Talked to a retired cutterhead operator in Galveston who said he never used a flow meter, just watched the spoil color.

We were having a beer after a long day on the bay. He said, 'Kid, all your fancy gauges just tell you what the mud already knows. If it's coming up too dark, you're cutting too deep. Too light, you're just skimming.' I've been staring at my panel for three years, and he made me feel like I was missing the whole picture. How many of you guys still go by the old 'feel' of the dredge instead of just the numbers?

2 comments

2 Comments

derek_dixon7818d agoTop Commenter

Respect the old school feel, but that spoil color trick only works in perfect conditions. Try that in a harbor with mixed fill or at night and you're flying blind. My flow meter and density gauge saved my cutterhead from hitting a concrete slab the color was dead wrong about.

felix_coleman8718d ago

Yeah, the concrete slab story hits home. I once dug a whole trench based on perfect looking spoil. Turns out I was just shaving paint off an old barge. My screen looked textbook. Felt like a real genius until the clanging started. Sometimes the mud lies and the gauges save your bacon.