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Do you run your dredge by feel or by the gauges after a near miss?
Had a cutterhead stall out on a sandbar in Galveston last spring because I trusted the flow meter over the vibration I was feeling. I've met old timers who swear the gauges never lie, but my uncle who ran the Panhandle said he could hear when the ladder was about to dig in. Which do you lean on when the bottom gets sketchy?
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claire_ramirez27d ago
Calling the vibration a near miss because you ignored it is backwards. That stall on the sandbar was the meter doing its job, it was showing you the load was climbing and you just didn't like the number. Gauges don't get tired, don't get fooled by a hangover, and don't start hearing phantom knocks after 14 hours on the levers. Plenty of old timers talk about listening to the ladder, but half those guys also ran pumps dry and swore they could feel it coming. I'll take a pressure reading over a gut feeling every single time.
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