O
15

We hit a buried concrete block with the cutter head near Mobile Bay last Tuesday

It was about 15 feet down and shook the whole rig. My foreman said we need to check the suction lines for damage before we start back up. Has anyone else dealt with something like that in soft bottom conditions?
2 comments

Log in to join the discussion

Log In
2 Comments
the_susan
the_susan20d ago
That "shook the whole rig" part really got me. I used to think if the bottom was soft, you were clear of big junk. Then we hit a buried timber pile up in Washington that felt like we'd run the barge aground. It taught me that old fill or dumped material can be anywhere, even in mud. Now I'm a lot less trusting of any soft bottom report.
7
matthewgonzalez
Tell me about it. I once got too confident in some soft muck and drove a piling right onto what felt like a sunken car. The shock went up my arms and I nearly bit my tongue off. That was the day I learned "soft" just means the big rocks are hiding. Now I treat every bottom report like a maybe, not a promise.
1