An old timer in Mobile Bay said I was running my cutterhead too fast for the clay bottom

We were on a small channel job last month and he pointed out how I was chewing through teeth and burning extra fuel. He said to drop from 12 rpm down to about 8 in that heavy stuff, and just let the weight of the dredge do more work. I tried it the next day and saw a big drop in wear. Has anyone else found a sweet spot for cutterhead speed in different bottom types?

3 comments

3 Comments

davis.ruby1d ago

Yeah, that bit about letting the weight do the work is key. We had a similar thing on a river job with a lot of old timber mixed in the silt. Running the cutter slow meant you could feel the difference through the whole rig, less shock load when you hit a log. It just chewed through it steady instead of trying to fight it.

bennett.vera18h ago

That point about feeling the shock load is so true, right? I ran into that same heavy clay near Pascagoula. Dropping to 8 rpm like your old timer said, it just lets the ladder weight bite in without fighting itself. Davis.ruby has it spot on with the steady chew through tough stuff, saves your teeth and your fuel pump.

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rosebarnes16h ago

Totally used to think you had to push through that stuff faster. Felt that shock load on a job last year and slowing it down changed my whole view.