Am I the only one who thinks annual dredge inspections are overrated?

Had a job last month on the Mississippi near Baton Rouge where I skipped the yearly full teardown inspection on my 12-inch cutterhead. Boss was furious when he found out. Thing is, I did a daily pressure test and grease check every morning for six months straight. Nothing went wrong, no downtime, saved the company about $3,000 in lost production time. When he finally saw the logbook he shut up pretty quick. Anyone else run a machine longer between full inspections than the manual says?

2 comments

2 Comments

sageburns18d ago

Dredged a whole season on pressure checks alone, zero issues.

jade22618d ago

Wait, did your boss actually check your logbook or was that just a lucky break on your part? I had a buddy who pulled something similar on a dredge up in the Great Lakes, he skipped the full teardown for like eight months. He was doing pressure checks and grease tests every single shift though, just like @sageburns said. Anyway, his boss found out and was livid until they saw the data. The machine ran smoother than the one that got inspected every year. I mean, maybe it's just me but if you're covering the ground with daily checks, the full teardown feels like a waste sometimes.