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Finally broke 20 yards on a tricky job near Tampa last Tuesday
Ive been running a small dredge out of Tampa Bay for the last 3 years mostly doing marina channels and some residential canals. Last week I got a call about a tight spot behind a row of houses that had been silting up for months. The homeowner said theyd had two other operators turn it down because of the obstacles and shallow water. I managed to push through and get a solid 22 yards out in about 4 hours. It wasnt the biggest haul but it felt good to solve a puzzle that others passed on. The key was using a smaller cutter head and running at half throttle to avoid stirring up the muck. Anyone else get a weird satisfaction from jobs that look impossible on paper?
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butler.abby29d ago
The smaller cutter head trick is exactly what I would have tried too. Running half throttle is smart because you're not trying to blast through the sediment, you're working with it instead of against it. For tight jobs like that, I usually also drop the ladder angle a bit flatter than normal so the suction stays consistent without digging in too deep. One thing that helped me on a similar house canal job near Clearwater was pre-marking the underwater obstacles with a long pole before I even started. Saves you from accidentally snagging a seawall footer or a hidden crab trap that could mess up your whole day. Glad you stuck with it and got the job done where others walked away.
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christopher71329d ago
That bit about pre-marking underwater obstacles with a long pole is genius, I wish I had thought of that before I snagged a half-sunken dock piling and nearly lost my cutter head. I'm pretty sure my navigation skills are more "video game controller" than "actual maritime professional" most days. It's a good thing the muck doesn't judge me for my technique, because I definitely would have failed that test.
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andrew77828d ago
Wait, you almost lost your cutter head on a half-sunken dock piling? That's wild. I'd have been screaming into the radio if that was me. How'd you even get it free without wrecking the whole unit? You must have some serious steady hands or just got really lucky. I would have probably just shut down everything and called for a tow at that point. Glad you managed to walk away from that one, man.
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