random blowouts on older rigs?
Guy had been on the job maybe 3 weeks. We were all waiting on a barge setup and he pipes up with that gem. Fast forward to lunchtime and his cutterhead was wrapped up in old netting and cable. Took a diver and half the shift to clear it. I just nodded at him when he walked past. Sometimes the best lesson is watching someone eat their own words.
I always thought you needed to crank down on those packing gland nuts to stop leaks. Then I was flipping through the manual for our 8 inch dredge pump last tuesday and saw it says 1/4 turn past hand tight is the spec. I tried it and the drip rate actually went down from like 20 drops a minute to maybe 5. Has anyone else found that following the book actually works better than old timer advice?
He said he just slaps new bearings in and runs it, meanwhile I spent 3 hours measuring clearances on a 30-year-old Ellicott and now I'm wondering if I'm wasting time on stuff that doesn't matter, has anyone else had a old-timer call them out like that?
Was working a job in Norfolk last summer, kept burning through bearings every 300 hours. Turns out the grease fitting was hidden under six inches of compacted muck.
I was running an old fishfinder on my rig near Galveston and kept missing the good spots. Dropped $900 on a side-scan unit with GPS mapping last month. First week out I found a buried sandbar that had 4 feet of pay gravel sitting on top of it. Pulled almost 2 ounces before the weekend was over. The old unit would have shown flat bottom there. Anyone else had a electronics upgrade change how you work the riverbed?
Back in 2012 I was green on a project near Houma, Louisiana. Muddy as hell, cutterhead kept clogging every 20 minutes. Old guy named Ray walked over, didn't say a word, just adjusted my swing speed and lowered the ladder angle by 3 degrees. Clogging stopped cold. He told me "slow down to speed up" and walked off. I've passed that line to three new guys since then. Anyone else have a piece of advice from a vet that just stuck with you forever?
I've been going back and forth on this since a job on the Mississippi last month. Running nonstop seemed to clear material faster but burned through 3 cutter teeth in a week, while shutting down gave the gearbox a break but added 2 hours of startup each morning to re-prime everything. What's your experience been with wear and tear vs. production time?
Was flipping through a 2024 USACE manual appendix last night and saw that even 0.5 G's of vibration can cut your swing bearing life by half, has anyone else's shop actually measured this stuff or do we all just run till she rattles?
I finally switched from running pump gas with cheap oil to a 50:1 synthetic mix on my 8-inch dredge. Before, I was replacing cutter teeth every 200 hours on the Klamath River. Now I'm at 400 hours and they still look barely worn. What's everyone else using for their mix ratios?
We were running a 12-inch dredge on a harbor project near Tampa last month and kept losing production to plug-ups in the suction line. I suggested swapping our standard draghead for a jet pump setup even though the older guys said it was a waste. Took about 3 hours to switch over on a Tuesday morning and by Friday we had pulled 40% more material with zero clogs. Any of you guys tried jet pumps on fine sand or is it just a niche thing?
I was out on the Mississippi job near Cape Girardeau and this kid who's been on the crew maybe 6 months watched me reel in the swing cable with mud still caked on it. He pulled me aside and asked if I ever wiped it down before reeling because the grit eats away the outer strands over time. He showed me some nicks on my cable that I had missed and told me he learned that tip from an old timer on his first boat. Has anyone else had a younger crew member teach them something basic that you just never thought about?
Had a chat with the harbor master in Brunswick last week and he told me I was kicking up too much silt during peak tide. Said it was messing with the marina's water clarity for weeks after. Anyone else ever get feedback from the harbor folks that changed how you time your runs?
Tbh I used to crank the cutterhead speed on my Ellicott 370 up to 12 RPM because I thought faster meant more production. This guy named Jerry in Galveston watched me for 5 minutes and said 'you're just stirring up mud, not digging anything.' Slowed down to 7 RPM and my hourly yardage jumped by 20%. Anyone else get told they were running too hot and had to eat crow?
I ran my 12 inch cutter head on a sand and clay mix near Savannah last month. The manual says run it slow, but I cranked up the RPMs out of habit and it clogged up bad in under 20 minutes. Dropped back to the recommended speed and it cut through like butter. Anyone else fight the urge to push the throttle on loose stuff?
Three weeks ago out on Lake Martin, I ran through a section of sand and silt without changing my flow rate, and the cutterhead clogged up twice in one shift. My mentor always said to adjust for material changes, but I figured I knew better. How do you guys balance speed with reading the bottom ahead of time?
I was always the type to run cutterhead teeth until they basically fell off. Figured I was saving money by squeezing every hour out of them. Then this old timer at the Port of Baltimore told me I was wasting fuel and wearing down my ladder bearings faster. He showed me his production logs, he changed teeth at 80% wear and his cycle times were 15% faster. I tried it on my next job near Norfolk and sure enough my fuel gauge barely moved. Has anyone else seen a big difference switching teeth sooner?
Ngl I was looking at my dredge logs last week and noticed something weird. I do a deep check every quarter on my Ellicott 370 and I always just trusted the gauge on the panel. Turns out after I finally put a tachometer on the cutter shaft I was running 15% slower than what the display said. That means for two full seasons I was chewing through material way slower than I thought. I pulled the manual from 2019 and it had a note about recalibrating every 6 months that I straight up missed. Now I have to redo all my production estimates from last year. Has anyone else had their panel readings drift like that or am I the only one who skipped that maintenance step?
I spent 3 years digging myself out of jams before I finally listened to him, and now I get through a 12-hour shift without a single stall. Anyone else get advice from a greybeard that turned out to be pure gold?
Was running a small job near a creek and the suction line kept losing prime. Turned out a chunk of buried telephone cable had wrapped around the impeller, not just some leaves. Anyone else had random junk like that hide in the muck and waste your whole afternoon?
Bought that high-end GPS mapping add-on for my dredge two years ago. Thought it would save time on tracking cuts. Ended up never using it because the interface was way too complicated for the conditions I work in. Anyone else buy gear that sounded good but just sat in the box?
I was bragging about running my slurry pump at 110% speed to clear clogs faster, and this guy with 30 years experience told me I'm burning through liners in half the time. He showed me his logbook where he runs at 90% and gets 2,000 more hours per set. Has anyone else switched to a slower pace and seen better long-term costs?
I was running a job up near Port Arthur last month and an old timer pointed out that if you let the cutterhead teeth wear past 3/4 inch you lose like 15% digging efficiency. Measured mine and sure enough they were shot. Swapped em out and the production jump was immediate. Anyone else track their tooth wear that close or just run em til they break?
I was working a job up near the Red River last month and the clay was just packing into my cutterhead every 15 minutes. Tried running the pump at full RPM, tried backing off, nothing helped. Then an old operator at the fuel dock told me to try adding a constant water jet from a pressure washer into the suction mouth. I rigged up a hose from the washdown pump with a nozzle pointed right at the cutterhead teeth. It actually kept the clay from sticking long enough to finish the shift without stopping. Has anyone else tried something like this for sticky material?