My cutterhead seized up mid-dredge near Savannah last Thursday

Was pulling through some heavy clay and suddenly the whole thing locked. Had to bring in a barge to yank the ladder out. Anyone else had this happen with certain sediment types?

2 comments

2 Comments

thomas_brown13d ago

…heavy clay'll do it every time. That stuff gets packed in so tight it locks up the cutter before you even feel the drag. Had a similar jam up near Brunswick a few years back and it took a full day to flush everything out.

patkelly13d ago

Hold on now. I've worked with heavy clay for years and never had that kind of trouble. If you keep your blade speed up and don't force the feed, it'll cut through just fine. Most jams I've seen are from people running the cutter too slow or letting it bog down. Brunswick soil is different from what we get around here anyway. You might have just gotten a bad batch or had your settings wrong that day.