PSA: watch your cutterhead clearance in the Atchafalaya Basin

I was running a 12-inch cutterhead near Morgan City last week and almost locked up the ladder because the mud was way thicker than the survey showed. Anybody else run into sudden bottom changes out there that don't match the charts?

3 comments

3 Comments

paul28620d ago

@alice269 nailed it, I had the same thing happen near Wax Lake Outlet on a survey that was three years old.

alice26921d ago

Thicker than the survey showed" - did you check when that survey was actually done? I've heard some of those charts out there are years old and the mud shifts like crazy after big storms.

-1

david56221d ago

Man, you're totally right. I ran aground on a spot that was supposedly 4 feet deep on the chart from 2019, and it was barely 2 feet after a hurricane came through. Those surveys can be way off once the bottom gets stirred up.