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An old timer told me I was cutting my cable lengths too long

I always left an extra 3 feet on every cable run on the dredge, thinking it was safer for future adjustments. Last month a guy named Joe who's been on the river since the 80s told me that extra slack just gathers mud and creates trip hazards. He showed me how he measures each run to the inch and leaves just a small loop near the motor. Now I'm redoing all my cable management and it looks way cleaner, but has anyone else had trouble with cables being too tight when equipment shifts?

2 comments

2 Comments

luna5891mo ago

That's something I've noticed in a lot of different areas, not just wiring. It's like people think extra stuff is safer but it just creates more problems down the line. My dad used to leave extra long garden hoses thinking he'd need them later, but they'd just get tangled and crack in the sun. Or how some folks put way too much tape on a box because they're scared it'll break, but then you can't even open it right. There's a sweet spot where you have enough but not too much, and I guess it takes someone who's been doing it for decades to point it out.

zara_hill461mo ago

Oh man, you nailed it. That garden hose thing is such a perfect example. It's like people think if a little is good, then a lot must be better, but it almost never works that way. I've seen it with extension cords too, people daisy chain them or leave giant loops because they think it's handy, but then they're a tripping hazard or the cord gets hot. There's this whole mindset of overpreparing for problems you don't actually have, and it just creates new ones instead. The sweet spot you mentioned is real, and I think it's something you only really get after you've messed up enough times to learn the hard way.