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That muddy job in Port Arthur taught me to trust my cutterhead setup
I was on a job down in Port Arthur last August, dredging a slip for a barge terminal. The material looked like regular silt on the surface, but about 6 feet down we hit a layer of packed clay mixed with old oyster shells. My cutterhead was skipping and wearing down way faster than normal. I spent 2 days fighting it before a old timer told me to shift my pump RPMs lower and let the cutter dig slower. That change cut my wear part costs by about 30% on that project. Has anyone else run into surprise hard layers that messed up their production numbers?
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cameron_chen21d ago
Yeah that old timer saved you a headache. I had a similar issue down in Savannah where we hit a buried layer of stiff clay under what looked like soft mud. Spent half a shift burning through teeth before I figured out the same trick. Dropping your pump speed and letting the cutter take its time makes a huge difference with hard packed material. Those surprise layers always mess with production until you adjust your setup. Glad you caught it before you blew through your whole wear part budget.
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